I’m not looking for new shows. I still have a bunch of movies to catch up on (I see you, Split) and haven’t even gotten started with Stranger Things Season 2. Still, when you’re Netflix and Chillin, sometimes what is on can catch your eye after. This is the curious way I found my way into Mindhunters, a Netflix drama produced by Charlize Theron. The mercurial actresses production company is responsible for other works including Monster and Atomic Blonde, but this is their second foray into the world of the episodic. This time it worked.
I tend to follow stories that are very good at the things I am not so good at. I do this and call it research. Mindhunters is excellent at dialogue. The characters use dialogue that is so vastly unique to each in terms of both wording and delivery that you are compelled to continue. Seven episodes in and I’m already wondering how we build towards season three. Yeah, some of what is being layered in shouldn’t pop until that far out. They show has structured three very different and interesting love stories on top of a love and power triangle that will definitely change the relationship dynamics once the secrets are exposed.
And that’s not even the B plot.
The overriding A plot dances back and forth between being about the intellectual growth of the FBI and the social/psychological debate about why people commit crimes and how we ought to respond to that. In truth the entire thesis of the show is laid out in a brief, but compelling near one-sided discussion about Durkheim’s Labeling Theory that takes place in the first episode. By episode seven we are living that theory throughout the episodes.
Mindhunters is solid and I plan to continue watching.
Some Thoughts:
- Life is good here. It isn’t perfect and I (always) want that, but it is as good as it gets for now. I can live with that.