Yeah at least the son's story was based on a real incident. The "real life" Wendy isn't gay, so that subplot was gratuitous and didn't relate to the main storylines at all.
Sure it does. Mindhunter is about the development of the FBI’s psychopath profiling system from interviews to catch serial killers. You is about modern day psychopaths and serial killers told through inner dialogue like Dexter.
Not sure why they felt they needed to invent the closeted gay subplot? I’d like to think this show was above “let’s make the hot doctor chick a lesbian” and there was a reason for it (even if that reason didn’t get translated well to us viewers). Still love the show even with a few short comings and am very disappointed in no season 3. The fact the BTK killer story wasn’t finished doesn’t bother me as you can read about the rest of the story anywhere. What bugs me is these were great actors telling a unique story and now it’s over.
BTK isn't caught until 2005, so maybe the intent with Season 3 is that it would be set much later? Those cutaways always made me wonder about the endgame Fincher envisioned for this show.
For what it's worth, I disagree that the subplot was gratuitous; it has reason. Even all the way through the 1980's, in psychological circles, homosexuality was deemed to be deviant behavior. I thought it was fairly on-the-cuff that when questioning serial killers and psychopaths, the questions always bounce back to the agents who did the questioning. Vicariously they bounce back to the viewer. It's always been a question of where is the line between "us" - the norms - and "them" - the abnormal? Ford went through it. Tench went through it (with his son and his old school psychological leanings) and now Wendy is going through it. Remember, a main reason that there is conceptual "closet" for homosexuals is because mainstream society wants them to believe that they are outside of the norm, so they stay within themselves. They often believe the lies, and they believe it for so long that they become mentally scared. Wendy was being forced to reconcile herself to situation which could be considered parity between the killer and the garden variety homosexual. I'm not sure the questions were answered, so the audience is asked to answer them. While it's obvious to most of us that there is a big difference between a serial killer and a queer; nevertheless, it pushes home what is a deviation and where does it cross the line? The BTK killer could have simply masturbated his whole life in women's clothing, but at some point it went further. Are serial killers made or born? Are pornographers made or born? Are homosexuals made or born? I think the answers herein will vary greatly depending on who you ask. Are heterosexuals made or born? Here it takes many answers to arrive at truth. Regardless, Wendy had a crisis. Her job, her life outside of her job, just like Ford's was affected, Tech's life was affected outside of the job, now we saw how Wendy's life was changed outside of her job, because of her job. We got to peer into each agent's life in depth because of this subplot. Therefore, it could be argued that Wendy's homosexuality was needed to bring the narrative full circle. Ford basically lost his girlfriend and developed a panic disorder. Tench's picket-fence life is almost in tatters, and Wendy traces her steps back to what created her. Of course the show interviewed two homosexual serial killers in one season to drive this point further home. Yes, that means it was planted by the writers to invest in Wendy's life outside of work, but that's with any show. The viewer has to take the bait in order to watch.
just going to chime in again to say that i'm profoundly disappointed if this show is done. even with the flaws in season 2, it's still an incredibly nuanced & well done show. the two leads are rather sublime in this. fdas;lfkja;slddksjfg;lasdkjg;ladskjg;aldskjg
“Indefinite hiatus” = cancelled pretty much. Okay, great, let’s say it’s resumed in five years? The actors are much older and the opportunities for hitting on characters/individuals within that time frame is lost. This is just extremely disappointing to me. Obviously, others feel differently. So be it.
could grant them opportunity to jump ahead to make whatever point they wanted about BTK, but i guess i'd almost rather have the show just not come back than be done haphazardly like so many others that have been in this situation.
I agree. I mean so many opportunities lost here: Kenneth Bianchi, Henry Lee Lucas, Otis Toole, Richard Ramirez, Bittaker & Norris. Bah.
Season one is excellent. Season two is a slog. I'd give season 3 a chance, but I'm not surprised that it may be on hiatus.
It still could come back but with the time lost due to the hiatus and COVID, what it would be when/if it did come back would be significant. Best let it go to die in the shows that were great but inexplicably didn’t make it. I’m (somewhat) okay with that.
That's a real shame. At least we've the first Fincher film in six years about to screen on Netflix though.
I think Mindhunter had run its course. The second season wasn't quite up to the standards set by the first one, especially that really tense ending. The subplot of the girlfriend was more interesting than the subplot of the guy's marriage falling apart. The lesbian angle was good, but the Atlanta thing could have been tightened up a bit with one less episode.
yes, forgot about that. Good point. That was some f'd up stuff at he beginning of the eps, almost like Twin Peaks in tone
That sucks for the guy playing BTK. He was doubtless looking forward to a busy season or two. Did he utter more than two lines? I was looking forward to him as well, and considered that suffering the Aussie broad with the excessive American accent was the price to be paid.
I was disappointed to say the least when Fincher failed to mention (or was never asked about) `Mindhunter' in the recent expansive Rolling Stone interview.
