If you've never heard of Goop, it is the Gwyneth Paltrow owned company that explores cutting-edge wellness, fashion, beauty and lifestyle. Largely, it is an eye-roll inducing pseudoscience brand that one assumes is only for those perpetually seeking some sort of life-affirmation or those who have too much time and money on their hands. So I genuinely didn't hold out much hope for Goop Lab at all.
For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised. The series has six episodes, each of which focuses on a different topic to do with wellness – physical and mental. Some are a little out there and will not be for everybody but overall they are still interesting. I'm not about to rush off to Jamaica and try psychedelic mushrooms to purge my inner trauma any time soon but hey if that floats your boat, who am I to argue. And that's really the essence of Goop Lab. The idea of some therapies they suggest will suit some more than others.
Each episode starts with Gwyneth Paltrow (The Politician) and her company director talking to two specialists in the field they are about to delve into. How the idea for the therapy came about, how it works, any scientific studies to support it etc… Then Goop employees test out said therapy or activity and give their honest assessment of how it felt and if it had any impact on them. There's a good mix of those who love the idea and those that are far more cynical so it isn't really skewed to create a positive outcome. It's a bit like UnWell!
Goop Lab covers topics such as Cold therapy where you can allegedly train your body to reject illnesses through activities in the freezing cold. It also looks at women's sexual pleasure, energy fields that are supposed to heal body and mind and diets that can reduce our biological age, helping us to live healthier and longer lives. As I said before, it's interesting on a superficial level and not a catch-all to cure the world of illness.
In particular, Paltrow comes across very well. That was the biggest surprise. She is often framed as a bit of health nut and the Goop brand probably doesn't help that image. However, she isn't all glitz and glam and appears very normal and down-to-earth, as are the people she works with. They are far more relatable than you think and so that's probably what makes Goop Lab a surprisingly fun and informative watch even if you do need a healthy dose of skepticism and a lottery win to try some of them!
