The Vow Premiered on HBO and Here Is the Trailer

The Vow
HBO premiered its 9-episode series, the Vow, last night.  Episode one was called “The Science of Joy.”

Here is how HBO described it:

Mark Vicente and Sarah Edmondson, high-ranking former NXIVM leaders, describe the dream and mission of NXIVM to build a better world. Bonnie Piesse, Mark’s wife, tells him she’s worried about the organization and Keith Raniere, NXIVM’s leader and Mark’s mentor. Mark believes there must be a misunderstanding – how could tools to make a better, more ethical world be misused?

Unfortunately, for me, I do not have HBO and I could not see the first episode. I do plan to see it and review it more fully.  Meantime, here is the trailer for the series, followed by some screenshots:

Photos

And here are some new and wonderful photos, screenshots from the series which readers will, hopefully, enjoy:

The child prodigy. Keith Raniere claims he could play concert-level piano at age 12.

 

Those who have heard Keith Raniere play piano say he is anything but great. He knows a few songs which he can play fairly well. But he is no concert-level pianist and he was never known to play a concert on piano.

 

The super affectionate Keith Raniere with Barbara Bouchey on his lap. This photo, I am guessing was taken around 2006.

 

So affectionate. Keith nuzzles his wondrous wing woman, the late Pam Cafritz. He is often photographed kissing and caressing her.

 

Here the splendid one is necking with Pam in her underwear.

 

Sarah Edmondson and Mark Vicente are the stars of the HBO series. Sarah did a lot of suffering to help take down the cult.

 

Catherine Oxenberg took a dossier I compiled of the crimes of Keith Raniere to law enforcement. It helped sink Keith Raniere.

 

Catherine Oxenberg had more at stake than the others who were trying to take down Nxivm. Her daughter was in DOS and had been branded.

 

Nancy Salzman and Keith Alan Raniere at a gathering of acolytes.

 

Keith Raniere’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo has done his best to defend the monster. So far it has not been a good run for Marc. Keith was convicted on all counts following a six-week trial.

 

Keith dances with his wing woman and lover, Pamela Cafritz.

 

Sarah Edmondson is reflected on her laptop.

 

The Dalai Lama brings Keith Raniere on stage in May 2009 to award him a white sash. Cost to the Bronfmans — between $1-2 million in donations to the Dalai Lama.

 

Mark Vicente with his wife, Bonnie Piesse. Bonnie smelled something wrong with Keith Raniere and worked to get her husband out of the cult.

 

The world’s smartest man, he said so himself.

 

Women of Nxivm.

 

Mark Vicente was one of the chief whistleblowers. His years of filming Nxivm and Raniere came in handy in the making of The Vow.

 

It was Sarah Edmondson, who was one of my sources for the branding, who helped take the cult down. She showed the world her brand, thus proving that this monster actually branded women.

 

The series is very much about these two: Vicente and Edmondson, partners in building Nxivm and in taking it down.

 

Knox Woods where Keith Raniere lived at night.

 

The genius

 

Keith the psychopath with the Dalai Lama

 

Raniere threatening to get criminal charges on his ex-lovers and followers.

 

Young Vanguard at the beginning of Nxivm.

 

A more mature Vanguard lying on his back thinking about solving the world’s problems or at least who he was going to have sex with next.

About the author

Frank Parlato

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[…] being brainwashed, controlled and abused by Raniere – including in two hit documentaries The Vow and […]

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

How convenient that Mark, a C-list documentary filmmaker, benefitted from the hundreds of people he enrolled into this group, and is now benefitting from his roll in taking down the group in the form of fame, money, and a patched image through this series?? How convenient that he took all of this footage and audio for future use? He is still benefitting, after all, is said and done and I don’t trust him or any of them as far as I could throw them. Really, a brand is what finally made you see the light after all that bullshit? Give me a break.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

and here is mark doing even more money on victims he created…what a nice guy!

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

So far, it’s as if Frank never existed. LOL

We’ll have to see what happens in future episodes. LOL

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Scott

I am seeing Marc Vicente the Superhero…

….History reimagined and rewritten. Hopefully, Marc will be telling the full story honestly. He seems like a nice guy. One righteous dude.
****
Bonnie Pease is a lot more attractive than I initially thought…

And did Sarah Edmondson have an early fling with Marc Vicente before they met their spouses?

