- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Jul 28, 2023
Critic Reviews
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The format of How To Become A Cult Leader isn’t quite as grating as its predecessor, How To Become A Tyrant, and that leaves room for the show to provide a lot of information about how the cult leaders it’s profiling managed to wield so much influence.
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As a general overview of such outfits’ bedrock traits and strategies, it certainly knows about which it speaks.
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Maybe the thinking behind “How to Become a Cult Leader” was that we’ve had so many books, documentaries, magazine articles, TV specials, fictionalized movies and series, etc., about these infamous destroyers and the lives they’ve ruined that a satirical approach might feel original and offer insights from a fresh perspective.
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There really is clever stuff here and a few interesting linkages, and I can’t speak highly enough of how much value Dinklage adds, but by the end of five episodes, How to Become a Cult Leader was out of satirical ideas.
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The overall sarcastic nature of the series seems at odds with the horrors these men unleashed. Somehow, providing helpful “tactics” via bite-size tips — “tend your flock,” “get your dogma down,” “expand your territory” — just seems weird. “How to Become a Cult Leader” instead becomes a playbook of an unintended sort: How not to make a docuseries.