Mindhunter: Carr vs Manz
That smart lesbian Doctor from Netflix’s Mindhunter
I do dislike to gush, I’m not much of a gusher. It’s not a super British thing, we don’t do that so much but, I really enjoyed Mindhunter. I didn’t catch it while it was hot, I watched it recently (Late Feb 2022) just on an off-chance. I watched both seasons (as there are only 2) and loved it. Was hooked from the start.
This isn’t a review about Mindhunter, this is an article specific looking at the lesbian relationship between Professor Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) and Kay Manz (Lauren Glazier).
Let’s just say that I was unhappy with how it ended, how the relationship ended. Not through some perverse girl on girl note (though I never mind that idea), but more that most shows seem to leave their couples either unresolved or Greek tragedies.
As a prelude, we get introduced to the fact that Professor Carr is a “Closeted” lesbian through an admission. Ford, the founding member of the Task Force, often uses “Personal truths” to coax information out of the serial killers. Carr has to employ this strategy in similar fashion because Agent Smith’s attempts fell rather flat.
This job is high stress, and the professor has been burning the candle at both ends like the rest of the team. She is especially alone and a bartender catches her eye in a bar that Ford and Tench like to visit to blow off some steam.
Carr’s Lesbian Background
She drops the truth bomb. We see Carr with an older woman. Her name is Annaliese Stilman (Lena Olin) and she was the focus of what Carr classes as a classic Sub and Dom relationship. This kind of relationship is one more often seen with Homosexual couples, though is not necessarily the norm. Carr suggests that she was controlled or at the very least that her relationship with Stilman is unhealthy. We can see a degree of steer from Stilman earlier in the show. She tries to steer Carr off the path of becoming the consultant for the BSU. I can’t help but feel that perhaps Carr conflated this view of Stilman. That she over-exaggerated those elements of the relationship she didn’t enjoy, that she embellished the truth.
So that trope. An older Sugar Momma College Professor, praying on her student. Yet, when pictured, there is a love between them. A dichotomy of sorts. When we see Carr in her apartment in season 2, she is lonely. She tries to feed and make friends of a neighbourhood cat. She leaves tuna out for it, which it eats the first time. Then when she comes to return the second time, the tin of tuna is full of ants, which she promptly drops to the washroom concrete in horror. The cat long gone. That initial joy replaced with revulsion.
The Greek Tragedy Angle
We go into what I classify as a classic trope. It is really strange how it is painted.
It all stems from an argument that Carr and Manz along the lines of needing to have 4 whiskeys before kissing out in the open. Carr, who earlier in the series is seen to be with an older woman, suggests that she was “out in Boston” but owing to her seniority in Quantico she can’t come out of the closet. Looking at the time stamp that this whole series is set, common acceptance of lesbians wasn’t so much a thing. It’s not like the now. I get that. She would get such slurs as “Dyke” tossed at her and would most likely lose her position in the FBI. It’s not a thing that happens these days, but back then it wasn’t so openly accepted, despite the summer of love and a growing change. She’s about 3–4 years too early for a proper change in the atmosphere.
Carr apologises but Manz leaves in a huff.
Then there is a back and forth about Manz’s son. A son that Carr isn’t permitted to meet. It makes a very unpleasant atmosphere. It’s almost as though Manz is pretending, a Janus of sorts (two heads).
The final trigger pull comes by Season 2, Episode 8, where Carr overhears Manz talking with her ex-husband and being referred to as a “friend”. The hypocrisy leaves Carr in disgust, and she leaves without a word. She dislikes Manz’s lack of backbone, when she called Carr out on it previously. Carr feels betrayed, and it cuts deep. Carr always comes across as hard as nails with Tench, Ford and Smith, but in trying to be soft with Manz she exposes herself, she is vulnerable.
We cut to later on where Carr has purchased an answerphone. She sets it up as Manz has been calling a lot and Carr has been ignoring her calls. She comes to the foyer of her apartment block and they have an unpleasant conversation that ultimately ends in the relationship being over.
The final note on this is where Carr takes one of the magazines that features a questionnaire that Manz bugged Carr with earlier (while she was going through the transcripts) and she proceeds to throw it in the bin. No more is said but you might find yourself thinking back to Manz looking rather heartbroken in the glass foyer, from earlier, and sighing.
My reactions
My first reaction was that I agreed totally with Carr (the character). The hypocrisy was rather rich. I certainly would have reacted the same myself.
With a bit more reflection on the situation, it left a bitter taste. Mostly because Manz was lovely, really lovely. It didn’t have to end that way. Carr showed an ugly side in some degree. The counter argument from Manz was that this was an issue with Carr and not Manz, that she didn’t want to be “out”. But on the other side, Carr had already suggested that she couldn’t. So, tragedy?
