Television series
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
A four-part Netflix docuseries following Sarma Melngailis, the vegan celebrity chef who built a New York empire on raw food and good PR, then torched it by falling for a man claiming he could make her dog immortal. It's gossipy, jaw-dropping, and told mostly through Melngailis's own words — a portrait of self-delusion that never quite decides whether to pity or indict her.
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The Tinder Swindler2022
The closest cousin here: a charismatic manipulator, a smart woman who should have seen it coming, and the same queasy fascination with how love and money get tangled together. Fast, glossy, addictive.
But Covers similar emotional ground so closely it can feel like watching the same story with different props.
LuLaRich2021
A multi-level marketing empire built on leggings and cult-like devotion, told through interviews that are somehow both hilarious and horrifying. Great at showing how charisma substitutes for competence.
But Four episodes of business jargon and pyramid-scheme math can wear thin if you're not already fascinated by MLM culture.
The Vow2020
NXIVM from the inside — how a self-improvement group curdled into a cult, and how intelligent, successful people talked themselves into staying. Slower and more serious than most in this genre, and better for it.
But It's long, methodical, and takes its time; if you want tabloid pace, this isn't it.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Gaslight1944
Bad Vegan is a story about someone talked out of trusting her own judgment. Gaslight coined the term for exactly that, in a much slower, quieter register — no dogs, no cash, just the mechanics of control laid bare.
The film that gave psychological manipulation its name — a husband methodically convincing his wife she's losing her mind. Watching it now, decades before true-crime docuseries existed, is like seeing the blueprint for every 'how did she not notice' story since.
But Old Hollywood pacing and melodrama; it asks patience that streaming-doc viewers may not have.
More like this (8)
Fyre2019
Billy McFarland's festival disaster as pure hubris theatre — influencers, false promises, and a slow-motion collapse you can see coming from space. Brisk, funny, and genuinely damning.
But Ninety minutes of rich-kid incompetence can feel a little thin if you want deeper psychological texture.
Wild Wild Country2018
A red-robed guru, an Oregon town under siege, and a story so strange no scripted show would dare invent it. Bigger scale, bigger stakes, same fascination with belief overriding sense.
But Six episodes is a real commitment, and the story sprawls into politics and biological warfare far beyond the personal scale of Bad Vegan.
McMillion$2020
The McDonald's Monopoly fraud, told with real affection for its cast of small-time schemers and the FBI agents chasing them. Lighter, funnier, and full of genuine surprise.
But Less psychologically dark — this is heist-caper fun rather than the toxic-relationship dread Bad Vegan trades in.
Dirty John2018
A dramatized true story of a woman drawn in by a con man's charm despite every red flag her family can wave. Similar slow-burn dread about how love disables judgment.
But It's scripted drama rather than documentary, so you lose the uncanny thrill of watching the real people describe it themselves.
Abducted in Plain Sight2017
An unbelievable true story told entirely straight-faced, with family members recounting decisions so baffling you'll be shouting at the screen. A masterclass in how manipulation actually works.
But Involves a child victim and is genuinely disturbing in ways Bad Vegan, for all its weirdness, never quite is.
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman2022
A lesser-known British conman who spun elaborate spy-agency lies to control the people around him — smaller scale than Bad Vegan but arguably more chilling in its patience and detail.
But Flies under the radar for a reason; the pacing is slower and the production less flashy than the Netflix hits above it.
The Menu2022
Same world Melngailis came from — celebrity chefs, cult-like devotion to a food philosophy, the belief that culinary vision entitles you to something more than money can buy. The Menu just pushes that idea to its horror-movie extreme.
A satirical horror film set inside the world of obsessive haute cuisine, where culinary perfectionism curdles into something monstrous. Sharp, stylish, and very funny until it very much isn't.
But It's fiction, not documentary, and leans hard into genre horror — a real tonal jump from Netflix true crime.
Holy Hell2016
Where Bad Vegan treats a controlling relationship almost as entertainment, Holy Hell sits inside the same dynamic — devotion to a magnetic figure who reshapes your reality — and refuses to look away or make it fun.
A documentary made by a man who spent twenty years inside a charismatic guru's inner circle, filming from within before he understood what he was part of. Intimate, unsettling, and far more serious than its tabloid cousins.
But There's no crime-caper fun here — it's a genuinely sad, slow reckoning with lost years, not a romp.
