Released just a few weeks after Amazon Prime’s three-parter on the same subject, Netflix’s Escaping Twin Flames focuses on the victims of the cult, their recovery, and how some of them are making amends for the harmful things they’ve done while part of the cult. Director Cecilia Peck is a careful storyteller, balancing cold hard facts with heavy emotion so that the overall tone is respectful and never overly sentimental or sensational. Notably, Peck doesn’t shine too much light on the perpetrators themselves, Jeff and Shaleia Ayan, but this leaves plenty of room for the victims to share their manifold stories. The three hours pass by swiftly, and the build-up to its heartbreaking end feels very much earned. 

The sheer audacity of cults to profit from people’s heartbreak and loneliness is what stands out. As one of the onscreen texts reminds us, there are more than 10,000 existing cults in the United States right now, all operating under the guise of self-help, religious, and online dating organizations, to name a few. It’s frightening to see that it’s business as usual for Twin Flames, two major docuseries and countless exposés notwithstanding, but this just goes to show how unregulated the entire thing is.