by Zakiyyah Madyun, Staff Writer

Breath of Fire
Created by Hayley Pappas and Smiley Stevens
“Episode 4”
Now streaming on Max

After the disturbing revelations in episode three, Breath of Fire ends with a focus on Guru Jagat. Her death, which was teased as a shock, ends up echoing Yogi Bhajan’s in its ordinary-ness. After a lifetime touting the advantages of clean living and positive energy, Jagat proves mortal—passing away at only 41 years old.

While I struggled with the beginning of the series, I left with a renewed understanding of the horrors of cult activity. Breath of Fire highlighted the oft-forgotten victims, children born into a world without an understanding of the freedoms that lie outside of it and who are often most devastated by its monstrosities. When the series finds its pace, it unravels a riveting narrative across decades and delivers an indictment of 3HO’s distorted spiritualism. It was very interesting to see how many different elements came together to create an environment of blind trust and hollow spirituality.

While the final episode dedicated a large chunk of time to the end of Jagat’s story (it is her face on the cover after all), I would have liked to hear a little bit more about exactly how the other individuals highlighted in the story survived and broke away from 3HO. We get glimpses here and there: someone who left their family and children behind, a survivor of lifelong abuse who continues to teach yoga to this day. In both this series and real life, Jagat’s mentor and manipulator, Harijiwan, seems to slip through the cracks. Despite my qualms, Breath of Fire takes on a massive modern empire that I would have otherwise been completely unaware of, and finds only humans, afraid, confused, and exploited, in its ruins. I would certainly consider it worth the watch.