S01.E01: I’m in a Hurry

[Bort]

Quote

Elizabeth Holmes, an optimistic and determined young woman, drops out of Stanford to found a promising new blood testing startup.

Airdate: 3 March 2022

[MrsR]

Wow.

Holy fuck.

Yikes. 

So Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani are just two lost, misunderstood, injured, victimized souls who are trying to save the world. 

Okey dokey.

I've lost some respect for some good actors who got involved in this revisionist claptrap. First Netflix and the Anna Delvy story and now this, Hulu, you can go to hell too.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by MrsR

[SlovakPrincess]

So far this is working for me a lot better than the Anna Delvey miniseries.  Telling the story in a chronological fashion, really focusing on Holmes' slow-building self-delusion -- instead of creating an unnecessary, obnoxious reporter character to constantly tell us how fascinating and enigmatic the con artist is, like in Inventing Anna -- makes this a much better production.   I'll have to reserve judgment 'til the end, though ... I'll be annoyed if the miniseries' point of view is that Holmes was wholly innocent and Balwani completely manipulated her.  

Amanda Seyfried is great in the role.  Not sure how I feel about the casting for Sunny Balwani ... they picked a much more attractive guy to play him!

[BusyOctober]

This story fascinates me.   I read “ Bad Blood” and got hooked on how delusional and fraudulent Elizabeth was.  Much like Anna Delvy, Elizabeth was always looking for the fast track to fame and fortune without working for it.  They both were able to charm people around them into investing in their dreams with very little (or zero) accolades to back up their claims.  

The cast is great.  I was happy to see Stephen Fry in the cast, but when I saw which character he is portraying, I was sad.  Laurie Metcalf is so good in everything, and she really nailed the the tone of the professor.  She knew from the jump that Elizabeth was reaching for the stars before she could learn to walk.  I was a little surprised when I saw Nareen Andrews as Sunny though.  The beautiful Sayid from “Lost” is playing that despicable wart hog? 

So far, loving this series. Can’t wait to see the downfall of Theranos, and if they will stick to the book.
 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by BusyOctober

[chocolatine]

On 3/3/2022 at 1:18 AM, MrsR said:

So Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani are just two lost, misunderstood, injured, victimized souls who are trying to save the world. 

I'm not getting that from the first episode. I think this show is going for a realistic portrayal. Elizabeth being too full of herself and not listening to people with much more experience than her. Sunny being every-so-subtly creepy.

The first episode was better than I expected, or maybe it just seems that way because I'm comparing it to the terrible first episode of Super Pumped. Either way, I'm going to keep watching.

[SunnyBeBe]

Just started watching.  I’ve followed this story for a while now.  I’m not a fan of Elizabeth or Sunny.  

[SunnyBeBe]

So, was Elizabeth actually attacked by another student while at Standford? I couldn’t tell if she was depressed or what was going on.   Was it the man in the lab who asked her out?  
 

 

[zenithwit]

I really liked this first episode.  I think they did a good job at showing how Elizabeth wasn't the typical college student and how different people reacted to that.  Some thought she was weird (like her room and dorm mates), some saw through her BS (like the female professor) and some saw exceptional drive and determination (like the other professor). 

What I hope the series goes more into is how Elizabeth was able to convince/manipulate so many well-known figures (who were almost exclusively older white men) into investing in Theranos.  We got a little glimpse with the research professor  how Elizabeth completely dogged him and turned a small success into the opening she needed to get what she wanted.  Also, it would be interesting if the series examined further how some common traits (real or perceived) Elizabeth had with other Big Tech figures (like Steve Jobs) played into this. 

And while I'm at it, it would be cool if the show held the media accountable for publishing so many high profile pieces on Elizabeth/Theranos without asking any challenging questions and conducting only surface level research (except for a couple of investigative journalists).

On 3/4/2022 at 4:20 AM, BusyOctober said:

I was a little surprised when I saw Nareen Andrews as Sunny though.  The beautiful Sayid from “Lost” is playing that despicable wart hog? 

Yeah, Naveen Andrews is wayyyyyyyy more attractive than Sunny (and that fake belly looked silly).  But he and Amanda Seyfried have really good chemistry as actors so I'm interested to see how it plays out.  Also, I think Amanda is more attractive than Elizabeth but it's not as big of a leap (and it's Hollywood).

On 3/4/2022 at 4:20 AM, BusyOctober said:

So far, loving this series. Can’t wait to see the downfall of Theranos, and if they will stick to the book.
 

I think the show is based on a podcast by the same name.  I haven't listened to the podcast but it looks like it tries to contextualize Elizabeth's journey more than John Carreyrou's book.  But looking at IMBD, John Carreyrou will make an appearance (not surprisingly since he is a critical part in Theranos' downfall).  So hopefully the show and his book/reporting will be highly correlated.

