“Isn’t it amazing how far decent people will go when they’re sure they’re right?” The series finale of Hulu’s The Dropout is here, depicting Elizabeth Holmes’ and Sunny Balwani’s last ditch efforts to try and save Theranos in the wake of the scathing Walt Street Journal article.
Episode 8: Lizzie
The episode begins as Elizabeth (Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) are desperately making calls to members of the board of Theranos to try and ensure their continued support. Meanwhile, as things are getting complicated at the company, things are getting equally as dicey in the pair’s relationship. Elizabeth comes home and overhears Sunny talking to a lawyer about his options.
Meanwhile, former Theranos employee Erika Cheung (Camryn Mi-Young Kim) is finally comfortable with having her name fully out there against her former employer, and decides to file a formal complaint with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This inspires Tyler Shultz (Dylan Minnette) to speak once again to his grandfather, George Shultz (Sam Waterston), in the hopes of him finally understanding. Sadly, he still doesn’t believe Tyler.
Erika’s efforts paid off, as an investigator from the CMS shows up at Theranos to investigate the lab, and there’s no way for them to get out of it. The results of this report ended up getting the lab shut down for two years. Looking for a way out of this mess, Elizabeth decides to essentially try and pin everything on Sunny. Without much of his input, it’s decided that he’ll take the fall to protect the company and Elizabeth. This leads to some tense and dramatic scenes between the two former lovers.
Elizabeth’s last real chance to save the company is through a TV interview, where she’s prepared by her lawyers and parents. Sadly, it really comes through in the interview that she was complicit in everything, and this devastates her parents. A very symbolic scene occurs, where Elizabeth lets her hair down and sheds her trademark black turtleneck, finally letting go of the facade she had created for herself.
Jumping forward a few months, and Elizabeth is lying in bed with her new boyfriend, who calls her Lizzie. With all of the trouble in her worklife, she’s finally let that side of her go, and is embracing love.
Back at the Walt Street Journal, George Shultz shows up to talk with John Carreyou, in an emotional scene where he admits his mistake in supporting Elizabeth and attempts to give Tyler a good name by sharing a statement. George ponders, “isn’t it amazing how far decent people will go when they’re sure they’re right?”
Back at Theranos, which is now a trashed, empty shell of its former self, Elizabeth is gathering materials while talking to Linda Tanner (Michaela Watkins). Elizabeth shares her happiness of having a new boyfriend with Linda, and Linda can’t understand how Elizabeth could possibly be so happy. Throughout all of the company’s troubles, Linda supported Elizabeth and Sunny, but was never truly made aware of the extent of their lies. Linda follows her out and rips into her over how she hurt people. Elizabeth puts in her AirPods and runs away before letting out an almighty scream. Her Uber pulls up, and asks “are you Lizzie?” and the show ends, clearly showing that the old Elizabeth Holmes is no more.
However the real life story is not over. The real Elizabeth Holmes stood trial late last year and is currently awaiting sentencing, where she could face up to 20 years in prison. Sunny Balwani’s trial is underway as we speak. His lawyers claim that he could not have committed fraud, because he never made any money from Theranos. Sadly, their lies and deceptions were not a work of fiction. They really happened.
All episodes of The Dropout are now available to stream on Hulu.