Mindhunter (4-7)
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 11:00PM by Nathaniel R
Continuing our look at Mindhunter. Let's discuss the middle bulk of the first season, shall we?
How would most men feel if they were being intimate with a woman and they sensed that she wasn't enjoying herself... [no response] Come on, be scientists.
1.4 Holden and Bill interview new subjects, begin categorizing murderers, and learn of a strange murder case. Their new colleague Dr Wendy Carr changes the course of their studies (accidentally?) with her outside contacts.
Of the eight episodes I've seen this is my single favorite. Surprisingly I discovered that it wasn't directed by David Fincher (who only directed the first two and last two episodes of this season) but by Asif Kapadia. He's mostly made short films but won the Oscar for his documentary Amy. TV is considered a writer's medium and this episode is particular satisfying in that way but there's also strong pacing and wonderful visual touches (like a heartbreaking non-intrusive long shot of Holt McCallany and his sad family) and the best elevator shot on television since Mad Men's "Beautiful Girls" episode, as our three "heroes" silently process the news that their new line of work is now fully funded and full time. It's an immensely satisfying silent visual of pride, reward, and the thrill of newness in those three simultaneous but private smiles.
MVP: Holt McCallany. The show now begins to flesh out his home life to stunningly sad effect. He has a presumably autistic son (no name for it back then) that's taken a toll on his marriage and the grim business of talking to killers is beginning to get to him.
Would you mind sitting on your own bed. Please?
1.5 and 1.6 These two episodes revolve around a hugely confusing and quite grisly case in Pennsylvania. The team of three realizes that three people are to blame for the murder they're looking at. But they don't yet have the language to communicate their findings to the legal system and the most dangerous of the three gets a light sentence against their recommendations to the local DA.
From a peak to a valley. These two episodes are the low point of the series for me, and feel too much like a particularly high-end CSI episode or some such (not that I've ever really watched any of those network procedurals that so bore the hell out of me).
On the other hand, the off murder-case scenes are compelling including the continuing excellence of the leading men's chemistry, and a wonderful lengthy scene when Holden and his girlfriend have a couple's night with Bill and his wife. Speaking of couple's night...
MVP: Anna Torv. We learn that Dr Wendy Carr is a lesbian. Though her lover (Lena Olin) is not long for the show when Carr makes an immediate decision to leave Boston and join the boys full time at the FBI. Torv juggles lots of things in these two episodes including romantic confusion, ambiguously confrontational intellectual and careerist provocations with Bill & Holden, career wariness, interior impulsiveness, and the seriousness with which she takes intellectual pursuits. She's marvelous but it's been a bit hilarious to see her continually confused with Carrie Coon online. Coon changed her twitter bio to say "that's not me on Mindhunter"
Updated my bio to address the ongoing Mindhunter controversy.
— Carrie Coon (@carriecoon) October 23, 2017
She's marvelous but it's been a bit hilarious to see her continually confused with Carrie Coon online. Coon changed her twitter bio to say "that's not me on Mindhunter"
1.7 Dr Wendy Carr joins the team full time. Holden and Bill interview a serial killer who is obsessed with women's shoes. Both of them are now showing signs of the deviant interviews really getting to them personally.
Bill's problems at home are escalating in this episode when his son sees murder photos. His wife is understandably angry and horrified. Meanwhile Holden is thrown by his girlfriend's "dress up" sexcapades and distracted by her high heels given the recent interview. His usual stiffness slides into coldness and he cruelly tells her "it's not you". She leaves the bedroom dejected.
MVP: Jonathan Groff. I find reactions to this show's sex scenes so interesting. A straight colleague told me he didn't "buy" Groff in these scenes citing his homosexuality and lack of chemistry with Hannah Gross. I disagree. I personally think their awkward interactions are part of their charm as a surprising couple; neither character seems all that sure of why they're together which is, I'd argue true of many real life couples. Particularly couples who are between first infatuation and how serious are we conversations? Then I heard an argument on twitter that the show shouldn't have sex scenes at all. I disagree. I think they're crucial, actually, since so much of the series is about the way criminals don't process human sexuality normally and it's a great counterpoint to show more normal people in similarly "triggering" situations. (And yes I also like to see Jonathan Groff naked. Sue me.) Then I noticed this article online all about those very scenes! I haven't read it yet but will when I'm done with the season.
One final note.
For several episodes now we've had unexplained pre credit brief scenes featuring a man in Park City, Kansas. He's clearly a serial killer (given the subject matter of the show) but we haven't really seen him doing anything murderous, just strange. In episode 7 I'll admit these disconnected prologues really began to get to me and fill me with dread. Not least because we finally see something suggesting real violence (a gun, duct tape, and rubber gloves -- always an, uh, innocent combo).
