Summary
Apple TV+’sLady In The Lakeis a gripping, stylish crime drama that will fill the gap left by David Fincher’sMindhunter.The untimely cancelation of the Netflix series, following fictional agents at the birth of the FBI’s criminal profiling unit, was a huge disappointment. Fincher gave anin-depth explanation forMindhunter’sseason 3 cancelation, citing budgeting issues. Despite attempts at negotiation, he ultimately declined to continue the show. Luckily, this new Natalie Portman series has many of the elements that madeMindhunterso great.
Viewers may find similarities in the series’ retro settings, grounded by great soundtracks and period memorabilia. LikeMindhunter,Lady in the Lake’smurders are inspired by true stories. But there’s more than setting and subject matter tying these shows together. Both touch upon the social climate in the mid-20th century, and how the politics of murderinvestigation complicate their main characters’ pursuit of killers.
The 15 Most Interesting Serial Killers On Mindhunter (& 10 They Should Have Had On The Show)
Mindhunter does a great job of examining the motivations behind real serial killers. These are some of the most interesting to be featured!
Apple TV+’s The Lady In The Lake Is A Great Replacement For Mindhunter Season 3
These Gripping Thrillers Are Rooted In Real Life Crime Stories
MindhunterandLady In The Lakegive the guilty pleasure of true crime a prestige TV makeover.They know their subject matter is sordid and sensational -Mindhuntercast eerily identical actors to play real-life serial killers, whose entrances in the show feel like true crime celebrity cameos. It tempers this withcritical self-reflection on society’s grim fascination with murder.Lady In The Lakealso scrutinizes the motives of Portman’s Maddie as she investigates the mysterious drownings of eleven-year-old Tessie Durst and bartender Cleo Johnson.
The retro settings ofLady In The LakeandMindhuntergive them their cool, stylish feel. Their soundtrack choices are more than gratuitous needle drops.ThoughMindhunter’suse of“Psycho Killer”in its first episode was a bit indulgent, it perfectly paired Led Zeppelin’s“In The Light”with Holden’s panic attack in episode 10 after his solo interview with Kemper.LadyIn The Lake’sgreat soundtrack momentsshow the same creative genius.
Lady In The Lake’s Setting & Crime Story Are Very Similar To Mindhunter Season 2
Like Agent Holden Ford, Lady In The Lake’s Maddie Schwartz Is Blinded By Ambition
Mindhuntercame into its own in its second season. Season 1 set up the revolutionary technique of criminal profiling and the maverick agents who founded it, thenseason 2 confronted some of the problems with the discipline.Mindhunterchanged the true storyof the Atlanta child murders slightly, allowing it to focus on Holden’s reckoning with his own practice. The question of whetherWayne Williams was guiltybecame: did the FBI profiling of Williams create a catch-all suspect that allowed other killers to remain at large?
Holden’s faith in the technique hepioneered blinds him to its flaws.Holdenconfuses personal fulfillment with the pursuit of truth.The same can be said forLady In The Lake’s Maddie. Her commitment to uncovering Cleo’s killer is equally tied to her own journalistic ambitions.Cleo’s narration spells out the tensions in a white woman seeking recognition by exploiting a Black woman’s story.“Your writing dreams ruined your life,”she says.“Now you want those same dreams to rewrite it. But did you have to drag my dead body into it?”
How Lady In The Lake’s Reviews Compare To Mindhunter
Lady In The Lake’s Lower Rotten Tomatoes Score Shouldn’t Cause Viewers To Dismiss It
Mindhunterwas a critical darling when it aired. David Fincher managed to meet the precedent set by season 1 in the follow-up season, which is no easy feat. On the other hand,responses toLady In The Lakethus far haven’t expressed such unanimous approval.It has been praised for its execution and compelling characters. Moses Ingram’s portrayal of Cleo, whose story was expanded from the Laura Lippman novel, has been widely celebrated.
97%
95%
76%
74%
Lady In The Lake’s76% is still nothing to be sneered at, consideringthe miniseries is both new and much shorterthanMindhunter.It sets itself a challenge in confronting the fraught political landscape of the 1960s.Mindhunterseason 2 acknowledges the racial tensions still at play in the late 70s in its Altanta storyline, but this was never at its center.Lady In The Lakeshould be praised for facing the knotty intersections of race and women’s liberation head-on, making it a great show to fill the gap left byMindhunter’sabsent finale.
Mindhunter
Cast
From executive producers David Fincher and Charlize Theron comes Mindhunter, a series that chronicles the founding of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit used to track and apprehend serial killers. Mindhunter follows Agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) as they work to establish a framework for understanding the minds of some of America’s most dangerous serial killers. Mindhunter adapts a number of true crime stories, including the BTK murders and the notorious Co-Ed Killer, Edmund Kemper.
