Netflix’s breakout series Mindhunter is based on the best-selling book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas. The series debuted on Netflix in the beginning of October and has taken off with viewers.
Mindhunter gives a look into the thought process of terrifying murderers through the lens of a young, do-good FBI agent, Holden Ford. The show features intriguing interviews between FBI agents and murderers based on real interview transcripts. The show is the ultimate combination of an ongoing plot and individual murder-mystery cases. As a part of the Elite Serial Crime Unit, Holden and his FBI agent sidekick, Bill Tench, travel the country teaching techniques to local police departments while interviewing famous killers for a research study.
The show takes place in the late ’70s and chronicles the development of modern research and its trials and errors along the way. The term “serial killer” didn’t exist back then yet, so Holden and Bill have to prove the relevance of their research to the FBI with considerable backlash. Dive into the mental thought process of serial killers and Holden and Bill’s analysis of their thinking — it will leave you constantly wanting more. The show isn’t too graphic, but it’s got meticulous details about the crimes. Don’t worry, it will still leave enough for the imagination.
Mindhunter is anything but a typical murder mystery. It stands out by analyzing famous yet horrific killers from an academic perspective. It focus not on looking for killers but on how to prevent them with knowledge about their violent patterns and sequences.
The show asks the same questions we are still asking today, like the “how” and “why” of motives. Holden, despite his intensive research, still says “we don’t know anymore what moves people to kill each other.” The characters are on a quest for answers, not just a quest for the murderer. The deep, thought-provoking hunt that Holden and his FBI team venture on leaves the audience asking questions, thinking from a different perspective and looking past just the “how and the “why”.
Season 1 of Mindhunters is now available to stream on Netflix.