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Netflix’s psychological crime thriller, Mindhunter, is still among its most popular shows. It premiered on October 13, 2017, and revolves around the story of two FBI agents who begin their research to interview serial killers to understand their psyches that could help them capture killers like them.
The show ran for two seasons and depicted numerous serial killers and their distorted psychology toward human life, showing the viewers how different they were from other human beings. The show was revealed to be over with just two seasons, leaving the fans wanting more of the gritty tale that explored serial killers like that. While Mindhunter might not be coming back, thriller K-drama, Through the Darkness, might be the next to watch for fans of teh American psychological thriller.
Like the Jonathan Groff-starring series, this K-drama also followed an antisocial criminal profiler who interviewed serial killers to understand them more.
More on this in our story.
Similar premise of Mindhunter and Through the Darkness
In Mindhunter, Jonathan Groff played Agent Holden, who was accompanied by a senior agent, Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), who both worked for the Behavioural Science Unit of the FBI, and conducted interviews with serial killers across the country to understand their psychology. K-drama, Through the Darkness, also followed the same premise, where Kim Nam-gil’s Song Ha-young was a criminal profiler at the Behavioural Analysis Unit at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
Like Holden, Ha-young was also accompanied by his senior Gook Young-soo, played by popular South Korean actor Jin Seon-kyu. The duo also interviewed the serial killers to understand the psychology behind what they thought while committing those crimes.
However, the similarity does not end with the premise of both psychological thriller series. Mindhunter is based on special agent John E. Douglas’s real-life accounts with the serial killers as written in the true crime book, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, which is co-authored by Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Similarly, the K-drama is also inspired by the novel, Those Who Read the Minds of Evil, written by Ko Na-mu and South Korea’s first criminal profiler, Kwon Il-yong.
Both books talk about the profiler's experience with serial killers in the field during their service time. This is adapted in their respective shows, which might look similar due to their thematic similarity. While no reports suggest Il-yong was inspired by Douglas’ true crime novel, the series uses the novel in a very proficient way.
When Young-soo sees Ha-young’s potential and asks him to join his newly built unit, he initially refuses, as the method did not align with their current investigative methods, where evidence was the key. Young-soo then gives Ha-young Douglas’ Mindhunter novel. As the series progresses, we see glimpses o the book several times and Ha-young using the interrogative method of Douglas, which made him similar to Groff’s Holden.
More about Mindhunter and Through the Darkness
Apart from the subject matter that was similar in both crime thriller shows, the characters were also quite similar. With Ha-young being the antisocial profiler like Holden, Young-soo being the voice of reason at times, and who took care of Ha-young when he went too far to catch a killer, just like Bill was for Holden.
However, it was the approach of the show toward the serial killers that differed in both shows. In Mindhunter, Holden was obsessed with learning how a serial killer’s mind worked. On the other hand, in Through the Darkness, it mostly stemmed from Ha-Young's emotional past. Holden’s obsession made him appear stoic and apathetic at times, as his focus was just on the killers, while Ha-young’s drive to unearth the killers was due to his empathy toward the victims.
With just 12 episodes, the K-drama could definitely be your next watch if you loved the Netflix thriller series.
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