‘The Vow’s Greatest Strength Is Its Pacing

From its very first moments The Vow skirts past the unspoken rules of true crime docuseries. If you knew nothing about NXIVM and its founder Keith Raniere, you would think that The Vow‘s first episode was little more than an elaborate digital brochure for a self-help company. Yet it’s through that almost glacial pacing that Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer’s nine part series packs the biggest punch. The Vow isn’t a scandal-filled expose made for our entertainment. It’s a carefully crafted guide, showing exactly how so many intelligent women agreed to be literally branded for this cult.

Each episode of The Vow unfolds like another layer of an increasingly deadly flower. The pseudo PR commercial that is Episode 1 ends with a vague and fear tinged warning from one of NXIVM’s former members Bonnie Piesse. That singular warning is the only hint the series first gives that there’s something off about this story, but it’s all the warning needed. That introduction is then followed by a deep dive into Piesse and Mark Vicente’s path to understanding the truth. Neither Piesse nor Vicente were ever asked to join the secret society “DOS”, the woman-centric group that preached empowerment but really served as a way to recruit young women to be controlled by Allison Mack and sleep with founder Keith Raniere. In fact it isn’t until Episode 3 that the series actually talks to someone who was part of this alleged sex cult. And even then it’s not until the following installment that the series interviews a former member who wasn’t merely a recruiter, like Episode 3’s Sarah Edmondson, but someone who was fully involved in the gritty underbelly of this group’s master-slave dynamic.

Compared to other docuseries this pacing can feel almost infuriating. Most true crime docuseries start with the most shocking and absurd realities of their cases, using these jaw-dropping moments to hook viewers before turning back the clock and explaining how this crime happened. You can see this approach in series like Making a Murderer, The Staircase, and Wild Wild Country. Though The Vow’s approach defies documentary norms to a degree that may aggravate followers of this case what it gives in exchange is far more powerful.

Each episode of The Vow craftily mirrors what it’s like to be swept up in a cult. As the docuseries notes, no one wakes up one day and decides to join a cult. Their devotion to a questionable cause arises from a series of small choices that seemed reasonable in the moment but insane in retrospect. As Sarah Edmondson explains, agreeing to a sash system and to call the head of her company “Vanguard” seemed odd at first, but it was a small price to pay for the success NXIVM promised her. So then years later when she was asked by her best friend and mentor to join a master and slave system, she was reminded of those original sashes. Yes, it was an insane ask. But didn’t she already agree to and benefit from many of these insane asks? What made this new one any different?

That’s the path The Vow outlines through its very narrative structure. Watching Mark Vicente rationalize and ruthlessly question the disturbing rumors he’s hearing in Episode 2 mirrors the whisper network that always emerges when something uncouth is happening. Following that spiderweb to people closer and closer to DOS’ corrupt center feels like the shedding of another layer. Yet at the same time that unraveling feels more devastating knowing the goodness the organization preached and the happiness it once brought former members.

Because The Vow has worked so hard to capture the goodness NXIVM taught, the deception at its center feels even more sickening than a straightforward approach. By the time the brands are exposed, the sex trafficking crimes at this docuseries’ core no longer feel scandalous or like something to be perversely mocked. It feels like a nausea-inducing deception of the highest level, an emotional state that’s reflected on the faces of all NXIVM’s whistleblowers.

Watch The Vow on HBO NOW and HBO Max