Most critics like Mindhunter, and for much the same reasons. The praise gathers around David Fincher’s cold, precise direction and the decision to keep the violence off screen, so that the series works through talk rather than gore. The interview scenes with imprisoned killers are singled out repeatedly, as is the rapport between Jonathan Groff and McCallany, whose odd-couple pairing several reviews name as the show’s engine. Comparisons run to Zodiac and, from one quarter, to Mad Men, for its patience with institutional change.
The reservations are about pace and the opening. Den of Geek finds the pilot rough and wooden before the interviews take hold, and The Ringer, the one mixed voice, worries about exposition-heavy dialogue, thin female characters and an early plot that does not yet know what it is. Several reviews cover only the first two episodes, so their praise comes with a wait-and-see. The spread is narrow, from lukewarm to two full marks.