MovieChat Forums > Mindhunter (2017) Discussion > Quit the side stories

Quit the side stories

posted 5 years ago by jekporkins (1973)
18 replies | jump to latest

I had a hard time getting into season 2. I think I know why. I'm gearing up for a Fincher show about serial killers and I'm getting subplots about their off-duty lives. I know it's there to build the characters but it's honestly taking me out of the show.

It's too much of the hour going into this. How many times did I need to see Trench go back to a miserable wife to get it? I don't even understand the point of Carr's character in season 2. She doesn't have a plot except to figure out her sexuality. That's not the point of the show.

I'd prefer they simply focus on the buildup of the division and the investigations. Either that or show the characters interacting more discussing their home lives than showing the characters' home lives individually. I'm wondering if I'm alone with that. Anyone else have that feeling?

[–] Bill7102 (221) 5 years ago

Agreed. I’m fine with the stories if they were likely going somewhere or giving us insight into the characters we wouldn’t get otherwise, but I’m not confident that is their purpose.

The relationship back stories look like they might be one season subplots and nothing more. Not sure where the story with Tench’s kid is going but I hope it’s not a red herring. I have some theories...

While I liked season two, the story went from the agents perfecting their craft and very entertaining prisoner interviews with a mad rush at the end for the Atlanta killer. The subplots just took momentum away from the main story.

Still love the show and will still watch.

[–] BooBooCat (652) 4 years ago

Agreed. I’m fine with the stories if they were likely going somewhere or giving us insight into the characters we wouldn’t get otherwise, but I’m not confident that is their purpose.

Agreed.

[–] Knish (1721) 5 years ago

This is my problem with most tv series, I simply don't care about their home lives.

Every time I see that wife of Walter White or Tony Soprano's wife I want to throw something at the tv.

[–] ccr1633 (1524) 5 years ago

I agree for the most part, except I think their home lives are (or can be) interesting even if just to break the monotony. It's even better if it ties into the meat of what drives the show. In Mindhunters, it is sometimes interesting to see how the personal relationships of the main FBI protagonists are affected by the nature of their work. However, I too get bored when too much time is devoted to it. It seems to get worse in subsequent seasons when the writers are clearly running out of ideas. Are there not enough interesting sociopath killers to fill up a dozen quality seasons?

[–] BooBooCat (652) 4 years ago

I noticed a tendency in which the second seasons of many shows tend to do that (getting deep into te characters' personal lives and struggles). It's one thing to deepen the characters (and it's fine), it's another to do an give up on actually develop the rest of the plot. Here the focus was so much on it that I don't even feel like the story moved forward considerably.

[–] ccr1633 (1524) 4 years ago

In addition, the personal lives of characters in shows like "Mindhunters" usually aren't that interesting, mainly because their jobs and the people they deal with in their jobs define their essence. There are of course exceptions, like Monk. By contrast, the reboot "Sherlock" (2009) delved quite a bit into the lives of Holmes and Watson to great effect. That's because Holmes is fundamentally a highly unusual and interesting person, and by extension the rather boring Watson is given a boost due to his interactions with him.

[–] BooBooCat (652) 4 years ago

I agree about Sherlock. I actually thought that first two seasons were thrilling and well thought. A modern take on a classic which is originally set in the late 19th century. I was really fascinated.

Then, in the third season things started to get weird, not so interesting sub-plots come into play (the boring pot with the sister), the plot starts to go into every directions and it becomes confusing.

Instead, they should have stuck to Holmes and Watson resolving difficult cases. From that point there was less of that, and dragging on with quite lame characters development and unnecessary twists.

[–] ccr1633 (1524) 4 years ago

We're in agreement again. The last couple seasons of Sherlock were very disappointing. I think this is in part because the writers, to their great credit, were initially focused on "explaining" Holmes and Watson in a modern context. For example, the inevitable speculation that they're homosexuals. The scenes with them getting agitated at that sort of stuff, Holmes not being fond of his deer stalker cap, etc., was pure gold. This of course was combined with the superb re-imagining of Moriarity and some other great villains. Once they exhausted that angle, they should have stuck with stories involving intricate crimes for them to solve, gradually de-emphasizing their personal lives once the linkage to Doyle's stories was less apparent if not non-existent. It started going off the rails, in my opinion, with Watson's wedding in season (series) three.

[–] Drooch (5333) 4 years ago

‘Running out of ideas’ shouldn’t be an issue. A series should be like a great novel - a very clear motivating idea that propels a focused narrative. If there’s time for some relevant subplots then by all means include them but don’t have them constantly sandbag the main narrative, and then suddenly drop them without warning.

Why waste your own time and everyone else’s starting a short series and then shrugging your shoulders? Have the ideas then make a series FFS 🤦🏻‍♂️

[–] legnadibrom (6248) 5 years ago

wives should never be in TV shows

[–] lennonforever (2453) 4 years ago

WORD!!

[–] Nosduj (145) 5 years ago

Awful. Every show does it and it always sucks.

[–] BooBooCat (652) 4 years ago

I wouldn't have that much of an issue with it if it wouldn't have slowed the show so much. And they didn't even have much conclusions anyway.

[–] MichaelJPollock (751) 4 years ago

I feel delving into the protagonist's side-stories was interesting because of the many parallels with the insights gleamed during serial killer interviews.
I think that is in fact the main subject of the show: how the deviancies of the psychopaths they interview are not so much different in nature as they are in "degree" from that of "normal" (i.e. sane, functional) people.

[–] lennonforever (2453) 4 years ago

I’m just watching the second season now. About 6 eps in. I agree with you about the side stories. While Tench’s kid’s story is drawing me in, I am reading here on boards that it goes no where. Very disappointed. I’ll watch till the end just to finish up, but I’ll be FF through drivel.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6398) 5 months ago

The Carr character did more than that. She learned what it was like to actually do an interview yourself, how difficult that is, and how ineffectual it can be to stick to a pre-written script. Sometimes you need to do something for yourself to truly understand it. She also started serving as a listening ear to Tench.

Without the side stories I would not have watched this show.

[–] PackManDan (75) 4 months ago

I agree with OP. Season 1 was compelling. I loved how the unit formed from a basic idea of Holden’s. I liked watching the unit develop and begin implementing ideas to classify killers. I really enjoyed the killer interviews.

Season 2 seemed a bit all over the place. Wendy’s main focus was developing a relationship with a female bartender which didn’t work out. Tench’s main role was going home to his depressed wife and son who had psychological issues. Holden’s anxiety attacks led nowhere. I thought there was going to be a whole subplot to them but they disappeared as fast as they showed up, and with no explanation.

The Atlanta child killings didn’t do it for me either. It turned into a racial and political thing which didn’t work for me.

I loved how they featured BTK in the beginning of nearly every episode…but then never expanded on that either.

Decent show but probably would not revisit again.