'The Vow' Episode 3 Preview: Sarah Edmondson was recruited into DOS, but what made her leave Raniere's cult?
HBO's latest docuseries, 'The Vow' takes a deep dive into the inner workings of NXIVM (pronounced Nex-e-um), the "self-help organization" founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman. Through its Executive Success Programs (ESP), many participants became members of NXIVM. However, it was the later development of a secret group within NXIVM, termed DOS -- Latin abbreviation for "Dominant Over Submissive" -- that was the culmination of Raniere's manipulation tactics through which he recruited women to be sex slaves for him under the guise of women empowerment.
So far, two episodes of 'The Vow' have aired and have featured the former members, filmmaker Mark Vicente and his spouse, Australian actress Bonnie Piesse, who spoke of their experiences joining NXIVM and interacting with Raniere. It was Piesse who first felt things were not right and wanted to leave NXIVM. This prompted Piesse to be bullied by other NXIVM members and Raniere himself as she tried to get Vicente to understand her point of view.
Vicente finally got on Piesse's side when he spoke to another unnamed former member who was recruited into DOS. When he spoke later to actress Sarah Edmondson about this in a recorded call at the end of the second episode, he (and the viewers) begin to realize that Edmondson was recruited into the group as well. After the episode aired, Edmondson shared her own thoughts of the events of the episode on Instagram, writing, "Mark was able to wake up and guide me out and lead with love also. It was wild for me to listen to the conversation he recorded between us where you can literally HEAR my choice point between either throwing Mark under the bus to Lauren, or telling him the truth."
The third episode will focus on Edmondson's own experiences of being recruited into DOS and how a branding ceremony finally made her accept that there were things wrong with DOS and NXIVM. Edmondson was recruited by her best friend, Lauren Salzman, the daughter of co-founder, Nancy Salzman. While women were typically recruited to become sex slaves, Edmondson was recruited due to her enthusiasm for bringing in more recruitments for the group.
After the branding ceremony, where a symbol purported to be featuring the four elements of nature, was branded onto her skin with hot metal near her crotch, Edmondson realized that the symbol was actually AM -- initials for 'Smallville' actress Allison Mack, whom Vicente believed was at the top of DOS. Edmondson's slave at the time noticed another set of initials, however -- KR, for Keith Raniere.
If the first two episodes were about delving into Raniere's personality, the third episode was about delving into how the women got trapped within his organization. While women like Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman seemed to be completely enamored by Raniere, others, like Bonnie Piesse and Sarah Edmondson had realized what they had gotten into. It also showed how women agreed to become a part of DOS in the first place -- masters would give their slaves instructions to seduce Raniere and let him do what he wished.
'The Vow' airs on HBO on Sunday nights at 10/9c.