Lost Resort Is the Primal Yell of a Show You Didn't Know You Needed

I approached TBS's new wellness-retreat reality series Lost Resort with the same feelings many bring with them to actual wellness retreats: trepidation and skepticism, but also a nagging voice in the back of my mind that maybe it could have something to offer. The reality TV fan in me was intrigued by the promos boasting that it was from the producers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. At the same time, as someone who isn't particularly spiritual, I was ready to dismiss the setting and the show's focus on mystical-sounding "healing."

This feeling continued through most of the premiere episode, although I appreciated the fact that the show allows its participants to openly question the premise. Meco, a model from Los Angeles, repeatedly expresses her skepticism. She raises her eyebrow at talk of healing through sharing, which is what this wellness retreat is all about: expressing anger together, talking about past trauma together, and ultimately finding ways forward together. Her main issue is her discomfort with the other people in the group — she isn’t connecting with anyone, and wants to leave on several occasions. While the show's main healer, Chrissie Fire Mane, encourages her to stay, she also recognizes Meco's skepticism as part of her process. In a way, I suppose my initial skepticism about the show was part of my own process. If I don't bring in my own honest questions, I can't be open to the answers.

But it was the end of the premiere that sold me on Lost Resort — at least as something unique and possibly helpful at this particular time in history. As part of their first week of expressing emotions and searching for catharsis, the group engages in a ceremony focused on unleashing their anger. In the previews, it just looks like a lot of yelling. In the scene itself, it's something much deeper, and in many ways, something quite relatable.

One by one, the cast comes up and is asked to unleash the anger inside of them. Not upset, and not hurt. Anger. Some, like Meco, refuse; others, like firefighter Vairrun, express their anger logically, but don't have a particularly emotional response. On the whole, however, the anger comes through loud and clear: from Greg, a former restauranteur, comes a flurry of direct responses to those in his life he's angry with. From Becca, a pastor whose first child was stillborn and who now cannot birth children, comes a primal scream. And from Christine, a young woman attending the retreat with her mother Robin, a furious, physically painful expression of rage toward her mother — right in front of her.

It's a raw, even frightening scene, but there's something incredibly compelling about watching these people express their unvarnished, unconditional anger. At a time when seemingly everything in the world is worth screaming about, this scene is a window into what a healthy kind of expression of rage should look like.

Lost Resort is a lot more than this scene, of course, and other elements aren't nearly as effective. Production can be too heavy-handed, with a lot of voiceover from Chrissie meant to frame what's happening in the scene. Although such a thing probably wouldn'y play well on TBS, at times I found myself wishing Lost Resort was a more omniscient docuseries, one where we could just take in what's happening for ourselves. There are some super compelling dynamics — whole Tennessee Williams plays could be written about Robin and Christine's familial relationship, along with roomate Greg's unwitting role as their go-between. But alas, too much of the show is spent pointing out what we should be paying attention to, rather than letting us find it ourselves. In a way, it's counter to the theme of the show: The healers are there to guide the guests to their own realizations, not tell them what they need to hear.

Still, in watching the anger scene, I felt something I've needed on TV since the pandemic began: unvarnished, unedited rage. They may not be screaming about our current state of the world, but there's still something incredibly cathartic about their fury. "I feel better," Christine says after screaming her guts out and heaving in pain. To which I can only say: Same, girl.

Lost Resort premieres on TBS Thursday July 23rd at 10:00 PM ET.

Kevin O'Keeffe is a writer, host, and RuPaul's Drag Race herstorian living in Los Angeles.