Heaven's Gate

This podcast does a wonderful job of humanising the deceased members, the families of those who perished, and the members who still remain. It gives you a better understanding of their beliefs and shows a beautiful kindness that seems to have existed in the group. If you’re looking for salacious - you won’t get it here. If you want to understand different perspectives and feel the humanness of this story and the group members then you will love it.

Anyone who’s listened to his NPR program will realize Mr. Washington’s narratives are never impersonal and that he knows how to sustain a dramatic edge which places the listener within the story; if he must be blamed for anything, it’s for refusing to be dull and dry. This is a well researched look at existential dread and the search for some sort of meaning—whether misguided or not—in our increasingly vapid society. This is our story… So, might it not be more fruitful to consider the implications of our common dilemma rather than quibble over the host’s perceived faults?

I love the interviews with people close to the victims, the surviving members, the daughter of one of the leaders (!), a never-before heard tape to this daughter, etc. Also, I deeply appreciate the empathetic approach the host takes. So easy for podcasts to become disdainful of people who would fall into the trap of a cult. This is so much more, and takes all views into account in a compassionate manner. Thank you!

My favorite thing about this podcast is how the host treats everyone with so much respect. It really bothers me, especially with “cult” podcasts or docs, when the interviewer comes from a place of condescension. This is an awful thing that happened and is absolutely fascinating, but there are real people and real families behind this story who are still grieving and trying to figure out how something like this could have happened. Glynn approaches every person with curiosity and respect, and I think that allows the listener to come to their own understanding of the danger of what happened here and why this is such an important cautionary tale.

The host is in love with the sound of his own voice and keeps inserting his own spiritual journey into the story. His cult experience sounds interesting but that’s a different podcast and would ideally be narrated by someone else. His style of intoning and bloviating is just annoying. It is expertly edited and I liked some of the space age sound effects. The overwriting borders on the silly in places (“they listened to the sound of salmons swimming”). There’s just a lot that distracts from the core of a good podcast. All the various interviews and especially the academic experts were really interesting to listen to but the podcast is ruined by the intrusive narrator. I finally gave up on it.

The story is fascinating, but the narrator tries way too hard to make it more dramatic. His tone is just exhausting.