Netflix's (Un)Well demonstrates just how difficult the task of responsibly debunking wellness trends can be

Slate

"Over the course of six episodes, (Un)Well attempts to serve as a roadmap to the ever-expanding sprawl of wellness," says Rachelle Hampton of the new docuseries. "Each 50-ish-minute episode features gently dubious experts and breathless acolytes expounding on, in order, essential oils, tantric sex, breast milk as a means of bulking up, fasting, ayahuasca, and bee sting therapy. Despite the presence of some fundamentally juicy material, each episode lags, and there’s a persistent feeling that they all could have been cut by at least 10 minutes without any important information getting lost. The abundance of footage seems to stem from the producers’ unwillingness to paint any of these trends as outright dangerous; skeptics on both sides are likely to come away with their beliefs challenged. For a show that’s supposed to answer the question of whether these are miracle cures or snake oil, there’s a curious commitment on the producers’ part to evenhandedness. The essential oils episode spends a fair amount of its runtime on the multilevel marketing scheme Young Living, interviewing writer Rachel Monroe on her 2017 New Yorker article. But juxtaposed with Monroe’s explanation of the 'essential oils lifestyle' that Young Living sells is largely unchallenged testimony from 'wellness expert' and coronavirus truther Eric Zielinski (or, as he refers to himself, Dr. Z)." ALSO: It's interesting that Netflix would produce both The Goop Lab and (Un)Well.