Review by C.J. Bunce
With Amanda Seyfried starring in another drama series this year, Long Bright River (reviewed here), it’s worth taking a look back at another big series that showcased the actress’s talents, the 2022 series The Dropout. The adaptation of a podcast about the rise and fall of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is a tough show to get through–tough because the real-life character Seyfried depicted was such a baffling con artist. In eight episodes viewers get a good picture of a snippet of celebrity power gone amok, delivered via some of Hollywood’s best actors. It’s also a story of how a cult-like personality can get away with crimes and take down society at the same time. But because crime does not pay and bad guys always get their comeuppance, it also may be a blueprint, a roadmap for taking down a character who seemingly lied to everyone they ever came into contact with.
Seyfried won a Critics Choice Award, and Emmy, and a Golden Globe Award for her performance, and no wonder. Seyfried has always had the chops to show the different sides of humanity dating back to her introduction to audiences as the murder victim in Veronica Mars. But here she must play batshit crazy for all its worth. From manufacturing a personality to manufacturing speaking with an unusual accent, to becoming a lifeless repeater of inane business speak, she may remind you of other celebrity types that have committed unspeakable crimes and belong behind bars (Holmes didn’t get her “just desserts,” a prison stint, until after the series first aired).
Just like so many other real-life villains in history, the age-old method of using “boring” statutes was the answer–she was convicted of fraud. And that’s part of the reason the story is a good one for TV drama–the writers capture that fact with smaller, supporting characters like Dylan Minnette’s Tyler Schultz, grandson of Reagan-era official George Schultz (artfully played by Sam Waterston), who was reeled in by the strange power of Holmes, tarnishing his own third act. In the series the grandson partners with Theranos employee Erika Cheung (played by Camryn Mi-young Kim), the whistleblower who ultimately reported Holmes to the feds.
Other characters define the theme of the show and clarify why Holmes was so disheartening and dangerous, like Laurie Metcalf as Dr. Phyllis Gardner, a Holmes doubter who never let up in her belief that Holmes was conning everyone from top Silicon Valley execs to U.S. Presidents. But the show, like real-life, had its bumps, like the over-the-top William H. Macy as the excruciating Richard Fuisz, involved with lawsuits against Holmes as a patent troll. But even the off-the-wall types can help bring the bad guys to justice, and Fuisz is credited with connecting writer John Carreyrou into the story. Carreyrou would write the Wall Street Journal article that would bring Theranos crashing down, and casting Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Carreyrou might be the show’s second casting coup. The future member of the Fantastic Four and former actor in The Punisher joins Camryn Mi-Young Kim as the calm and quiet–yet ultimately not so quiet–heroes of this dark tale.
Other key performances include all sorts of great genre stars. Stephen Fry plays the company’s ill-fated chemist, Kurtwood Smith is a vile Theranos lawyer, Alan Ruck as a marketing guy for Walgreens too quick to get on Holmes’ crazy train, Michael Ironside plays another big investor duped by Holmes, Anne Archer is Schultz’s savvy and sharp wife, Rich Sommar is the only guy who sees through Holmes’ scheme from day one, and series co-star Naveen Andrews is Sunny Balwani, the exec who was complicit with Holmes and shared even more freakish exploits behind the scenes in the story. Another character, one who practically deserves kick-ass status, is Judith Baker, played by LisaGay Hamilton, a Wall Street Journal editor who was one of the few amalgam characters created for the story.
If you weren’t reading the news during the actual events of the story that’s good because the details are stranger than fiction. Almost. Even if you know the story the delivery is a good one and show creator Elizabeth Meriwether pencils in plenty to think about long after the final episode. What can we all learn from this tale? Catch The Dropout now streaming on Hulu.
