r/NetflixBestOf • u/pizzacrys • 15d ago

[US] Mindhunter (2017) Deadass one of the most flawless thriller series ever put on television, and the fact Fincher couldn't finish it is wild.

I just rewatched the whole run and it is actually crazy how ahead of its time this show was. The absolute masterclass in pacing, tone, and character dynamics is completely unmatched.Think about the sheer brilliance of the casting especially Cameron Britton as Ed Kemper. The tension in those simple, bare-bones interrogation room scenes holds more weight than 90% of the high budget action blockbusters coming out today. David Fincher bottles up a gritty, deeply unsettling atmosphere without ever relying on cheap jump scares or unnecessary gore. It handles the birth of criminal profiling with an insane level of detail and mental chess. The dialogue is incredibly sharp, and the cinematography feels so deliberate. Knowing we likely won’t ever get a third season to wrap up the narrative arcs is a tragedy.For the people who have been through the whole series, what was the single most bone-chilling scene for you?

877 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

264

u/WarmScorpio1112 15d ago

IT IS THE ONLY UNFINISHED SHOW I RECOMMEND!!!! It's a freaking tragedy. The show was brilliant, the casting out of this world and the pacing was perfect.

34

u/aaahhhh 15d ago

Patriot is unfinished but because the showrunner knew it was probably getting canceled, it has a satisfying ending. Absolutely up there with Mindhunter in quality and storytelling.

9

u/WarmScorpio1112 15d ago

Really? That's high praise. I will check it out. Thanks!

12

u/KuyaGTFO 15d ago

Incredibly different but very unique and exceptional.

It’s pitch dark black in its humor and it has a very specific rhythm to it that I haven’t found a really good comparison to.

Kinda like Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul combined with the Coen Brothers humor-wise if that makes sense? Actually Widows Bay really reminded me a ton of Patriot’s semi surreal dark humor.

To call it a show about a spy would do it a big disservice. Patriot is such a special show.

4

u/sendnewt_s 14d ago

I was so happy to discover that show, I rarely hear it talked about. It has some of the absolute funniest moments of t.v.

3

u/aaahhhh 15d ago

I think you nailed it. I call it Wes Anderson meets Coen Brothers

2

u/WarmScorpio1112 14d ago

I don't totally get your explanation, but color me intrigued haha. Definitely giving it a chance!

1

u/metamet 14d ago

Brilliant soundtrack, too.

I was lucky enough to have chased down a vinyl years ago.

3

u/BabousCobwebBowl 14d ago

Patriot was so fucking good. I still find myself laughing internally at him trying to fool the facial recognition grinning like a goof having pulled his teeth.

That and Kurtwood Smith’s decent in madness

28

u/Vistaer 15d ago

See as much as it’s unfinished - I think it actually works in a way. BTM wasn’t apprehended til 2005. Their methodology showed exceptional promise in the first season, second season shows it’s not flawless and can cause them to miss things. A persistently uncaptured killer shows they can’t use psychology to understand everything in the end.

If anything a scene that took place after they’ve retired and they see BTM captured showing they never got him may help sell that part, but it still works. I get why David couldn’t finish it - it’s not a story that wraps up neatly.

10

u/dropkickoz 15d ago

I guess bind, torture, murder still works.

7

u/AlfhildsShieldmaiden 14d ago

I agree so much. I’m super pissed it got canceled.

Plus, selfish bonus, I’ve had a crush on Anna Torv since her Fringe days and seeing her play queer, such a treat. ☺️

39

u/BananaJammies 15d ago

Mindhunter was my Jonathan Groff gateway drug. Blew my goddam mind to realize Holden was the King in Hamilton and Kristoff in Frozen.

13

u/mst3k_42 15d ago

I knew him as a jerk on Glee. That performance was as far away as possible from Holden. I almost didn’t believe it.

131

u/miguelenri95 15d ago

Probably one of the worst decisions from Netflix was to cancel this show. Excellent show and like you said “ it’s unmatched “. I keep trying to find similar shows/movies/documentaries but it’s not remotely close.

75

u/Honest-Advantage3814 15d ago

AFAIK Netflix didn’t cancel it but Fincher is not interested in another season

44

u/StarTicYT 15d ago

Mix of both, Fincher wasn’t overly interested and Netflix didn’t care to overly persuade him due to the insane amounts of cgi the show would use

24

u/daredevil82 15d ago

and part of the reason Fincher wasn't interested is the difficulty in getting the cast back. everyone has moved on to other projects with widly varying availability schedules that it would take a lot of oomph to pick up those particular pieces

8

u/Spirited-Sympathy582 15d ago

What would they use CGI on?

24

u/WinkyNurdo 15d ago

Far more than you’d expect

4

u/Spirited-Sympathy582 15d ago

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. Those examples make sense but most of them seem pretty optional. I wonder why those types of changes would be any different for this show vs others. Especially vs making a sci-fi show or something. I assume they used cgi because its cheaper than finding some of the period props or doing reshoots because the weather wasn't want they wanted. Maybe Fincher is just a perfectionist about it and won't agree to do a show if he doesn’t have budget to change all the little details he wants?

5

u/WinkyNurdo 15d ago

Presumably it’s cheaper to CG than to dress an entire road with signage and building frontages etc and remove all the modern stuff. Some shows shoot on location to get the right period look and feel and they didn’t do that with MH. They wouldn’t have made those choices if it wasn’t cost effective

1

u/Spirited-Sympathy582 15d ago

Ya exactly so why would that be a dealbreaker for Netflix then?

