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- Jun 20, 2008
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Note: I'm only two episodes in so anything spoiler-ish written below won't be too bad.
A new show will frequently come out with the viewer's endorsement that it's officially the new Wire, usually missing the point of what that made that show so damn good. First of all, I don't think there can ever really be another The Wire -- it was a one-off, a one of a kind, and even David Simon can't seem to repeat the magic that made that series so brilliant. For myself, I apply several standards that The Wire achieved:
a)A grim dissection of a brutally serious and sociologically relevant subject matter.
b)A social message that thrives outside the radius of its own plot.
c)A character driven narrative made possible by excellent casting and a team of writers who genuinely identify with and like their characters.
c)Frequent but non-aggressive use of metaphors.
d)Humor placed often and effortlessly in a subject matter that is anything but funny.
e)The complete abandonment of Hollywood tropes that make any effort at prediction a futile endeavor.
While the style of Mindhunter is certainly not identical to the The Wire, it absolutely achieves the qualities listed above, making for a perfectly blend of seriousness and enjoyment.
Mindhunter takes place in the 1970's and details the rise of the use of modern criminal psychology in the FBI. It follows a young and curious yet frustratingly inexperienced FBI agent, Holden Ford, who's fascinated with psychological theories that only seem to be discussed in the ivory towers of academia yet are completely dismissed as nonsense in law enforcement. He's interested in the concept that murderers are made and not simply born, and believes that motives can exist outside the rigid boundaries of "need or greed." This is encountered with skepticism by his peers, who think that such an approach seeks to "excuse" criminals and don't understand how utilizing modern psychology can be instrumental in solving murders.
At one point I said to my wife, "This show is aggressively smart." I retracted this comment, however, because in truth there's nothing really all that aggressive about the show at all. While it is indeed fantastically intelligent, it isn't rendered unwatchable if you're not particularly interested in metaphor or psychology. Simply put, it's as smart as you want it to be.
Audience warning: boobies, swearing, and the infrequent depiction of seriously unpleasant murder scene photographs.
As I said, I'm only two episodes in, but I'm already completely hooked.
A new show will frequently come out with the viewer's endorsement that it's officially the new Wire, usually missing the point of what that made that show so damn good. First of all, I don't think there can ever really be another The Wire -- it was a one-off, a one of a kind, and even David Simon can't seem to repeat the magic that made that series so brilliant. For myself, I apply several standards that The Wire achieved:
a)A grim dissection of a brutally serious and sociologically relevant subject matter.
b)A social message that thrives outside the radius of its own plot.
c)A character driven narrative made possible by excellent casting and a team of writers who genuinely identify with and like their characters.
c)Frequent but non-aggressive use of metaphors.
d)Humor placed often and effortlessly in a subject matter that is anything but funny.
e)The complete abandonment of Hollywood tropes that make any effort at prediction a futile endeavor.
While the style of Mindhunter is certainly not identical to the The Wire, it absolutely achieves the qualities listed above, making for a perfectly blend of seriousness and enjoyment.
Mindhunter takes place in the 1970's and details the rise of the use of modern criminal psychology in the FBI. It follows a young and curious yet frustratingly inexperienced FBI agent, Holden Ford, who's fascinated with psychological theories that only seem to be discussed in the ivory towers of academia yet are completely dismissed as nonsense in law enforcement. He's interested in the concept that murderers are made and not simply born, and believes that motives can exist outside the rigid boundaries of "need or greed." This is encountered with skepticism by his peers, who think that such an approach seeks to "excuse" criminals and don't understand how utilizing modern psychology can be instrumental in solving murders.
At one point I said to my wife, "This show is aggressively smart." I retracted this comment, however, because in truth there's nothing really all that aggressive about the show at all. While it is indeed fantastically intelligent, it isn't rendered unwatchable if you're not particularly interested in metaphor or psychology. Simply put, it's as smart as you want it to be.
Audience warning: boobies, swearing, and the infrequent depiction of seriously unpleasant murder scene photographs.
As I said, I'm only two episodes in, but I'm already completely hooked.
