Mindhunter

Today's choices for decent dramatic programming is very spotty so when I saw that Mindhunter was canceled I couldn't be more disappointed. This was an excellent show about the start of the FBI's profiling program. It was well made and acted and now it's gone. The first two season were great though so it is definitely worth watching. There were no story lines that required a third season to wrap up so you won't feel cheated when you realize season two is the end. This show was about the criminals and how they were profiled rather than the FBI agents who did the profiling. It is still a 10 star show even without a third season.

Mindhunter is one of the better shows I've seen in some time. I really can't say enough good things about this amazing show that hasn't already been said but I still had to leave a review saying how much I enjoyed it. I've read some people think it gets slow at times but that's only because they're building the story and characters but it absolutely pays off. This series is so well done, from the acting to the directing to the writing to the etc, etc. Literally everything about this show is great. My only complaint is that there are only 2 seasons, this show had so much more to give and so many places they could've gone with the show but David Fincher only wanted to do the two seasons. It doesn't have a cliffhanger or anything so you don't have to worry about that. The ending is good enough but still disappointing they didn't do more, especially because this show is so universally loved. I know people say how shows are must watch all the time but this show really is a must watch.

It was one of the best series I've ever watched.

Why didn't they continue?

Two episodes in and I'm already hooked. Technically speaking, this series is very good (it's directed by David Fincher, of course it's good) and it stays true (so far) to the real-life crimes it was based on. I can't say the same for the characters, and how close they are to the people who really did this work, but considering their names are different and the book they adapted wasn't some sort of biography, most of their personal (love) lives must be fictitious or at least overtly dramatized.

You see, this series here isn't some kind of good cop, bad cop chase villains and shoot and explode a lot of stuff and at the end of the day (or episode) they go back to their wives and sleep like babies. No. There are way too many series like that, so search elsewhere if that's what you want, because you won't find that here.

Mindhunter is slow. Very slow. At first it might look like an simple thriller but actually it tells the story of two FBI agents in their pursuit to, as very precisely said by Holt McCallany's character, "understand how crazy thinks". But that doesn't come easily. Crazy is crazy. You gotta be crazy to understand crazy. But that doesn't stop naïve Holden Ford from interviewing the most despicable real-life psychopaths alive in America in the late 70's to develop the ideas that will become the tenets of the criminal profiling system.

As I said before, Mindhunter is directed by David Fincher, and as expected from his work, it's impeccable, both pacing and cinematography are top-notch. At the end of the episode you will be like "wait, that's it?" as the credits roll and the song keeps playing like the story is still going on. And somehow you are watching the next episode.

Writing and dialogue are great too. All very natural and haunting. Damn psychos could very much be the real ones. And that gets me to the acting, from what I've seen there's enough to say it's fantastic. The characters are brought to life by the actors. Also, the chemistry between characters Holden Ford and Bill Tench is incredibly real and sometimes, even through the bleakness of their work's nature, hilarious.

To finish off, I'll just say the biggest review cliché: Mindhunter is not for everyone. I know you know everyone says it, but it's truer in this case. If my review and the trailer got your attention, you gotta watch it. If it didn't, you'll probably hate Mindhunter. That's how it goes.

For those of you who came here looking for something like 'Se7en', because you thought, well, it's from David Fincher and it's about serial killers, I have bad news: this is not that kind of show. But if you came here looking for something more like 'Zodiac', because you thought, well, it's Fincher producing a show about people investigating serial killers, you might indeed find something you like. And if you appreciate long-form storytelling focusing more on human drama than on action scenes, AND you're a bit of a science nerd on top of that (and by that I'm also implying you don't mind watching a show where people are talking most of the time), then, my friend, you are in for a treat.

The reason I absolutely love 'Mindhunter' is this: I'm the kind of person who always wants to know why we know what we know. Because we DIDN'T always know. Somebody had to make a start; someone had to make that first step, that first discovery and draw that first conclusion. Somebody had to be curious, probably persistent, maybe even daring in their quest for knowledge. The history of science is littered with warriors, some of whom we now celebrate and hold in high esteem - but we have a tendency to forget that many scientists also were tragic figures who had to fight against restrictions imposed by society and risked paying a high price - professionally and personally - for their fight against ignorance. And it's those aspects of science that I find so fascinating, and it's precisely those aspects that 'Mindhunter' is interested in; not the "showy", glamorous stuff, but the meticulous groundwork and the personal human drama inherent in the quest for knowledge. And if you, like me, have a morbid curiosity for all the darker aspects of human nature, it surely doesn't hurt that the particular branch of science whose origins this show explores is that of criminal psychology: the science which tries to understand how the minds of criminals work and what causes them to commit their crimes.

As you might have guessed, 'Mindhunter' isn't concerned with shoplifters or what goes on inside the head of someone who commits insurance fraud, but rather with criminals whose behavior is a tad more serious (like, you know, murderers who have a penchant for engaging in sexual activities with their victims' severed heads - stuff like that). And it isn't a documentary either; although the characters are based on real people and the show offers a realistic portrayal of serial killers, this is a dramatized account of events made for our entertainment. And entertaining it is, and on a high artistic level at that: the performances are fantastic; cinematography, editing and direction bear the clear trademark of the master filmmaker who produced and partly directed this (though it must be said that while Fincher appears to be the creative leader, the project was brought to him by one Charlize Theron who owns the rights to the book upon which the show is based and also serves as a producer, and the excellent teleplay was predominantly written by Jennifer Haley and the show's credited creator Joe Penhall).

To sum it all up: 'Mindhunter' is a show that takes full advantage of its format; this is long form storytelling as it was meant to be, and while it probably doesn't work for people with short attention spans, the patient viewer is rewarded with a fascinating, richly layered and suspenseful drama exploring the origins of criminal psychology and criminal profiling. Excellent stuff: 8 stars out of 10.

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