(Un)Well – Netflix Season 1 Review

Episode Guide

Essential Oils
Tantric Sex
Bulking Up With Breast Milk
Fasting
Ayahuasca
Bee Sting Therapy

At the start of (Un)Well we’re greeted with a splash screen informing us that this documentary is supposed to entertain and inform. It also explicitly states not to practice anything here without consulting a doctor first. Ultimately, that’s what (Un)Well is all about. It’s a series that explores the different wellness fads across the world and attempts to weigh up the pros and cons of each.

From breast milk drinking to ingesting essential oils, (Un)Well does well to provide a good variety of topics to explore. Each episode combines various talking heads from different walks of life and puts them in the spotlight. From millionaire entrepreneurs claiming there’s “loads of evidence to support Essential oils curing cancer” (there’s not, by the way) to various different case studies fighting for or against these practices, this series is surprisingly balanced in its approach.

With 6 episodes clocking in at around 50 minutes a piece, a lot of the documentary series spends its time balancing out these different opinions. In that respect, (Un)Well actually does a pretty good job with its perspective, although the decision to end with successful wellness case studies is a little questionable. However, when you compare it to something like The Goop Lab, this is definitely a more balanced watch.

There’s a variety of different stock images used too, combined with info-graphics and diagrams to show how things like pyramid schemes work. It also does well to showcase the various risks associated with these wellness programmes. Some of the episodes have a better case for argument than others, with the Essential Oils and Fasting episodes for example, doing little to actually convince these programmes work.

Ultimately though this show comes back to the opening splash screen of every episode. (Un)Well is not supposed to be taken as gospel. It’s an entertaining and relatively informative look and the pros and cons of the wellness industry. It most certainly should not be taken as an alternate to conventional medicine, nor should it be used to overlook the wonders of our natural body.

And our bodies are incredible healing machines. There’s been numerous stories over the years of cancer patients being told they won’t survive and yet, against the odds they pull through. One of my best friends is a great example of this, confined to a wheelchair and told he’d never walk again after being diagnosed with spinal cancer. Now he’s a year free of the cancer and starting to walk again.

Overall though, (Un)Well offers a pretty balanced argument for and against the wellness industry. It’s important to note this is designed to entertain rather than educate, and you most certainly should not try any of these at home without consulting a Doctor. Unless you fancy being stung repeatedly by bees that is.

Some of these experimental ideas are interesting though and there’s enough impartiality here to maturely debate the different topics. It’s not perfect, and some will ultimately see this as a way of promoting alternate medicine, but it’s an engaging watch nonetheless. Just be sure to do your research before even considering anything shown here.

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