AnimeMania February 6 Share February 6 (Season Finale) At a funeral, Belle scrambles to stick to her story, but the article yields surprising reactions. Can her wellness empire survive a web of lies? Premiere Date: February 6, 2025 Netflix Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/
babyrambo February 9 Share February 9 (edited) Solid series but I think it could’ve been better edited and cut down into four episodes. Especially the first few episodes, which were a bit confusing with the haphazard timeline switching. Dever was the standout—her accent work was pitch perfect and by the end I was absolutely sick of Gibson—but Aisha Dee and the actress that played Milla and were also great. I really liked the compassionate way this series portrayed sick people who are so desperate they seek out anything, even pseudoscientific, fake ’treatments’, but even with the tragic death of Milla’s mom and eventually Milla herself (whose real life counterpart actually did die, according by to google), I felt like at times the series gave some of those false practices too much leeway. I also didn’t care for the ‘google it’ bit at the end, but I did in fact google it, so I guess it worked. Edited February 9 by babyrambo 2 1 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8576067
sadie February 9 Share February 9 I binged it in a day. Definitely kept me interested. The only issue I had was I’m not sure how sympathetic Mille came off. I get Belle was the villain here but Mille was trying to push this wholistic way to “cure” cancer too, she just wasn’t as successful as Belle was at it and that seemed largely why she was pissed at her. Mille came off like the bully in terms of her poor mother and I get she was actually sick (unlike Belle) but it seemed driven by vanity (not wanting to lose her arm). The level of delusion was mind boggling. The series did do an excellent job showing all the types of charlatans peddling cures to really sick people and it was just so sad. I was glad in the end Lucy got proper treatment and beat her cancer. I was also shocked that Belle didn’t just sell her idea as healthy living to feel good. The book and the recipes looked amazing. I guess her whole psychosis was needing people to feel sorry for her but she seemed to have a really good business sense in terms of the aesthetics of what she was doing. Glad this was only 6 eps, it didn’t need to be any longer. 4 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8576167
Pi237 February 9 Share February 9 1 hour ago, sadie said: I was also shocked that Belle didn’t just sell her idea as healthy living to feel good. The book and the recipes looked amazing. The pictures were gorgeous. I dont like veggies much at all, but if they looked like that on my plate, I'd definitely dig in. But, as her editor told her, recipes dont sell books, stories do. So, without the sad story, she wouldn't have gotten published. Plus, of course, Belle was addicted to sympathy. So bizarre to me. The idea of that kind of attention makes me shudder. At the very least, you'd never find me at a retreat, blowing intentions into a balloon. Belle ended up being as bad a mother as her own Mom (at least during this time period. Is it possible she reformed and stopped emotionally abusing/abandoning her kid? I doubt it. The faked seizure at his birthday party? Holy hell no coming back from that) Did that poor boy with brain cancer, if he was real, ever get his surgery?! Gutted by that. Its like these wellness devotees join a cult. I hope the leader of that Institute was sued into oblivion. Convincing people to stop getting scans for months? Of course, they'll feel better, temporarily. Should be criminal, but I imagine difficult to prosecute since, as it should be, your body your choice. Interesting story, but I agree, in the beginning, all the different threads got a bit scattered. Came together in the end, but I was still confusing some of the blonde women. 4 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8576184
SparedTurkey February 10 Share February 10 14 hours ago, Pi237 said: Did that poor boy with brain cancer, if he was real, ever get his surgery?! Gutted by that. No, he died in 2017. The family didn't know about the 'fundraisers' until journos told them. Never saw a cent of it 4 2 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8576902
Pi237 February 10 Share February 10 9 hours ago, SparedTurkey said: No, he died in 2017. The family didn't know about the 'fundraisers' until journos told them. Never saw a cent of it Omg that's akin to murder. I hope karma gets her back. That's inexcusable. Breaks my heart. 2 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8577004
Stiggs February 11 Share February 11 On 2/9/2025 at 6:59 AM, sadie said: I binged it in a day. Definitely kept me interested. The only issue I had was I’m not sure how sympathetic Mille came off. I get Belle was the villain here but Mille was trying to push this wholistic way to “cure” cancer too, she just wasn’t as successful as Belle was at it and that seemed largely why she was pissed at her. Mille came off like the bully in terms of her poor mother and I get she was actually sick (unlike Belle) but it seemed driven by vanity (not wanting to lose her arm). The level of delusion was mind boggling. The series did do an excellent job showing all the types of charlatans peddling cures to really sick people and it was just so sad. I was glad in the end Lucy got proper treatment and beat her cancer. I have way more feelings about Millie than Belle. My husband died from cancer 7 years ago, and one of the hardest parts of the 8 years that led up to it was me letting go of letting him make questionable decisions. (He had melanoma - and he'd drive around with the top down and no sunscreen in Florida, like, What? I'm gonna get stage 5?) Cancer diagnoses can do messed up things to a person's psyche, so when Millie started making reckless decisions with her health, I just nodded. And then Millie lies when things clearly still aren't working, and she's so entrenched in this lie that she led her mother to an earlier death than she likely would have had - the denial and hubris. This is like a teen hiding a pregnancy but she was hiding death. Millie's arm was on fire and she's pretending Mexico snake oil can help her end-stage mom??? Millie wanted to prove that she was smarter than everyone else because a bunch of carpetbagging scallywags (TM Blanche Devereaux) told her what she wanted to hear. I get it - at one point my husband and I were like, "So, Cuban scorpion venom?" after treatment after treatment didn't work. You want to believe there's magic where there is none - there's science, and it's messy and ugly and eventually the answers all suck. Millie's poor dad - he has to