Mindhunter (TV series): Review

Director:- David Fincher, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm, Andrew Douglas.

Starring:- Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Hannah Gross, Anna Torv, Cotter Smith.

Cinematography:- Erik Messerschmidt, Christopher Probst.

Based on:- Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit (by John E. Douglas)

It is always fascinating to study what makes a criminal. Normal people like us go on a killing spree which makes no sense whatsoever. But peek into his life, his childhood and you know what made him do it, what turned him into a psychopath and brought him to the criminal world. Psychopaths have a mind of their own and to study those minds, to hunt those minds is what any investigator desires. We are talking about one of the biggest changes in the process of criminal investigation as the concept of criminal profiling was introduced. Produced by David Fincher and Charlize Theron, Netflix series ‘Mindhunter’ brings this concept to the fore.

The story starts centers Special Agent Holden Ford, who earlier was a hostage negotiator for FBI but now being with Behavioral Science Unit, he accompanies Special Agent Bill Tench. There, he gets the idea of interviewing a criminal and trying to assess his behavior. Just a wishful meeting soon turns into a fully-funded research along with Tench as they recruit a psychological expert Wendy Carr to help them out.

What particularly amuses me is that there was not much continuity from one episode to another but the suspense in the story forced me to binge-watch it for two days. Although I was tiresome at the end of it, I had a good time watching it and binge-watching helped me understand the story better. The story itself is quite detailed and includes some real-criminal names with all the interviews styled in the same manner.

When we think of a series that just sticks to one issue and one genre, you don’t get bored. Instead, you understand the kind of characters in the series. I understood quite a lot of the characters through this series. Yeah, I can say that the way writers developed these characters through the course of the series and how they explained them with details helped heavily. But we do form an opinion about the characters and have insights on them. I am happy to have these insights into the characters. You see Ford change multiple shades as the series goes on and each case/interview further influences those changes. One could observe how Holden takes the center-stage in the act despite Tench being his superior. A lot of his conclusions begin to be based on his assessments rather than expert opinions. I can’t help but wonder if, in the end, he turns a criminal himself.

The screenplay was what made the series so engaging. It retained most of the technicalities of criminal profiling while keeping the profanity to the minimum and was easy to understand for the non-technical thriller-frenzy. I loved the way they used Holden’s ‘lack of a social life’ and Bill’s tumultuous marriage to show their dedication to this project. Along the way, Dr. Carr makes equally huge contributions to the case study. Honestly, what separates this series is that rather than boasting the intelligence of the agents involved, it explains the process they use to crack the cases. Also, it shows how your attitude is as important as your intelligence. The background score contained some good peppy music which you are supposed while on a road journey. The cinematography is smooth and very conventional which is how it is supposed to be. But watch out for how it changes during the interviews as you feel like you are within the cells listening to those characters. I won’t be talking about the cases for I want you all to watch them in the series and judge the approach of the investigators for yourself.

I preferred to talk about the cast at the end because their contributions really stood out in an already wonderful series. The way I see it, the trio i.e., the team were the only ones playing a major role. Starting with Hannah Gross who played Holden’s girlfriend Debbie, her importance was felt in the scenes where Holden discusses his case with her. You don’t find much of love but you find a psychological connection as they sort of understand each other, kind of like friendship. I believe Holt McCallany turned out to be the right guy to play Holden’s sidekick in the action for Holden Ford is a wild force when it comes to investigation and Bill Tench just provides that calmness and direction to the study. Anna Torv keeps her job simple by talking all technical. At a certain stage, her character Wendy’s opinion seems to be the decider in an argument between Holden and Bill. Torv and McCallany together give the feel that Ford couldn’t have done this job alone.

I have to take a whole paragraph to talk about Holden Ford solely because there is so much to talk about. His character separates itself not only from others in the series but the people in real life and yet, we somehow manage to relate to him and understand him. I guess the credit hugely goes to Jonathan Groff to portray the character in that manner. It almost seems as if he is playing himself on-screen. What satisfies even further is how he smoothly transitions the character and gives it a darker shade. His character is not comfortable with social customs and the rigors of being a boyfriend. I observed an introvert in Holden Ford who precedes his highly professional and unconventional self. You presume what he is going to do and he simply surprises you with his antics. You don’t see a single second of the episodes where he seems out of character. He basically aces the role. It is surprising that I haven’t seen much of him anywhere else but I hope this highly talented actor gets to do more and more challenging roles like this one. The series begins with him and ends with him so, you can say that he was the star.

In the end, I just want to clarify that I am not boasting about this show but I am actually very impressed. Criminal Profiling has been a controversial topic of discussion but they show how it has completely changed the way an investigation is conducted. I would like to point out that I rarely binge-watch due to my schedule but this show forced me to make time for it. I seriously plan to sue the makers if they don’t come up with a Season 2 despite the perfect ending which I’d rather not talk about. I’d like to confess that I don’t see where the series could go from here or if the second season would make sense. But I just want more of ‘Mindhunter’. I go as far as to proclaim that ‘Mindhunter’ is the best TV series ever, at least the best one I have watched (I know this line has become fairly cliche but it’s true when I use it). And I hope that after watching the series itself, you feel that my review is quite the same way (a bit too ambitious, I suppose).

Out of five hearts, I give ‘Mindhunter’ 5.

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P.S. I love the title ‘Mindhunter’. Makes some sense, the title.