Profilers are wrong, too. It just so happens that I know a little more about building a psychological profile of a killer than the average viewer of crime series. I read the autobiographical books of FBI officer John Douglas, who pioneered this method of finding criminals and, in fact, for a while was the only active “profiler” (or “profiler”—whatever you like) in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He went to prisons and questioned convicted murderers about what they had done and why, compared and drew conclusions. He's seen thousands of crime scenes - live and on the records of the inspections. He studied thousands of autopsies and body examinations. I have read thousands of criminal cases. He communicated with the victims, with the relatives of the victims, with the suspects. He gained a huge, unique experience and managed to pass it on to his employees.
He was wrong many times.
Therefore, when I watch another movie or series in which the main acting figure becomes a profiler, I start to groan with distrust. It is difficult, difficult to create in an hour and a half a convincing image of a professional of this kind. I don’t believe in an inspired insider profiler who is “visited by visions.” Creating a psychological (or behavioral) profile of a killer is painstaking work based on the terrifying experience I wrote about earlier. It is a work of the mind, not a play of inspiration. Although a computer cannot be trusted with such work – the importance of the smallest details is too great (I will not go into details here, anyone who wants to find Douglas’ books, which have been translated into Russian, on my tip).
Another gross mistake is to create the image of a profiler-mad, half-maniac, who himself is on the verge of a crime. This work is performed either by psychiatrists who cooperate with law enforcement agencies (for example, Prof. Bukhanovsky, known in the post-Soviet space), or by specially trained employees. They both go through a lot of sanity checks. The key feature that allows professionals to guess about the behavioral profile of the offender is compassion for the victim. In a broad sense, the ability to empathize. Those who are “hunted” by profilers are characterized by a lack of empathy. They are usually sociopaths or psychopaths.
Well, the most brilliance is a profiler who knows no doubts and is not mistaken: a kind of homing gun that does not know how to miss. It makes no sense to even talk about the improbability of this image.
Perhaps it makes sense to interrupt such a long foreplay and ask yourself, as if from the outside: “Do you need documentary 100%?” No, I need persuasiveness. It is clear that almost any crime series is based on fiction, otherwise it would not be so exciting. But if he is not convincing, he will not be interesting to me.
Such a long foreplay was not necessary for me to boast of my erudition and insight, but only to start a conversation about the most interesting series I have seen (to date), the hero of which is a profiler – “Tight String”. He is Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist and lecturer at the University of Bradfield, a small town in England. The image of Tony is not without stamps - from the very first shots he appears before us as a kind of eccentric scientist, slightly absent-minded, helpless and clumsy, uncertainly communicating with people, but brilliantly knowing his business. In the past, he has already had (not completely successful, as far as we can judge) experience of cooperation with the police, but he knows a lot about sociopathic criminals (this is his specialty) and therefore Carol Jordan invites him together to look for a mysterious killer of men.
Tony’s work in the police gives a clear picture of how the “criminal profile” is drawn up. Tony turns to the experience of past cases, finds a relationship between the picture from the crime scene and the goals of the killer, his behavioral characteristics. Photos, books, a whiteboard with a marker, his own and others' experiences are his tools. And the brain. Watching Tony solve another mystery is much more interesting than following chases and shootings (they also happen, but there are not many of them in the series).
Tandem Tony-Carol (or rather Robson Green – Hermione Norris) is another success of the series. Although Hermione seemed scary to me and even reminded Kalugin of “mymr”, and Robson is a charming handsome man who melts my heart, but their joint play creates additional tension. Especially strongly remembered the moment when they lie on the floor at night among the unfolded materials of the next criminal case and talk about partnership - how incredible, almost sparkling tension will penetrate their conversation, and every gesture, and every turn of the head! This is especially felt when blonde Carol for the season is replaced by brown-haired Alex - the tension immediately subsides and those sparks of attraction do not remain a trace.
Speaking of persuasiveness, I can’t help but note – alas! – the fact that the writers went along with the reception of “more blood, more tin”. 3-4 “serial” per season is a bit too much for tiny Bradfield (population – 17 thousand people). Among them, religious fanatics predominate and several fans of the “BDSM culture” clung to me, which also annoys me (we must somehow hint to the creators of the series that BDSM is still a voluntary relationship between capable adults, as a rule, very law-abiding). But despite all these shortcomings, this crime series certainly deserves its place in the list of the best!
10 out of 10