“In a season of subpar scammer shows, only The Dropout is the real thing,” says Judy Berman of TIME Magazine. 2022 is becoming the year of the scamming television series. Following the large success of Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” about New York City scammer Anna Delvey, new shows including “Super Pumped,” “WeCrashed” and “Joe vs. Carole” enchant audiences into a tale of TV magic with a side of high-profile fraud. Now, Hulu has unveiled “The Dropout,” which stands out among others in this growing genre.
The story of Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos has captivated audiences for over a decade. Her infamous black turtleneck, smudged eyeliner and red lipstick alone live in infamy. In the Hulu series “The Dropout,” audiences learn the story of the Stanford dropout who created Theranos, a company that claimed it had developed technology that would restructure blood testing and change the healthcare system. Their device, named the Edison, would run multiple tests using one drop of blood.
Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) was a fraud whose technology did not work. With her boyfriend and COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (Naveen Andrews), they lied to investors, board members and the people using the product to live their daily lives. “The Dropout” recounts the story of how she was able to lie to everyone for so long and how deep into this lie she could go. The show is supported by a star-studded cast including Laurie Metcalf, William H. Macy and Alan Ruck who help tell this haunting story.
The show begins with Holmes as a senior in high school, telling her family she aspires to be a billionaire. It is sort of a coming-of-age story where she finishes high school and starts her Stanford career where she faces many obstacles. Her uplifting story would end when she drops out of college to create a startup where she creates the product of her dreams and gets financial support from mogul Don Lucas (Michael Ironside).
Seyfried embodies all of Holmes’ quirks and mannerisms. At times it felt like a caricature but her performance nails the important aspects of her. At her core, Holmes is a normal girl who has many secrets that could damage her career at any moment. She is on the hunt for power and uses deceit to get it. She honestly is a feminist icon. Her performance is already garnering Emmy buzz for her performance. Peter Travers of ABC News agrees and writes, “Start engraving a Best Actress Emmy for Amanda Seyfried who is sensational as Theranos founder and fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in a true-crime story that is more than compulsively watchable, it’s a cautionary fable that really stings.”
“The Dropout” is a story for the ages. I deeply enjoyed learning more about Holmes, Theranos and the inner workings of the lie that brought a Stanford dropout her greatest wish: acclaim.
