ok a lot of the reviews are asking “where’s season 2” due to the cliffhanger it leaves on, & i get it but honestly i’m not sure it needs it. tragic and very powerful story of a young woman, rebecca, living with her husband and baby, who’s best friend, danny, ran away to a cult the day they were supposed to graduate highschool together. danny comes back and stays for a night, not wanting to go home to her parents. they spend a few tense and awkward hours together, and danny’s situation is barely revealed. she’s still in the cult, and the most revelation you get is on episode 10, and the cult stuff is never explained. and it SHOULDNT BE. this story is about danny but it’s mostly from rebecca’s perspective, with implied overheard half conversations between danny and her cult leader and moments but. she doesn’t know about the cult. she’s seen the guys internet presence but the cult members are highly sheltered, highly offline, and highly controlled. she doesn’t know what’s been going on in her life or how to help her. danny speaks in the cults esoteric lingo as often as she and rebecca share true moments of laughter, which is not very much. it’s heartbreaking both as a story about high control groups, and as the loss of an extremely close childhood friendship that ended just on the cusp of adulthood; they have full lives apart from each other now and don’t know who the other person is as adults. episode 10’s cliffhanger is a highly upsetting place to leave it, but sometimes that’s where it leaves. you never hear from the other person again. or you only hear bits and pieces. i think it’s up for listener speculation. maybe rebecca helps danny escape and she leads a normal life or maybe she doesn’t ever feel normal again. maybe danny never gets out or has to start doing bad things to stay in and she never talks to rebecca again or maybe she’s able to make it within the cult to a more respectable position. maybe the cult gets exposed or danny gets kicked out and comes back again, not out but not in either, no home to go back to, needing money or a job or a place to stay. who knows? it could go any which way. i think that the “what happens next” impulse is big in fiction podcasts, especially when so many networks drop off on a cliffhanger and don’t come back for a second season. it’s super frustrating and i completely understand if you disagree with me here, but gaslight is one of those instances where i think a second season could actually harm the story it’s trying to tell. chloe’s performance is awesome and i’d also love to hear her do another audiodrama, but i think like so many peoples experiences with loved ones in cults, gaslight stops where it does for a reason. i love this show and it’s absolutely 5 stars for me.
