How Mindhunter S2 is a Masterclass in Adaption
I want to appreciate an aspect of Mindhunter that hasn’t been talked about much — How An Adaptation Can Stand Its Own Ground.
When Mindhunter first released, it intrigued me so much I immediately read the book it was based on. While the book is good in its own right, the choices series’s makers have made is a masterclass in how to adapt source material.
WHAT THEY ADDED TO THE BOOK
While they added a lot of things that weren’t in the book like an officer’s conflict if his son might grow into a serial killer or that interview of a chocolate-loving serial killer, the most significant addition, I think, was Camille Bell.
Camille Bell is mother of Yusuf Bell, one of the many victims in the Atlanta serial killings. She is one of the most powerful characters in a series about FBI profilers and serial killers, yet, neither of them. That’s amazing. The book mentions her, by name, exactly once and moves ahead. But the series picks her up and elaborates for us. The system remains biased against her case, just the way it has been historically against her community. But she doesn’t take it lying down. She takes matters in her own hands and not in a way that’s shown in the movies like ‘Taken’ or ‘Peppermint’, but practically. She pools all the resources together — the parents of missing children, the evidence about them, the action not taken yet,etc., and brings attention to it relentlessly.
Although, some may say she didn’t get justice till the end, but her success lies in making the system blink. She forced the system into a corner till it had no option but to introspect and boy! Does she make you introspect hard. Her eyes seem to look directly in your soul and ask inconvenient questions, you were running away from all your life (Refer to the preview image)
WHAT THEY SKIPPED FROM THE BOOK
Along with what they added to the book, it’s important to appreciate what they skipped. I think it was meatiest part for any actor — The Interrogation of Wayne Bertram Williams.
Apparently, Wayne B. Williams took pride in controlling every aspect of the case. He presented a carefully constructed meek persona. The defendants pointed out how he looked too delicate to commit any sort of violence, let alone serial murders, that too of children. That combined with the charges of how racially biased judicial system was, put prosecution on the backfoot. FBI profiling insights had to be used inside a courtroom. They used their psychological insights to devise techniques to break through Wayne Williams’s public image and present his viciousness in front of the jury, a real-life ‘You Can’t Handle The Truth’ moment. Let me tell it is not a small thing to let go of such a moment (Who knows they might still show all of it in the next season, but the way the epilogue says ‘27 years later’, I don’t think so)
They chose to sacrifice this moment so as to focus on a more poignant message, how hopelessly judiciary and administration has let the black community down. And damn! That truth just stays inside you.
It takes immense amount of courage to make a storytelling choice that goes beyond the great content that’s immediately available, and search for something even greater. It takes even the person who’s read the book by surprise. For this, I’ll forever remain grateful to the series.