resent the crap out of his daughter for guilting his wife into death and then his daughter dies. That man has a lot to unpack in therapy... Belle was a straight-up batshit conwoman who cared about nothing other than becoming a sort of undefined success. No soul. And I know lots of people claim lots of things, but for real how did anyone ever believe she cured cancer with a clean diet? She didn't even do the homework to cover her tracks - she was so focused on the winning that the details of the lying never occurred to her. She should have had her treatment and hospital details DOWN. She was also weirdly likable while also being totally unlikable. Still can't get past the doctor in the strip mall who charged her $10K for a Scientology exam in her underwear. I'm impressed by how light they kept this - this is heavy stuff. With a different tone this wouldn't have been as entertaining, so kudos so the folks who created it. The actors were all great. My big complaint was that we needed more Essie Davis. If she's going to be on the show can she just please be the star of it? :) I might need to do a total re-watch of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries... 4 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8577408
MicheleinPhilly February 11 Share February 11 I wasn't familiar with this story, but stories about scammers are my catnip so I binged this over 2 days. Overall I liked it, but agree with others that the first couple of episodes were a bit messy with the shifting timelines. I think a more linear timeline would have helped immensely. I know Milla was a fictionalization of a real life person but were we supposed to feel badly for her? Because I didn't. I mean, I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy but the way this was presented, it made her out to be some sort of victim. I just got the impression that she was jealous that Belle made it big. She was selling the same snake oil bullshit to her followers, including her poor mother. Clive thoroughly perplexed me. I never bought any connection or chemistry between them and don't understand why he stuck around for as long as he did. Did he just want to be a father that badly? I know we'll never get it, but I'd love to hear his side of the story. The fact that Belle Gibson isn't rotting in a jail cell right now infuriates me. I know it's probably considered more of a "white collar" type of crime, but her actions had real life or death consequences. Listen to trained medical doctors, please, not some wackadoodle on Instagram! 4 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8577873
absnow54 February 13 Share February 13 On 2/10/2025 at 7:18 PM, Stiggs said: Millie's poor dad - he has to resent the crap out of his daughter for guilting his wife into death and then his daughter dies. That man has a lot to unpack in therapy... The scene where Millie finally agrees to be treated by a doctor only for the doctor to tell them it’s too late was painful to watch. He spent the entire series begging his family to listen to medicine, and he’s the only one left to live with the consequences of their choices. At least Millie admitted to her followed that she had made mistakes, instead of Belle who continued to dig in her heels and dig herself deeper into her web of lies. On 2/11/2025 at 10:10 AM, MicheleinPhilly said: Clive thoroughly perplexed me. I never bought any connection or chemistry between them and don't understand why he stuck around for as long as he did. Did he just want to be a father that badly? I know we'll never get it, but I'd love to hear his side of the story. Basically. When he was introduced he said he was pushing 40. Belle presented him with an instant family that he felt he was close to missing out on. He seemed to struggle with the human connection side of things, so Belle hitching her wagon to him with little pretense was his best chance for finding a life partner. Google tells me they’ve allegedly split in recent years. 2 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8579869
tennisgurl February 13 Share February 13 (edited) I vaguely remember when this story broke, but seeing it all play out was wild. Some of the middle episodes dragged a tiny bit but overall I thought that this was a great show, extremely bingeable, and they did I think a good job at having some stylistic fun while always reminding us how serious this actually is and how horrible what Belle did was. I have always loved Kaitlyn Dever and she was so good in this, she actually does look quite a bit like the real Belle and I loved those glimpses of the real Belle you could see outside of her Insta-worthy smile, this really coldly calculating look where you could hear her gears turning. Like when she met that poor kid with cancer, you almost think she's going to feel a bit of remorse when she's looking at him, but of course she's actually planning on how to use this family, what a ***********. Milla is super frustrating but I did end up feeling bad for her. Unlike con artist Belle, I do think that Mila was well intentioned and really did think that her healthy eating holistic wellness stuff saved her life and was helping people, even if she was totally off based and got too caught up in her own success. Her poor dad, he was begging his daughter and wife to get real help the whole time and now he's all alone. My guess as to why Clive stuck with Belle for so long, is that Belle could sense right away that he was lonely, awkward, and underappreciated and was giving him a more interesting job and a family all in one swoop, and just like that she had free childcare, tech support and a guy who looks quite nice as soon as he got a better haircut to stand next to her as part of her perfect family. By the time he really realized what she was he already loved their son too much to leave him, and as Belle so kindly reminded him, they aren't married and he isn't the biological dad. Belle sees everyone she meets as someone she can use, she really is a vampire. Its too bad that Belle is so pathologically obsessed with getting sympathy and being the center of attention, plus is lacking any kind of decency, she does obviously have a lot of skills. Her cookbooks and Instagram did look really nice, her recipes were apparently good, and she is certainly charismatic and intelligent, but it was never just about becoming wealthy and famous, it was about getting constant validation and sympathy. Besides the story itself, I loved all of the 2010's girl power pop songs throughout, especially their somber reprises at the end. Edited Thursday at 02:30 PM by tennisgurl 3 Link to comment https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/151752-s01e06-tapeworm/#findComment-8580100
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.