“There’s only one thing you need to know about Elizabeth Holmes. She’s a fraud. She’s always been a fraud.” Elizabeth (Amanda Seyfried) and Theranos’ lies and deceptions keep growing bigger and bigger in the fifth episode of Hulu’s The Dropout.
Episode 5: Flower of Life
At the end of last week’s episode, Theranos was able to make a deal with Walgreens to get their blood-testing machine into stores, in what would be called Wellness Centers. Moving forward three years to 2013, Walgreens’ CFO Wade Miquelon (Josh Pais) has grown tired with constant setbacks and delays with the machine. He sets a strict 6 month deadline to have the first Wellness Centers ready to open. There’s just one problem: the machines still don’t work!
Faced with this new deadline, Elizabeth and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) resort to extreme measures, somewhat reluctantly at first, to not allow their deal to fail. They open up a Siemens machine that is capable of running tests to try and copy it, as a “Phase 1” in getting their own project up and running.
Elizabeth’s childhood neighbor Richard Fuisz (William H. Macy) and his wife are upset at being watched in their own home, as Theranos is suing him to drop the patent he holds that would require Theranos to license his invention if they want to put a blood test in anyone’s home.
Meanwhile, Ian Gibbons (Stephen Fry) is increasingly frustrated after having spent the last three years sitting at a desk, not being able to do the chemistry work he loves. He is subpoenaed to testify in the legal battle with Richard Fuisz, and is at a mental crossroads. He doesn’t want to tell the truth of the machine not working, because he fears Theranos may sue him, but he also doesn’t want to lie, as he doesn’t wish for anyone to be harmed.
Sunny and Elizabeth’s relationship is becoming increasingly strained, with Sunny prone to frustrated outbursts. Sunny ponders, why don’t we just give up, both their relationship and Theranos. This leads to Elizabeth herself pondering if it's really worth it. She poses this to her mother at a family member's funeral and it's her mother that reminds her of why she started Theranos in the first place, to do good things. Unfortunately, it’s just getting there that’s a little messy.
Suddenly, everything going on in Ian’s life just gets to be too much for him, and so in some sad scenes, it is revealed that he committed sucide. This affects Elizabeth deeply, at least at first, until she realizes his death essentially won them the suit against Richard Fuisz. Theranos security then comes to Gibbons house to remove all of his work related belongings, as his wife watches on in sadness and horror.
The episode comes to an end as Fuisz gives up on his side of the suit, but not on finding out the truth of Theranos. He calls Professor Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf) to see what she knows of Elizabeth, and she tells him that Elizabeth is and always has been a fraud. Meanwhile, Walgreens and Theranos celebrate the opening of their first Wellness Center.
The first five episodes of The Dropout are now available to stream on Hulu, with new episodes releasing weekly. Be sure to stay tuned to Laughing Place for our recaps of the remaining episodes.