The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin

I think I'm going to start doing my hair just like the exquisite and elegant Gwen Shamblin.

Her hair. Her anorexia. Her plastic Ken doll con artist husband. Her fake Christianity. Her grifting scam that is The Remnant Fellowship .This documentary has everything- and I mean everything!

I am so sad that there are only going to be three episodes available and we will have to wait until next year to get the rest because I am obsessed with this and I am not ashamed to admit it.

These people are lunatics and I need more!

I really enjoyed this and look forward to 2 more episodes (presumably next year?) I'd like to hear a little more about what becomes of some of the key players. Especially Gwen's daughter - if that girl isn't suffering with Anorexia, I'm not sure who is.

I'm a little surprised that the story was unfamiliar to me as I find the topic very interesting. Between the cult storyline and the charlatan religious leader storyline, it was right up my alley.

How individuals can let themselves be taken it by such incredibly obvious hypocrisy is truly beyond me. But I guess they must be looking for something missing in their lives if they're willing to let anyone or anything influence them to this degree. And that's how a cult gets you - it provides what is missing. It fills a void that nothing else has been able to fill.

Of course it's the children either born into it or brought into it by their parents who get my deepest sympathy. Or someone like Delaney who was influenced at a young age and at a particularly vulnerable time in her life. My heart breaks for her parents.

What really fascinated me, however, was reading a couple of the reviews here. There are people who watch the series and then defend this despicable, greedy, evil, charlatan and her co-leaders? It's not a cult and Gwen actually helped people? Really? And how could anyone criticize parents fighting to keep their high school daughter from joining this cult filled with crazies and zealots?

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And it probably shouldn't surprise me as it's a big part of the reason this country is in the horrendously frightening position it's in today.

I had stumbled onto this good documentary on HBOMax and had no idea this Church of God likes skinny people existed. Run by a questionable woman using Christianity as her prop to turn out clones of herself and her beliefs, Gwen Shamblin, she operated for decades under this horrific religious guise. Families suffered, relationship suffered in ways I hadn't seen before.

Physical abuse of children. Forced pregnancies. Forced Divorces. Forced weight loss. Etc. All under the name of God, but you'll find that SHE was taking the god moniker for herself, and these folks followed - to a point.

And that is what this documentary puts across effectively.

This documentary also gets across that Gwen Shamblin-Lara and her Church of Heavenly Weight Loss, is also a cautionary tale as it seems so successful as we watch her and those in her orbit run amok with her lavish lifestyle

This tale ends unexpectedly tragic for all the main members and it's a doozy. And their end may make you think whether you're a believer of Christianity or not, that their God doesn't appreciate being mocked.

It's a good series but it could be S'much better with some editing. But it seems that all documentary series' now churn out twice as many episodes as they should. I don't know if it's because they want to stretch these stories out the way the series Dexter took 4 season's worth of material into 9 seasons, or if they just don't want to hire an editor. This is another series that would thrive as 3 episodes. But it IS interesting and well done.

The documentary jumps a little all over the place at times, but as a whole it's done really well. This cult seems like hell and those that run it are experts at exploitation and cruelty; as are most cult leaders. It's sad that media outlets like talk shows, including Larry King, gave this woman any sort of attention. At first I thought she just had some strange obsession with her church community being skinny, but there is so much more to it. She's hurt children and adults alike; nothing about this lifestyle is loving or caring. This documentary is captivating and I'd recommend it.