USA Today International - 22.08.2019

4B ❚ THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019❚ USA TODAY LIFE

LIFELINE

1. Dog Man: For Whom the Ball
Rolls Dav Pilkey
2. Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
3. Contraband
Stuart Woods
4. The Bitterroots
C.J. Box
5. Blood Truth
J.R. Ward

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Are serial killers born bad or are they the products of their envi-

ronments?❚That’s the oft-debated question at the heart of Net-

flix’s chilling crime procedural “Mindhunter” (Season 2 now

streaming). The series – produced by David Fincher and based on

retired FBI agent John E. Douglas and writer Mark Olshaker’s 1995

true-crime memoir – follows fictional FBI agents Holden Ford

(Jonathan Groff ) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) as they inter-

view high-profile murderers such as Ed Kemper and David “Son

of Sam” Berkowitz and study their psychology.

Spoiler alert! Contains major plot

details about the ending of “Mind-

hunter” Season 2, now streaming on

Netflix.

The most noteworthy criminal

portrayed in nine new episodes is

hippie cult leader Charles Manson

(Damon Herriman), who makes a

brief but haunting appearance mid-

way through the season during an

interrogation scene with Ford and

Tench. Tench has recently learned

that his withdrawn adopted son,

Brian (Zachary Scott Ross), was an

accessory to a toddler’s murder by a

group of local boys, raising frighten-

ing questions of whether Brian

could grow up to become one of the

deranged killers that Tench profiles.

Tench’s emotional family drama

changes the tenor of his interaction

with Manson, who famously in-

structed his impressionable young

followers (whom he called his “Fam-

ily”) to brutally murder actress

Sharon Tate and six others in 1969.

Tench accuses Manson of indoctri-

nating teenagers with his racist and

murderous philosophies, which

Manson turns back on him by say-

ing they were the “children” neglect-

STREAMING

Recovering after an encounter with serial killer Ed Kemper, Ford

(Jonathan Groff) tackles the Atlanta child murders. NETFLIX PHOTOS

‘Mindhunter’

takes on

Manson case

Patrick Ryan USA TODAY

FBI agents Holden Ford (Groff, left) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany)

interview killers including Tex Watson and Elmer Wayne Henley Jr.

See MINDHUNTER, Page 5B

LOS ANGELES – If the name Jillian

Bell doesn’t ring a bell, well, you

haven’t been paying attention.

She’s the secret weapon in a laun-

dry list of huge comedies from the past

decade, who delivers insanely out-

there dialogue so dryly, you hear it and

think “Wait, what?!”

Chances are, the line was some-

thing off the cuff about “Jurassic Park,”

crystal meth or playing pinochle, and

you may have heard it in “Workahol-

ics,” “Eastbound & Down,” “Curb Your

Enthusiasm,” “22 Jump Street,”

“Rough Night,” “Office Christmas Par-

ty,” “Goosebumps,” “Fist Fight” or “The

Night Before.”

It’s no wonder the quips are so silly:

Bell has been honing her comedy

chops since her mom enrolled her in an

improv class at age 8.

“I wasn’t doing well with other kid

activities like ballet class, but I was

like, ‘Give me a situation, give me a

time of day!’ “ Bell says. “I really liked

making people laugh.”

At 35, that much hasn’t changed for

the actress whose roles may seem dull

on paper (eager office manager, con-

servative wife, possessive best

friend), but she makes them memora-

ble by imbuing them with such idio-

syncrasies as short tempers, confus-

ing feminist ideals and an affinity for

onesies, so they become deliciously

surprising and droll. In the last decade,

she quietly has become the best sup-

porting actor of every show and movie

she’s been in – and more loudly starred

in her Comedy Central series “Idiotsit-

ter,” where she embodied the titular,

well, erratic “idiot” who’s under house

arrest.

But it’s time for her big-screen

break, and it’s here. As the lead, Bell is

in every scene of “Brittany Runs a Mar-

athon” (in theaters Friday in New York

and Los Angeles, expanding to Boston,

Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco,

Washington and other cities) and also

executive-produced the dramedy.

Bell is Brittany, a woman who uses

running as a tool to help gain control of

her unraveling world. Based on a true

story, “Brittany Runs a Marathon” won

an audience award at Sundance Film

Festival this year by addressing weight

and self-discovery in a way that feels

fresh and also wrenches your guts.

She was tired of seeing the “trans-

formation tale where someone loses

weight and then their life’s immedi-

ately great and then it rolls the credits

and you’re like, ‘Well, what did we

learn from that?’ “ Bell says. “For me,

this was the movie I wanted to see

when I was an 11-, 12-, 13-year-old girl.”

Here are five times the expert im-

proviser got more laughs than the title

characters:

PEOPLE

You should

really know

Jillian Bell

by now

Carly Mallenbaum

USA TODAY

Jillian Bell produced and stars in

“Brittany Runs a Marathon,” out

Friday. WILLY SANJUAN/INVISION/AP

See BELL, Page 5B

The “Today” show host has
soaked up every precious minute
with her babies, but it’s time to go
back to work. Kotb announced Tues-
day that she will return to “Hoda &
Jenna” on Sep. 3, right after Labor
Day, after spending time with her
newest addition, Hope Catherine. She
shared the news of her
return in a video on
Instagram. “Hi guys!
Guess what? It’s time
to get my roots done.
I’m coming back to
work,” the mom of
two joked.

CHARLES

SYKES/INVISION/AP

HOW WAS YOUR DAY?
HODA KOTB

Following President Donald Trump’s
comments about possibly purchasing
Greenland, the late-night TV host is
heading overseas to “help” secure the
deal, he announced in a tongue-in-
cheek segment Monday. “As the elder
statesman of late night, what if I ne-
gotiated the deal?” O’Brien said on
his show. “Seriously, what if I handled
this historic negotiation?” The presi-
dent raised eyebrows last week after
making comments that he was “look-
ing at” purchasing Greenland, despite
the fact that the country’s govern-
ment told him the island was “not for
sale.” However, it was unclear in the
multiple reports, including the initial
report by the Wall Street Journal,
how serious Trump was in discussing
the issue with aides.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

MAKING WAVES
CONAN O’BRIEN

Kenny Rogers is 81. Kacey Musgraves
is 31. Hayden Panettiere is 30.

IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY