Anderson Cooper’s Epic Scientology Smackdown, Part 4

Huzzah! Anderson ends on a high note.

After a maddeningly pointless part 3, in the final installation of his series, we finally hear about suppressive persons and disconnection.

And Paul Haggis is brought up in order to make Tommy Davis look like an utter ass (which, admittedly, isn’t that hard to do).

Mostly, we have to give Anderson credit for bringing us the utterly unhinged former wives of David Miscavige’s accusers. These women oozed the crazy.

We were awfully hard on Anderson’s series right from the start, and we still say all the back-and-forth squabbling about who-hit-who is a lot of wasted effort.

But we understand why the Anonymous folk and others were very excited that so much of Scientology’s dirty laundry was exposed to Anderson’s rapidly shrinking audience.

Next on the agenda: Come on, Pulitzer Committee, show the love to the St. Pete Times!

[Go here for our ruminations on part 1, part 2 and part 3 of Anderson’s Ambien-like mindblowing series.]

Tony Ortega is the editor-in-chief of the Village Voice. Since 1995, he’s been writing about Scientology at several publications. Among his other stories about L. Ron Hubbard’s organization:

The Larry Wollersheim Saga — Scientology Finally Pays For Its Fraud
The Tory Bezazian (Christman) Story — How the Internet Saved A Scientologist From Herself
The Jason Beghe Defection — A Scientology Celebrity Goes Rogue
The Paul Haggis Ultimatum — The ‘Crash’ Director Tells Scientology to Shove It
The Marc Headley Escape — ‘Tom Cruise Told Me to Talk to a Bottle’