Summary
Amanda Seyfried is fantastic as the blossoming billionaire Elizabeth Holmes. The premiere explores her early years as she builds the foundations of her business empire.
This recap of the Hulu series The Dropout season 1, episode 1 does not contain spoilers.
The making of a billionaire is always going to be a fascinating watch. Seeing what makes them tick, what drives them to succeed, and how they inevitably make their fortune, are the core ingredients to creating addictive drama. The story of Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in America, is one I was not familiar with, but a tale that looks made for television. The premiere focuses on the early days and how Elizabeth formulated her business empire.
As we have come to expect from this promising streaming service, Hulu’s latest offering is a professionally made drama with some serious talent both on-screen and behind the scenes. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) directs from a striking script by Elizabeth Meriwether (New Girl creator). Amanda Seyfried plays the infamous lead, Elizabeth Holmes. This is a subtle yet effective performance from the actress, one in which she commands the screen as this awkward but ardent entrepreneur.
The Dropout season 1, episode 1 recap
In 2002, Elizabeth is a smart, driven student, who is learning mandarin. She tells anyone who’ll listen that one day she is going to be a billionaire and invent some new, revolutionary medical technology. This confidence has contrasting effects on the people she tells. Some are embarrassed or offended and others are more accepting. Sunny Balwani (Lost’s Naveen Andrews) is the latter, a successful businessman that Elizabeth meets in Beijing. They instantly connect, with Elizabeth helping him to improve at his mandarin.
Back in the states, Elizabeth falls in love with the college lifestyle, as a freshman at Stanford. The filmmakers do a great job of capturing that magical energy of College, where possibilities seem endless. Young Elizabeth is like a little Mark Zuckerberg in the making, pushing her way into graduate classes and impressing Professor Robertson (Bill Irwin). She pitches her first idea to Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf – The Big Bang Theory and Lady Bird), an inventor Elizabeth greatly admires. The Professor is cooperative if a little cold with her feedback, but the idea is disregarded anyhow. Undeterred, Elizabeth continues to work on her next idea, one that may just revolutionize blood testing for generations to come.
Amanda Seyfried is utterly engaging and weirdly likable as this socially inept yet determined individual. Her performance as this flawed outcast steers the whole series, but there is plenty more to shout about. The opening episode teases a scandalous, destructive future for poor Elizabeth, indicating there’s lots more drama to come. It also sculpts a budding romance and cultivates family dynamics that already explore an emotional side to this biography. Even so early on, there are some sweet moments with mother Noel (Elizabeth Marvel) and father Chris Holmes (Mr Robot’s Michel Gill). An impressive debut that promises much more.
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