The Dropout is currently a new series running on Disney that focuses on the true story behind a college drop out named ELizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos.
The Background.
Elizabeth Holmes became the youngest female billionaires in the world after persuading the world that her machine that looked a bit like a hard drive, could test a person for illness using just one drop of blood. The blood vile was entered into the machine. The machine would then give out the test results. Well this is how it was marketed. But in truth the machine did not work but the company let on that it did indeed work. This led to Elizabeth being found out and her fall from grace was epic. She was convicted of criminal fraud and she is to be sentenced next month actually and in my opinion she deserves everything that is coming to her. How the company went so far I do not know. I just boggles the mind that her box ended up in Walgreens. At one stage her company was valued at $900 billion on the basis that her little box worked.
In 2004 Elizabeth set up Theranos a biotech company and began to raise venture capital for this machine she was working on . By 2010 she had raised 90 million and had some considerable backers including former secretary of state George Schultz who became a board member in Theranos. With major backing from powerful people Theranos managed to persuade people that the box worked and they fooled some of America's top business people. The box was a dud all along and the samples of blood that were given were examined back in Theranos secret labs. If this deception was not enough they used controls on the samples which were way off so some people could have died or been misdiagnosed by the Theranos results.
A secretive culture emerged at Theranos where staff members would be fired for asking questions. George Schultz grandson was given a job there and was immediately told to shut up when he raised the alarm with his grandfather. Thankfully he finally blew the whistle it triggered an unbelievable chain of events leading the Elizabeth's downfall.
The Podcast
The Dropout started as a podcast where prominent staff were interviewed after they were sacked from the company. There was non disclosure orders in place but some of the former employees were so concerned that they became whistleblowers. The podcast is excellent. It is also called the Dropout and it should be listened to before watching the series.
The Cast
Elizabeth is played by Amanda Seyfried and her boyfriend and confidante Sunny Balwani is played by Naveen Andrews. Both excellently casted. It is hard to play the part of Elizabeth because she changes her voice to become more of a leader so Amanda had to do the same. I loved Amanda's little nerdy dances as Elizabeth is a strange character to play. She also does this facial expression with her jaw which I don't know how she pulls off. Stephen Fry places an excellent part as Elizabeth's trusted biophysist although things turn sore when the company gets larger.
At the moment the first series covers the set up and the workings of the business so season two will cover the downfall. I cannot wait for this. The podcast covers off her downfall and is still releasing podcasts of the trial that was had last month.
I found the series lived up to expectations and it is an excellent watch. I would highly recommend it. If this one can get a box that does nothing and turn it into a $900 company then the world is our oyster. I's who you know in this world.