Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
4.7/5
Critic Rating
Season 2: Kat Torres has the insta-perfect life. She is rich, gorgeous and not ashamed to share it. Her posts about witchcraft and "alien baths" draw in over a million followers, all chasing the dream of a lifestyle like hers. But as she gathers more followers around her, the secrets beneath her fame grow darker and more dangerous.One woman sets out to bring back her best friend who has fallen under the spell of this modern-day guru. And what begins as a search for a missing friend soon puts her on a collision course with Kat.Based on the hit...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Sarah Hoek • Daily Maverick • Apr 2, 2021
"Thick, hot air: you can hear it; you can feel the bodies gasping for it next to you. For a moment, this is not a podcast, but a memory. It is gripping true crime meets existentialism in the middle of the Arizona desert that hooks you from the first installment to the last."
Score: 4.5
Wendy J. Fox • PodcastReview.org • Aug 14, 2020
"Though Guru is well-edited and boasts a high production value, if one listens to all six episodes consecutively, it does get slightly repetitive. To be fair, this is a challenge for anyone who produces episodic content, and it helps that Stroud is a skilled interviewer. On Guru, his subjects are open, reflective, and comfortable sharing difficult experiences on tape."
Score: 4.5
Eoghan O'Sullivan • Irish Examiner • Jul 14, 2020
"Written and narrated by journalist Matt Stroud, the soundscape and sound design Jeff Schmidt really adds to the unsettling atmosphere as the podcast confidently rolls on. The murder trial of Ray in episode four could become bogged down in detail but lets victim Kirby Brown’s mother Ginny tell of the “emotional numbing” of the trial and Laura Tucker describe her experience at the retreat. …"
