The Dropout is a historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered on US television (Hulu) in 2022. It is a miniseries with eight episodes.
The title refers to the main character of the drama: Elizabeth Holmes, who was a student at Stanford University.
In 2003, after only one year at Stanford, she dropped out in order to pursue a career in the private sector.
She co-founded a medical company called Theranos. The name of the company is a combination of two words: therapy and diagnosis.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Creator: Elizabeth Meriwether
** Directors: Michael Showalter, Francesca Gregorini, and Erica Watson
** Writers: Sofya Levitsky-Weitz and others
** Run time: 8 x ca. 50 minutes = ca. 400 minutes
The cast includes the following
The first group
** Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes (born 1984) – co-founder of Theranos
** Michel Gill as Chris Holmes (father of Elizabeth)
** Elizabeth Marvel as Noel Holmes (mother of Elizabeth)
** Sam Straley as Christian Holmes (brother of Elizabeth)
** Naveen Andrews as Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani (born 1965) – co-founder of Theranos
** William H. Macy as Dr. Richard Fuisz (born 1939) (he was Elizabeth’s neighbour when she was young)
The second group
** Stephen Fry as Ian Gibbons (1946-2013) (a chemist)
** Kate Burton as Rochelle Gibbons (wife of Ian)
** Sam Waterston as George Shultz (1920-2021) – US secretary of state 1982-1989
** Anne Archer as Charlotte Shultz (1933-2021) (wife of George)
** Dylan Minette as Tyler Shultz (grandson of George) (whistleblower)
The third group
** Camryn Mi-young Kim as Erika Cheung (whistleblower)
** Laurie Metcalfe as Professor Phyllis Gardner (Stanford University)
** Michael Ironside as Don Lucas (1930-2019) (an investor)
** Kurtwood Smith as David Boies (born 1941) (a lawyer)
** Ebon Moss-Bachrach as John Carreyrou (born 1972) (a journalist at the Wall Street Journal)
** Lisa Gay Hamilton as Judith Baker (an editor at the Wall Street Journal)
Elizabeth Holmes had an idea. She wanted revolutionize the health care system of the USA. She wanted to invent a new way of testing blood.
The old way was to stick a needle into a vein and draw some blood. The blood sample was brought to a lab where a test was performed. The results would later be announced to the patient.
This procedure was slow and expensive. It was also unpleasant for the patient. Elizabeth Holmes wanted to introduce a new way of doing this.
One drop of blood would be enough. This drop of blood would be placed on a card, which would be entered into a machine which could test the blood for more than a hundred different diseases.
The machine would be so small that it was portable. In fact, Elizabeth wanted every family in America to have such a machine at home so that every person was able to perform a blood test at home and get the results at once.
An early diagnosis could mean early therapy and this fact would be able to save many lives, because a serious disease would be discovered at an early stage and not only when it was to late to save the patient.
This was the invention of Elizabeth Holmes. A portable machine which can perform a blood test based on a single drop of blood.
The machine was in her mind. The company Theranos was founded to build this machine and, once it was done, to introduce it to the American market.
She wanted to be a billionaire. She wanted to be the
female version of Steve Jobs. She even dressed like him.
She had to find investors. She was good at this. She was an amazing salesperson. She was able to convince many big investors to invest millions of dollars in her company.
But she had a big problem. It was easy to design a small machine on paper, but it turned out it was very difficult to build one. Her staff did in fact build a machine, but it was not small and it was not able to perform the task at hand.
In this drama, we follow the amazing story of her life from the moment when she and Sunny founded the company in 2003 until the moment when it collapsed like a house of cards in 2018.
In this drama, we discover how she was able to make investors believe in her product, even though it was not working.
We discover how she was able to establish a board filled with famous names who helped her attract more investors, who helped her add more famous names to the board.
Elizabeth Holmes and Sunna Balwani were able to hide the truth about Theranos for several years. But eventually it came out. How did this happen?
There were two whistleblowers:
** Tyler Shultz
** Erika Cheung
The whistleblowers contacted a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, John Carreyrou, who had written about health issues before.
The reporter was able to get additional and supporting information from Dr. Richard Fuisz, who had known Elizabeth since she was a child, and from Rochelle Gibbons, who became a widow when her husband Ian Gibbons committed suicide in 2013.
Ian Gibbons worked as a chemist at Theranos from the beginning in 2003 until 2013.
Without these sources, John Carreyrou would not have been able to build a case and to write a story which could be published in the paper.
His first report about Theranos appeared in 2015. It was followed by other reports, as the secrets of Theranos were revealed. In the end he wrote a series of articles which were later turned into a book about the case.
What do reviewers say about this drama?
Here are some results:
75 percent = Meta
75 percent = IMDb
83 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
90 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
As you can see, the ratings are positive. I understand the positive reviews and I agree with most of them. This drama is good, but it is not great.
Historical accuracy is high, but there is one significant moment where historical truth is violated. This moment concerns Tyler Shultz (the whistleblower) and his grandfather George Shultz (a former US Secretary of State) who was a member of the board at Theranos.
In the drama, we see Tyler when he decides to become a whistleblower. He contacts the reporter at the Wall Street Journal, because his conscience tells him he has to do this.
Later, when Tyler comes to his grandfather’s house, his grandfather asks him a direct question: did you talk to the reporter from Wall Street Journal?
Tyler answers the question. He says no. His grandfather is relieved. He trusts Elizabeth Holmes. He says he has no reason to believe the accusations presented in the Wall Street Journal.
But later, Tyler tells him the truth. Now his grandfather is disappointed in him. You lied to me! How can I believe anything you say to me?
This version of what happened between George Shultz and his grandson is not true.
Tyler is one of several persons who are interviewed in the documentary film The Inventor (which premiered in 2019). He is asked about this episode.
** Did your grandfather ask you if you talked to the reporter at the Wall Street Journal?
** Yes, he did.
** What did you say?
** Did you tell him the truth?
** Yes, I did.
Why was the true story altered? Why was the true story changed? According to the drama, Tyler lied to his grandfather, but this is not true.
Tyler did not lie. He told the truth, even though he knew his grandfather would be disappointed.
I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating. But as you can see, there is a flaw which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of this flaw.
This is why I think this drama deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS. Following the collapse of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani were both accused of committing several serious crimes including fraud.
They were tried in a court of law where they were found guilty. The sentence was more than ten years in prison. In 2023, they began serving time in prison.
REFERENCES
Bad Blood:
Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
By John Carreyrou
(2018)
The Inventor:
Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
A documentary film which premiered in 2019
** Director = Alex Gibney
** Run time = 119 minutes
Amy Mackelden,
“How accurate is The Dropout?”
Harper’s Bazaar
2022
Kevin Lang,
“The Dropout”
Hollywood vs. History
28 February 2022
Deshawn Thomas,
“How Much of The Dropout Is A True Story?”
Slashfilm
26 January 2023
*****
Elizabeth Holmes
(born 1984)
Co-founder of Theranos
*****
Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani
(born 1965)
Co-founder of Theranos
*****
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