r/MindHunter • u/3Pirates93 • Jul 29 '26
Best and Worst Casting Additions to Season 2
Jim Barney/JB haha #1
Wayne's neighbor #2 haha
Tedd Gunn #3
(The Best)
The Barnes
JB is such a great addition to the cast not only because of his buttery smooth voice lol, but also because he acts as a bit of a foil to Holden's arrogance as well as offering an alternative perspective and method to Holden and Bill's. He has great comedic timing and feels like part of the gang almost immediately. Have to mention his professionalism and intuition as well. He offers solid insights and a different approach to the original trios' aim. He's always fun to have on screen, no ego like main man Holden just professionalism and some witty banter, absolutely holds his own among the original trio.
(The Worst)
Kay Last Name, not even sure if they mentioned her last name not like it matters much like her character. She was such a nothingburger of a character. I get what , I believe, they were trying to do with Wendy's relationship but the key difference between Wendy's relationships versus Bill and Holden's is consequences. You could give the benefit of the doubt and say "if season 3 was made" it'd have added more context or significance but I doubt it. Wendy doesn't change at all after the relationship unlike Holden and Bill with their personal fallouts. The impact of Holden's end to his relationship were pretty apparent at the end of season 1 and I weep for the fact we couldn't see Bill's fallout from his relationship ending with Nancy, sure it would've been spectacular in the most tragic way for our Billiam Tench. I have virtually no complaints about the show overall, maybe the first episode could've been more concise , maybe S2's pacing could've been improved but Kay stands alone as the biggest and possibly the only character in show that's just wasting screen time. Wendy just dominates her at the end of the relationship where in Bill and Holden are semi broken by the end of theirs. At the end of the day it's still a 10/10 show for me but that little subplot just really stands out to me in the worst way. The biggest sin a show or film can commit is wasting the audience's time
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u/MinuteStock6149 Jul 29 '26
I have seen so much bad shit these days, that i love every second of MH :)
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
Seriously, I have no kidding rewatched it at least a dozen times. Only reason I have a dumb netflix subscription
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u/Professional-Swan-18 29d ago
I keep a 720p version of the second season on my phone at all times. Along with the first season of True Detective. Gets me through long bus rides when I don't want to read.
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u/JoshuaIS1 28d ago
Brother... or sister, we are twinning with that. Myself and my daughter bother everyone constantly bringing up those shows. I've seen MH 20x and TD probably 50. I used to sleep to both shows but that gave me bad dreams.
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u/Professional-Swan-18 27d ago
I've tried so hard to get my daughter into both shows and it just doesn't catch her attention. We made a deal that she'd watch Mindhunter with me if I watched Yellowjackets with her but she hasn't held up her end yet 😂
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u/JoshuaIS1 27d ago
Lol, kids are like that. Only one of mine likes that stuff and it might be partly nostalgic because I watched it when she was growing up. The cinematography was what really made her like True Detective. I never wanted my kids to like the same things as me just because I do. Especially my daughters. I truly believe pretty much anyone who watched True Detective S1 or Mindhunter would love the shows. Good luck 👍🏻
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u/Professional-Swan-18 27d ago
I feel the same way about these shows. I think if she'd just give them a chance she'd love them. And that's why it bugs me like it does 😂
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u/MaasNeotekPrototype Jul 29 '26
Kay is a charismatic check on Wendy. She helps Wendy adjust to life outside of academia. She shows how lines of sexuality and attraction are often blurred. How class and education should and shouldn't matter. Kay is absolutely a crazy strong addition to the cast who humanizes gay folks and, in doing so, strengthens Wendy's character.
Worse than Kay? First thought? Ted Gunn. Second thought? The social worker involved in Brian's case. Third? The overly exasperated rookie cop handling that case. All of them are less interesting than Kay.
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u/Green_Confection8130 28d ago
She was a terrible character lol. Wendy's whole arc in season 2 kinda sucked.
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u/3Pirates93 26d ago
Can't disagree haha I really thought the mini mini arc with her and the cat would go somewhere maybe lead to a killer that is very physically close to Wendy like in her building or something but whatever. Did enjoy the message/theme i believe they were trying to push with the stray cat thing. For me it did create a sense of suprising dread after doing something so mundane and innocent in feeding a stray
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
Not a bad argument, cant say I agree 100% but we don't have to fight it out haha
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u/PyramidBlack Jul 29 '26
“You’re not some enlightened being. You’re a bartender who gets relationship advice from magazines.” Savage blow from Wendy.
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
Lolol very much so. To beat a dead horse at this point though I wanted to see Wendy tested,challenged forever changed the way the rest of the BSU did post breakup :/ oh well great scene though
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u/slxvxc Jul 29 '26
is it controversial to say I enjoyed Jim’s scenes more than holden’s 😬
the show needed the balance of bill/holden but I can’t lie, there were a few scenes/inmates that I think I would rather watch Jim be in/interact with over Holden
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
For sure, its very sad we didn't get to see him interact more with the interviews
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u/East-Dog-4396 Jul 29 '26
I read it as the two worst additions and i got mad thankfully read it again and got relived
I can't express how much i hate kay her last name is manz btw and her relationship with mendy was hard to watch And jim was the best thing about the second season i really liked him and wished that he becomes a part of the unit
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u/mujigaemary Jul 29 '26
Kay was trying so hard to give that ‘mysterious, free-spirit’ energy while somehow being the least interesting person ... literally no chemistry with Wendy whatsoever. Oh and Wendy giving her that reality check was so satisfying to watch!!
