NETFLIX has truly revolutionised our lives, introducing a myriad of new shows and movies in an accessible way that has truly changed the way we incorporate entertainment into our lives. The good thing about the service – at least to me – is the way in which I can compile excessive lists of everything I want to watch and then in my rare moments of free time, I can always go find something on my list on Netflix and have a good binge before I return to the intricacies of work and family and general phase of life known as just existing in society.

A show that was on my list since last year that I only recently got around to seeing is “Min0dhunter.” It is set in the 1970s and focuses on the realm of the FBI, specifically areas of criminal psychology and criminal profiling, which are being developed by agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), agent Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), and psychologist Dr. Wendy Carr. In their work, they interview various serial killers, acquiring data and analysing them in order to be able to create a body of information that can assist them in solving cases that occur as they are conducting the study.

“Mindhunter” is different from many other detective shows in the way it does not focus excessively on the victims and the gruesome murders only, but also the killers themselves. The world has a fascination with serial killers. We want to know why they do what they do. We want to know how anyone can bring themselves to commit such terrible acts of depravity. We want to resist the ‘human’ aspect of their being and the truth that a lot of their triggers and psychological inadequacies stem from human behaviour (narcissism, lust, etc.) that are present in us all, as well human atrocities (abuse, isolation, deprivation, etc.) that has resulted in them becoming the way they are. “Mindhunter” taps into our need for more information about serial killers, while at the time both repulses and intrigues us by showing the relationship between so-called ‘normal’ human beings and the abnormal human beings who become serial killers.

Another interesting thing about the show is the presentation of the interviews with real-life serial killers. These instances are particularly creepy, so much so that “Mindhunter” might be the scariest non-horror television show I know of. The agents’ discussions with the killer, Edmund Kemper (Cameron Britton in an eerie performance), for example, presents one of history’s most notorious criminals in our beds with us as we lay transfixed on our computer screens as the man responsible for the death of so many women, including his own mother, cheerfully discusses his crimes with the agents. The effect of the whole thing is terrifying and disturbing, disgusting even and yet the emphasis on Kemper’s ability to project himself as normal and, sometimes – dare I say – even likeable, understandable, results in the audience feeling inexplicably drawn to the horror of the whole situation, in the same way people slow down when driving past an accident on the road or the way people flock to a crime scene to stare at a corpse. Kemper is only one of several killers who make an appearance in the series. Other notable criminals who turn up include Jerry Brudos (the killer with the shoe fetish), and Richard Speck (the mass murderer, notorious for killing a houseful of nurses). Each killer brings gloom and darkness to the screen, and because of this, “Mindhunter” exists as one of the darkest television shows I have seen, giving us the creeps not only in its representation of the killers, but in its representation of a tense, pervasive atmosphere that filters through every scene, and also in the show’s representation of human emotion, with anger, sorrow, love, jealousy, and fear all coming across even in the mundane, everyday activities of the characters in such a heavy manner that the connections between the effects of the serial killers on the agents become even more profound in the way the dread and tension that is associated with them enters the room where Tench is talking to his wife or follows Dr. Carr down into her basement as she is doing her laundry.

The cast is in fine form, and even though the killers may be the most captivating to watch, the main cast also has their own skills and attraction. Jonathan Groff is a hero who somehow manages to be both annoying in his brilliance and yet immensely likeable in the way he tries to always help people. McCanally forms a great foil for him, and Torv excels as the closeted psychologist working with the group of men.

For people who love horror, thrillers, detective shows, or anything that has to do with serial killers, “Mindhunter” is a mind-bogglingly good show with tons of creep factor that mixes well with the history and crime genres.