'The Goop Lab' bizarre finale sees psychic get readings about twins, donkey and Mexico but over wrong person
If the journey so far in ‘The Goop Lab’ has been weird and somewhat crazy, it is nothing compared to what the final episode is like. And the Netflix documentary series that goes behind the scenes and gives the audience a sneak peek into what goes inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s $250 million wellness brand Goop has seen a variety of weirdness so far.
From the use of psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to cold therapy to "snowga" to weird diets to healing energies and the awesome powers of the female orgasm, Paltrow and her overenthusiastic employees have covered all the bases. But episode 6 titled ‘Are You Intuit?’ introduces Laura Lynne Jackson, a woman whose website states: “I am a wife, a mother of three, a high school English teacher—and a psychic medium.”
Psychic mediums. Yes. The docu-series, that often feels like an infomercial, has thus far tried to sell a lot of ridiculous ideas. But nothing comes close to mediums and the spirituality connected with it.
Take one example of what happens in the episode.
Ana Hito, Goop’s food editor, gets a reading from Jackson. Things do not go well. A visibly skeptical Ana -- she said, “This whole medium, psychic world is very much like Santa Claus” -- is told by Jackson that she sensed a twin in her family. Ana, who tried to think for a while, could not come up with any twins in the family.
“I have a female figure coming in, and I feel like it’s your grandmother’s sister,” said Jackson then. Ana again responds with, “My grandmother didn’t have a sister.”
The same is repeated with a question about a trip to Mexico, which received another negative reply. And then a question about a donkey. Jackson asked, “Is there, like, a funny story or a picture about a donkey? Or is there something with ‘Shrek’?” Again, Ana said no.
The awkwardness was suddenly cut, however. From behind the camera, the producer’s voice interrupted them with, “Hey, Laura? This is really strange. I think you’re actually reading Lindsay right now.”
Lindsay, an associate producer, visibly in tears, explained that her grandfather had died a week ago. And that her grandmother was a twin. And also that she was getting married in Mexico the following year. She further said, “My father was just joking that he really wanted, for the photo booth at our wedding in Mexico, to have a donkey. And my grandpa, like, laughed about it in the hospital days before he passed.”
Is this proof? Even with a title card claiming “Lindsay did not have any communication with Laura Lynne Jackson prior to this taping,” it seems wholly farfetched. But the same holds true for a lot of things Goop products claim to do anyway.
Like Goop’s “JADE EGG” that claimed to balance hormones, regulate menstrual cycles, prevent uterine prolapse, and increase bladder control; or Goop’s “INNER JUDGE FLOWER ESSENCE BLEND” that claimed to help prevent depression.
Ultimately, viewers are supposed to just blindly believe whatever happens on camera. And if they don’t, well, you’re clearly not the target audience for either this show or Paltrow’s wellness brand.
‘The Goop Lab’ is available for streaming on Netflix.