Mindhunters: Season One
If you’re a sucker for true crime and if Criminal Minds is your go to binge watching show, then I highly suggest you start watching one of my favorite shows that Netflix has ever produced: Mindhunters.
SPOILER WARNING: I will try not to expose too much of the plot, but if you are at all interested in watching and figuring out the show for yourself, please, do NOT read this article. Come back and read it when you’re finished (there are only two seasons… so far)!
I had seen this show cross my Netflix feed one or two times and never really gave it a chance. The cover at the time didn’t look interesting enough and honestly I was able to find enough satisfaction from YouTube videos and my TikTok for you page that I didn’t feel the need to start a new Netflix show. But one day I was listening to a new podcast I had started that was related to true crime and more specifically, serial killers. I have always been intrigued, in fact, originally my minor was going to be in Criminal Justice and I was going to specialize in investigative reporting. When I was listening to a podcast episode on Jerry Brudos, the host pointed out the stellar performance of an actor who played him on the show Mindhunters. It sounded interesting and intriguing. I wanted to give it a chance.
So, I did. My friend Rachel and I had a day to ourselves and we binge watched the first season. Absolutely. Incredible. From the first few minutes of the first episode I knew I was going to be hooked. While the show did start off with a bang (quite literally, may I add) it slowed down the second after the introductory credits rolled through. I expected that and to be fair, every good show has to set up the boring background and plot before you get to the exciting stuff.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, Mindhunters explores the life and career of Holden Ford and his new partner Bill Tench as they navigate through their job at the FBI working in the new behavioral science unit, and the show takes place in the 1970s when the BSU was just getting their feet wet.
Throughout the season you see Holden transition from being a hostage negotiator to wanting to contribute and educate others on why the criminals they catch do the things they do. Agent Ford is very passionate about his job, however, his drive and determination to receive the answers he wants from criminals can get him into lots of trouble. His partner, Agent Tench, is the opposite. It’s obvious that Tench isn’t too excited and doesn’t see the potential in the future of the BSU. In fact, Tench is a lot more concerned with his family and those relationships. However, it becomes quite clear that Tench will be more dedicated to his job then he will ever be toward his family.
The first season is the beginning and can get quite boring from time to time. It may get confusing with all the random clips of the BTK before an episode starts (it doesn’t get explained in the first two seasons so be prepared to never have that resolved… for now…) but overall the show does a very good job of showing the challenges and behind the scenes pioneer days of the BSU and it not being taken seriously at first. But when they finally get going… boy do they get going.
The show starts to pick up the pace when they start interviewing their first serial killer, Edmund Kemper. Edmund was a real serial killer who killed in the early 60s to the early 70s. He is a very intriguing character and Cameron Britton, who played this challenging character, did a phenomenal job portraying the oddly personable and somewhat likeable Kemper. Throughout this season and the second season this relationship is highly regarded and addressed in many episodes as Kemper served as the pilot serial killer for their interviewing process.
A few episodes in, Tench and Ford try and solve local murder cases with the insight from Kemper but realize they need to do a lot more interviews and studying to see patterns. There are many more serial killers who get introduced throughout the first season such as Jerry Brudos and Richard Speck.
I will probably make another post about season two in case you want more insight from me. However, if you are at all interested in this show I highly recommend giving it a try. I have recommended it to every single one of my friends, my parents, and my sister. If I could, I would make my dog sit down and watch it. It’s that good. You can find Mindhunters of Netflix and the first two seasons are available. Each season is about 10-20 episodes, but it goes by quickly. There are talks of contract renewal for the third season. So, if you see me I will be patiently waiting by my TV for the next season to finally arrive.
Comments