The Dropout

I was a banker for 40 years. I got my start in San Francisco during the heyday of the 1970s when guys with Beatle haircuts and plaid suits tried to upend the finance industry.

Out of that group came Apple, the Home Shopping Networks, etc., and the seed capital and business practices for what is now the Silicon Valley. What also came out was lots of bankruptcies, shareholder lawsuits, and corporate money spent on drugs, sex and rock and roll.

Elizabeth Holmes didn't surprise me. She wasn't much different than those 1970s bankers in plaid three piece suites and Beatles hair cuts. She had the same arrogant attitude, the same way of talking around a problem rather than answering a question and the same failure to appreciate the idea that most people earn their livings by working for them. Privileged. White, Young,

In this series, Seyfried captures the attitude, the creepy lack of self awareness, the naked ambition and the voice. She shows us that the facade without a person inside. She plays the role as If it were written for her, and reveals acting ability I have never seen in her.

The other cast members are good (especially Bill Macy) but it's hard to divert our eyes from the train wreck of a character Seyfried makes of Holmes. And she does a really good job of it.

See it for her acting, but you might enjoy it more if you know the story,

Wow.. this show is insane. I want to start off by saying that I know movies and shows overdramatize true stories so I'm speaking solely about the show right now. This goes from you rooting for the main character to you hating her.. like a real life Anakin Skywalker story.. IF this is close to what actually happened I would have been horrified to have been a part of this company. What a truly terrifying slip into "The Dark Side".... Wow.. just wow..

This is my fourth foray into "Elizabeth Holmes" territory. I listened to the audio book of "Bad Blood," by the WSJ reporter who broke open the story of Theronos' fraud. I watched the documentary. I skimmed the "Bad Blood" book version and now I am watching this version.

All are worthy of consumption. "The Dropout" is by far the most fictionalized version, maybe even the only fictionalized one, but it still draws heavily from RL characters, situations, and conversations. I think it plays a vital role, in that it is the only one that gives Holmes something of a character arc. Yes, her deeds were heinous, but this company was not the brainchild of a 30- or 40-something Silicon Valley type.

It's important to remember that Holmes was a teenager when this company took root in her mind. And yes, her relationship with Sonny Balwani was established by then. But he is not the only one who seems unable to listen to what she is communicating. Her parents and brother all tiptoe around it, as do the middle-aged and elderly men who rally to her side. And that is not a condemnation of them, but rather a commentary on how family and relationship dynamics play an outsize role on personal decisions made in a business context. Especially when so much is at stake.

By the time the series hits its peak a Jenga Tower has been born. Everyone, Elizabeth included, is afraid to pull out a piece. The powerful men (and it is telling that one of the episodes is titled "Old White Men') who sit on her board are all-in, die-hard, a more than a little intense. She is really running with the big d0gs.

With the exception of the bad chinese (maybe that's also intentional, who knows), Amanda Seyfried is great at portraying Elizabeth Holmes. She looked like her, she got the weird and awkward manner, the deepen of the voice. You look at her and think that she is Elizabeth Holmes.

Story itself is good. It moved in quick pace and everyone they got are amazing. The one that played Edmund Ko, Stephen Fry as Ian Gibbson, are standouts for me. Sunny was also great.

It does give sympathetic look on Elizabeth but also don't completely erase her fault and crime. There are indeed bad bloods on her hands.

This started out on the wrong foot making Holmes look like a "victim of society," couldn't catch a break, men stepping over her and sabotaging her. Anyone who knew anything about the story knew all of that was a bunch of bull and I almost stopped watching but gave it one more episode and from there on, the show told the story like it was.

It gave just a dramatic glimpse of what Holmes and her company really were, a bunch of fake, fraudulent, backstabbers. So overall decently told be she was not manipulated and just became a horrible person, she always was.