Has anyone else finished watching the second season yet?
With the exception of Tench's kid storyline, I thought it was excellent, although not as good as the first season. The Atlanta case is heartbreaking in that politics, race, and history fucked up a complete and thorough investigation of the murders of children.
Interesting how everything they think they know about serial killers doesn't apply to the BTK killer and in some ways Wayne Williams. Ford should've listened to Ed Kemper and not be so myopic.
He was very close to the real deal too. Wayne Williams gets interviewed in the Atlanta Monster podcast and he sounds the same. The way they depicted his capture on the podcast was spot on in the show including exactly what Wayne said when he was caught.
The real Ed Kemper - ( New Window )
Having the kid be involved in a bizarre, apparently ritualistic murder when his dad investigates bizarre ritualistic murders was a bit too spot on.
That said the impact it has on Tench and trying to resolve family issues and the Atlanta investigation/FBI politics, along with the great performance by the actress who plays his wife that he unwittingly abandons to deal with their son and neighborhood scorn, I thought was excellent. Of course you have to move to a new town. She was spot on and he was totally clueless living in his job.
Having the kid be involved in a bizarre, apparently ritualistic murder when his dad investigates bizarre ritualistic murders was a bit too spot on.
That said the impact it has on Tench and trying to resolve family issues and the Atlanta investigation/FBI politics, along with the great performance by the actress who plays his wife that he unwittingly abandons to deal with their son and neighborhood scorn, I thought was excellent. Of course you have to move to a new town. She was spot on and he was totally clueless living in his job.
I really think they did this to show it can happen to anyone or any family. BTK for instance had a reasonable childhood. He’s been on record stating that he was on a date when he heard about a death by strangling over the radio and he was very arroused by it and that’s how he started the obsession and eventually became a serial killer.
That being said we have no clue if Brian is actually a serial killer or if he did exactly what he did because he was abused before he was adopted or even scared from finding the pictures of dead bodies that Tench brought home.
They did a great job of blurring the lines. Was Brian stalking that girl on the swings or did he simply know children his age were avoiding him. Cause of what happened? If it’s the later how does that affect him.
It will be interesting to see where it goes in season 3. Do they get back together. Does Brian do other serial killer things, but because Tench isn’t there the mom doesn’t notice it. I think Tench thinks Brian could be a serial killer but he isn’t sure yet. Signs are pointing to yet, but it is far from confirmed.
I think that’s very possible, and wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. He does seem to be interested in death as well as the only time he has perked up and said something was discussing the death of something.
They blurred the lines enough that I wouldn’t be surprised which way they took the character and I think Fincher did a great directing it so we can think about it either way.
I could do without the storyline of Brian being involved in the baby's death, but I get where they're going with it.
I could do without the storyline of Brian being involved in the baby's death, but I get where they're going with it.
100% agree. I’m just saying right now they could go either way with the character and they did a good job making it so we are not surprised if it is either or.
I thought it was a great depiction of an overly confident psychopath who sees the people that he murders as deserving death because they are either poor or were prostitutes and the act allowed him to deal with his own homosexuality.
What I thought was very interesting was the Atlanta FBI agent-Barney findings at the end that there were potentially other pedophiles at that Red house and that they were not just looking at White children. The pictures of the Black children had been removed from evidence. Was this an effort by some official to pin all the murders on Williams? It reinforces the doubt in the case since even as of today Williams has only been charged with 2 or 3 of the murders and the cases on the other children have been closed. Could there have been other participants in those murders?
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And did anyone catch Wayne taking pictures in at crime scene in episode 6?
I thought it was a great depiction of an overly confident psychopath who sees the people that he murders as deserving death because they are either poor or were prostitutes and the act allowed him to deal with his own homosexuality.
What I thought was very interesting was the Atlanta FBI agent-Barney findings at the end that there were potentially other pedophiles at that Red house and that they were not just looking at White children. The pictures of the Black children had been removed from evidence. Was this an effort by some official to pin all the murders on Williams? It reinforces the doubt in the case since even as of today Williams has only been charged with 2 or 3 of the murders and the cases on the other children have been closed. Could there have been other participants in those murders?
I didn't catch Williams at the murder scene. Shit, they should just let Kemper join the team.
As for the missing evidence, I think that was more about the fact there was a widespread systemic breakdown in completely and thoroughly investigating the case by all parties involved. There was politics, possible Klan connections in the Atlanta PD, police cover-ups, bureaucracy, myopia in the FBI, lack of trust in the community, press leaks as well as a bunch of other problems. That ends with Wayne Williams perhaps not being the murderer of all of these children and other likely killers being allowed to get off scot-free because the case wasn't investigated thoroughly. (They might not have been connected to Williams in any way or just used his crimes to cover up their own.)
Despite the FBI being of great help, this is still a relatively new, imperfect science and it didn't even catch Williams. Basic police work did. And even if the science gets better, it's still must battle against all of these outside factors.