User Reviews

Mostly because of what everyone else is saying, what made season 1 so great is the connection of Tench and Holden, and the snarky banter they have, mostly Tench, making me crack up. A lot of that is lost in season two because of a couple of sub plots that are creepy, but don't really go anywhere. (like his creepy adopted kid) you kept expecting something to happen............but it doesn't. and his wife complaining about his job, seriously, he is FBI, get over it. Holden is a genius but he does have a corncob stuck up his butt.

The workings of the BSU, after the unwanted attention earlier in the season, are laser-focused on the Atlanta child murders, and we start the episode talking to Wayne Williams (who was eventually found to be THE GUY), but they release him in short order. Bill's family issues drive a wedge between Holden and himself, and some old fashioned detective work takes over. For anyone who's read Douglas's books or remembers this event, there is still a blanket of dread and despair,hanging over the police, and nobody sets the tone for this better than Fincher. A beautifully sad ending to season 2.

Mindhunter is a show that almost seems a bit out of place on Netflix. Whereas that company has a model (albeit on that may be improving) of pumping out marginal content just to have said content, Mindhunter is very much a "prestige" show that would be right at home on, say, HBO. It is expertly produced and really takes its time crafting its slates of new episodes. This second season is just as dramatic and thrilling as the first, although it does so using a very different formula.

For a very basic overview, S2 of Mindhunter sees FBI Behavior Science Unit Agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) trying to built an entire investigative department on the concept of profiling. In conjunction with fellow steward Dr. Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) and new boss A.D. Gunn (Michael Cerveris), the duo ultimately find themselves running point on the now-infamous Atlanta Child Murders of the late 70s/early 80s.

The first season of Mindhunter was really all about the interviews with famous serial killers, and for a short time it looks like S2 will follow that lead, as Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton) is brought back and even Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) gets some videotape time. However, it quickly becomes clear after the first few episodes that the season will follow a much different pattern in a number of respects:

On the procedural front, we see how the BSU profiling works (and doesn't work) "in the field". While just coming up with the concept of profiling serial killers is one thing, using it on a practical level is entirely a different animal. Local cops and district attorneys are skeptical, and the agents (Ford in particular) are often frustrated when budgets and old-school police techniques seem like insurmountable barriers. I really enjoyed this change of approach (from the theoretical to the practical), and fortunately the drama or entertainment factor does not wane whatsoever.

Another strong suit of this season is how certain characters are given very interesting backstories that truly serve to enhance their characters (something that didn't always hit the mark in S1). For example, Dr. Carr is revealed to be a lesbian with a complicated relationship to new friend Kay (Lauren Glazier), a move that gets her questioning her own personality traits in very unique ways.

Agent Tench gets perhaps the biggest "push" of the season, as his son Brian (Zachary Scott Ross) is involved in a murderous incident of his own, throwing tremendous conflict upon Bill and wife Nancy (Stacey Roca). Again, this serves to have Agent Tench questioning his methods as they relate to personal & impersonal portions of life.

Behind all of this? Short little tease-clips of the BTK killer, who will obviously factor into the proceedings at some point.

Overall, I was once again highly entertained and mesmerized by Mindhunter's second campaign. They branch off into very much a new formula, yet do so in a way that doesn't lesson the tension in any way. I can't quite say this show has reached perfect storytelling levels in either season so far, but it has come darned close, hence the 9/10 rating.

Two FBI investigators and a Scientist specializing in Psychology spearheaded the development of the categorization of "serial killers," dedicating their time to intensive interviews with convicted compulsive killers. They spent the entire first season developing investigative and interview procedures and creating guidelines for identifying potential serial killers through behavior.

Season 2 was especially fascinating as this was the first time through various episodes that our characters were shown taking the information they had been studying in the previous season and directly applying it to a case - The Atlanta Child Murders. I knew nothing about this case prior to this season & thought that it was incredibly heart wrenching as a killer being linked through evidence to the child murders was never identified and so many children had been lost.

In terms of character development, Agent Ford was able to overcome his PTSD introduced in the previous season and proved to be integral in catching a killer responsible for 2 of the deaths. I believe this case worked to show Holden that he must not get caught up in tunnel vision of a "profile" and must in turn learn to look outside the box for clues. Agent Barney's character worked perfectly to point out all the flaws in Ford's process and was also integral in tapping into new leads. Tench's family situation this season brought forth a side of him that interfered with his way of thinking and perceiving killers which led to a more dynamic character and side of him we hadn't seen before. What happened with his son was huge twist and I'm interested to see how everything plays out with his character in Season 3. Wendy seemed to be put on more of a sideline this season in terms of her character's career development, but I am glad we got a closer look into her personal life to better understand her character (as we have already seen the personal lives of Tench and Ford). I found her love story this season (versus another love story of Ford's) was refreshing.

As someone who loved the interview focus in Season 1, I was pleased to see our characters in a more investigative setting this season using the knowledge they had gained. This show deals with such heavy content and this season kept me on the edge of my seat. Superb acting, great writing...I cannot wait for another season!