I don't actually WANT to know what he's up to. I just want it to stop even though he's only doing things like mailing letters, tying knots while watching TV or staring out the window. This is why I avoid the horror genre. Like Bill and Holden, their work is not something I can easily process without feeling nauseus, upset. No joke, I used to have regular nightmares about Silence of the Lambs!
HOLDEN: When do you wanna go back?
BILL: I don't.
I feel you Bill! That's why it's taking me so long to watch this show.
I deeply thank the show for not being visually violent but it's verbally and psychologically and visually quite disturbing all the same.
Next time, the finally three episodes. Please refrain from spoilers in the comments.
Reader Comments (14)
This is the best show in a long time. Anna Torv is amazing. I don't know how she did such a great job. That character is iconic and she is fascinating. Star. Fantastic and gripping show for high functioning brains and suspense fans. Griff, also stellar. Constantly gets better as it goes along. I am at 9 and wow!
I loved this season. Groff is totally believable –– I didn't even know he was gay! All three leads are terrific, not to mention the actor who pays Kemper. WOW!
Oh Anna Torv is in this?? I should watch then. She had some high highs on the fringe.
The second best new series of the year. The first one is The Handmaid's Tale.
I really L O V E Mindhunter and, because of the subject I started Fargo Season 3 ( because Torv remind us a lot Coon) and think that this was the lowest point of the three seasons. I don't felt it like it was enlighted like the first two. U all know what I means?
Now I'm taking courage to watch Hannibal.
Back to Mindhunter: all three leading characters have my votes for the Emmys. But, Cameron Briton alread had the Emmy for guest actor for me.
And the ass of Jonathan Groff the award of supporting actor of the year. What a ass!
I would totally watch sex tapes of Jon Groff.
If Bill's son ever hugs him or looks him in the eye, I am going to lose it...HARD
I've only seen ep 1 and 2 -
but no love for Hannah Gross? I think she's cute and different and
and shakes up the girlfriend-trope in a refreshing way.
How many episodes is she in?
Does she have more to do in the later episodes?
I'm sorry to say, I think Groff is the weak link in the acting department - he may be handsome - but he's kinda lightweight IMO.
nathaniel, thanks for the smart take on these episodes. i like that the show doesn't "deliver" in the typical way we expect shows to, but is aiming instead for a wider yarn full of engrossing details. groff doesn't get to play the huge stuff he got in Looking, but he's always superb. his chemistry with mccallany is glorious...they avoid so many cliches of the cop partner dynamic, and always feel true together. love the show!
Hannah Gross is good but I wish they showed more of her doing bad things. They kind of keep that secret and she is mainly there to react off of Groff.
I started watching the show after your review last week and finished episode 9 (which is chilling) last night! I thought the first two episodes were kind of slow, but once Anna Torv joins the cast, it really picks up and just gets better and better. I actually think it is the best new show of the year and one of the best series on tv, period. All of the three principal actors are outstanding. I'm going to be really sad when I finish episode 10.
It's interesting to google the serial killers they interview, especially if (like I) you aren't that interested in true crime and don't know a lot about them. Some of them inspired other fictional characters like Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, while others have fascinating parts of their stories that aren't revealed on camera. I may read the Mindhunter book once I finish the season.
Groff was weak in the beginning as the straight-laced (pun intended) FBI agent, but boy does he get better as the series goes on. His transformation into an egotistical monster is subtle. His final moment of the season was terrifyingly believable.
No love for Gross here. Her character is interesting but she has about 1.5 facial expressions.
But despite that and only 2 real female characters, this show ended up being really interesting to me. I didn't think I'd watch it, and then I didn't think I'd stick with it, and then I finished the whole thing in about a week.
I won't spoil it, but the identity of the man in the pre-credit scenes is obvious to anyone familiar with the better-known serial killers of the late 20th century.
He's easily identifiable via Google.
Like the show, and the subject of how the whole psychology of studying the minds of serial killers was created turns out to be pretty fascinating in its own right. I really love the fact that no actual violence is shown (saw the whole first season,and am patiently waiting on the second) or gore (which has become a tired,overused,predictable trope in most horror movies and TV shows nowadays.) What the three investigators have to listen to the killers say is disturbing as hell by itself (at one point, I actually stuck my fingers in my ears because I just straight up couldn't listen to one guy describe what he did to his victims---just couldn't do it. That's how disturbing the show gets at times. And I also like the fact that the two main female characters are well-developed and interesting characters in their own right, and make major contributions to the plots,too.