What I Watched – August 2019

Back in January, I decided to begin taking the measure of the media I consume over the course of a year. So, I created a notebook in my iPad titled “What I Watched” and filled it with three simple criteria: the title of the TV show or movie, the date I completed watching the series or movie, and a score ranging from 1 to 5 stars.

Each month, I will share my thoughts on what I have watched as well as something I am looking forward to watching next month.

Here is what I watched in August 2019

Mindhunter (S1+2)
Rating: ****

Mindhunter was definitely the most substantial piece of culture I consumed this month. I had started the series quite some time ago, but my mother was in the room and if you watch the first five minutes or so of the series, you will quickly understand why this is not a show that is exactly family-friendly viewing.

A telling of the rise of the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI and more specifically the rise of criminal profiling in the Bureau, Mindhunter follows the story of initially two, then three characters who gather insights from some of the darkest and most twisted individuals held behind bars in order to better apprehend serial killers – a term that the BSU coined.

As we follow Holden, Bill, and Wendy, we see how they cope with these interactions as they try to keep these experiences from bleeding into their day-to-day lives. But the funny thing is, as the show presents these protagonists as the characters we are supposed to empathize with, the show also reveals to us tertiary characters from the peripheries of our protagonists’ lives who, without exception, have a fascination with the work the BSU does – an unhealthy fascination that repulses you for the eagerness with which they approach the incredibly morbid.

But, by doing so, it challenges you, the viewer, for your own voyeurism into these interviews – Are you here to watch these investigators and researchers succeed? Or are you watching because you too are just as fascinated by the perversions of serial killers?

Next Up

I am currently trying to make some progress on my video game backlog so I anticipate slowing down on my intake of TV shows and movies until that draws down. I am currently playing Kingdom Hearts 3 with plans to start God of War after I finish. Video games did not make the list in 2019, but I definitely plan to start including them in the 2020 version of the What I Watched list.

On the small screen, I am currently enthralled by the second season of Succession. Episode 3 was a tour de force by Brian Cox who plays the Roy family patriarch Logan.

As for movies, It Chapter Two is probably the movie that interests me the most, but with most of my weekends already booked in September, we’ll have to see if I can make some time to catch it in theaters.

benjamin seo