Hannah
Hannah
3 years ago

Frank, if you have Amazon, you can try it first for 7 days, and then you can add it to you Amazon Prime account. I just saw the first episode. I was inside the cult, but left it after a year and a half. Everything they say is real. The way Raniere studied the human brain is quite interesting. I can now understand why the Feds seized all the NXIVM’s principles and books. Of course there’s a big technology, in the documentary they say it was patented in the area of artificial intelligence. NXIVM would have been great for personal development if they haven’t used techniques of manipulation, violation of people´s minds (actually Vicente clearly says he hacked human brain)… Ambition and insanity was the result of NXIVM. I hope you can watch it, I like the first episode. Some people is saying that is boring… But, they need to explain what the hell was NXIVM and ESP, because the techniques are not easy to explain if you haven’t been involved in the cult. Later we will see the evil side of them. My main concern now is: who the hell gave HBO all the material they released on it. I am pretty sure they recorded some material from a screen, other material was taken from internet. Some people appeared blurred. Emiliano Salinas appears in the documentary (so I suspect he gave consentment to appear as well as Alex Betancourt). The American government is not in the end credits of archival, but the NXIVM corporation is inside those credits. Mark Vicente gave consent to use his What the Bleep Do We Know? footage. Who is behind the consentment of the complete material? Believe me Frank, they used material that I didn’t watched before. I will look on Sunday for episode 2. Meanwhile, I hope you watch the first one and I would like to read your comments.

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Hannah

“Big technology..”. Please elaborate!

Ice-nine
Ice-nine
3 years ago
Reply to  Hannah

Please share more, Hannah. Who recruited you, why did you leave? I’d love to know specifics in the curriculum. It seems everyone just gives general summaries of it. What are you looking forward to in the docuseries?

I’m sure you have a lot to share, thanks for your comments.

Cartman
Cartman
3 years ago

God, I was bored watching it.

Beverly
Beverly
3 years ago

Nancy Salzman was my NLP Instructor in 1998. She tried to rope me into Executive Success Programs in 2000. After my five day course and a few months in, I saw the deception and evil they were creating and got out. Thank God I did! Why Nancy is not in prison is beyond me! She fed her own daughter to the wolf!
What mother does that? They are all Satanic!

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Beverly

Salzman will soon be in prison, she is a convicted felon. LOL

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Congrats, Frank. Your work helping the dismantling of NXIVM is for the history books! I look forward in the future to seeing YOUR documentary take on it.

You must get HBO Frank
You must get HBO Frank
3 years ago

You can get the app HBO MAX for less than $20 a month. I have been an avid reader of this blog since 2017. I could never understand how folks including the Bronfmans got roped into this nonsense until watching Episode 1 of The Vow, it all became more clear. The producers did an excellent job of making this doc and the amount of footage they have of the NX classes, curriculum and those involved is mind-blowing.

Shivani
Shivani
3 years ago

Frank has said that he doesn’t watch tv and an HBO subscription probably doesn’t ring his bell. He can watch this production w/o throwing away twenty bucks a month and has just written that he will see it.

Same here, Frank Parlato. Three new lush potted plants are thrilling me just now and are worth more to me than paying for tv shows, or any secondhand life. Watch The Vow for free. It brings to mind Abbie Hoffman, who wrote Steal This Book. Spell antiestablishmentarianism, though it has very little to do with $$$.

Frank Needs HBO
Frank Needs HBO
3 years ago

Readers, we really need to hook Frank up with HBO for the next 9 weeks.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

I think Frank can afford HBO. LOL

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

If you can, Frank definitely can…

Scott, I am wondering how are you able to convert your food stamps over to pay for your cable bill? Arbitrage perhaps?

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Niceguy

If Frank can come on Scott’s show, you definitely can…

NiceGuy 666, I am wondering how you are able to go to the bathroom by yourself? With help perhaps? LOL

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

$20/mo is extremely expensive for HBO. You used to get all cable networks including HBO for about that much. People are so dumb with money! Anyway, The Vow is on every torrent site FYI.

Alex
Alex
3 years ago

In spite of what he’s ended up, we must give to Caesar what is Caesar’s: Keith has an amazing ability to reprogram the human brain. While he’s not the most intelligent being on this planet, he can’t be anywhere near to mediocre intelligence. An excellent orator too I suspect and a very well read mind. An amazing outcome when he combined such talents with deep psychopathy.

Speechless…

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Alex

-Alex

More like giving the devil his due.

I agree with you, Raniere is definitively good at manipulation and warping people’s minds to his will. The narcissistic Raniere, drunk on his own power, seemed to be headed down a pernicious path.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Alex – I agree that KAR is talented on many levels, tho for some reason, he unduly exaggerated those talents. The chilling part, as you point out, is that his talents were used solely to further his sociopathic and destructive aims.

I have always theorized that Raniere’s goals were actually very simple: 1) He should not have to work for a living, and others should support him and wait on him; 2) He is special and so should be revered, honored, and obeyed without question; and 3) Because he is special, societal rules and values do not apply to him, so he can deceive, cheat, con, and lie to others, abuse trust, and have as much sex, pleasure, and satiation as he desires – all while living in a pedestrian, suburban house in a quiet subdivision. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, indeed!

