This Hulu docuseries explores the inspiration behind Anna Torv's 'Mindhunter' character

The attempt to gain insights into captured serial killers in Thought Hunter made for two disturbing, thought-provoking and deliciously acted TV seasons. Created by Joe PenhallThe series was another Netflix project in which David Fincher his directing style as a recurring director, executive producer and showrunner, with a tone that is close to Zodiac. The low audience numbers led to Thought Hunter in an early grave, and if fans are still heartbroken over the loss of what could have been Season 3, A new docuseries on Hulu will satisfy the craving for true crime.

Mastermind: Think like a killer brings more of the criminal profiling that viewers will remember, while also focusing on the real character behind a main character from the canceled Netflix series. The docuseries examines who Ann Wolbert Burgess and her contributions to the work of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. In Thought Hunter, Dr. Wendy Carr, played by the underrated Anna Torv, was loosely based on BurgessA lot of creative liberties were taken with regard to the character on screen. Thought Hunter Fans and those interested in true crime will easily be drawn into watching Mastermindbecause the documentary series takes you back to the crucial role Dr. Burgess played in researching serial killers to catch the perpetrators on the loose.

What is “Mastermind: Thinking Like a Killer” about?

In three episodes Mastermind takes a look at Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess, a pioneer in criminal profiling during her time at the Behavioral Science Unit. As a nursing professor at Boston College, Burgess' work to remove the stigma of discussing and investigating rape cases catches the attention of the FBI. She is assigned to help agents understand how to talk about and better understand sex crimes. This opportunity then leads her to join the Behavioral Science Unit, a small academic department in the basement of Quantico, where Burgess helps correct the unstructured methods of FBI agents John E. Douglas And Robert K. Ressler to properly study the psychology of a violent criminal.

Mastermind puts the spotlight squarely on Burgess. A feature-length documentary is not enough, not considering the time given to this documentary series to cover several decades, from the 1950s to the present, in a non-linear structure, the personal life of Dr. Burgess and her career in which she succeeds with the FBI agents at the BSU. Steven ConstantinCo-author with Burgess on A killer with intentsaid in an interview that she was “the brains of the operation. She saw the potential of using interviews with serial killers to predict who might be a killer.” Viewers familiar with the Netflix crime drama will recognize the well-known, notorious criminals that BSU focused on.

“Mastermind” is the true story behind “Mindhunter”

Mindhunter: Insights into the FBI's elite serial crime unitthe 1995 book by Douglas and Mark Olshakerwas the source of Thought Hunterbut the two seasons have added a lot of creative liberties instead of sticking to the facts. When viewers watch the docuseries, it becomes clear that FBI agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) were based on the agents Douglas and Ressler with plenty of room for exploring fictional narrativeslike Ford's relationship with Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton) and Tench's family life deteriorates. The same goes for Dr. Wendy Carr, the character based on Dr. Burgess.

Anna Torv's performance as a steely psychology professor who gives up her prospect of tenure in Boston to work full-time at BSU is compelling. But like Ford and Tench, Carr struggles to immerse herself in the violent crimes she must analyze, and that causes problems in her personal life. Torv said in an interview with The New York Times that she read Douglas and Olshaker's book to prepare for Season 1. “When I started the book, I realized, 'Oh, she's probably Ann Burgess,' but we've moved it so far away from her that I don't think it would do Burgess justice to say that. It's just a totally different character.” Mastermind shows how different, but equally fascinating, the real public figure was.

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Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess wanted to protect lives

Burgess had started out as a nurse and wanted to listen to her patients and understand their feelings, especially those of female victims of sexual violence, which was unthinkable at the time. She wanted to apply this focus on psychology in her future work. Outside of Burgess' career, she had a loving family. She was the mother of several children who adored her and was happily married to a man who supported her work at the BSU. It seems likely that Thought Hunter Wendy Carr was created as a lesbian to highlight the theme of the series, namely the unsatisfying private lives of the main trio suffering from inner conflicts in season 1 and season 2.

Unlike Dr. Burgess, a straight woman with a family, Dr. Carr's queerness added another layer of separation between her work and personal life, as it remained hidden due to the time period. Viewers realize that Anna Torv's ex-professor (with no nursing training) may be highly intelligent, but that didn't matter when it came to how she struggled with her romance with bartender Kay (Lauren Glazier), where they were opposites who were attracted to each other – until that was no longer the case. The warmer life at home for Burgess in Mastermind stands in contrast to the morbid work that she with the FBI, and what's even more surprising is the sense of humor Burgess shows in these three episodes.

According to one story Burgess told, she learned how to fly a plane and laughed about it: “And I was really good, except for the landings. Those were pretty crucial.” Despite the success Burgess achieved with the BSU, she faced sexism from her colleagues. This was deeply rooted in the “boys' club” that was the FBI, and her absence from a published photo of the “male” BSU team is a glaring sign of it. Mastermind: Think like a killer is not afraid to identify sexism in the workplace as an obstacle for Burgess, among other challenges, such as when she admits in an interview how difficult it was to separate work and personal life.

Understanding serial killers is a harrowing task

True crime can descend into reckless sensationalism when it ignores those who have been harmed – be they the survivors, the victims, or the families of the victims. Mastermind is not an anti-true crime projectbut while they mention killers by name or include audio recordings of their interviews, they provide context for understanding Dr. Burgess's goal. She recalls being unable to save the life of a kidnapped child in one case she helped with. Having children of her own, she felt the loss with even greater pain. “When you're looking for someone you can influence to change a broken system, the FBI was at the top of the list,” Dr. Burgess said of joining the BSU. “So I felt like I could make a difference.”

Dr. Burgess created the questionnaire that the FBI agents used in their interviews to ensure that the data collected was organized, and then their goal was to develop it further so that local law enforcement could apply it. There is a mention of the arrest of the BTK Killer in Mastermindthe fans of Thought Hunter know is the killer who was never caught when the show ended. Burgess' work did not end when she left the BSU, however. In Episode 3, she interviewed Erik Menendez In 1993, she discovered that sexual abuse was the motive for the Menéndez brothers' murder of her parents. She later served as an expert witness for the defense during the first trial. In the 2000s, Burgess helped Andrea Constanda survivor of sexual violence from Bill Cosby.

Currently, Dr. Burgess is not retired. She continues to teach a new generation and work on cases to bring justice to victims and survivors. Despite the fictional storylines of the Netflix series, both Carr and Burgess had to deal with sexism, which was the main reason they were excluded from their contributions to the BSU. In Thought HunterDr. Wendy Carr is denied the opportunity to conduct further interviews with the imprisoned killers after her second interview is deemed a failure, and her boss gently reminds her that her “place” is in analysis. As for Dr. Burgess, while she has struggled with sexism in the past, Mastermind: Think like a killer honors a woman who had to prove herself She was a member of the FBI's “Boys Club,” where she did groundbreaking work in profiling criminals.

Mastermind: Think like a killer is streaming on Hulu.

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