The Deep End

As someone who has followed Teal quite a while ago 2009(?) to 2015 I had always found something was of about her story. From her claiming to have been abused and sewn into a corpse as a child, to driving out into the forest having an abortion by herself on herself and then leaving her blood children in the snow... just to mention a two. What I found extremely appalling was that when her friend was raped she stood by the rapist... and whenever people questioned her she became aggressive telling people they should kill themselves... at the beginning it was easier to ignore some of the stuff as fantasy or unhappy people leaving the community, but after a while there was so much that you had to be willfully ignorant to the damage she does to people as well as to her backstory that was clearly made up. She was traveling the world as a super model in the time she was being controlled and abused, and there are no pictures of her modeling except some quite tasteless naked pictures in bad lighting - there is nothing professional about the pictures. She loves to call herself famous as money, fame and power is what she is after. For someone who teaches others to empower themselves she is really quick at playing the victim at the slightest critique she receives. And you will be shunned from the community if you dare to question her. She a dangerous cult leader who not only targets suicidal people, but also tells people to kill themselves if they disagree with her. The videos her followers talk about are mostly word salad that will make your head spin if you try to understand it. She needs to be exposed and I'm really curious about this documentary.

A seriously engaging documentary. I thought I'd check out the first episode and I ended up binging the entire thing in one afternoon. Each episodes shows a more ghastly side of Teal Swan than the previous one.

This person is a perfect example of someone who's been drinking too much of their own Kool-aid for too long.

She's abusive, controlling, vindictive, and disdainful. Whenever I see a doc like this I have to wonder how these followers come to lose all common sense and value in themselves.

Swan makes it her full-time job (and full-time grift) to make you feel as badly about yourself as possible. And her entire business model depends on people feeling badly about themselves.

Exploiting people in pain and people in need will always be a profitable business for some.

This woman is without a doubt dealing with several severe psychosis. She's abusive, dangerous, and deranged. She's sick. Very, very sick.

She has several "followers" abused to the post of suicide.

This is heartbreaking and horrific. She should be in jail.

I don't doubt she will be- soon.

All the low ratings are either done by Teal and her inner circle. "They probably misled her about what they were filming to make her look bad!" or people who hate Teal "I cannot stand this narcissist"

In either case, those aren't real reviews of the series itself.

The show is unsettling and a darkly fascinating train wreck you can't look away from. It's a train wreck because we're watching a damaged person try to help other damaged people in disturbing and unethical ways.

It reminded me of a better version of the a Hulu limited series Nine Perfect Strangers (about the questionable alternative therapy retreat led by a narcissist with a secret)

It's a pretty fascinating portrait of what a cult leader can look like in today's world.

Of course it's all speculative on whether or not Teal is a narcissist or a cult leader so it's definitely not right for me to say or judge, but that's the lingering question this series investigates. Either way, it's a fascinating character study about an individual with an unsettling amount of power and influence over vulnerable people.

The entire documentary looks like years of work with meticulous attention to detail. Amazing filming, music and story telling. The subject matter is a tough one and Kasbe's genius combines horror of Teal Swan with his art of beautiful film making. Suicide is the second most common killer among the millennials and cult leaders like Teal Swan stand ready to exploit the plight of people in need of help. This is epic work in revealing the truth behind the false prophetess of new age. A must see.