Footnote uptop this review is for the whole second season! Mindhunter has fast become one of my favourite shows recently and I'd argue one of the greatest currently out there. This is a similarly strong second outing for the show though honestly did leave me wanting a little more (in all the best ways). Positives first! Fincher's influence is clear on this piece and frankly it benefits massively from it, despite being sparingly involved his style and quality does seem over arcing and the first few episodes were truly gripping and haunting in a way similar to the basement scene from Zodiac which nearly made my heart explode from the tension, an ultimate master of thriller. The grim tone never feels overbearing, rather remaining perfectly levelled to still be an enjoyable piece. The main credit I can give season 2 is it's character focus, mainly on Tench and Forde (as you might expect) the pair are put through strain and frankly Tench's personal situation is not only a twist and then some, it's massively impactful for the future hence his return to an empty home at the finale. The 2 are more developed and their new, tiered relationship is well fleshed out. Sadly this comes at the expense of others, particularly Wendy who from memory was a key player in the first, only to be reduced to minor interviews with nothing killers and an odd obsession, almost fetishisation of her lesbianism which even still only gets no more than twenty minutes at most. Additionally she's often caged by Gunn which is uncomfortable to watch as the motive is usually gender. Typically though all else is great, as I said characters are well developed and greatly fleshed out but it does come at a cost of minor ones, the known killers i.e. Manson, Kemper & Berkowitz are all uncanny and are very well played though with the exception of Kemper the others are a little contrived in my eyes. As for negatives, the minor cast of Atlanta were a little divisive for me and the scenes were often meandering blocking our protagonists search in a way not too dissimilar to Wind River, clunky acting. The end title card was haunting as personally I had no knowledge of the Atlanta slayings and was impressed by how the show gave me such a similar dread thanks to the Final outcome of nothing. As for the post credits, the scenes with our mystery man weren't as odd as the first season but are at time very welcome breaks from the procedural aspects and certainly hint at an interesting season 3 and beyond. I'm glad it took an ambitious and grand leap from season 1 and was pleased overall by the quality

Having finished watching the entire Season 2 episodes I feel able to comment on the series as a whole. The episodes themselves were never conclusive, and that led to an increase in tension. Some reviewers found this format 'dull' and 'flat', but I thoroughly enjoyed the build-up of suspense. This series more realistically depicts actual police work, in that there are political tensions, funding restrictions and sometimes not a clean wrap up of events. Also police cases sometimes take months and even years to resolve. This season focussed on the Atlanta Child Murders, while we caught snippets of the BTK killer continuing his grisly obsession in the intros and outros.

The frustrations the BSU faced along the way with not being taken seriously, having budget constraints and all the political pressures brought to bear, for one reason or another, were maddening. The season also highlighted the heartbreaking reality of the slowness with which this series of murders was addressed by authorities, most likely based on the victims' race. There was a lot of nuance in the social commentary on race issues, from different perspectives. Thought provoking and sobering. The conclusion to the murder investigation was sad, very sad, and I was compelled to read further on the subject.

I enjoyed the music, and particularly the music for the story arc of Tench and his wife and son Brian. The heartbreak, anger and frustration were palpable, and the musical motif as Tench wrestled with his feelings every time he was about to enter his own home brought a poignancy to the vignettes.

I also enjoyed the season arc of Dr Carr and her rarely glimpsed vulnerability. Her character was brilliant in interviewing the convicted felon, and there was the stand out scene where she outs herself for the purpose of getting the murderer to talk more.

My only bugbear was that the background jumbled noise was at times too loud and made the dialogue hard to follow. It did lend atmosphere, but was just too loud.

First off I love the show and I loved this season at first but it stalled and fell flat right after the Manson episode. I mean we bail on the whole purpose of the show to be in Atlanta and just get stonewalled for the remaining 4 episodes. If that's the story you want to tell I'm all for it but wrap it up quickly and get to something more compelling where Holden is in a room with the killer more.

Just a few words because others have already pretty much said it. This show's foundation is based on the fascinating interviews with serial killers and violent criminals. The first five episodes leading up to Manson are spot on. Then they go to Atlanta and it becomes like any other civil rights movie. We learn that Atlanta was racist in the 70's and it doesn't matter how hard the good guys work, there is a machine that will cut them off at every point. I sympathize with the women who set this in motion, but it is so tedious and repetitive. I suppose there will be a Season 3 at some point. This was just ordinary stuff that's been done a hundred times before.

Seaon one was better, still seaon two was OK. Until the sudden end which is no end at all for not even one of the main teams of this season.

So disappointing!!

Last episode is basically nothing more than loose ends, trying to drum up a demand for a third season. Everything every episode has let up to, is thrown out for half assed 'ending'.

Look for the Netflix logo before choosing what series or movie to watch next: It's beginning to mean a guarantee for disappointment.

The show was working for awhile, but it dragged on for too long. They didn't just wrap up the case and instead introduced questions and no real moral resolution.

Cut a half hour of this episode and it would have been great. You can probably say that about most of Season 2.

Having watched all nine episodes: here is the hard truth: There are approximately 55 minutes of usable footage in the entire season. Enough to have made one really effective episode. If they had cut the entire lesbian girlfriend story line and the entire 'Tench worrying about his wife and son storyline' (which did nothing but repeat the same exact argument without variation about twelve times which was basically: HER: "You need to quit your job" HIM: "I can't quit my job." HER: "But what about our son?"; And if they had cut all the laughably bad interrogation scenes with known killers (Manson, Burkowitz, etc) none of which worked on any level: bad acting, telegraphed writing, way-over-edited direction; And if they had condensed all of the "mothers of the victims" in Atlanta scenes into one scene (there were about five of them, all giving the exact same information); and if they had used the same technique on all the other scenes that did nothing but repeat ad infinitum, the exact same talking points again and again as if the audience was a bunch of idiots who couldn't retain information; And cut the bad jokes and the driving around in police cars and that painfully awful stakeout montage that did nothing but kill time. Maybe it would have been watchable.

It is so disappointing. There is no conclusion. Nothing... Have to wait another season. Alaonit is very sad to hear 29 childs murders are on the shelf... Final episode also about single living style. Not expect more. It is slow season.