The Gateway: Teal Swan
5.0/5
Critic Rating
The Gateway is a six-part series about Teal Swan, a new brand of spiritual guru, who draws in followers with her hypnotic self-help YouTube videos aimed at people who are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Some followers move to Teal’s healing center, a spiritual startup where they produce content and manage social media accounts. Teal insists her therapy saves lives, but her critics say Teal’s death-focused dogma is dangerous. Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown traveled to rural Utah and to the forests of Costa Rica, with extensive access to Teal and her inner circle, to understand Teal's teachings and...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Stephanie Osmanski • Parade Magazine • Jun 1, 2021
"The Gateway feels closer to home than some other cult-centric podcasts (and even documentaries) and that’s because more so than others, The Gateway feels like it could happen to you. To anyone. Jennings Brown reports straight from the scene, talking to members and even Teal about her teachings and the mysterious deaths of some of her followers."
Score: 5
Samantha Vincenty • Oprah Daily • May 29, 2020
"Brown creates a riveting portrait of a magnetic person with an unsettling power of influence."
Score: 5
Morgan Baila • Refinery29 • Aug 31, 2018
"The podcast is well-made, thought-provoking, and very bingeable. The Gateway wasn’t created to criticize Swan, but to draw attention to a new type of Internet guru — one who, whether she calls her movement a “cult” or not, exploits the Internet to make herself constantly available to followers. She’s a part of a pantheon of public figures who have a great deal of power — power that can be used for good, or evil."
