Review: Mindhunter

Holt McCallany plays FBI agent Bill Tench & Jonathan Groff (right) plays FBI agent Holden Ford in Mindhunter

     Mindhunter is a crime television show on Netflix that was created by Joe Penhall and executive produced by David Fincher and Charlize Theron. Mindhunter is based on true events which tells the story of how beginning in 1977, the F.B.I. developed criminal profiling and criminal psychology to solve crimes. Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) who is based on real life F.B.I. agent John E. Douglas and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) who is based on real life F.B.I. agent Robert K. Ressler travel the country interviewing serial killers in prison in order to learn how murderers think in order to prevent future crimes and solve current murders. Their colleague is Dr. Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) who is based on real life criminal profiler Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, who would later coauthor a book with Douglas and Ressler about their work profiling serial killers.

     The performances by the actors in this series are phenomenal. There are so many good acting performances on TV these days that it’s almost impossible to choose who should win an Emmy. Johnathan Groff’s performance as Holden Ford, the young stiff F.B.I. agent gets better with every episode as he starts to show some of the traits of the killers that he is interviewing. Holt McCallany’s role as Bill Tench is great because everything he does from how he looks to how he acts shows the viewer that this is a no-nonsense and old school F.B.I agent.  Anna Torv’s performance as Dr. Wendy Carr is strong as well as she conveys the annoyance Carr feels when she is unable to get Ford and Tench to adopt more formal procedures when interviewing serial killers. As the season goes on, all three characters’ work winds up taking a toll on their personal lives which affects their relationships with their significant others.

     The best performance in Mindhunter is from Cameron Britton who plays Ed Kemper, a six foot nine serial killer that murdered co-eds hitchhiking around Fresno State and defiled their corpses. Kemper acts as the Hannibal Lecter to Ford and Tench by providing key insights into the minds of serial killers. Most of Kemper’s dialogue on the show is taken straight from the interviews he has given over the years. Britton’s performance is gripping in every scene that he is in. He imitates Kemper’s voice, mannerisms, and facial expressions perfectly. When he speaks, you can see how Kemper was able to get away with so many murders. Britton’s performance is charming and intelligent yet there is total emptiness in his eyes. In one scene Kemper, Ford, and Tench all have pizza and make small talk just moments after Kemper coldly describes how he murdered his victims. The two agents have been lulled into a false sense of security by Kemper. The exact same false sense of security many of his victims felt. Kemper had the same exact demeanor in real life. Cameron Britton’s performance is one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen on a TV show. The role of Ed Kemper should be considered un-castable because he is such a unique individual in terms of how he looks and speaks. Hopefully, Britton doesn’t get typecast as murderous psychopaths because Britton is a truly gifted actor and deserves a wider variety of roles.

     Another thing that struck me about Mindhunter is that it isn’t gory besides one moment in the first episode. David Fincher, who directed most of the episodes on this show knows that people’s imaginations are more powerful and scary than what could be show on screen. In fact, no murders are actually depicted on Mindhunter. That’s because Mindhunter is a show about the nature of American violence. The show explores why starting in the mid-sixties, crime in America started to get even more violent and make even less sense because they seem to lack a clear motive. Is American violence getting more chaotic because society is coming apart at the seams due to events like the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War, and civil unrest or is it something more elusive? Mindhunter doesn’t answer these questions. In fact, Mindhunter raises more questions than answers about violence in America.

      If you’re a fan of true crime and police procedurals, then Mindhunter is a show that will leave you absolutely enthralled. The first episode is a bit slow but once Ed Kemper is introduced in episode two the show hits the ground running. This show explores murder in America in such a way that this show almost feels like a documentary in certain instances. I would highly recommend this show as it is an absolutely thrilling watch.

            Overall Rating: ****1/2