Mindhunter (Netflix)

bruh, Fincher directed almost half of the first season... it ain't Criminal Minds.

Damon Herriman playing Manson in season 2:

www.indiewire.com/2018/08/mindhunter-charles-manson-season-2-actor-david-fincher-quentin-tarantino-1201999097/

Filmed his scenes in July... I'm guessing Fincher and Tarantino were in contact recently.

Those two used to date btw.

ehhhh I have really mixed feelings about this. I binged it over the last couple days and while it was mostly enjoyable is didn't build to a satisfying conclusion at all.

Firstly, Holden Ford. I don't like him. He starts the season a wide-eyed conceited asshole and ends the season a cynical conceited asshole. The sideplot involving his relationship with Debbie was entirely filler. I think it was meant to directly express his transformation over the season but I didn't see much of a change in him at all. Groff's role here is challenging and I think he got what he was going for with this straight-laced, reptilian and socially awkward aficionado of criminal deviant psychology, but...he's not that fun to watch. I don't enjoy Holden Ford as a protagonist. And maybe it's just because the character is supposed to awkward but I couldn't sense any chemistry at all between him and Hannah Gross. It was worst in their first scenes (their dialogue at the bar was super-cringey) and got slightly better as the show went on, but I was never invested in that aspect of the story.

Secondly, while the show definitely looks like Zodiac for the most part (this isn't no Criminal Minds bullshit) and it nails the interview scenes, it strangely feels much smaller-scale despite the total running time of the combined episodes. This is my running issue with most TV shows, because they have more time to fill they more easily fall into the trap of wasting time. While some of them contain so much story that they couldn't possibly contain everything neatly into a 120-140 minute film (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones), many I've watched or tried to watch seem to pad out their runtime with nonessential filler (see: The Terror) in lieu of laying out a concise narrative. There are several plot threads in this season that go nowhere, the worst offender being Holden's relationship with Debbie which of course ends with a melodramatic breakup because he's too invested in his work (definitely didn't see that coming a mile away). And then there's also Bill's troubles with his son, the foot-tickling principal, Wendy's lover / sexual orientation, Wendy leaving food for that cat in the AC vent (which has a nice little disturbing punchline but the payoff isn't worthwhile). So the season has elements of Zodiac's straightforward take on procedural investigation with a keen eye for rigorous detail just with A LOT more filler and a lot less detail. It's based on a nonfiction book but with all it's narrative bunny-trailing and editorializing and melodramaticizing it doesn't give the impression of that. The season is too unfocused and simultaneously too contained. There's so much here that doesn't add up to anything. And there's also some stuff that flat-out out doesn't make sense, like who the hell though it was a good idea to have Jonathan "I Like Serial Killers" Groff teach a classroom full of grade-schoolers about deviant psychology. Fire that person.

I'd probably give it a 7 or something.

God I'm tired of TV doing this to me. I get watching a show and it's enjoyable and I binge it, and then it just leaves me high and dry and disappointed. I can count on two hands the shows that broke that pattern and Mindhunter ain't one of them.

Thanks for the update Viced! Been wondering when Mindhunter was going to return . Such a fascinating show . Can't wait

I dislike the big production changes behind the scenes. Sometimes a writer change can f*** a show.

(See Walking Dead for details)

Finchers line about 'more African American music' is just odd.

Holy shit, that was genuinely one of the best teasers I’ve ever seen. Truly impeccably edited. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more excited for the new season.

I'm not even going to watch the teaser. I don't need to be anymore hyped for this show. I'll be there on premiere day.

HYPED.

That was such a great teaser.

Great trailer. Much better than the teaser. Hoping it'll be an improvement on S1 but I think that seems likely since the story seems more streamlined (no more Debbie yay!!)