The Dropout
Kids say
Based on 3 reviews
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The Dropout
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Dropout is based on the true story of fraudster Elizabeth Holmes. She founded a company called Theranos, a California medical technology company that claimed to have invented a new way to test blood, claims that were ultimately revealed to be fraudulent. As viewers might expect, Holmes' misdeeds take center stage here. In this dramatic telling of the story (based in part on its namesake podcast), she's revealed to be a complex character whose hard work and good intentions are overwhelmed by ambition, and she ultimately defrauds investors of billions. A sexual assault is an important plot point; the drama makes the circumstances of the assault hazy by showing nothing on-screen except Holmes looking dazed at a party. Characters do have sex with rhythmic moans and movements as well as kissing in bed and other places; bodies are covered with clothing and sheets. Holmes does have a romance with Sunny Balwani, who became her business partner. In real life, Holmes accused him of physical and sexual abuse. Balwani is portrayed by Naveen Andrews, an actor of Indian background, one of the many Asian and South Asian actors in this drama. Language is infrequent: "hell," "damn," "f--k." Alcohol appears at parties, but we don't see anyone acting drunk.
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What's the Story?
Based on the real-life case of Elizabeth Holmes and her disgraced medical tech company Theranos, THE DROPOUT stars Amanda Seyfried as Holmes, whom we first meet as an aspiring Stanford student with powerful ambition. But when she meets future business partner Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews) and hatches a far-fetched plan to invent a device that can test blood remotely for certain conditions, Holmes gets caught in circumstances beyond her control and is ultimately brought down and revealed for the fraud she always was.
Is It Any Good?
With both empathy for its main subject and an unsentimental view of the drive that led her to a bad end, this series is a fascinating look at a real-life villain with all-too-human motivations. Viewers likely have watched one of the YouTube clips featuring her holding forth about Theranos in her unsettlingly deep voice, and vaguely know she was involved in some type of financial scandal involving fakery. The Dropout starts with a taped deposition of Seyfried/Holmes testifying about her company's financial misdeeds, but it soon zips back to show us Holmes in her nascent stage as a former school outcast turned unnervingly serious Stanford student. By the end of the first episode, she's formulated her big idea (and heard from Laurie Metcalf's deliciously tart professor Gardner that it'll never work), and she's off to the races, business-wise.
Arriving as it does on a wave of bio-series that take a fresh look at female figures at the center of notorious scandals (see: Pam & Tommy, Inventing Anna), The Dropout is briskly plotted and paced, thanks to solid writing from a strong bench of writers, including some very notable female ones: The Americans' Hilary Bettis and New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriwether among them. The cast is full of heavy hitters too; besides Seyfried, Andrews, and Metcalf, watch for William H. Macy, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Anne Archer, among other luminaries, making a meal out of relatively small roles. It's all pretty wonderful, particularly for anyone who saw the headlines and wondered just what was up with this weird lady and her big fake company, another Ponzi scheme for the ages that worked. For a while.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about true stories. What do you need to know about the real-life story behind The Dropout to watch? Is it enjoyable without knowing about Elizabeth Holmes' story going in? What did this show change about the real story? How successful are these changes in making the story more compelling?
What's interesting about the Elizabeth Holmes story? Why is it worth making a TV series out of this story? How is it relevant to contemporary culture? What does it say about business? About ambition?
How does the show present its characters? Does it seem to like or dislike them? How does it seem to want the audience to feel about Elizabeth Holmes?
TV Details
- Premiere date: March 3, 2022
- Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews, Laurie Metcalf, William H. Macy
- Network: Hulu
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: History
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: March 9, 2022
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