History Characters / MindhunterFBI

* BerserkButton: Bringing up his family and trying to push his buttons in that regard is a major one. It's why he walks out on interviews with Jerry Brudos and Charles Manson, the only times he's ever walked out when dealing with serial killers.

* TookALevelInJerkass: The culmination of his CharacterDevelopment in Season 1. He was always a bit of a jerk, but it was inadvertent due to his AmbiguousDisorder, but his growing success and victories turn him into an utterly repulsive egomaniac in the last two episodes of Season 1. He becomes a swaggering asshole who talks down to Bill and Wendy when he isn't ignoring their very valuable advice, brushes off all the damage he's doing as inconsequential and becomes so arrogant that he endangers the entire study just because he doesn't feel adequately respected and he can't own up to his own mistakes. It takes nothing less than a terrifying encounter with Ed Kemper to knock him off his high horse, and for Kemper, it's almost a KickTheSonOfABitch moment.

* DudeWhereIsMyRespect: The reason for his final tirade to Holden. He is flabbergasted that he could think a good idea to self-promote in his own retirement party, which he unwittingly caused.

* WomenAreWiser: Between Bill, Holden and Wendy, she is easily the most intelligent and levelheaded.

* HistoricalInJoke: His needling of Holden about obsessively following a newspaper’s stories about a serial killer may in fact be a reference to how his real-life counterpart, Robert Ressler, followed stories about the Lipstick Killer as a child out of curiosity as a child.

* StandardFiftiesFather: Bill's appearance (including a shockingly square haircut) and gruff demeanor suggest a slightly more grizzled version of this, in contrast with younger and hipper Holden. However his relationships with his family are more flawed and also more affectionate than this trope typically evokes, and in action Bill actually has fairly liberal views. He makes the rather progressive (for the time period at least) point that a woman out alone having a drink might not be inviting company, shows a great deal of respect for Wendy, and champions Jim Barney for the position of the fourth BSU member.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: He didn't just decide to retire and be replaced by the boss Holden wanted. Rather, he was forced to retire as a result of Holden's actions, and he is not too happy about it.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: She starts interviewing subjects herself in Season 2. But instead of becoming OneOfTheBoys, these interviews are limited to men who killed other men and are not suspected of having issues with women.

* RatedMForManly: He has ''that'' build, ''that'' haircut, ''that'' baritone voice, ''that'' job, and a generally gruff, stoic disposition.

* BadassBaritone: Has a low, gravelly voice, no doubt helped by years of smoking, and is pretty badass.

* DefectiveDetective: He has good instincts for the job, but he's friendless, dateless, and NotGoodWithPeople.

* NotGoodWithPeople: As a result of having NoSocialSkills. He can, however, adopt personas that make serial killers like him.

* CommonalityConnection: His main strategy to get interviewees talking. At first it's fairly harmless, like [[ADateWithRosiePalms an anecdote about his mother catching him masturbating]], but with time it degrades into Holden saying things that his colleagues find downright disturbing.

** He also seems a little intrigued when sitting in on the interview with Paul Bateson, and Bateson himself shoots a few coy looks at Smith.

** He also seems a little intrigued when sitting in on the interview with Paul Bateson, and Bateson himself shoots a few coy looks at Smith.

** He also gives a remarkably cogent analysis of a (then) unknown killer based on a single crime scene photo. Even Bill is impressed by his attention to detail.