The thing about our fascination with cults is that they’re not nearly as mystifying as they used to be. When podcasts, TV shows and documentaries first fell over themselves to cover them, these groups’ leaders’ powers of persuasion and charisma seemed near supernatural; they must be charming geniuses able to take normal people and convince them of madcap ideas. But the more cult content you ingest, the more often you learn that the person at the top is just … some guy. What makes Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader special is that it goes further. It looks at the people at the top of these subcultures and finds that some of those who have garnered huge followings are the kinds of dudes you wouldn’t trust with a pot plant.
The four episodes on U&Dave are old-school documentary film-making, stripped down to little more than a camera and a skilled presenter who knows how to get people to open up. Over the three episodes provided for review, Maddix meets leading figures in the world of paedophile hunting, professional “passport bros” – men who travel the world to date women in different countries – and Pastor Sean, AKA King Bullethead, who leads an offshoot of the controversial Unification Church, known as the Moonies. Maddix follows the leaders as they go about the business of persuading people to join their cause and gently probes their devotees to uncover what appeal they hold.
The three main figures in the world of paedophile hunting that Maddix encounters are Tommy, Alex and Skeet – who view each other as political opponents rather than colleagues. The hunting itself is done with fans and volunteers in tow; 19 people have just flown across the country to watch Tommy confront a man who is expecting to meet up with a 13-year-old for sex. Maddix joins Alex and Skeet as they track down child-porn users and demand confessions, in Skeet’s case with a “prank-style” format. Given Skeet admits to making six figures annually and ends the “hunts” with the tagline “You’ve been Skeeted in 4K”, there is a disquieting levity to his tactics and a question of whether his followers want justice or entertainment, something Maddix openly wrestles with. But Maddix’s open-minded approach to his subjects makes for compelling television. He is curious, warm but ultimately honest. Post “hunt”, he tells Alex: “I’m a comedian and I’ll make a joke at a funeral, but there is something inherently depressing here.”
Maddix’s ability to find humour in the darkest moments serves him well, especially when he meets the passport bros – an ungodly hybrid of pickup artists and proponents of the soft life (quitting the rat race for a less taxing existence). Their philosophy involves getting a remote job based in Canada or the US and then living like a king in a place with a lower cost of living, such as Colombia or the Philippines, where women are “respectful”. It’s a fascinating episode, involving a variety of leaders who range from subtly misogynistic to full-blown “incels”. In a rare moment of active despair from Maddix, he puts his head in his hands when an aspiring passport bro tells him of his quest to find “obedient” women and explains his technique of promising women the world to get into their pants before blocking them. Maddix can only sigh and say: “Don’t you think that’s kind of fucked up?” But what makes the dynamic of the episode even more compelling is how Maddix’s natural charisma contrasts with that of the leaders themselves. His sharp wit and kindness delights most of the women he encounters, while the men who are paid thousands to teach seduction techniques come across as totems of mediocrity.
In the penultimate episode, he moves from leaders of problematic subcultures to the realm of all-out cults. He looks at a breakaway group from the Moonies known as the Rod of Iron Ministries, which is led by Reverend Moon’s son and self-proclaimed successor King Bullethead, who wears a crown of bullets as he preaches. The avowed pro-gun activist and Donald Trump supporter is cartoonishly “alt-right”, and Maddix is impressively patient as he listens to his abhorrent stances on school shootings and LGBTQ+ rights.
To know that these cults exist is nothing new. The precise badness of their approach is not what makes Follow the Leader an excellent series; it’s down to how Maddix handles the material. He’ll likely receive comparisons to Louis Theroux (whose production company is behind this show), but he has his own unique approach. One of Theroux’s greatest strengths is an ability to sit in awkwardness, while Maddix continually diffuses it. Despite that diametrically opposed technique, their interviews both lead subjects to confess a myriad of uncomfortable truths. Even if what these leaders reveal is that they themselves are unremarkable, what the show uncovers is fascinatingly human. It shows that it doesn’t take a charismatic sorcerer to inspire devotion and that when people are overwhelmed by the fear of the changing world around them, they need something to believe in – even if that is ultimately just some highly untrustworthy guy.
• Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader aired on U&Dave and is on U now
