Why did Dr. Carr get an answering machine in Mindhunter S2? [closed]

Why did Dr. Carr get an answering machine in Mindhunter S2? [closed] - Brown Coffee Pot Pouring on White Ceramic Cup

The penultimate appearance of Wendy in season 2 shows her setting up her new answering machine.

As we know, she is a very private person and is very focused on the work and doesn't seem like she has much time for or interest in having a busy social life. Besides Kay, who could she possibly be getting personal calls from that she would actually be interested in?

It just seems like she is only buying and setting up the answering machine so that Kay can call and they can work things out. Perhaps in Wendy's constant quest for control of her surroundings she wanted to do this in her own time but when Kay called before she had even finished setting the machine up Wendy acted rashly.

She walked out on Kay earlier in the episode which precipitates the argument that is about to occur.

My theory here is that Wendy wants to have the argument that is about to happen to get things off of her chest and clear the air with Kay so that they can move on in their relationship. When Kay shows that she is up for the argument too, Wendy goes in for the kill and takes it too far and coolly analyses Kay with the coup de grace to the relationship.

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Best Answer

A home answering machine is not only about a social life.

Carr is an important person in academia, and becoming important in government. People like that need to be accessible. People like that want to be accessible so that people who wish to consult them will be able to actually connect.

Other people call, too.

  • She rents her apartment, so she has a landlord who might call.
  • If she stays there long, she will probably have occasion to hire workmen to make repairs or modifications to her home.
  • She might have former students who wish to contact her for help with their own academic careers (letters of recommendation, advice about different departments or colleagues, etc).
  • She probably has some living family members, and she may either wish to screen their calls (while still being aware of them), or perhaps she's eager to return those calls ASAP.

These are all people she might not wish to share her (government) work phone with, and none of it depends on her having a real social life: these are all people she may be forced to deal for one reason or another.



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I really dunno why but this scene is so great



More answers regarding why did Dr. Carr get an answering machine in Mindhunter S2? [closed]

Answer 2

I don't believe there's an in-universe answer to that. Maybe she doesn't want to miss calls from other people.

Out of universe it seems like a MacGuffin to advance the plot in a direction: the machine gets the call just as Wendy is setting it up, so we get to see her confronting Kay immediately.

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