Mindhunter: A Great Choice, My Friend!

In the Netflix original Mindhunter, a hostage situation gone wrong makes FBI negotiator Holden Ford rethink his philosophy on the “irrational” human. Right from the first episode, the viewer can tell that Holden is going to have a lot of trouble finding ways to fight crime in his own way. Unfortunately, the other investigators at the academy see no sense in embracing the “soft approach” of looking deeper into the human psyche. Not long after his latest hostage negotiation attempt, Holden finds himself on the road with Bill Tench, a behavioral science professional from another branch of the FBI. Together, the two of them plan to educate small town police precincts on the new age of crime.

Mindhunter seems to start out following the common plotline where a main character sees a problem with society or common method of doing things. While Bill and Holden travel, all of the local police think the two of them are crazy for suggesting that serial killers aren’t completely evil. It seems kind of ridiculous, but nobody save for the main characters stop to think that serial killers have a deeper thought process than just going on blind killing sprees. I would expect that out of further episodes, Holden will start to get a grasp of the challenge at hand, and he’ll start to actually make some progress.

After watching the first episode of Mindhunter a second time, I started to pick up on some possible foreshadowing. Holden meets Debbie Mitford in a bar, and begins a relationship with her. Debbie is a post-grad student who makes some understated, yet ominous comments about sociological deviance and “playing against type”, suggesting that she isn’t who she appears to be. It may be too early to tell, but plots like these usually end up with the love interest of the main character somehow involved with the more obvious challenge that surrounds the show.

The cinematography of Mindhunter works well with the central theme of the show. Set in the 1970’s, the show frequently displays vintage cars and interior design. We see a lot of this in one of the first scenes at Holden’s apartment and in the car rides with Bill. The color scheme of the show feels bland compared to other shows that take place in a modern setting. Pausing the episode and looking at the scene feels like looking at a photograph from the 1970’s, and I think that is a really neat effect to give the audience. On an even more obvious note, Mindhunter covers a very dark topic, and so it is fitting that the majority of the scenes of the show are dark. I would note that the acting feels somewhat out of place though; characters seem to interact with each other the same way people do nowadays, instead of how I would imagine they would in the ‘70s. I would assume that Holden would talk similar to my grandparents, since he is around the same age that my grandparents would have been in the 70’s, but he seems to talk more like a Millenial.

From what I’ve witnessed in the first episode, I would highly suggest watching Mindhunter. I am left wondering what will happen next, and I expect the rest of the show to be entertaining.