by Zakiyyah Madyun, Staff Writer

Breath of Fire
Created by Hayley Pappas and Smiley Stevens
“Episode 2”
Now streaming on Max

In its second episode, Breath of Fire attempts to connect two storylines: the path that turned Katie Griggs into yoga mogul Guru Jagat, and the reign of Kundalini Yoga’s founder, Yogi Bhajan.

While the parallels between the two become more evident in this segment, Katie’s story struggles to take center stage in a production with her face on the cover. The story of Kundalini’s beginnings includes arranged cult marriages, boarding school abuse, and the reckless abandon with which Bhajan controlled every aspect of his followers' lives. The pace builds, the intrigue develops wonderfully, and the dizzying reel of talking heads becomes more recognizable. Because of these improvements however, the jump back into Kundalini Katie’s world of LA wellness feels like flipping the channel to another movie, right as the first one was getting good.

Regardless, this episode does a great job of individually emphasizing the depth of trauma Bhajan’s early followers carry as seniors, as well as developing and humanizing a young Katie. The addition of her childhood best friend and mother helped bring her story to life and almost made me forget about some of the weirdness of the first episode.

I couldn’t help but wonder throughout the episode if Yogi Bhajan and Guru Jagat would be better suited to a “Season One” and “Season Two” format, rather than being forced to share screen time. Either way, I can’t deny that despite a shaky first episode, Breath of Fire has begun to find its footing, and has me wondering what mysteries lie ahead in next week’s segment. For any audience members who may have struggled to finish the first episode, I would encourage jumping ahead and starting here.