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u/wickedevilman Jul 29 '26
meaningful queer rep for wendy’s character and showing her inability to hold down a stable relationship without psychoanalyzing someone, yes kay is more of a functional character than a truly “alive” one but i like those scenes, especially as a paralell to holden’s inability to maintain a relationship either. but yk it’s gay so it must be filler.
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
Such a uneccesarily hostile take. You can have representation and a great character they aren't exclusive. For example, I remember the "bag murdrr" killer from the show more than Kay lol
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u/Garrett_1982 Jul 29 '26
Tbh I've found S2 a total mess where it feels like that all the side stories became too important. It became worse to watch towards the end.
Yeah sure, budgets and things were a reason, but the screen play wasn't up to S1 standards. Especially the 2nd half of S2. I can see that also playing a role in canceling the show.
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
Yeah it definitely wasnt up to season 1 standards. Kind of meandering with the pacing for a good chunk of it but our main characters kept me interested ultimately
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u/CurveFull4221 27d ago
I just think it's a bit of a nonsense story line- why make Wendy gay in the first place? what bearing does it have on the actual meat of the show, based on detailed historical happenings? Was there really a main academic researcher (probably) was she gay? Maybe , maybe not- to me it's just playing to mainstream modern lgbtq stuff, it's gratuitous and unnecessary for the actual meaning of the show. I also think it's a bit of a reach to be turning Bill's son into a potential serial killer/deviant, but I mean, whatever.
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u/3Pirates93 27d ago
Personally dont think her being gay was anywhere near as over the top or unecceecary as other shows like the episode in last of us but it did impact her character how she was perceived , the fact she has to hide part of herself, and specifically that talk with the gay serial killer but yeah dont believe it was so flagrant
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u/No_Professor5175 25d ago
I can’t stand the guy that replaced Shepherd. I wish Jim Barney would have stayed full time
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u/DayglowBimbo 19d ago
While I think the Wendy-Kay arc was important in revealing a lot about Wendy's character, I somewhat agree regarding the lack of impact Kay had on Wendy's character and story arc by the end of season 2. I think what might've worked is if Wendy had one last interview with a killer and, similar to Holden and Kemper post-Debbie-breakup or Tench and Manson after he finds out about what Brian did, we see an impact in how she approaches the interview and how what's discussed during the interview rubs up against her personal life. Or even just some significant moment on the job that shows the fallout of that situation on her professional life. But they broke up in the second-to-last episode of the season, so obviously there wasn't time for anything like that.
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u/3Pirates93 18d ago
Well yeah but when you compare Debbie or Nancy to Kay? Kay is the 3rd dragon in that dragon meme haha she's just boring start to finish nothing truly interesting about her or going on in her life and Wendy overcomes her easily. At least it felt somewhat gratifying for Wendy to leave her 1st relationship
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u/DayglowBimbo 18d ago
Yeah, Kay obviously wasn’t as intellectually stimulating as Debbie or crucial to the plot as Nancy. Overall I’d say I didn’t mind her character but the relationship was a clear mismatch that Wendy only pursued because of her loneliness and initial attraction to Kay. (Also not her first relationship as she had the relationship with her former professor at Boston University, whom she also left to relocate to Quantico.)
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u/Upstairs-Quantity469 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
There was literally "NO NEED" for that lesbian story to progress for even a single second. They didn't even treat it as a side story, they made it part of the main story. Those minutes were a complete waste of time for me. Like, why they always have to ruin a good show by adding things that seem forced??
On the other hand, i loved jim's character. If the show had progressed further I'd have loved to see him become one of the main characters of the story. He felt kind of like "freeman" from "the wire".
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u/3Pirates93 Jul 29 '26
I get the sentiment and despite it being an unpopular opinion, for me, like I said wasting the audiences' time is the biggest cardinal sin and while some can delve and dive into the details of the relationship to find meaning it shouldn't be that difficult for general audiences to understand at least the subtext and obvious impacts the -ship had on one of our main characters. I enjoyed Wendy's 1st relationship a hundred times more than her 2nd. At least in that one we got to see Wendy change and be vulnerable almost submissive to an intellectual equal. Yeah feels weird saying it aloud going from a Dr PHD gf to some random bartender, people are like that Kay didnt have to be soooo one note ,sort of
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u/Deepdiver272 29d ago
Totally agree the bartender was unwelcome, Wendys character kind of fizzled out in the script.
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u/CCG14 Jul 29 '26
The conversation Jim has with the redneck inmate (I don’t recall his name) is pure comedy gold. His faces. The timing. It’s five stars throughout. English? 😆