What I’m Watching: Mindhunter

Mindhunter: Season 1, Episode 5 (B-)

This episode shifted its focus to an active case, one that it didn’t even really manage to solve, and I for one wasn’t too thrilled about that. This show has been a very dark slow burn since it started, and going back over a case over it’s been very much closed is a completely different thing than participating in an open investigation. I understand that’s the point, and that Holden and Bill want to apply what they’ve learned to help law enforcement identify and anticipate trends like the ones that have led to serial killers emerging and cutting short the lives of many victims who could otherwise have been saved. Yet there was something about this episode that felt like it stalled, and it was really hard to get into it. Ending on a question was also peculiar, and felt very unsatisfying, and not in the kind of way that piqued my interest to return to find out how questions like this can be answered going forward. I’ve read a few things about how Holden has some sociopathic tendencies, and that’s more intriguing than most of the rest of this episode’s content. Bill suggesting they get different rooms and asking Holden to get off his bed was a sign not of any discomfort with sharing a room with another male but with the fact that Holden has no sense of boundaries and gets so zoned-in with he’s on a case that he tunes the rest of the world out. Let’s hope for a return to more compelling interviews without so much crying in the coming weeks, otherwise I may have to stop watching this show.