Please read my review of season 1 if you have not heard the Season 1 podcast of dropout.
Season 2 picks up the story of the indicted Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, facing a trial in San Jose CA, a trial filed by the Securities of Exchange commission. After being indicted on several charges, Elizabeth has stepped away from the spotlight, found a new man, got married and is now a mother.
As the trial begins, the prosecutor lays out his strategy of how he is going to proceed, by accusing Elizabeth of defrauding her clients.. The defense adopts a different strategy, painting a picture of Elizabeth, as a visionary and alleging that many benefited from her company’s device.
The prosecution would counter this, also claiming that only about 12 tests could be perfomed on the device. The defense would claim that Elizabeth was a silent passenger, unaware of the finances of the company. The prosecution witnesses would claim otherwise.
Elizabeth had managed to get the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Betsy Devos to invest large sums into the company. Several hindrances and bizarre events would take place during the hearings. There would be uncertainty about three jurors, due to varied reasons. There would be a mystery man, Hanson who would sit right beside Elizabeth and her new husband,. With a hotshot lawyer representing her, Elizabeth still has a Herculean task ahead of her to avoid prison.
The courtroom drama would commence with each side bringing forth their witnesses. There would be General Mathis, US secretary of defense(who later joined the Trump administration), who would claim that while he was initially impressed with the Theranos product, he was now shocked by the reports he had seen. There would be Amy, a witness for the prosecution, who would narrate a terrifying story, of how Theranos tests predicted that she would have a miscarriage. Luckily for Amy, she would go on have a healthy baby.
A former Theranos lab director would testify for the prosecution, narrating the pressure Elizabeth put on through, when he tried to delay the Walgreens launch. The podcast then takes brief diversion from the case, taking a look at the Theranos story, in the larger context of Silicon Valley practices of leadership and investors.
A former executive from Safeway would testify about how a deal, that was to deliver a billion dollars fell through because of Thermos’ inability to deliver its product. Safeway lost 300 million because of this deal. By contrast, Walgreesn sank 140 million in working with Theranos.
Another witness who would testify in the trial would be Sunny Balwani’s dermatologist, brought into Theranos to be the lab director and abruptly fired. Christian, Elizabeth’s brother would testify as a witness, as he was brought onboard by Elizabeth, along with five of his fraternity friends.
Two other lab directors of Theranos would alostestify. One who would testify that he never met Elizabeth and another who would claim that he voided thousands of tests after an unfavorable government report. A disgruntled investor would testify that he was frustrated that Elizabeth had not met with her investors for two years.He would also allege that Elizabeth had made false claims that she had deals with companies like Novaris.
After more devastating testimony from some former executives of Theranos, the defense would shock everyone by putting Elizabeth on the stand. After evading the prosecution’s questions and claiming ignorance on many accusations against Theranos, Elizabeth would try to invoke the sympathy of the jury by claiming that she was raped when she was in Stanford. She would also claim to have suffered physical and emotional abuse from her former lover, Sunny Balwani. Balwani would deny these accusations.
The narration continues into the verdict and then looks at some great ethical and legal questions. Is it wrong for a Bay area CEO to paint a picture of where he or she sees a product? Where is the fine line between where a product is and where it could be tomorrow or “in the near future”?
One of the best aspects of this podcast is that it runs concurrently with the government’s prosecution in almost real time. Season 2 takes the listener through the verdict and the sentencing of both Sunny and Elizabeth. We are also presented with an interview with two women, Amanda Seyfried, the actress who plays Elizabeth in the movie based on the podcast and the other Liz, Liz Meriwether the show runner for the dropout.
The dropout is a riveting podcast that serves as a warning against blind ambition and greed. It is a story of a person who would lie and get influential people to buy her lies and build a company with the proverbial ‘smoke and mirrors’. It would all lead to a decisive courtroom drama and then end with convictions.
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