This docuseries appeared on my Disney + feed a short time ago, listed as a Hulu original. I have always been fascinated by the study of serial killers and this three episode docuseries caught that interest directly.

When I was younger, I was engaged in reading a group of books written by an FBI profiler named John Douglas, including his well known novel Mindhunter. In those works, I actually recognized the name of the woman featured in this docuseries, Ann Burgess.

Ann Burgess was not an FBI agent, but instead a nurse who was interested in the behavioral science aspect of criminal cases. She, along with other FBI agents, got together in a way that would revolutionize the process of investigation of serial cases.

They actually did bring up John Douglas in this series, along with another agent Robert Ressler. Douglas was not portrayed as the best person in this series, implying an environment of sexist behavior. It was Ressler that Burgess was more interested in working with and this group of people changed the way law enforcement looked at murder or rape cases.

The docuseries was interesting, looking at a couple of specific cases, such as the Ski Mask Rapist, and the idea of talking to the victimizers as a way to discover any sort of pattern among the people committing these crimes.

The third episode dealt mostly with her time outside of the FBI profilers, including her work in favor of the Menéndez brothers case and her work in the revealing of Bill Cosby’s sexual assaults.

This was a fascinating watch and provided even more details into the world of profilers that have always been intriguing for me.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is streaming on Hulu and on Disney + right now.