Mindhunter Season 2 Review by Jeff Adamec
September 2, 2019 3:13 pm |
Since 2017 we have been impatiently awaiting the second season of the Netflix Original series Mindhunter Season 2. The David Fincher produced and directed series Mindhunter stars Jonathan Goff (Taking Woodstock,2009) Holt McCallany (Fight Club, 1999), and Anna Torv (Fringe, 2008-2013) as the FBI Behavioral Science Unit, who revolutionized suspect profiling and invented the term serial killer.
Season 1 of this series was a must see when it premiered in 2017. It followed the young and visionary Special Agent Holden Ford (Goff) who along with Special Agent Bill Tench (McCallany) and Dr Wendy Carr (Torv) begin to interview serial killers to understand and dissect the mind of those who are driven by sexual violence to hunt and kill victims. The characters of the FBI team are fictional yet based on the real-life agents John Douglas and Robert Ressler and Dr. Ann Burgess. The killers in the show were not fictional however with season 1 portraying Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton), Richard Speck (Jack Erdie) and Jerry Brudos (Happy Anderson). Cameron Britton (The Umbrella Academy, 2019) stood out with his characterization of Edmund Kemper the named “Co-Ed Killer”. Holden Ford’s story was very much the focus of Season 1 and his interaction with Ed Kemper was a highlight of the season. Season 1 ended with a hospitalized Ed Kemper, visited by Special Agent Ford and after Kemper hugs Ford in gratitude for his visit sends Ford into a stress induced panic attack.
The series was quickly renewed for a second season and the fan base has been awaiting with anticipation for the second season. This anticipation could have resulted in a sophomore slump for the series. Series producer David Fincher directed the first 3 episodes of the new season. It is with full confidence that this author can say that this season is not just a fulfilling follow-up to last season but is arguably much better.
Holden Ford’s character takes a support role in a season that focuses much of its character arc story on Agent Tench and Dr Carr. This storyline is built in the backdrop of the 1979-1980 Atlanta Child Murders. Albert Jones (The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007; American Gangster, 2007) playing Special Agent Jim Barney adds an outsider view of the unit as the local FBI agent in Atlanta who assists the team in navigating the obstacles and traps that are placed in the way of solving the Atlanta Child Murders. The political and tragic environment of the deep South during the child murders brings the reality of race and politics to both the people of Atlanta and the FBI team tasked with using the fledgling profiling process to a city on the edge of a social breakdown.
The season does not stray from its roots in bringing real world killers and their interviews to the viewers. With Cameron Britton reprising his role of Ed Kemper again with brilliance. Sonny Valicenti who played Dennis Radar A.K.A the Bind Torture Kill (BTK) Killer in season one gets numerous highlights that predict where the series storyline continues to be headed. The show also has David Berkowitz or The Son of Sam, Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. and Charles Manson along with some other notorious serial killers. These scenes and relevant additions to the tale give insight and relevance to much of the series’ underlying themes.
The Season 2 of Mindhunter can be, without a doubt, added to the years best television and should not be missed by any fans or newcomers to the series. This is another homerun by David Fincher both in production and his directing of the first three episodes. The cast and crew have done a fantastic job with bringing the times they are set in to life and give the characters real depth. I am looking forward to a third season and even knowing the outcome of many of these real-world crimes cannot predict the final stories for the main characters.
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Tags: David Finch, Mindhunter Season 2, Mindhunter Season 2 Netflix 2019, pop culture leftovers
Categorised in: Television Reviews
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