mindhunter season 2
Aug. 19th, 2019 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivarocksteadyMy thoughts on Mindhunter season 2!
Overall I very much liked this season, but I have one big, and predictable (if you know me) gripe about it.
The first episode felt like the show sat me down and said "Hey Viva, how would you like it if Bill basically flat out said to Holden I'm going to be your work dad?" And I said "Wow, show, I would like that very much!"
And then Bill does almost NO work dadding, because he's too busy parenting his actual child, and doing a very poor job of that to boot!
I didn't dislike the Brian story, though I was surprised they went THAT dark and extreme so fast, I'm just saying that they promised me something and then didn't deliver.
Ditto Holden's panic disorder! I kept waiting for it to come back, and it never did. :( I wish they actually SHOWED him either trying to manage it, or neglecting to manage it, and the fallout from it. I know he almost got there when Bill snapped at him, but I also think when he was trying to get the crosses up last minute, and when Bill lost it during the Manson interview, were both opportunities to show Holden dealing with his panic. I mean, I think he WAS freaking out in the cross scene, and I liked the visual style they used there, but I think there could have been more.
I mean, Wendy telling Holden that his panic attacks came from being vulnerable set up an expectation in me that we'd see a lot of vulnerable Holden (aka my favourite thing in the world) and then we didn't :( :( :( :( :(
But overall I did enjoy it, and I'm sure I'll watch it again and again just like I did season one. I still like Bill even though he's SO FRUSTRATING. I still like Bill and Holden's relationship. I loved it when Holden cattily dropped Bill's betting form out the window. I really just wish we could have had more of them working together.
I REALLY liked Jim Barney. He's a good foil for Holden in interviews, without being Bill-like. I liked this aspect of Holden's character that he can't seem to empathize with poorly educated people, or people he sees as unintelligent. (Holden you SNOB!) I loved Kemper taking him down a peg by telling him he's only studied killers who have been caught. Could have done with Holden getting taken down a few more pegs, but that's probably always going to be true!
I like what they did with Gregg-- I kept saying "get out of here, Gregg!" but he does add some levity and breaks the group tension a bit, and has a few good insights. I really liked when he tried to pick up the black kids and got yelled at. I could use more of Holden talking him into harebrained schemes! However, I wasn't feeling his presence in the interviews as much. If Wendy is going to do interviews, I'd rather her do them with Holden or Bill somehow. (And also, obviously I would have loved that leatherman killer to have been interviewed by Holden...)
I still really like Wendy, and I'm glad she got to have a new relationship. It was REALLY exciting to see her be vulnerable outside of work. But I wasn't super invested in that relationship and I'm not sure how well that developed Wendy's character-- though now that I think about it I'll probably have to watch it again. I know her journey with Kay was also tied to her journey doing the interviews, and I liked her struggling with the idea of being out versus "compartmentalizing."
But if I had to choose, I'd honestly just want more interviews? That's also because I REALLY missed all the interviews, and especially missed them returning for follow-ups. I wish Wendy could have gone back to both the killers she interviewed. She was good at it, and like I said, I'd love to see her in an interview with either Bill or Holden.
I'm also really glad they didn't make Holden have another love interest this season. I liked his little initial crush on Tanya, but honestly that's just because I love seeing Holden be clueless. (Also "what does ten dollars usually buy?" and the Candyman thing, hahahaha)
Anyway, I'm glad that didn't lead to anything, because that dynamic would have been so uneven (even though Holden is so powerless to women in other ways, given the cluelessness... I guess that's the subject for another post!)
I honestly still don't know what I feel about the Atlanta case at all. That's such a squidgy, uncomfortable case IRL. I'm surprised they didn't make more of the gay panic around it. I would have liked them to talk about that more. Maybe more of that happened after Wayne B Williams was arrested, though? I only really know about this case because of that podcast (Atlanta Monster), and I'm not sure it presented everything chronologically.
I especially would have liked to see Holden and Bill progress a TINY bit more from "he's killing gay kids because he's gay and hates himself." IDK. I DO NOT expect either of them to be woke by any means, but a TINY bit of progression would be nice.
Did Nancy get a bit of a retcon? In the first season she wanted to take Brian to music therapy and Bill was the one who was balking. It seemed a bit weird to me now that she's the one who resisted the idea of "special education." I also really hope the show doesn't just put Brian on the path of being violent without at least being thoughtful about it. In an ideal world they could accept that he IS atypical, get him a diagnosis, and give him the support he needs instead of just blindly FEARING him.
But I guess it's only 1980, and we have three people studying psychology in criminals who refuse to see therapists themselves, so I'm kind of dreaming here. But if Brian being treated properly is off the table, I would at least like the show to acknowledge that nature versus nurture is actually a very fine line. Hopefully that will become more clear as their understanding of psychology deepens.
I did really like that Bill was clearly very affected by this business with Brian. He does love Nancy and Brian, even though he's just such a typically shitty dad. It would be nice if, one day, when a judge says "these kids are bad from the start" he might have a better reaction. IDK though. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right?
SO! Final verdict! I really liked it, but having the characters so separate from each other ended up minimizing the dynamics I like the most, particularly Holden and Bill on the road. But now that they've set up that the BSU can go out to any active serial killer, maybe we'll go back to that premise, and have them out interviewing killers and solving cases in S3.