Edited March 6, 2022 by zenithwit

[LuvMyShows]

9 hours ago, zenithwit said:

I think they did a good job at showing how Elizabeth wasn't the typical college student and how different people reacted to that.  Some thought she was weird (like her room and dorm mates), some saw through her BS (like the female professor) and some saw exceptional drive and determination (like the other professor). 

I would really liked to have seen more about her relationship with that college boyfriend, who we saw briefly having sex with her while she was super-detached and then she later ended up breaking up with him.  We only know how she was with Sunny, and also how we saw her practicing in the mirror about how to be casual/flirty/whatever.  So which persona went on dates with the boyfriend and how did that relationship develop?  Was it a genuine persona or an act, and if it was an act, then seeing it would be very helpful for us as viewers to help contextualize all the subsequent acting with powerful men that she had to do at her time with Theranos.  And if it wasn't acting, then why did she need to practice that mirror stuff, since she was clearly already competent at that sort of thing.

Also, I saw in Wiki that he was married when he met her in Beijing...can't remember, did the show mention that?

[Ms Blue Jay]

14 hours ago, zenithwit said:

Also, I think Amanda is more attractive than Elizabeth but it's not as big of a leap (and it's Hollywood).

I didn't give the show enough credit.  I thought Amanda was too beautiful and they wouldn't be able to de-glamourize her.  But I was definitely proved wrong.  I appreciate Amanda's lack of vanity here.

I had no idea that the real Elizabeth and Sunny are so far apart in age (19 years).  So the casting is very realistic in terms of age (17 years).  I really appreciate that too.

I just don't really care for the storytelling device of the time jumps.  I wish they would just tell the story straight.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Rootbeer]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:08 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

So, was Elizabeth actually attacked by another student while at Standford? I couldn’t tell if she was depressed or what was going on.   Was it the man in the lab who asked her out?  
 

 

As I recall, the story is that she was raped and events unfolded as we saw on the show and it may have played a part in her dropping out of Stanford.  I seem to recall in one of the books, articles or podcasts on the story, that a reporter was able to verify a campus police report or similar involving her from that time, but the records were sealed and they were unable to learn any details.  If the authorities ultimately decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute, I could see the young man wanted the records sealed.

Quote

Also, I saw in Wiki that he was married when he met her in Beijing...can't remember, did the show mention that?

No mention of it in this episode.  

Edited March 12, 2022 by Rootbeer

[qtpye]

On 3/6/2022 at 5:46 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I didn't give the show enough credit.  I thought Amanda was too beautiful and they wouldn't be able to de-glamourize her.  But I was definitely proved wrong.  I appreciate Amanda's lack of vanity here.

I had no idea that the real Elizabeth and Sunny are so far apart in age (19 years).  So the casting is very realistic in terms of age (17 years).  I really appreciate that too.

I just don't really care for the storytelling device of the time jumps.  I wish they would just tell the story straight.

I respected her as an actress but she was far too doll-like and petite to play Elizabeth. I think she is doing a good job.

I think Sunny was married to a Japanese woman who was an artist.

Was Holmes a part of a sorority? 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by qtpye

[qtpye]

I am a big fan of the book.

However, I never could understand how Holmes could have fooled a man as supposedly brilliant as Channing Robertson. The political guys did not understand the science but he should have known better. This answered that mystery for me, a little bit.

[IntrovertRed]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:14 AM, qtpye said:

However, I never could understand how Holmes could have fooled a man as supposedly brilliant as Channing Robertson. The political guys did not understand the science but he should have known better. This answered that mystery for me, a little bit.

Greed.

[qtpye]

37 minutes ago, KLJ said:

Greed.

I also think FOMO played a big part since it seemed like Channing felt as though he missed out on getting on the ground floor of some great investment opportunities.

[Hanahope]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:04 AM, qtpye said:

I respected her as an actress but she was far too doll-like and petite to play Elizabeth. I think she is doing a good job.

I think Sunny was married to a Japanese woman who was an artist.

Was Holmes a part of a sorority? 

 

yes, she apparently was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.  the scene about the rape suggested a fraternity boy while she was drunk.  it probably helped her even more detach from society.

On 3/17/2022 at 9:50 PM, qtpye said:

I also think FOMO played a big part since it seemed like Channing felt as though he missed out on getting on the ground floor of some great investment opportunities.

yeah, he mentions in the scene missing out on investing in something, yahoo maybe?

[qtpye]

21 hours ago, Hanahope said:

yes, she apparently was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.  the scene about the rape suggested a fraternity boy while she was drunk.  it probably helped her even more detach from society.

Unless she was a legacy, it makes me think her social awkwardness on the show was exaggerated to make her more interesting.

I think she was a bit weird but more or less like a typical girl in her age group that happens to be very ambitious.