The Dropout Premiere Early Review

*The following is a spoiler-free review of the first three episodes of The Dropout, premiering March 3rd on Disney+ Star and Hulu.

Everybody likes a good rise and fall story, more so when it is based on a true story. Obsessively-ambitious, bordering on sociopathic characters are one that viewers either love or love to hate, either connecting with that ambition or just waiting for the inevitable trainwreck. Based on a recent true story that viewers may more or less be already aware of, The Dropout is a limited series that chronicles the rise and fall of young entrepreneur and one of the first female self-made billionaire Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried). She founded a health technology company called Theranos whose marquee product was a machine that could allegedly perform a cavalcade of blood tests using a mere drop of blood. Holmes was a woman with great promise and an idea with great potential at least on paper just wanting to do the right thing. Though she may not have always gone about it in the right way, what happened next did not exactly go down the way she would have probably hoped.

Above everything else, Holmes wanted to be a billionaire ever since she was a child, like her idol Steve Jobs. She also wanted to help people therefore believed the medical field to be the way to achieve that goal. Also being a woman in a male-dominated industry and barely an adult who dropped out of college, that line arguably began to blur while on her mission to be successful and prove her doubters wrong. Succumbing to the limits of her ambition and that pressure, shortcuts were taken that were merely rationalized as the ends justifying the means. Those arguably immoral and unethical actions and those that were stepped on along the way in order to ensure Holmes and Theranos’ success eventually caught up to her and those who remained within her inner circle.

Starting from the end, Holmes served as an unreliable narrator of sorts as she recounted her journey through a deposition seemingly part of her current legal troubles. The contrast between the past and the present made for an interesting dynamic that provided more of an insight into her and her psyche than anything else. While much of her behavior can be attributed to youth and inexperience, she appeared to show sociopathic tendencies from the start as she simply could not process feelings and emotions like everyone else. Over the course of these first three episodes, thing just got increasingly worse in what could only be described as a roller coaster of emotions that the people around her started to notice. They initially joined Holmes because they believed in her mission but things did not seem right and those things became harder to ignore. Nevertheless, their belief in Holmes and the empathy they had for her perhaps clouded their judgment.

That being said, the writing was on the wall as the pressure looked to get to Holmes and she certainly was not handling it well. Taking questionable shortcuts as mentioned while not being forthcoming to her fellow investors, it was all about maintaining the kind of persona she had created for herself in her head, that of a successful billionaire like her idol. As the cracks formed, Holmes became increasingly unhinged and paranoid as a result of the pressure on her. Watching her attempt to hold it all together was not pretty at times, repressing that internal conflict, but it was only going to be a matter of when rather than if she’ll blow up.

Meanwhile, Holmes had someone to turn to in a complicated relationship that these first three episodes barely explored which was that of her and an older Pakistani man named Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews) whom she met on a college trip before he became a mentor and then something more. He had experience creating a company though one in a different field and selling it for a high valuation. Essentially an accomplice, he cared about and wanted to support her above all else, giving her advice. However, he had an odd way of showing it at times, imposing herself in her life.

The first three episodes are sure to be a journey and what makes it worth watching is Seyfried as Holmes though her performance wasn’t without issues. Holmes goes through a considerable character arc even through the first three episodes. While it is easy to connect to the ambition, she lacks the range to make that full journey which makes for some unbelievable over-the-top moments that could be dismissed as youth and naivety. Andrews, the only other member of the main cast, was good as Balwani despite limited screen time. The Dropout also features an impressive supporting cast, featuring the likes of William H. Macy, Elizabeth Marvel, Stephen Fry, and Laurie Metcalf just to name a few who all make the most of their time.

In the end, The Dropout is a compelling character study and a fun time capsule of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

still courtesy of Hulu

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.