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Mindhunter


The Bard of Banefort

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The first season of Mindhunter was one of the best seasons of television that I've ever watched, and season two is right around the corner. I'm interested in hearing what others have thought of the show so far, and if you're looking forward to what comes next. For those who haven't seen them yet, here are the newest trailers:

 

 

 

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I've been re-watching bits and pieces of the first season, and I was surprised by how darkly funny this show is as well. It went over my head the first time through, but there's a lot of dry humor in there.

I think they did a really good job at establishing the 70s aesthetic, not just in decor but also in the way the characters behave. There's also something very relevant in the psychology. The reasoning behind why these men become serial killers (a deep-set hatred of women, a response to drastic cultural and political changes, etc.) is something that I think is reflected in the acts of violence we see today.

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I thought it superior to most of the netflix originals.

Though I had to look it up just now because the title totally vanished from memory, and seeing the title again didn't bring up anything -- had to look it up to refresh, so .....

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've watched season two twice through now. Honestly, I think I might like the second season more than the first. Such a gripping show.

Also, there's an interesting GOT connection as well: the guy who played Henley (the southerner who procured young men for his older mentor/lover, before turning on and killing him) was the same guy who played young Ned in the Tower of Joy flashback. 

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Watched both S1 and S2 back to back a couple weeks ago and liked them more than most series I've watched lately. S2  This thread doesn't say spoilers so...

Spoiler

S2 would have been better for me if the son hadn't been linked to a murder. For me it ruined the Charles Manson interview because the whole time Manson was saying "its your kids who murdered, not me" it was too obviously tied to his son being involved in a murder. Just took me right out of that scene and every scene involving the kid and the aftermath I was not interested.

Otherwise I really liked it and now have to wait for S3

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On 8/31/2019 at 1:15 AM, dbunting said:

Watched both S1 and S2 back to back a couple weeks ago and liked them more than most series I've watched lately. S2  This thread doesn't say spoilers so...

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S2 would have been better for me if the son hadn't been linked to a murder. For me it ruined the Charles Manson interview because the whole time Manson was saying "its your kids who murdered, not me" it was too obviously tied to his son being involved in a murder. Just took me right out of that scene and every scene involving the kid and the aftermath I was not interested.

Otherwise I really liked it and now have to wait for S3

Yep. Couldn't agree more.

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On 8/30/2019 at 7:15 PM, dbunting said:

Watched both S1 and S2 back to back a couple weeks ago and liked them more than most series I've watched lately. S2  This thread doesn't say spoilers so...

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S2 would have been better for me if the son hadn't been linked to a murder. For me it ruined the Charles Manson interview because the whole time Manson was saying "its your kids who murdered, not me" it was too obviously tied to his son being involved in a murder. Just took me right out of that scene and every scene involving the kid and the aftermath I was not interested.

Otherwise I really liked it and now have to wait for S3

Agreed! Two things set S2 behind S1 for me--and this B-story with his son was one of them. The other was how it became more of a procedural than an examination of different serial killers psyches and the teams attempts to understand and categorize them.

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I liked S2 as much if not more than S1. I think the storyline with the mini-sociopath (Tench's son) is absolutely in-keeping with the themes because that's a pretty big question in the show isn't it - are serial killers born that way? Or are they made by their family or society? And if we pity them, can we still investigate them with objectivity? Especially when they are 'writing the rules as they go along', i.e. supposedly creating new protocols for investigation through their work. Probably a good idea to be objective.

ALSO, call me old-fashioned but that is the type of thing that Tench should NOT be hiding from his employers, because big personal problems are going to affect his work and his judgment AND this specific one kinda, sorta directly impacts on his ability to do his work properly. So I'm gonna go ahead and say that i) lying about the reason for his absence and ii) keeping that specific info from his employers is something that he should be disciplined for.

And he deserved for his wife to leave because he failed to listen to her so many times. So you know, consequences.

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A very good series, but I must admit I fast forward through a lot of the bits on the personal lives of the main characters.  I'm fascinated by the interviews with the serial killers, I also am fascinated with the interactions between the FBI and the local police departments, and how that works, evolves, and the limitations for the local officers, and I enjoy the actual hands on murder investigations and development of the protocols and classifications.  Not really interested in the characters' personal lives at all.

I would like to see more longer term interaction with some of the killers.  The long term relationship with Ed Kemper is fascinating, and more recurring elements like that would be good.  

Looking forward to Season 3 (which I assume will occur).  

I have read the book, although it would be around 20 years ago now.  

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The crazy thing about Bill's son is that that crime was also based on a true story: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/little/readings/crucifixion.html

I think we're beginning to see how this line of work really takes a toll on the personal lives of the team. I do feel a lot of sympathy for Bill, and although I understand why his wife left him, I think she should have at least told him she was doing so, even if it was over the phone. She told him repeatedly that she needed help, but at the same time, it's hard to argue against the deaths of 28 children, especially when the only other person qualified to do your job is still recovering from a mental break-down. If anything, I think Bill's big mistake was not being more open with Nancy; as far as we know, she didn't know about what happened to Holden, or the politics going on behind the Atlanta case. Maybe he just didn't want to burden her, but it might have helped save their relationship.

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually liked Debbie and missed having her around this season. As for Wendy, while I didn't care much for Kay, I thought Wendy was unreasonably harsh towards her. The woman just wanted to see her son. You don't need to be a mother yourself to understand that.

Something that I thought this season did really well was show how so many cases are botched by bureaucracy and not having properly-trained staff (the crosses for the march, not getting permission to hang flyers, the police not bagging the evidence from Williams' car, etc.). I read an interview the other day that John Douglas (the inspiration for Holden) did, and you can see how annoyed he is that the Wichita police weren't able to solve the BTK murders sooner: https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/mindhunter-john-douglas-atlanta-child-murders.html?utm_source=undefined&utm_medium=undefined&utm_campaign=feed-part&fbclid=IwAR32zj_pFhzIAqpRjiuE0XVoxlFQUiNxlOCYDjb31Grydu241HWPFOBLelA#comments 

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  • 4 months later...

Mindhunter put on ‘indefinite hold’ by Netflix, cast released from contracts

Quote

 

TV Line reports: “David is focused on directing his first Netflix film Mank and on producing the second season of Love, Death and Robots. He may revisit Mindhunter again in the future, but in the meantime felt it wasn’t fair to the actors to hold them from seeking other work while he was exploring new work of his own.”

Despite this bad news, the report also stated that the show has not been cancelled.

It just looks as though we’re going to have to wait for a third run.

 

 

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