As Episode 1 of "Love Has Won" (2023 release; 3 episodes ranging from 54 to 58 min. Each) opens, it is "Creston, CO, April 29, 2021" and the cops are descending on the home of a small cult group, where they find the mummified body of Amy Carlson, a/k/a Mother God. We then go back in time as we learn of Amy's upbringing, a young mom with 2 kids and managing a McDonald's in Dallas. How did that turn into becoming a cult leader? At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from director Hannah Olson ("Baby God", "The Last Cruise"). Here she reassesses the life and times of a woman who at age 30 decides to leave her existence as she knew it then, and ends up proclaiming herself Mother God: "God is on the planet and she is a woman!", as the group called Love Has Won proclaims. Of course Love Has Won is awash in multiple conspiracy theories. And then just when you think that things can't get any weirder, they do. Olson mostly lets the members of Love Has Won tell the story. No need for Olson to correct anyone, I mean you can't make this stuff up! Bottom line: this is fascinating viewing, and these 3 episodes just flew by. Over the end titles of the last episode, we hear "Love Is Strange", the original 1957 version by Lonnie Donegan, which I had not heard before (I am familiar with the 1972 version by Paul McCartney & Wings). Great tune. Last but not least: the correct title of this mini-series is "Love Has Won", period. No sign anywhere in the series of "The Cult of Mother God" that many sources have added to the original title for no apparent reason.
"Love Has Won" recently premiered on HBO and is now also streaming on Max, where I caught it. I watched all 3 episodes in a single setting. If you have any interest in how a seemingly very ordinary woman changes her life from being a manager at McDonald's to becoming the leader of a small cult, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion,
