MINDHUNTER

The first episode, by Fincher, is ironically the weakest. He slowly lays the cards on the table and it's not terribly interesting in the overload of dialogue, but from the second episode, from the meeting with Ed Kamper, things start to pick up and you just watch in fascination the main character's transformation from a nobody to an arrogant genius investigator. I consider the interrogation of the dude in the last episode to be the best thing I've seen in series production in years. I want the second season now!!! (09.01.2018)

Eine brutal komplexe Studie über menschliches Verhalten, die den extremen Gefängnisstoff immer wieder subtil in den Alltag der Hauptfiguren überträgt. Das Gefühl für Detail, rhythmische Dialoge, Ironie und ungeschminkte Spannung "im Hintergrund" machen diese Serie zur Serie des Jahres. (12.11.2017)

There´s a tension. Zodiac goes Mad Men. Precisely refined (in all respects, from every single shot through every single sentence to every single actor regardless of the extent of the role / bit) distinguished slow-flowing procedural analytical thriller based purely on dialogs, which are packed with just as impressively subliminal tension and freezing atmosphere as the Zodiac. Not only the atmosphere will get under your skin but also ambivalence of deeds of the “good guys". The authors will let you grope in the moral gray zone about when, where and how good intentions become the famous road to hell. So, if you like "your Fincher" in the dampen, reserved and cold mode demanding a patient viewer à la Zodiac / House of Cards, then you must not (and especially don´t want) miss this masterpiece. Too bad the (non-existing) end of the introductory series didn´t do the job.| S1: 5/5 | | S2: 4/5 | (13.10.2017)

After a long time of procrastination, I finally got into Mindhunter and finished both seasons in a couple of days. Season 1 honestly didn't blow me away that much, it took me a while to get used to the slow pacing, the lack of violence and the action definitely frustrated me, but the closer it got to the end the more the series gradually won me over. The finale of the 1st season is very intense and made me want to watch the second season immediately, and I finished that one in one day. The interviews with the serial killers are definitely disturbing and some of the best the series has to offer. I was downright blown away when the storyline moved to Atlanta halfway through season 2, during the hunt for the killer of 25 children, where the police had almost no evidence. That's where David Fincher was at his strongest, in a stiffing and uncompromising atmosphere. Both FBI actors are excellent and Anna Torv downright annoyed me how unlikeable and cold she was. The disturbing music is also excellent. The series is definitely memorable and it's a shame there won't be another season. Story*****, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence*, Funniness*****, Music*****, Visuals*****, Atmosphere*****, Suspense*****. 9/10. (16.02.2021)

Season 1 – 80% – An extremely dense experience, exactly as I expected, given David Fincher's involvement. Technically brilliant, obsessed with professional techniques and factual accuracy – and somewhat unfriendly towards the main characters and almost anti-viewer. The exploration of individual questions and emotionally uncomfortable interviews always end right where they are supposed to, in theory. We can immediately forget about any chase with a cunning villain. When Holden's team presents their theory to me, the case is (at least temporarily) over and we move on to the next chapter. Nothing more, nothing less – and I say this fully aware that Fincher's work can be analyzed and dissected extensively, but in this case, the thought-provoking elements seem either trivial or amusingly strained, like Wendy and her trips for a cat. The whole endeavor rises and falls with the intensity of a specific case, with the emptiness in the eyes of the interrogated, but primarily with the speed at which the viewer believes Jonathan Groff as an FBI agent. Season 2 – 60% – It's as if the enthusiasm for the project disappeared along with all the promises of what awaits us in the long-planned seasons. The format has nowhere else to go, the personal storylines of Bill and Wendy appear somewhat randomly, and in the first case, suspiciously conveniently, and Jonathan Groff seems to have nothing to play except for the opening scenes. What's more, in the last episodes, the series voluntarily gives up its greatest advantage, which is traveling to prisons where unpredictable objects are hidden. The deviation towards closely examined series of events in Atlanta takes away the hypnotic originality from Mindhunter and turns it into an interchangeable contribution to the currently popular "true crime" subgenre. I couldn't justify giving it a lower rating even to myself, but the dragged-out conclusion is responsible for the fact that the (temporary?) hiatus of the series was actually a relief. (07.12.2017)

Mindhunter provided me with my strongest TV experience of 2017. If there is anything that could harm it in the eyes of viewers, it is somewhat paradoxically its connection with David Fincher, from whom, as the author of the legendary film Seven, you expect a bit of thrilling excitement and corresponding genre elements. Gunfights, chases, and fights are something you would search for in vain in Mindhunter. The categorization of a thriller seems somewhat confusing to me because it is much more of a psychological drama, which reminds me a bit of the HBO series In Treatment. Nevertheless, such precisely modeled, convincing, and charismatic characters are practically non-existent elsewhere in other series to this extent. Every detail fits perfectly, which can play and often does play its role in the story's structure. If you don't mind that the series is mainly driven by dialogues, give it a chance and watch two intellectuals in the ranks of the FBI who, along with their colleague from the civilian sector, try to lay the foundations of behavioral science, use it in practice, and repeatedly come into contact with multiple murderers and psychopaths, which of course has an impact on their own psyche. For me, this is the highest level of sophistication that I probably won't get to indulge in again soon as a fan of various series. Overall impression: 95%. (01.01.2018)

Season One: A clever interview drama drawing on reality that tries to answer one of the many varieties of the question why… Fincher’s sure directing has anchored itself in a style somewhere between Zodiac and Mad Men and adds brilliant interviews with then still serial killers. Analytic dialogs dissect the worst of us and we realize with horror that it’s not just them whole are strange. A fantastic cast, including (or in fact primarily) murderers makes Mindhunter the biggest treat of this season. The movie provokes horror not by visual imaging of murder, but talking about it. Season Two: A very peculiar type of fear served to the viewer on a silver tray. In this film terror stems from everyday, comprehensible situations that could happen right next door to you, or even to you (a late issued search warrant). The last season was mainly about Kemper’s interviews with Ford, while here McCallany’s Tench comes to the fore. The storyline about the baby on the cross, with the undertones of Hill’s decaying musical score, sometimes slowing the pulse more than can be endured. It’s unpleasantly tangible and often overshadows the search for black children that is of key importance for Atlanta PD. This time, interrogations are not the main focus of events, which means that the important ones even more pithy. Manson’s solo is excellent, of course, but he certainly isn’t alone. The best crime movie for the past few years, and all dressed in a perfect Fincher overcoat. (27.11.2017)

A cold and ultra-carefully shot crime procedural for demanding viewers who this time don’t need any major twists, but are rather content with being presented very small pieces that fit unobtrusively into a large mosaic. (27.02.2022)