Anyways, I should probably get to the ten million fic ideas I want to write!
Overall I very much liked this season, but I have one big, and predictable (if you know me) gripe about it.
The first episode felt like the show sat me down and said "Hey Viva, how would you like it if Bill basically flat out said to Holden I'm going to be your work dad?" And I said "Wow, show, I would like that very much!"
And then Bill does almost NO work dadding, because he's too busy parenting his actual child, and doing a very poor job of that to boot!
I didn't dislike the Brian story, though I was surprised they went THAT dark and extreme so fast, I'm just saying that they promised me something and then didn't deliver.
Ditto Holden's panic disorder! I kept waiting for it to come back, and it never did. :( I wish they actually SHOWED him either trying to manage it, or neglecting to manage it, and the fallout from it. I know he almost got there when Bill snapped at him, but I also think when he was trying to get the crosses up last minute, and when Bill lost it during the Manson interview, were both opportunities to show Holden dealing with his panic. I mean, I think he WAS freaking out in the cross scene, and I liked the visual style they used there, but I think there could have been more.
I mean, Wendy telling Holden that his panic attacks came from being vulnerable set up an expectation in me that we'd see a lot of vulnerable Holden (aka my favourite thing in the world) and then we didn't :( :( :( :( :(
But overall I did enjoy it, and I'm sure I'll watch it again and again just like I did season one. I still like Bill even though he's SO FRUSTRATING. I still like Bill and Holden's relationship. I loved it when Holden cattily dropped Bill's betting form out the window. I really just wish we could have had more of them working together.
I REALLY liked Jim Barney. He's a good foil for Holden in interviews, without being Bill-like. I liked this aspect of Holden's character that he can't seem to empathize with poorly educated people, or people he sees as unintelligent. (Holden you SNOB!) I loved Kemper taking him down a peg by telling him he's only studied killers who have been caught. Could have done with Holden getting taken down a few more pegs, but that's probably always going to be true!
I like what they did with Gregg-- I kept saying "get out of here, Gregg!" but he does add some levity and breaks the group tension a bit, and has a few good insights. I really liked when he tried to pick up the black kids and got yelled at. I could use more of Holden talking him into harebrained schemes! However, I wasn't feeling his presence in the interviews as much. If Wendy is going to do interviews, I'd rather her do them with Holden or Bill somehow. (And also, obviously I would have loved that leatherman killer to have been interviewed by Holden...)
I still really like Wendy, and I'm glad she got to have a new relationship. It was REALLY exciting to see her be vulnerable outside of work. But I wasn't super invested in that relationship and I'm not sure how well that developed Wendy's character-- though now that I think about it I'll probably have to watch it again. I know her journey with Kay was also tied to her journey doing the interviews, and I liked her struggling with the idea of being out versus "compartmentalizing."
But if I had to choose, I'd honestly just want more interviews? That's also because I REALLY missed all the interviews, and especially missed them returning for follow-ups. I wish Wendy could have gone back to both the killers she interviewed. She was good at it, and like I said, I'd love to see her in an interview with either Bill or Holden.
I'm also really glad they didn't make Holden have another love interest this season. I liked his little initial crush on Tanya, but honestly that's just because I love seeing Holden be clueless. (Also "what does ten dollars usually buy?" and the Candyman thing, hahahaha)
Anyway, I'm glad that didn't lead to anything, because that dynamic would have been so uneven (even though Holden is so powerless to women in other ways, given the cluelessness... I guess that's the subject for another post!)
I honestly still don't know what I feel about the Atlanta case at all. That's such a squidgy, uncomfortable case IRL. I'm surprised they didn't make more of the gay panic around it. I would have liked them to talk about that more. Maybe more of that happened after Wayne B Williams was arrested, though? I only really know about this case because of that podcast (Atlanta Monster), and I'm not sure it presented everything chronologically.
I especially would have liked to see Holden and Bill progress a TINY bit more from "he's killing gay kids because he's gay and hates himself." IDK. I DO NOT expect either of them to be woke by any means, but a TINY bit of progression would be nice.
Did Nancy get a bit of a retcon? In the first season she wanted to take Brian to music therapy and Bill was the one who was balking. It seemed a bit weird to me now that she's the one who resisted the idea of "special education." I also really hope the show doesn't just put Brian on the path of being violent without at least being thoughtful about it. In an ideal world they could accept that he IS atypical, get him a diagnosis, and give him the support he needs instead of just blindly FEARING him.
But I guess it's only 1980, and we have three people studying psychology in criminals who refuse to see therapists themselves, so I'm kind of dreaming here. But if Brian being treated properly is off the table, I would at least like the show to acknowledge that nature versus nurture is actually a very fine line. Hopefully that will become more clear as their understanding of psychology deepens.
I did really like that Bill was clearly very affected by this business with Brian. He does love Nancy and Brian, even though he's just such a typically shitty dad. It would be nice if, one day, when a judge says "these kids are bad from the start" he might have a better reaction. IDK though. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right?
SO! Final verdict! I really liked it, but having the characters so separate from each other ended up minimizing the dynamics I like the most, particularly Holden and Bill on the road. But now that they've set up that the BSU can go out to any active serial killer, maybe we'll go back to that premise, and have them out interviewing killers and solving cases in S3.
Anyways, I should probably get to the ten million fic ideas I want to write!