So you say that you enjoy murder mysteries? You love the thrill of playing detective and piecing together the puzzle before the characters do? You are intrigued to hear about real life murder mysteries and the psychology behind what/why the killers did what they did? You think that you would make a better detective or psychologist than the ones that you watch on TV or in the books that you read? Now might be the moment to invest some time into the Netflix series Mindhunter.
Mindhunter is a series that will leave your mind reeling and searching for more about the psychology of serial killers. This true life investigation of how the FBI began developing a formula to somewhat predict the way a murderer thinks is intriguing, as well as mind blowing. Before the psychology developments that were made in the 1970s, it was believed that serial killers were just born being evil. After the agents extensively interviewed several killers that had been imprisoned for heinous murders, they realized that it was more of a “nature vs nurture” debate. While some were born with this anger inside of them and have a mental issue to lead them to kill, others had grown up in terrible situations and were conditioned into this rage that made them act out later in life.
Not only does Mindhunters show the two FBI agents, along with the help of a psychologist who becomes interested in their work, how they developed this understanding that serial killers weren’t necessarily just born evil, they also found a way to connect with the killers in order to get them to admit to their murders. One of the agents found that if you became friendly with the murders and interacted with them on “their level” that you would be able to gather more information from them. While a normal person wouldn’t like to hear about how someone decapitated someone out of rage, one of the agents uses it to his advantage and acts as if he is interested; this opens up a new wave of how we now interview suspects and get them to confess to crimes.
The thing that is so intriguing about Mindhunters is that you tend to forget that this is based on a true story. While you are hearing about these heinous murders that have taken place, you think that it might not have been possible for someone to be so “short circuited” if you will. The story lines seem so fictional that you are like, “How is it possible for someone to have such a messed up mind to think of this“, yet it is all based on real events and real killers. Hearing that might make this seem like an extremely morbid program, but let me stress, it is more about the psychology behind it all than anything and that makes the acts more “tolerable.”
Only downfall, if anything, there are a lot of unnecessary sex scenes. There is a fair amount of them and they really add nothing to the story line, other than break up the monotony of going from jail to jail to interview the criminals. Sometimes they are a little more uncomfortable than the actual renouncement of the murders are, but if you can get through those, you can get through this program!
Ultimate Ginger Review: Add Mindhunter to your Netflix must watch list. It will keep your mind rushing and make you want to read more about it. It is definitely one of those programs that you won’t be able to watch just one episode and walk away from. If you are interested in psychology, have a strong stomach and want to know more about the way that killers think, this is definitely the show for you! I highly recommend it!
Previously seen on Ginger Views.
Feature image via Netflix’s Mindhunter
