{"id":5252,"date":"2016-06-25T02:28:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T20:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5252"},"modified":"2016-06-25T02:28:30","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T20:58:30","slug":"mindhunter-review-sacred-games-david-fincher-thriller-netflix-jonathan-groff-holt-mccallany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5252","title":{"rendered":"Mindhunter Review: A Second Season that\u2019s Actually Good, Unlike Sacred Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\nike many others, I had marked out the days following August 15 for an extended Netflix binge-watching session. But unlike my fellow couch potatoes, I wasn\u2019t priming myself for the highly anticipated second season of <\/span>Sacred Games<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Instead, I was trying to contain my excitement for <\/span>Mindhunter<\/span><\/i>\u2019s sophomore offering. And after looking at the tepid reaction <\/span>Sacred Games<\/span><\/i> received from its legions of faithful fans, I think my decision was the right one, despite the sleepless nights that followed my <\/span>Mindhunter <\/span><\/i>marathon.<\/span>\n\nSequels, whether they are the next installment of a movie franchise or the second season of TV show, have the unenviable task of standing in their predecessors\u2019 shadows. Both <\/span>Mindhunter <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Sacred Games <\/span><\/i>became jewels in Netflix\u2019s streaming crown on the backs of their riveting first seasons. One was a taut <\/span>psychological thriller<\/span><\/a>, the other a sprawling underworld epic, but both shows had fans chomping at the bit for more at the conclusion of their maiden seasons. While <\/span>Mindhunter <\/span><\/i>manages to recapture the brooding atmosphere that was its signature as well as upping the stakes for its protagonists, <\/span>Sacred Games<\/span><\/i>\u2019 well seems like it\u2019s starting to run dry, as it tries and fails to present old wine in a new bottle.<\/span>\n\nFor the unacquainted, <\/span>Mindhunter<\/span><\/i> is the semi-fictionalised story of how the FBI set up its Behavioural Science Unit (BSU), a division that brought criminal psychology into the real world by focussing on <\/span>why <\/span><\/i>criminals and violent offenders behaved the way they did, rather than merely <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>crimes<\/span><\/a> they committed. The BSU did this by conducting in-person interviews with some of America\u2019s worst killers, with agents visiting the convicts in their prisons and conversing with them without any guards \u2013 or more terrifyingly, restraints.<\/span>\n\n

The second season of Mindhunter retains the in-person interviews as bait to lure in the first season\u2019s faithful, but also switches gears by adding a sense of urgency. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe second season of <\/span>Mindhunter<\/span><\/i> retains the in-person interviews as bait to lure in the first season\u2019s faithful, but also switches gears by adding a sense of urgency. Whereas the agents were earlier merely tasked with profiling murderers and mapping their behaviour patterns last season, they must now move from the realm of the hypothetical to the practical, as the BSU is tasked with helping solve active investigations. The cases in question are the notorious Atlanta Child Murders, a spate of 29 killings that took place over a two-year period from 1979 to 1981. As it always is with <\/span>Mindhunter<\/span><\/i>, the murderers and their victims depicted on the show are all too real, which means every time another <\/span>gruesome<\/span><\/a> attack is mentioned, you will feel a chill run up your spine.<\/span>\n\nThough every case we see on <\/span>Mindhunter <\/span><\/i>is based in fact, the protagonists are a fictional stand-in for the actual BSU officers who pioneered the study of serial <\/span>killers<\/span><\/a> and other violent criminals. Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany play the odd couple pairing of FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, with Anna Torv portraying their liaison from the world of academia, Dr Wendy Carr.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nThe new season of <\/span>Mindhunter <\/span><\/i>keeps the spotlight on its central trio, highlighting the evolution of their relationship with each other and the chemistry they share, which makes for compelling viewing for fans who invested in these characters during the previous season. It\u2019s a wise decision, especially when considering how <\/span>Sacred Games <\/span><\/i>introduced a whole new cast of characters, only to see them fail to strike a chord with the audience like <\/span>Katekar<\/span><\/a> and Kukoo did the last time.<\/span>\n\nAt this point it\u2019s necessary to state that comparing <\/span>Mindhunter<\/span><\/i> to <\/span>Sacred Games <\/span><\/i>is like the proverbial apples and oranges. Yes, both are based on books, and both have a dedicated fan following, but the similarities end there. As a member of both fandoms, I have to admit that they\u2019re very different shows, and both are clearly labours of love. I have no doubt that <\/span>Anurag Kashyap<\/span><\/a> and Vikramaditya Motwane are as possessive and proud of their work as David Fincher is of his. But as a viewer, you can only watch one show at a time, so why not watch the one that won\u2019t make you wish you could turn back time to the first season?<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both Mindhunter and Sacred Games became jewels in Netflix\u2019s streaming crown on the backs of their riveting first seasons. But while Mindhunter manages to recapture the brooding atmosphere that was its signature, Sacred Games\u2019 well seems like it\u2019s starting to run dry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":5253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[8912,1287,8913,8914,8915,8916,5429,8917,8918,8919,7220,8920,8921,1341,8922,5782,1517],"class_list":["post-5252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-anna-torv","tag-anurag-kashyap","tag-atlanta-child-murders","tag-behavioural-science-unit-bsu","tag-bill-tench","tag-dr-wendy-carr","tag-fbi","tag-holden-ford","tag-holt-mccallany","tag-jonathan-groff","tag-katekar","tag-kukoo","tag-mindhunter-review","tag-netflix","tag-psychological-thriller","tag-sacred-games","tag-vikramaditya-motwane"],"yoast_head":"\nMindhunter Review: A Second Season that\u2019s Actually Good, Unlike Sacred Games<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Both Mindhunter and Sacred Games became jewels in Netflix\u2019s streaming crown on the backs of their riveting first seasons. But while Mindhunter manages to recapture the brooding atmosphere that was its signature, Sacred Games\u2019 well seems like it\u2019s starting to run dry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5252\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mindhunter Review: A Second Season that\u2019s Actually Good, Unlike Sacred Games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Both Mindhunter and Sacred Games became jewels in Netflix\u2019s streaming crown on the backs of their riveting first seasons. But while Mindhunter manages to recapture the brooding atmosphere that was its signature, Sacred Games\u2019 well seems like it\u2019s starting to run dry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5252\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-24T20:58:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1566225426.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dushyant Shekhawat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Mindhunter Review: A Second Season that\u2019s Actually Good, Unlike Sacred Games\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Both Mindhunter and Sacred Games became jewels in Netflix\u2019s streaming crown on the backs of their riveting first seasons. 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