The new installment of Netflix’ Untold series looks at Brian Johnson, starting out as a regular dad. His children aren’t so regular though, having food allergies that can’t be cured no matter what he tries. So he tried only giving them food that he hunted and foraged and also found Mark Sisson on the internet. Mark Sisson came up with nine ancestral tenets for living that he started broadcasting on social media. He preaches only consuming natural food while building ridiculous amounts of upper body muscle. What happens, though, when someone else finds out about his steroid use, going against his claims?

The Untold series, in my understanding, is about sports, and Brian Johnson is a bodybuilder, and this installment has him sitting down as he discusses what it’s like to pivot within living his life. ‘Lifestyle’ people like him pivot to social media, and he ‘must do’ 100 takes of a reel. He has to, and somehow he can afford a social media strategist to get him to a million followers. Will Liver King explain how he got all that money – maybe, but it has other interviewees. One of them is John Hyland, co-founder of 1DS, who pitched Johnson ideas that eventually got Johnson that magic million followers.

Liver King‘s job is to get honesty out of its subject, and it kinda maybe gets that honesty from him. It’s a half and half situation here, as the documentary lays its interest more on observing Johnson. That observation comes through the documentary showing him cut up testicles for him and family. It dedicates less screen time to the other YouTubers who expose and pile on the fact that he juices. Most of these YouTubers and the documentary itself miss the point about Johnson’s lifestyle. If one really follows ancestral living, why is he in front of the camera while touching grass? Live in a yurt instead!

Liver King has the semblance of depth, starting with Johnson’s confession about his fraud.  Then comes a montage of him working out while other interviewees make more speculations. “Did the messenger kill the message,” to paraphrase one interviewee, as it shows him doing cardio. And then comes him with his family, talking about all the hunting that they do with a mindful twist. The interviewees are saying things that the filmmaker can’t say to Johnson’s face, unfortunately. I mean, one shouldn’t make a documentary actively hating one’s subject, yet one should also confront.

Stream Liver King on Netflix.