‘Mindhunter’ Season 2: I’m So Happy Scary Murder Boy Ed Kemper is Back

In the Season 2 premiere of Mindhunter, Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) explains to Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) that “when we empathize with a psychopath, we actually negate the self. We deny our own beliefs about decency and humanity, and that can be very dangerous.” Well, if that’s so, then I’m in danger because my favorite part about Mindhunter Season 2 is that my sweet, awful, hideous, evil murder boy Ed Kemper is back on Netflix.

When I think of Mindhunter, I don’t think about Holden Ford’s twitchy obsession with the minds of serial killers or the murder scenes themselves. I think about Cameron Britton’s performance as Ed Kemper. In Mindhunter Season 1, Britton managed to make a conniving psychopath “likable.” He was avuncular, chatty, and the first killer that Holden Ford and Bill Tench managed to get to open up. (Well, more like Kemper was the first person excited to open up.)

In many ways, Mindhunter wouldn’t exist without the character of Ed Kemper. He is the subject that helps explain the baseline psychology of all the other serial killers, and with his guidance, both Ford and Tench have managed to crack other killers…even to the point of catching someone out in the field by using their newfound methods. Ed Kemper is arguably the soul of Mindhunter, even if he himself has a black hole where his own soul should be.

Naturally, Kemper’s stink is all over Mindhunter Season 2. Even though he doesn’t appear in the first episode, his words and deeds shadow every other interaction. When we last saw Holden, he was visiting Kemper in the hospital. Kemper had attempted suicide using a ball point pen; it wasn’t so much that Kemper wanted to die, but that he wanted Holden’s attention. As soon as Holden arrived, it became clear that Kemper was angry with the FBI agent for touting their interviews in the press. This conversation was the most dangerous of Holden’s career, and Kemper took advantage of it to assert dominance. After threatening Holden, Kemper then hugs him. It’s this that seems to set Holden off, leaving him in the hospital, rattled by a panic attack. Season 2, Episode 1 shows Holden Ford trying to bounce back from this event.

Kemper himself doesn’t reappear until Season 2, Episode 5. Before Tench and Ford visit their big white whale, Charles Manson, they drop by the prison chapel to chat with Kemper. As always, Kemper knows more about their visit than they’d like him to know. He offers advice, but with the tone of a puppet master. Indeed, what’s fascinating about Ed Kemper is how he plays with the agents in Mindhunter. He is their Rosetta Stone, but they are his toys.

Mindhunter Season 2 might have more famous killers in its literal murderers’ row of interview subjects — the Son of Sam! CHARLES MANSON! — but Ed Kemper remains the show’s most haunting killer. It is his ability to get under our skin that makes him so fascinating, and so terrifying.

Mindhunter Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix. 

Watch Mindhunter on Netflix