I hope Hulu keeps making these true-story docuseries on scandals in the corporate industry. Last year's Dopesick was one of my favorite shows of the year.
The Dropout struck all of those vibes for me. The true story about Elizabeth Holmes, who basically conned her way into building an entire company using an idea that was never proven to work, concluded this week on Hulu in a more subdued finale than I would've preferred, but the series as a whole was riveting. It covered quite an in-depth arc of Elizabeth and fleshed out enough characters to enable the few critical emotional moments to hit home for just enough of a payoff.
Amanda Seyfried is a somewhat misunderstood and wildly underrated actress, but there should be no question of her talents after this series. Seyfriend embodied Holmes in quirkiness and in tone; Seyfried literally lowered her voice tone throughout the show to match the real Holmes' voice. Seyfriend's headbops, pauses, posture, and overall weird vibes were palpable. Maybe she has a tiny bit of her own awkwardness at times, but maybe that's why she was the perfect casting choice for this role.
I'll be honest. I had never heard of Theranos before this show (the word is a combination of therapy and diagnose). But for someone like me, who has zero background in medical training, I was stunned to see how many people bought into Elizabeth's lies. I guess that's complimenting her sales pitch; it was interesting to watch her morph from a young school prodigy at Stanford who wisely followed teachings of Jedi Master Yoda (seriously, "Do or do not. There is no try" was painted on one of her company's lobby walls) into a typical corporate CEO equipped to lie and manipulate with the best of the best. But still, to me, it's unfathomable that so many high-up rich people with power would be foolish enough to go along with her scam without any real level of evidence or proof of concept. Wal-Greens, for example, was willing to make a huge deal with Theranos to get their medical-testing equipment in stores as soon as possible based on almost nothing. Though Wal-Green's own team was unable to get anywhere near Theranos' labs to validate any of their medical procedures and test data, the high-up executives still placed their trust in Elizabeth. Again, that's baffling to me; you would think people like that would be smarter with their money.
It didn't help that Elizabeth played the game like a pro, threatening to take her idea to competitors and sign with the highest bidder. Theranos was the talk of the town with their new idea of quick blood tests that only required a few drops of blood that could be analyzed almost immediately. Sounds like a total scam, right? That's because it was, but no one got the chance to prove that until Theranos was already making moves.
Well, no one except the employees within Theranos, anyway. When one man decided to speak up, he was harassed and sued. He got to the point where he felt suicide was his only way out (side note: suicide is never the only answer you have left). To people who are conspiracy theorists and believe companies absolutely use any means necessary to protect their money, this show is for you. As is usually the case, it took the integrity of a reporter to draw some conclusions and investigate Theranos. The show really picked up some steam when his story got published and exposed Theranos to the public. Prior to that, the show angered me knowing that Elizabeth's cover-ups and lies were working. Seriously, while the news story circulated, Elizabeth was earning an award for being a strong female CEO, or she was going to parties or meeting celebrities like Jared Leto. I was plenty infuriated that this liar was pretending like all the harm she was causing was no big deal.
The news story had an affect, but not enough. One young woman eventually worked up the nerve to file a formal complain with the government, which finally allowed someone to shut down Theranos (for two years, but effectively for good).
The portrayal of Elizabeth during any scene when she was questioned or challenged certainly is a key talking point. Elizabeth avoided calls, lied about being in meetings to avoid difficult conversations, forced her right-hand man Sunny (who also was her boyfriend and first bank roller) to come up with lies on the spot, or quite literally fled the scene if that's what it took to avoid confrontation and exposure. She was so pathetic, yet she learned how to speak "corporate" enough to convince board members to keep investing money and allow her to operate unimpeded. In the finale, she skates through an interview by completely dodging the questions and recycling canned answers. Oh, and she eventually tried throwing her boyfriend under the bus in her place by blaming him for everything.
In the season's final scene, we see her waiting for uber outside, all by herself. She finally has a long enough moment alone to take stock and realize the giant mess she made. Her name would be tarnished forever. While standing, she lets out several screams of anguish and pain. These weren't even screams of regret or sorrow, though, even though her falsified medical tests put a huge number of people's health at risk. No, she just felt like a failure because she finally got caught, though, it did seem like she was a bit relieved that the charade was all over. Immediately after dumping Sunny, she dates a younger, far more immature guy, which she obviously needed at that point in her life. Someone to let her live in her fairytale world without facing real consequences.
Thankfully, the real Elizabeth Holmes' sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26. Rest assured, I've got that date marked in my calendar in eager anticipation of her punishment.