Why Maybe We Shouldn't Be Watching The Vow Season 2
The HBO docuseries crosses over into sensationalism in its sophomore outing.
In the last moments of The Vow season 1 finale, unease set in. Of course, this is a docuseries about a cult, isn’t it expected to be uncomfortable? But I’m not referring to the horrific events the HBO series depicts, but the existence of the series itself. In so many ways, when The Vow premiered, it felt important that it was publicly exposing this cult and its leaders (following the groundbreaking New York Times article). People like Keith Raniere and Smallville-star-turned-cult-leader Allison Mack should never be able to hide behind their charms again. As Raniere’s voice came through in the finale’s final scene however, and it was clear the following season–because HBO wasn’t going to let such a hit show end with just one season–would include his perspective, suddenly it felt like maybe things had gone too far.
That feeling continued when I hit play on season 2, which premiered on October 17, and NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman appeared smiling creepily outward at me. At what point do we crossover from doing vital work to sensationalism? Or perhaps we’ve always been there. I gobbled up season 1. I obsessively watched it and talked about it to anyone who would listen. When I finished, I immediately hit play on Starz’s Seduced, which picks up the torch in telling the story of former cult member India Oxenberg, granddaughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. Perhaps I didn’t mind using others’ trauma for my entertainment as long as I could cloak it in morality, and when HBO decided to more blatantly go all in on spectacle, I couldn’t hide behind such rationalizations anymore.
So, is The Vow’s sophomore outing as bad as all that? It certainly takes a different tact. While its predecessor had a pretty tight focus on prominent former members who banded together to take NXIVM down, the new season has no problem interviewing members who still whole-heartedly believe in Raniere. Two women who belonged to DOS, the secret organization within NXIVM which put the “sex” in “sex cult,” adamantly tell us that being DOS slaves was so positively beneficial to their lives, and the only people who have harmed them are the people who took that all away. Once I got past my incredulousness over what these women were saying, I had to wonder, what is the point of this? Is there any value to this other than shock? Taking advantage of people while they’re still brainwashed in order to make your show more scandalous is appalling, and it’s not something that I want to watch.
This brings up an interesting question for me: should I continue to watch The Vow season 2? Phone interviews with Raniere while he awaits trial at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn actually don’t take up as much of the screen-time as I feared, though I do have to roll my eyes hard when he tells a producer, “They don’t know why, but I’m really bad. I’m evil.” Hmmm, I think we do know why Keith. Yet once again, the closing scene of the episode chills my blood cold as Salzman sits down opposite the camera ready to give her interview.
I don’t know where this is going. Is she going to defend NXIVM like those former DOS slaves did? Will she criticize the cult, but rationalize what she did? Is this going to be a fully deprogrammed Nancy? Who’s at fault in the cult hierarchy is murky at best. As much as those in positions of power subjugated those under them, they too were victims. It’s a quandary that dogged season 1 as viewers had to balance how much to exonerate, in their own minds, such senior members like Sarah Edmondson and Mark Vicente. Is it enough that they left the cult themselves, and helped take it down? It’s hard to say, as the series largely glosses over just what their actions were when they were loyal ESP-ians. We’ve gotten hints that Vicente really harassed those who had left before him. Edmondson, at least, shows more humility about what she did. But Nancy is a co-founder. Surely, if there’s a limit to who are victims themselves, the buck stops with her. The truth is, whether she’s totally reformed or still a shill for Raniere, I don’t really care what she has to say, and I don’t think HBO should give her a platform to say it.
When the show premiered, it was revelatory. I’m not sorry it was made. I’m not sorry for watching it. But with already knowing that Raniere was sentenced in 2019 to 120 years in prison, the story appears over–at least from an entertainment perspective, it will, of course, never be over for those involved–which makes a new season appear as little more than a cash grab. It even would have been much better if it had taken a page from Seduced’s book and made any future episodes about the victims, and what they want to share about their own experiences. I don’t know what direction the rest of the season will take; if it will prove itself worthy and doing essential work after all. I’m sure there is still so much we don’t know about what went down. But for now, I remain skeptical at best.