'Mindhunter' season 2: Will Bill Tench's fears come true after his son Brian shows signs of a serial killer in the making?
If season one of 'Mindhunter' put the focus on co-ed Killer Edmund Kemper's (Cameron Britton) chilling murder confessions, the second season brought a string of monstrous criminals into the picture. Right from Charles Manson to David 'Son of Sam' Berkowitz and the BTK killer's creepy crimes, the series is two shades darker and deadlier. But, there's another spooky sequence that seems to have left viewers flabbergasted. Is Bill Tench's adopted son Brian Tench a serial killer in the making?
The David Fincher-fronted series chronicles the journey of special FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) along with psychologist Dr. Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) as they try to solve the controversial Atlanta Child Murders in the second chapter. As they wade through professional waters, all three of them have personal problems to decipher.
In a major shocker, Bill's wife Nancy Tench (Stacey Roca) discovers that their son Brian was involved in the asphyxiation of a young toddler. When Bill comes to know about the chaotic situation, he tries his best to take out time from his super busy schedule. He finds out Brian that brought two older boys home from a nearby park and watched them suffocate the boy. Moreover, it is on his suggestion that the boys tied the dead child to a cross.
To save her son, Nancy explained how Brian did so in an attempt to bring him back to life, but the situation is way too messy already. Already overburdened with work, Bill makes several failed attempts to talk to Brian and to help Nancy out. However, nothing seems to be working out for the couple.
The little one seems to be in some serious trouble. In one scene, Nancy finds Brian standing alone in a park and creepily staring at a girl on a swing set. Trying to put some brains into him, she tells him: "Brian, we don't stare. Remember? It's impolite," adding, "I need you to come home, so we can..." He, in turn, simply turns around and walks away. Nancy is deeply worried and has no one to help her. There are other signs too. Brian is way too silent, he wets his bed every night and sucks his thumb.
It's not like Bill doesn't try to make time, but his work is getting out of hand. Finding himself helpless, he confides in partner Wendy Carr. "He stopped talking. He doesn't play anymore. Brian should be throwing a baseball, playing hide-and-seek, telling me about his stupid day. I have no idea what's going on inside that head."
He continues, "Brian was three when we got him. The doctors said he was fine. But who knows what his life was like before. How he was treated, what he had been exposed to. How does a seven-year-old do what he did? He watched a child die, crucified the body and didn't tell anyone?"
Once back home, Nancy tells Bill how she really needs a fresh start. It’s clear that she’s slowly slipping into depression. She even confesses that she is happy Brian is not her "biological child" and asks Bill to pick him up from school. After a car ride, where neither of them manages to break the ice, the father and son duo head out to eat ice cream. While there, Bill tries to explain how he’s “scared". For the first time, Brian tries to intently listen to his father and the emotional moment shows how Bill is making an attempt to be a good dad. In the season finale, however, Nancy abandons Bill without a word as she is super "pissed" when he has to head back to work from his "memorial holiday".
There is much reason for Brian's parents to be worried. Aren't these glaring signs that he might turn out to be a sociopath? During a conference, the new assistant director Ted Gunn says: "And we're learning these killers start having fantasies very young. They practice: dolls, animals, anything they can get their hands on." Brian's traits truly match with these pointers, don't they? Moreover, since the beginning of the series, the absence of the father in a child's life is considered a major trigger. Even though Bill tries his best to make up for the lost time, it is true that he is absent from Brian's life, isn't it?
Perhaps, the storyline is a hint at how the FBI agent may deal with his child becoming a juvenile or even, a serial killer in season three. Don't you think so?
