I thought there was absolutely nothing new I could learn about Elizabeth Homles, the Silicon Valley phenom who promised a biomedical machine that would “save the world,” before later being convicted of defrauding her investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
I have eagerly consumed every documentary, podcast and print article that I know of – her story is fascinating. Her concept was to invent a machine that would be accessible at the local pharmacy, kind of like a blood pressure station that you’ve used while waiting. With just one painless drop of blood extracted, this miraculous machine would test you for innumerable maladies. The company was known as Theranos.
One feels like one knows virtually everything about her. Yet, as a person, she remains enigmatic. Unknowable. We plainly see her facade, we just haven’t been able to look underneath it.
Until now.
The new series ‘The Dropout’ (a reference to Holmes quitting Stanford to start her life as an entrepreneur) actually does, for the first time, give us a look at how the girl with a Steve Jobs poster on her bedroom wall became the woman who only dressed in black turtlenecks and lowered her voice by an octave or so – an affectiontation that was as obviously phony as her other exploits.
Amanda Seyfried is astonishing as Holmes. She looks a bit like her, sounds exactly like her, and helps peel back a layer so that we can at least get a glance at her psyche.
As good as Seyfried is, though, it is being able to see all of the people around her that turns a composite character into something representing a real, whole human being. Credit for that goes to creator/writer Elizabeth Meriwether and a huge cast of first class actors (listed below).
Together, they show us Holmes through the eyes of her parents, neighbors, educators, mentors and investors. Not to mention her romantic partner, Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews from LOST).
The series most skillfully puts the viewer in the weird space of, like, when you’re in a chair that is about to fall over but hasn’t quite yet tipped all the way. Clearly, she is doing wrong. She is cheating, lying and stealing. And yet, you believe that she got into this because she really did want to help people.
And so, we are constantly at the tipping point – we want her to get caught, but we fear it, too. The way the series lays it all out is damn near perfect. Of course, with any work that is “based” on the truth, we cannot expect it to be 100% accurate throughout. But Meriwether was dedicated to adhering to the finest details. She re[portedly got access to texts between Ho;mes and Balwani during production that added further to the authenticity.
The folks behind the series have admonished critics not to reveal any spoilers, something I never do at any rate. I chuckled when I read that because, again, I thought there was nothing to spoil – nothing enw to know.
I’m so glad I was wrong.
The Dropout | 8 Episodes | 3 ½ out of 4 Stars| Several episodes are up now, others to be released weekly on Hulu.
Cast:
- Utkarsh Ambudkar as Rakesh Madhava
- Michel Gill as Chris Holmes
- Bill Irwin as Channing Robertson
- William H. Macy as Richard Fuisz
- Elizabeth Marvel as Noel Holmes
- Laurie Metcalf as Phyllis Gardner
- Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lorraine Fuisz
- Kate Burton as Rochelle Gibbons
- Stephen Fry as Ian Gibbons
- Michael Ironside as Don Lucas
- Bashir Salahuddin as Brendan Morris
- Josh Pais as Wade Miquelon
- Dylan Minnette as Tyler Shultz
- Alan Ruck as Jay Rosan
- Hart Bochner as Larry Ellison
- James Hiroyuki Liao as Edmond Ku
- Nicky Endres as Ana Arriola
- Camryn Mi-Young Kim as Erika Cheung
- Andrew Leeds as Roland
- Sam Waterston as George Shultz
- Kurtwood Smith as David Boies
- Anne Archer as Charlotte Shultz
- LisaGay Hamilton as Judith Baker
- Michaela Watkins as Linda Tanner
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as John Carreyrou
- Kevin Sussman as Mark Roessler
- Sam Straley as Christian Holmes
- Shaun Brown as Daniel Young
- Amir Arison as Avie Tevanian
