Mindhunter

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flyonthewall2983
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Re: Mindhunter

#26 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:46 am

S2 was an improvement on some levels, but it dragged a little further in some respects. Especially the more personal sub-plots, but one of them made excellent use of Holt McCallany so it wasn't entirely disengaging.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Mindhunter

#27 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:09 am

I thought it was a major improvement, balancing compelling narratives about the characters' personal lives and the interviews in a more sensible way. Yes, some of it is a little pat with regard to the parallels drawn between the interviews and what is going on with those subplots, but I'll be damned if episode 5 of the second season isn't one of the best episodes of television ever made - the Manson interview is executed perfectly and works so well within the context of the horrors going on with Bill's family. Excellent season of television helmed by three great directors, worth wading through the sometimes exhausting first season to get to this.

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Big Ben
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Re: Mindhunter

#28 Post by Big Ben » Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:04 pm

I only recently finished the Second Season's Third Episode but I'm quite pleased with what I've seen so far. It's a deeply unsettling show that shows a great deal of restraint. In a world where crime procedural show focus more on shock value and gore (See: Criminal Minds) this is really refreshing change.

I really "liked" the way Fincher shot a scene in the second episode:
SpoilerShow
We know the young man has a mauled face from a gunshot but we never really see anything past intentional obfuscation. It's a distressing scene not only because of the verbal descriptions of the BTK crime scene but also due to the intentional denial of visual information. Really unsettling stuff.

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Andre Jurieu
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
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Re: Mindhunter

#29 Post by Andre Jurieu » Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:44 pm

mfunk9786 wrote: ↑
Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:09 am
... I'll be damned if episode 5 of the second season isn't one of the best episodes of television ever made - the Manson interview is executed perfectly and works so well within the context of the horrors going on with Bill's family.
Haven't finished the entire season just yet, but I have to agree with the praise for that scene. It would just be a showy Manson-scene without the entirely believable battle being waged by Bill throughout the interview.

I also have to say that - so far at least - I'm really enjoying the sub-plot involving Wendy's personal life. The first season didn't really provide the character with much, so the focus on her life outside work has been interesting.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Mindhunter

#30 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Aug 22, 2019 6:22 pm

Bill mocking Holden's reverence for Manson was a nice touch too.

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Wowee Zowee
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:29 am

Re: Mindhunter

#31 Post by Wowee Zowee » Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:07 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote: ↑
Mon Aug 19, 2019 12:46 am
S2 was an improvement on some levels, but it dragged a little further in some respects. Especially the more personal sub-plots, but one of them made excellent use of Holt McCallany so it wasn't entirely disengaging.
I might be the only one who missed there being a subplot involving Holden this season. Part of what I liked about season 1 was the balancing act between his naive but curious beginnings to being an overly confident/arrogant profiler juxatopsed with the relationship to his girlfriend (and a glimpse into the academia environment of a post-Watergate/Vietnam 70s). You get him going down on her and then deciding for the F.B.I. that cunnilingus is no longer a deviant term. By the end of the season, you get him
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confronting her and analyzing their breakup
like it is one of the crime scenes he we've seen him investigate. I suppose there wasn't much more you could do there in season 2, and if they tried it would have felt hollow and diminished the quality of the new episodes.

So instead we get subplots involving Bill and Dr. Carr. Both felt heavy handed at times, but both had there moments. We see Dr. Carr's personal life dovetail with her work (like Holden in season 1) during her interview scene with Dean Corll, one of my favorite moments in the new season. And of course Bill's troubles with his son directly relate to his profession, cutting him like a knife during the brilliant Charles Manson interview. I got a kick out of the sequence where he is late for the appointment with the social worker. His wife gets upset at him bringing up the Charles Manson interview, only to have their case worker respond with glee.

Being from Atlanta and having been obsessed with the child murders case for a long time, it was a bit surreal to see these characters I like so much (glad the Jim Barney character got an expanded role!) take this on. I did think about what I would have done differently (the timeline for this season seems to go from c.1978/9 to 1981 way too fast), but overall I thought it was very well done. This is still one of the most cinematic TV shows I've ever seen, which has a lot to do with some good directors (or great in Fincher's case) behind the camera. Season 2 is a different beast than the first season, and a succesful one at that. I hope they can keep this quality going if there is a third season.


flyonthewall2983
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Re: Mindhunter

#33 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:26 pm

I won't be too sad if this is because Fincher wants to get back into making features.

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