When Amy Carlson’s mummified body was found in April 2021, it looked like a blue skeleton. It was also in a sleeping bag wrapped in Christmas lights. Her followers in the Love Has Won cult were apparently still waiting for the Galactics, a group of dead luminaries led by Robin Williams, to come pick her up in their spaceship. Somehow, this never happened. Instead, the cops came.
On planet Earth this could all easily pass for insanity. But the Love Has Won crew thought Earth was for suckers, as we learn in the riveting, deeply troubling new HBO docuseries Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God. Of the many documentaries and docuseries out there exploring the creation, beliefs and actions of cults, this one cuts closest to the beating heart of darkness. Director Hannah Olson approaches her subjects with haunting objectivity, letting them babble on about their fervent…