1

u/Cromasters 13d ago

It was expensive. Not just the act of doing it but that Fincher is a crazy person (in a good way) and they would have to shoot and edit things to get the perfect look Fincher was going for.

It's partly why he was a t Netflix in the first place. Netflix was giving him money and autonomy that Hollywood wouldn't at the time.

6

u/Nephroidofdoom 15d ago

Making the sets period appropriate would be my guess. Changing all the cars, buildings, backgrounds, etc

3

u/pizzacrys 15d ago

Exactly. They had something special and just pulled the plug way too soon.

0

u/txroller 15d ago

try the “Monster Series” on Netflix. Ed Gein and Dahmer series are 💯

34

u/First_Foundationeer 15d ago

I hated the experience of watching this. For weeks, we slept with our doors locked and tennis racquet by my side. Also, I woke up to every tiny noise.

Fuck you, Fincher. 10/10, hunted our fucking minds, for sure.

10

u/pizzacrys 15d ago

That show had me checking the hallway like I was on neighborhood watch. Fincher really made paranoia feel way too real.

22

u/DexterJameson 15d ago

Deadass?

11

u/lfohnoudidnt 15d ago

Yeah i think OP is one of my nephew's

8

u/tardisintheparty 15d ago

Deadass is an older term than you think unless you are referring to nephews in their 30s

6

u/lfohnoudidnt 15d ago

late 20s, they used to say that in their teens, iam 47 and never heard it before they started saying it.

1

u/tardisintheparty 15d ago

Ah late 20s makes sense then. I think it started with the younger millennials and older gen z.

2

u/avantgardengnome 11d ago

Deadass has been NYC slang since at least the 80s, so regionally it’s more like younger Gen X / oldest millennials.

7

u/Any_Coyote6662 15d ago

the Kemper interviews stuck with me because i already knew so much about what he did. I used to live in SC, SF, and the greater Bay Area. and there is still a very predatory and permissive scene. I couldnt walk down the street without creepy guys asking me to get in their car. and not in a nice way.

And I spent a lot of time understanding him. That interview fe,t like the curated myth of Kemper, but in a great way, not a bad way. I loved it. ​

10

u/Namnagort 15d ago

Once they started getting into relationships in season 2 it went bad

5

u/Trekf 15d ago

I agree

3

u/SkywalkerSystem 15d ago

Yeah this show is really, really good and I wanted more but Reddit always has to put on the rose-colored glasses and describe it like the second coming.

Same with movies like The Nice Guys and Heat. They’re really good and we all like them. We don’t have to pretend that they’re out of body experiences.

1

u/Striking_Pride_5322 6d ago

I thought it was brilliant to explore the effect the work had on people and their close ones 

0

u/spacegh0stX 14d ago

I thought the relationships in season 1 were bad. I thought every storyline involving Debbie was awful.

2

u/SkywalkerSystem 15d ago

For the 100th time, they didn’t “cancel” this show in the normal sense. Not you necessarily OP, but people always get this wrong.

1

u/MusicianNo2699 12d ago

What happened with it?

2

u/SkywalkerSystem 12d ago

It was expensive to make for what it was so budget was an issue, and Fincher didn’t mind doing other projects instead anyways.

3

u/SuspiciouslyEvil 15d ago

I loved that show, it was incredible.... But the way they portrayed the Atlanta Child Murderer case was extremely misleading.

After watching that show and then watching the HBO documentary about the case, I thought it was odd how at the beginning of the doc all the victims parents were absolutely convinced that guy was innocent. Then as they walked through all the evidence it's CLEAR how much the case against him was completely mishandled and he was set up by cops.

They give kind of a wink at the end of the series that there is definitely something there with the cops, but they portray his part as a slam dunk. And they seem to completely exonerate the KKK guys, and they were clearly involved based on evidence.

3

u/dino-delicious 15d ago

They have a cameo in Monster the ed gein story.

1

u/txroller 15d ago

The Dahmer series is good too

1

u/Any_Coyote6662 15d ago

Ed Gein is the only serial killer that doesnt scare me for some reason.

4

u/weeBaaDoo 15d ago

It’s inspired by a documentary. Very interesting to watch once you have seen mindhunters.

2

u/Best_Plantain_6390 15d ago

What’s the name of the doc?

2

u/weeBaaDoo 15d ago

I think it’s “Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer”, but I’m not certain. It’s a 5-10 years ago that I saw it.

1

u/Striking_Pride_5322 6d ago

It’s actually a book by the same name 

1

u/weeBaaDoo 6d ago

Probably. But the visual of the documentary is very close to some of the series

1

u/frankenboobehs 14d ago

Season 2 blew

1

u/Gibberish5 11d ago

It was alright. I think that’s because I just saw it recently and so had seen tons of hype posts about it, my expectations were a bit elevated.

-7

u/cteno4 15d ago

I couldn’t get into it. Watched the first two episodes. The acting is wooden and the pacing is terrible.

-6

u/chrixz333 15d ago

THANK YOU! It was boring.

-3

u/couchpro34 15d ago

I'm always shocked to see how many people think that show is so great. It was mid for me and I had no interest in the second season. Maybe I am misremembering, but I just don't recall feeling like it blew me away.