Escaping Twin Flames Review: A Difficult But Important Docuseries
Cults and multi-level marketing schemes have an awful lot in common: they target the vulnerable, separate members into different tiers to create a hierarchy for control, and only really serve the people at the very top. In the three-episode Netflix documentary miniseries "Escaping Twin Flames," filmmakers Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner argue that Twin Flames Universe might be both. The doc digs deep into Twin Flames Universe, created by husband and wife Jeff and Shaleia Ayan to be a relationship coaching service to help people find and keep their "twin flame," which is a sort of glorified soulmate. Combining interviews with former members and family of current members with footage from Twin Flames Universe's YouTube, Zoom meetings, and the Ayans' personal YouTube channels, the filmmakers expose Twin Flames Universe as something uniquely dangerous.
"Escaping Twin Flames" is an uncomfortable look at how two people were able to create immense wealth for themselves by promising their victims true love and using abuse tactics whenever they were questioned. As of 2023, the Twin Flames Universe's private Facebook group has more than 43,000 members, so their reach isn't exactly miniscule, either. "Escaping Twin Flames" reveals the horrors behind the duo's online presence and their troubled teachings, including allegedly forcing members to transition their gender, putting members into forced partnerships, and encouraging stalking. It's not an easy watch, but it's an important one because it brings to light just how easy it is to create a cult in the era of social media.
The center of the Twin Flames Universe
At the center of the doc and Twin Flames Universe are Shaleia and Jeff Ayan, a couple obsessed with new-age spirituality and the idea of "twin flames." Twin flames are couples who are destined to be together, and their relationships are passionate and intense. (Megan Fox has called Machine Gun Kelly her twin flame, for example.) It would be one thing if they were just spreading their "gospel" online for free, but they're charging members thousands of dollars for the privilege to join in "classes" where Jeff and Shaleia advise them on their relationships and their journey toward "true soul harmonious unions." Unfortunately, as the footage from some of these classes reveals, that advice is often brutal, with Jeff telling the person to use the "mirror exercise" to find blame in themselves and figure out how to fix it. Much of Jeff's power lies in the mirror exercise, because it forces members to always look inward for the source of their problems and never outward (at Jeff).
There is also a fair bit of footage of Jeff and Shaleia showing off their extravagant lifestyle, paid for entirely by selling classes, lectures, and videos of past classes. Many of their members are barely getting by but pay for these classes, yet Jeff brags about Shaleia learning how to drive a Porsche. They live in a gigantic mansion with a pool and jacuzzi and flaunt their wealth at every turn, seemingly unaware of how cruel it can make them seem.
Maybe the cruelty is the point
While it looks like the Ayans began Twin Flames Universe as a business venture to make as much money as possible, it also seems like the pair started really enjoying the power they have over their followers. One former member details the advice they gave her to chase her twin flame even after he filed a restraining order against her, leading to jail time. Another reveals that she left the group after a member needed advice and got tough love and the mirror exercise, which led to that member's suicide. Every person interviewed about their time in Twin Flames Universe seems to have been wounded by the experience, with some breaking down and crying on camera. Instead of finding true love and happiness, the members were traumatized, belittled, and seemingly swindled for thousands of dollars.
The interviews with the families of current Twin Flames Universe members are even more painful to watch. Several of the mothers get together to talk about their children, several of whom were assigned new genders by Jeff and had transitioned. Even though some of the moms think that their children aren't truly trans and are just following orders, they do their best to be respectful of their children's pronouns and talk about how much they just want to see their kids again. Jeff and Shaleia tell members whose family or friends disapprove to cut out those "bad influences," leading to painful estrangement and the member's further isolation.
A cult by any other name
There's been a concerted effort by former members of Twin Flames Universe to expose Jeff and Shaleia, who both deny that the group is a cult or that Jeff is a cult leader. (In fact, he told members to watch movies about cult leaders just to see how different he was.) The story of Twin Flames Universe is so complex and full of drama that "Escaping Twin Flames" isn't even the first documentary on the subject, as Prime Video released "Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe" on October 6, a little less than a month before "Escaping Twin Flames" hits Netflix.
Both documentaries have something to offer, with different interview subjects (there is only one former member who appears in both docs), but "Escaping Twin Flames" has stronger emotional resonance. The weight of the pain caused by Twin Flames Universe feels so tangible as the interview subjects share their stories, and the documentary doesn't hold back. True crime fans will find a lot to appreciate with "Escaping Twin Flames," but it's honestly a must-see documentary about how social media can be abused to control people and create fanatical cult followings.
/Film rating: 7 out of 10
"Escaping Twin Flames" premieres November 8, 2023 on Netflix.