Mindhunter (2017) s02e08 – Episode 8

Do you know why Anna Torv got a girlfriend story arc this season? Why we’ve been getting to know Lauren Glazier since the first episode? Is it to give Torv some character development? Because… there isn’t any. I mean, not enough—given how all of the characters function when they’re at work—so not enough to matter. Not enough you couldn’t have removed Glazier’s scenes from every episode and it wouldn’t be any different in the end. The end being as “Mindhunter” intensifies the Atlanta Child Murder case; see, Hoyt McCallany and Jonathan Groff are really doing the first on the ground BSU consult. It’s “Criminal Minds: Year Zero.” And, you know, actually good. And also historical, which is its own thing.

There’s time in the episode for McCallany to go home and check in on wife Stacey Roca, who’s amazing this episode, and son Zachary Scott Ross, who speaks for the first time in what seems like seven episodes. There’s a nice bit of bonding between McCallany and Ross, maybe the first fatherly bit from workaholic McCallany; hopefully it’ll lead to more someday. It works well.

And Groff gets to check in with fetching Black girl Sierra Aylina McClain, possibly sending her the signals but who knows because Groff’s so weird. The most impressive thing about “Mindhunter,” this episode anyway, is how awesome a serial killer investigation movie they make. A “true” one. But it’s very interesting how they’ve kept Groff weird but also backed up the narrative distance on him; he doesn’t get to express his internal life this season. It’s weird. And they foreshadowed it in the second episode.

Maybe it’ll be part of the inevitable season-ending cliffhanger… just one left, after all.

It’s a fantastic hour of television, even if it does turn the second season of “Mindhunter” into a preamble for an awesome serial killer two-parter.

Mindhunter (2017) s02e07 – Episode 7

I mean, it’s well-acted but this episode’s pretty blah for a “Mindhunter.” Nothing happens. We get more hints at character development for Jonathan Groff and Anna Torv but no actual character development. Meanwhile Holt McCallany spends the episode getting later and later from home to work and back again. Stacey Roca instead gets all the things to do on that subplot, one more suburban nightmare after another. Roca’s real good.

And at least Roca gets some attention while being good. June Carryl’s awesome as one of the victims’ moms and director Carl Franklin seemingly refuses to showcase her, whether it’s in a scene with Groff or a public speaking scene or in a big potential reaction shot. It’s very, very strange, especially since the script suggests she’s going to be the focus of that public speaking scene and then Franklin does whatever he can to minimize her. Literally; through long shot.

See, Groff’s come up with this great plan and he’s got to get Carryl’s buy-in on it. Except the great plan isn’t something the FBI is used to doing so there’s a bunch of bureaucracy and the episode skips through that bureaucracy, like it’s started skipping Friday evenings through Sundays—when McCallany is away from Groff—and catching up Monday morning.

With McCallany late, of course.

So McCallany’s character development is he’s late because like’s getting really busy lately. It doesn’t seem like a worthwhile subplot, but it’s a little more engaging than Torv’s ongoing problems with girlfriend Lauren Glazier. Torv’s approaching too strange for Glazier to deal with, which is too bad because their romance hasn’t been bad at all. They—writers, Franklin, Torv—just haven’t figured a way to make her still be likable when she’s being difficult. Not likable to the audience, but likable to Glazier. Torv should’ve already been dumped by now, given her behavior.

Mindhunter (2017) s02e03 – Episode 3

It’s a little weird to see “Mindhunter” doing race stuff—and this episode does a lot, not just with it turning out Albert Jones’s Black Southern FBI agent gets on better with other Southerners—Black and white—than Jonathan Groff’s preppy white liberal—but also with Groff thinking he’s getting picked up by the beautiful (Black) hotel clerk only to find she’s bringing him to talk to three (Black) mothers of dead children. I’d heard “Mindhunter” was doing the Atlanta Child Murders this season, so I was expecting all of it, but expecting it didn’t make the scenes any less effective. Especially since Jones barely gets any close-ups—David Fincher, directing again (so three hours of “Mindhunter” so far this season; no wonder he hasn’t been directing features?) usually goes with Groff and the interviewee for the two interview scenes. Jones is sitting in with Groff because Holt McCallany is dealing with a murder in his town (and lying to both Groff and Anna Torv about it).

So the ostensible A plot is Groff going to Atlanta to do the interviews, only the obvious soon-to-be A plot is the dead children, McCallany’s the B plot, with Torv going and asking out the lady bartender the decided C plot. Though Torv gets the best music in the episode (The Pretenders), even though here’s a weird cut at the end with the song volume.

Both of the serial killer interviewees are fine, but other than the white one looking so much like Jeremy Irons I kind of hope they CG’ed him young and it really is Jeremy Irons playing a hillbilly serial killer. Nate Corddry is back again—he first appeared last episode—and he’s got a couple good moments. The episode’s definitely not an actors’ showcase, however. McCallany gets less to do this episode than in either of the previous two, Groff gets overshadowed by everyone (it’s fine but it’s a thing), and Torv’s got two and a half scenes. It’s interesting to see Corddry in such a dramatic part—overwhelmed small town detective on a terrible case. It’s nice to see Corddry again.

“Mindhunter” is being real careful with the race stuff—Groff hasn’t quite grokked the reality for the Black people living in the South yet, especially not in the burgeoning Atlanta metropolis (which comes up). I’m just hoping they can handle it all. It’ll be interesting to see how “Mindhunter” scales, as it’s apparently about to go full procedural.

Mindhunter (2017) s02e02 – Episode 2

Now this episode feels like “Mindhunter.” It opens with Holt McCallany going to Wichita, with some great “period” Wichita shots, and consulting on the BTK case. There’s a bunch with him and the other cop, a rather nauseating sequence where they walk the crime scene—“Mindhunter,” at its core, is basically just ‘What if “Criminal Minds” didn’t suck,’ after all—and then a great scene where McCallany interviews one of the survivors. David Fincher directs this episode too (he directed the previous one) and he definitely works a little more at the real-life horror and terror aspect of it.

And it’s only an extended teaser basically. A B plot. The A plot has McCallany bringing back the information from Kansas and having a brainstorming session with Jonathan Groff—again, it feels like “Mindhunter” all of a sudden, even with my far from complete recollection of the first season—and it turns out they’re going to need to go talk to David Berkowitz. Even though Anna Torv doesn’t think Berkowitz fits the profile of the serial killers the team is supposed to be interviewing. The first episode of the season had a lot of talk about where the B.S.U. (Behavioral Sciences Unit, you know it from “Criminal Minds,” right?) is going in the future but not a lot of what they would actually be doing as the season unfolds. This episode gives a little bit better of an emphasis on how the unit is actually functioning.

It’s the procedural.

And it’s a great one.

And then comes Oliver Cooper as David Berkowitz.

And then it really feels like “Mindhunter,” because slowly but surely there’s the fantastic interview sequence where Cooper gets to be phenomenal and Groff gets to show off his brains and McCallany gets to think, hey, maybe interviewing these guys is a good idea.

There’s character stuff with Torv and a little with McCallany (and family)—it appears Groff is losing some of his lead stature after last season’s girlfriend debacle (or so I remember it being)—and it’s good, but it’s nothing compared to the Cooper scene.

The episode plays a lot more like the season opener than the actual season opener plays, which isn’t not problematic, but it’s so good it doesn’t really matter. It’s focused. Last episode—same writer, same director—wasn’t anywhere near as focused. It felt perfunctory; this episode feels exploratory.