Series Review: "The Dropout" (2022).

"She has the world at the tip of her finger." This is The Dropout. This drama miniseries created by Elizabeth Meriwether and based on the podcast The Dropout hosted by Rebecca Jarvis. It is the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye?

In early April 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported that Hulu had given the production a series order for six to ten episodes. The series would be executive produced by Kate McKinnon, Jarvis, Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson; the host and producers of the ABC podcast. McKinnon was also cast to star as Holmes. In late February 2021, McKinnon dropped out of the project due to a scheduling conflict. In late March, Amanda Seyfried was cast to replace McKinnon. Upon the casting of Seyfried, she also joined the miniseries as a producer while Meriwether, Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, Katherine Pope, Michael Showalter and Jordana Mollick joined Dunn and Thompson as executive producers. Showalter was also expected to direct several episodes. Naveen Andrews, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Michel Gill, Bill Irwin, William H. Macy, Elizabeth Marvel, Laurie Metcalf, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kate Burton, Stephen Fry, Michael Ironside, Bashir Salahuddin, Dylan Minnette, Alan Ruck, Hart Bochner, Sam Waterston, Kurtwood Smith, Anne Archer, LisaGay Hamilton, Michaela Watkins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kevin Sussman, Amir Arison and Rich Sommer rounded out the series' cast. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles and Stanford, California.

The series stars Seyfried, Andrews, Ambudkar, Gill, Irwin, Macy, Marvel, Metcalf, Rajskub, Burton, Fry, Ironside, Salahuddin, Minnette, Ruck, Bochner, Waterston, Smith, Archer, Hamilton, Watkins, Moss-Bachrach, Sussman, Arison and Sommer. The series is perfect cast. As for Seyfried, her performance is less of a revelation than a confirmation of her talents. The revelation of Seyfried's turn is that she's just allowed to be, without apology, without schmaltz. If you love Seyfried as a comedienne, you're still going to love her here. I'd pay to watch Seyfried stare at a wall. She'd make that a performance. Her ability to create emotional momentum out of thin air is second to none.

A gripping miniseries about one of the most blatant cases of corporate fraud to ever make billions disappear in dodgy circumstances. A pretty solid example of how to direct a miniseries regarding a case whose controversy speaks for itself. Scene by scene, the miniseries spotlights Holmes' unnerving behaviors, shaky voice, and mesmerizing, beautiful eyes to build up the scare factor associated with her power and intelligence. Meriwether delivers a sporadically interesting yet mostly underwhelming miniseries that feels like it's missing huge chunks of the story. It is also a stunning emblem of our delusional, self-aggrandizing, fake-it-till-you-make-it times, a cautionary tale of the tech era and the insidious culture it has created of would-be legends and short-lived genius. The Inventor was a devastating warning of where these unchecked messianic tendencies lead and the lives they can destroy along the way.

Simon says The Dropout receives: