Mindhunter

trytofly

Jedi Master
In the late 1970s two FBI agents expand criminal science by delving into the psychology of murder.

MINDHUNTER is an interesting serie inspired by real facts co-produced, and directed on a few episodes, by David Fincher.
(The subtitled scene when the music is too loud to hear the discussion, made me think to the directing to David Lynch in the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.)

I have only seen half of the season for the moment, but the series looks much more realistic than usuals series on serial killers. The psychological aspect is put forward. The beginning of the FBI's trial and error in understanding the psychopathy of criminals seems to be the main point.

Although the series obviously focuses on serial killers, there are clearly some clues about psychopathy in a more general sense.

"_Psychopaths are gifted people. They shine in the art of imitating most human emotions. That's how they manipulate others and take control of their circle."

"_...the white-collar criminals ... they all have psychopathic behavior."

"_How can one become president of the united states when one is sociopathic ?
_The good question to ask is how can one become president of the united states when one is not !"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZCfRD_zWE
 
Seen it. It was an interesting synchronicity that one of the serial killers they are interviewing in order to try and glean some insight for the purpose of profiling is Richard Speck. One of the examples talked about in 'Anatomy of Violence' which I was reading at the time. A Netflix original.
 
Thebull said:
I watched the whole series it was a very good show. Well worth a watch imo.
They have commissioned season 2 so it will be interesting to see how they follow on. The show jumps to a case that happened between 79-81 and it seems that this runs throughout season 2.

The quotes trytofly mentioned really caught my interest and the show developed well. I found the characters interesting. I especially enjoyed Holdens relationship with his girlfriend and how their discussion’s helped him gain insights in the show.
 
Thebull said:
I watched the whole series it was a very good show. Well worth a watch imo.

I second that. I love detective stories and this one was an interesting surprise. A couple of the topics discussed at the beginning of the series, and the mention of Cleckley's, The Mask of Sanity, made me search for the sources of the creators. And it turns out that the series is based on a book by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker, psychological profilers of violent criminals from the FBI Investigative Support Unit, back in the 70s: Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit

I bought it a couple of weeks ago and haven't started reading it, so I don't know if the series is true to the book. It's also interesting to note some personality traits and development of the main character in the series.
 
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According to French wikipedia on Robert Ressler, John E. Douglas is also one of his FBI colleagues.
Both would have inspired the main characters of the series.

As a reminder, Robert Ressler is the author of the book "Whoever Fights Monsters" recommended by Laura.

https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,44650.300.html

"Samenow and Ressler don't give a hoot about the mechanics of the brain in technical terms; they are interested in its output. They don't even care about emotions; they are only concerned with thinking processes. As they point out, it is thoughts that trigger emotions and many - if not most - people operate with serious thinking errors. In many cases, these thinking errors grow and develop over time. That's the scary part.

These "thinking errors", from our perspective, are pretty much just "wishful thinking" and serious dissociating into fantasy. On this, "The Myth of the Out of Character Crime" is the clearest exposition. He uses his notes from interviews to illustrate actual case histories.

There is the same thread of "thinking errors" highlighted in Ressler's book about FBI profiling. In this book, the crimes are a LOT worse than the ones that Samenow writes about. But the same basic cause is highlighted: wishful thinking and dissociation, i.e. thinking errors; the person comes to prefer or believe their fantasies over reality."
 
I'm also a lover of detective mysteries and I enjoyed this series as well. Its starts off slow but picks up after a few episodes. All good comments here already and the series is synchronistic with the discussion https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,45113.0.html .

A highlight for me was the performance by Cameron Britton who plays Ed Kemper. Brittons portrayal is of a low key odd ball which is more entertaining then the real Ed Kemper who was particularly "normal" in his presentation to others. The affect he had on others, victims and even the police is interesting. His aura of being "just a regular guy" was so thoroughly convincing women would still get into his car even though they knew a killer was picking up girls on the campus. He also regularly pestered policeman working on his case (unknown to them) at a local diner to get information. To them he was only a harmless nusense. He claimed he would never have been caught if he hadn't chosen to be.

Ed Kemper was very tall and imposing at 6'9" and Cameron was likely chosen for his similar appearance.


https://youtu.be/FKIkMWmu1hY


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kemper
 

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Since they kept teasing it in season 1, it will be interesting to see them deal with the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader, in season 2. What a strange, fascinating portrait of a psychopath...


https://youtu.be/UlWqj4n7AGg
 
I’m going to check this out...I saw this on Netflix and wondered if it was any good. Glad I found this thread
 
I watched a couple of episodes, the character Bill Tench who is based on Robert K. Ressler is really well done, and several points from Whoever Fights Monsters are made throughout the series. It's well produced and I was suprised by the slow pace of the show.
 
I just started watching this series again and was curious about Season 3. It looks like they've cancelled it:

Fans were devastated when Netflix cancelled their series Mindhunter. Although reasons for the show’s abandonment are disappointing for viewers of the show, fans were certainly enjoying the series and eagerly wanted more. Of course, it’s been unclear what direction the series would have went on for its third season. Now the second season’s director, Andrew Dominik, has opened up about their plans for Mindhunter Season 3.

As revealed in an interview with Collider, it appears that the third season for the show would’ve actually taken place in Hollywood. It would’ve shown “profiling making it into the sort of zeitgeist, the public consciousness.” This definitely sounds as though the series would’ve moved into some exciting territories.

Here’s what he had to say in full about the cancelled plans for Mindhunter Season 3:

“What they were going to do with Season 3 was they were going to go [to] Hollywood,” he explained. “So one of them was going to be hooking up with Jonathan Demme and the other one was going to be hooking up with Michael Mann. And it was all going to be about profiling making it into the sort of zeitgeist, the public consciousness. It would’ve been… That was the season everyone was really waiting for to do, with when they sort of get out of the basement and start.”

For those that are unfamiliar with the referenced directors, Jonathan Demme directed the notorious film The Silence of the Lambs with actor Anthony Hopkins. Michael Mann directed its underrated predecessor, however, titled Manhunter (which was an adaptation of Red Dragon.) So while the timeline likely wouldn’t have dealt directly with the production of these films, it still would’ve been an exciting look at Hollywood and how the public was beginning to understand profiling.

Of course, the long-term plans for the series would’ve branched off much further than that. As teased in the original two seasons, the show was gradually building up the presence of Dennis Rader aka the BTK Killer. With the cancellation of Mindhunter, it looks like fans are going to be missing out on quite a bit.
 
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