I mourn for those who loved and trusted him, only to be betrayed and (some) possibly killed by poison, starvation, or some form of “suicide.”

I have asked many times on this website – can anyone point to one, and I mean ONE, example of a decent, philanthropic act that KAR did, ever? Handing out blankets? Food drives? Donations (other than to political parties)? Scholarships? Beautification projects? Clearly, he was out for Keith and Keith alone. If anyone has information to the contrary, I would love to hear it and consider it.

Clue: “A ten day birthday party for my wonderful self, for which my loyal, devoted followers have the privilege of paying $2K each to attend and give me gifts.” Sounds like a strident five-year old to me.

It is so easy to now cast stones, but most of us haven’t been in a position to be affected by his spell or carefully practiced spiel.

Imagine how much energy it takes to perpetrate a lifelong fraud. I never knew his parents, but I nonetheless feel sorry for them, I am certain they did not seek to raise this kind of person. Early on, they were probably tickled to have a talented, cute, precocious,handsome only son. Thankfully it does not seem they lived long enough to see the whole truth.

Shout-out to NXIVM survivors: (I say: “Nexit-ers”) – Hang in there! We have all done things we regret in this life. Healing is out there. Reach out to Frank; I venture to say he will help you in some fashion – if only to hear you.

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

-—I have always theorized that Raniere’s goals were actually very simple: 1) He should not have to work for a living, and others should support him and wait on him; 2) He is special and so should be revered, honored, and obeyed without question; and 3) Because he is special, societal rules and values do not apply to him, so he can deceive, cheat, con, and lie to others, abuse trust, and have as much sex, pleasure, and satiation as he desires – all while living in a pedestrian, suburban house in a quiet subdivision. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, indeed!

You just described 99.9% of men!!!!

shadowstate1958
3 years ago

Last night Joe Biden’s supporters burned down downtown Kenosha Wisconsin, a city of 100,000 people.
Joe Biden’s supporter’s torched occupied apartment buildings, other residences, businesses and office buildings as well as a city fire truck.
At no point has the pedophile Joe Biden criticized or condemned his violent, blood-thirsty supporters in BLM or Anti-Fa.
Joe Biden is an evil wicked man who has sold his soul to the devil.
Here is the video.

shadowstate1958
3 years ago

New footage shows Jacob Blake brawling with cops before being shot as two white Wisconsin officers are placed on leave while police chief calls Gov. Tony Evers ‘wholly irresponsible’ for condemning law enforcement
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8660213/Video-shows-Jacob-Blake-brawling-cops-shot-Wisconsin-cops-placed-leave.html

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago

Shadow,

Who does not know what is going on? It’s not 1920 or 1990. We are all informed.

Thanks

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Niceguy

Shhh! It keeps Mr. Shadow from talking about Mack. LOL

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Good one!
LMFAO!!!!!

shadowstate1958
3 years ago

Last night Joe Biden’s supporters burned down downtown Kenosha Wisconsin, a city of 100,000 people.
Joe Biden’s supporter’s torched occupied apartment buildings, other residences, businesses and office buildings as well as a city fire truck.
At no point has the pedophile Joe Biden criticized or condemned his violent, blood-thirsty supporters in BLM or Anti-Fa.
Joe Biden is an evil wicked man who has sold his soul to the devil.
Here is the video.

shadowstate1958
3 years ago

A link posted about Jacob Blake posted by Robyn Mack.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CESASopAoHw/

What Ms. Mack does not say about the criminal Jacob Blake.

Blake was also charged with third-degree sexual assault in July, court records show. A warrant for his arrest was active at the time of the shooting.

At the same time, court records show that Blake had been charged in July with third-degree sexual assault and trespassing.

Wisconsin state defines third degree sexual assault as “sexual intercourse with a person without consent of that person, or sexual contact with intentional penile ejaculation with a person without consent of that person.”

A warrant for his arrest was active when he was shot — though there has been no suggestion that this was related to his encounter with the police.
https://www.insider.com/picture-details-jacob-blake-black-man-shot-by-police-kenosha-2020-8

In other words Jacob Blake is an indicted Rapist.
Maybe Ms. Mack’s point of view is colored by her sister’s experience with the FBI in a sex trafficking case in Brooklyn.

Niceguy
Niceguy
3 years ago

Shadow, I checked your link to Mack.

Did you know Robyn Mack starred in the movie “Incest the Musical”????

https://www.google.com/search?q=Robyn+Mack.&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

How ironic….