What tempered things a little was the child of Manz. The son. We could already see how Tench’s life absolutely turned to shit, especially after his adopted son was involved in a child’s murder and went on to be significantly disturbed. Could Carr truly have time to be there? Did Manz handle it well? Was it ever going to be a success? There’s always a problem when there is a third parent in a relationship. Manz was held to ransom, not having custody of her own son, a foot on the other shoe for a change.
If Carr had handled this better, if she had not left and confronted Manz upon her return, if she had mentioned that she overheard herself being referred to as “friend”, it might have been a better way to go to overcome this rocky event. But Carr didn’t do that. She left like a ghost through the door in which she came and went complete cold turkey on Manz. When Manz returned, desperate, having called Carr many times, I couldn’t help but feel that Carr hadn’t handled the situation in a very adult manner. Surprising considering her background, psychology. Did she even really want this relationship? That’s the question that it left me with. She made all the moves then when it got hard she bailed. Is that a reaction of a psychology professor? It is human, no doubt, and I like the writing of it, it gives Carr dimensions. But it also suggests that Carr has a façade of intelligence but when it comes to her own personal life, she is as fallible as the rest. For one smart chick, she’s not that smart when it comes to love.
Telegraphing
The first season was definitely exclusive to Holden. We saw him interact with the rather delicious Debbie Mitford in season 1, but that ended in tragedy. I’m not sure that was ever going to end well. Mostly because Ford was a pretty weird guy, but also because, and I hate to throw out this term but Debbie was promiscuous, or had “form”. It didn’t take much of a catalyst for her to be considering another guy.
You could argue that if Holden had explained his revulsion of the sexy boudoir getup and the shoes a degree further, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened but I get the sense that the relationship was doomed.
There was a point at the launderette where Ford shouldn’t have been a cuckold, a “pussy”, and should have kept on walking. That was the point where he should have called it quits. The way Debbie was holding that study “partner” in the dark trial was not cool. For me personally, that would be it. That was a natural reaction from Ford. The makeup part, was weakness.
That isn’t the only dark thing that happened. Season 2 saw Trench go through literal hell. He had to wear 20 caps. He was not winning. All that time in Atlanta was time his marriage was crumbling which ended in a very final point where his wife and adopted son had moved without a word leaving him with an empty home on his return. The ultimate sacrifice for the job. And, it wasn’t even a satisfying end. The child murderer got away.
It seems that David Fincher really seeks decay. Entropy. Its a big theme of Mindhunter; entropy. Everything is morose and macabre so why should anyone’s love life be spared the same?
In reflection
Perhaps I was naïve to expect that Carr and Manz could enjoy a future together. If a season 3 surfaces (which I hope it does), I might hope on a rekindling. Though such things don’t tend to happen. We didn’t see Debbie return ergo it is likely there will be no Manz return. It just feels like a cold note. For all that effort to develop the techniques of Criminal Psychology with the BSU, each and every member loses some degree of their humanity. That is the price to pay the piper. It’s as if the murderers themselves have a corrosive effect on those who question, who understand their design.
On a wider angle, I’d like to say that it is okay for gay couples to have a happy ending. I’m straight myself but I’m a human too. I get a bit tired of the dystopia. Perhaps life’s biggest joys are to live and love. It seems that Hollywood (as a collective) often selects a tragic end for a gay couple. You can’t have it, it can’t succeed, you can only at best leave a chance of something at the end. Why though?
Tench is left bereft, family gone. Ford almost feels like he has been demoted, on a leash, concerned about crippling anxiety attacks. Carr is alone, and while right about that hypocrisy, still closeted perhaps without cause. I can’t see Tench or Ford having a problem with it. Smith, perhaps not, though his isolation is complete.
Lack of communication. It’s how Carr, Tench and Ford have lost their loves. They talk but not at the right times. Their work is all, and their life comes second. They study those with aberrant behaviour, and are on the path to that themselves. They live unhealthy lives. Carr denies who she is. Holden is too tightly wrapped. Tench is sometimes out of his depth. So much left unsaid.
So much left unsaid. Indeed.
P.s
I missed a step with Holden, further up. He showed two signs of weakness prior to the incident that left him returning to Debbie at the launderette. He asked about sexual conquests, a mistake, a sign of weakness. He also tried to assert his dominance in regards to who drove Debbie home of a night. She later used that insecurity to hurt him. She hooked up with the guy he suspected she might hook up with, and perhaps his manner and tone contributed towards that to some degree. Not condoned but avoidable with care. Easy to say in hindsight.
P.s.s I realise a lot of this is based on real life. Dr Carr’s character is somewhat of a diversion from the real. The person she was based on was not a lesbian, and didn’t move to Virginia as part of the department. See more here.
P.s.s.s It is likely there won’t be a third season of Mindhunter. The actor, Jonathan Groff suggested as much in this article. But I often feel that some great series run too long, so to leave this series on a high is refreshing. Yes, its only 2 seasons, but a lot happens in those 2 seasons.