Can’t make this shit up.

Linda
Linda
3 years ago

Yes, watched it…Very good that we actually see the class again. Hard to believe this was going on right next door to me not knowing when I saw him and Allison Mack that this was going on right under our noses. I love Knoxwoods but this has changed the way I feel now for sure

Brigid
3 years ago

I got an HBO subscription on amazon just to watch this. It appears to be well done with high production values, but having only seen the first installment I feel like it is premature to comment on it as a reviewer might. We are being introduced to the main characters, getting some background on them, getting a feel for the official version nxivm as they presented to the public.There is much much more to come.
Seeing and hearing Nancy Salzman was the biggest shock so far, for me. Her shtick in action in the clips from esp training videos is accurately described by Sarah Edmondson as being very 80s, in a dated un-hip power-suited kind of low budget customer service training video way. Her brief esp segments immediately made me think of the equally goofy Consumers Buyline advertising. Not different at all in fact. Both Nancy and Raniere are so insincere, so artificial and cornball, they barely conceal their base grasping vulgar natures with overacted faux enthusiasm and the phony spirituality pretense. Mark Vincente is an odd bird, he is not unlikable, in fact he seems quite genuine, but there is something broken about him. Now maybe it was his formative years in South Africa, can’t imagine anyone with a little extra sensitivity walking away from that without some degree of trauma. But he is also a affable rube who lives up to his first name. In another time and place he easily would have been a wandering hippie seeker rather than the yuppie creative that he is today. But even in different decade he surely would have wound up in the same place: in a cult. Nancy and Keith must’ve been slobbering over him when he entered the picture, he was successful, handsome, talented, tall, all the things Keith is not. He did gloss over Ramtha, which he didn’t need to go into in depth but it might have added additional context to him as a person, and explained a bit about how he managed to spend 12 prime years of his life dedicated to a hard control system. I’m going to guess that he scared the isht out of Nancy and Keith when he finally blew a gasket and lashed out at them, angrily and loudly jumping ship surely sent them into a panic. Can’t wait for that part of the story, it will be glorious.
Sarah Edmondson’s story–thus far–is neatly stitched up, but one big missing detail when describing nxivm expansion was that they were bringing in money, her in particular, in a pyramid structure no less. Seems from what we know from this blog, if there was doubt in her mind or times when nxivm dogma wore transparently thin, the money, attention, status, and purpose (of making more money) kept her blinded to the evil nature of what she was involved with and committed to doing.
Finally, the group photos and clips of them with smiles plastered on their faces, their antic jumping and dancing around, the hugging and the image of always having a good time, was nauseating. There is definitely a personality type that is drawn to and feels comfortable in joining a group, in subsuming one’s own identity to a group in order to fit in and feel a part of something. To see people like Salinas and glimpses of some others that we got in Episode 1 makes that color coded tshirt sorority summer camp crap even more preposterous. So far we have yet to get a whiff of sulfur, of the mendacity and depravity and brutality that we know is coming. Mark’s personal pain and shame is the only indication so far of what is to come.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

“Sarah Edmondson and Mark Vicente are the stars of the HBO series. Sarah did a lot of suffering to help take down the cult.”

No. Sarah Edmondson was a perpetrator who ignored all the ugly stuff because she loved the money and status she obviously craves. She was too too big in the cult to leave quietly so attention whored.

“The series is very much about these two: Vicente and Edmondson, partners in building Nxivm and in taking it down”

Only the first part is true. It’s all “me, me, me” with those two. Sarah Edmondson actually wrote a book. She went from willing perpetrator to a book. Lots of media appearances she never got from her awful “acting career” and the pair of them both did an actual documentary, about themselves.

John Tighe, Frank Parlato and a small number of others can be spoken positively about their roles in taking down the cult. But these two cunts get the credit without any public scrutiny. Make no mistake, there was zero bravery involved. By going to the press, Edmondson was protecting herself. Where are the articles calling her out, instead of “pooorrr Sarah”? Vicente and Edmondson can’t even bring themselves to admit they did know about the ugly side of NXIVM and they chose to ignore all of it by choice. They were not forced to. They chose to. Instead, they pretend they were brainwashed, naive victims.

Fact: only when they were personally affected did they leave. They are full of shit. Twelve years perping it out for a pedophile and now an HBO documentary about how they are heroes. Can you believe it?

Spanky''s Back
Spanky''s Back
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Is that you, oh mad one ?

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Agree with this comment. No heroes here.

Linda
Linda
3 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

I agree with that about Sarah

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago
Reply to  Linda

There wasn’t a single charge from the DOJ against NXIVM related to making money – why in the world did we ever give women the right to vote? LOL

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankreport76@gmail.com

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