Elizabeth convinces Ana to switch from Apple to Theranos, believing that they are a unique and outsider-friendly company. ..
Elizabeth’s mom, Noel, goes for a jog with Lorraine and learns something about Richard. Lorraine lets it slip that Richard has been researching Theranos in order to file a patent to compete with Theranos. ..
Elizabeth is worried that Richard is trying to sabotage her company because he has resentment towards her for not asking him for his advice. But she later finds out that Richard has patented a home blood testing device, which she will now have to buy from him.
Elizabeth postpones showing the failed prototype to Ana and the Theranos board. Board member Avie Tevanian is suspicious that the Novartis contract hasn’t come through for the company.
Elizabeth tells him that they have plenty of pharmaceutical interest and that they are participating in a Pfizer trial on actual patients. She assures him that this is the same trial Edmond and Rakesh thought was out of the question without a working prototype.
After she joins Sunny for their date, she’s late and is on her phone. When she tells him that she’s going through with the Pfizer trial, he doesn’t understand why she would test a faulty machine on people. “Everybody does trials,” she says before moving on. ..
Sunny offers to help her out at the office, but she won’t let her know that she’s a friend. She can’t have anyone find out about their relationship. She can’t give anyone a single reason to doubt her.
When the time comes for the Pfizer trial in Nashville, Elizabeth and Edmond instruct a woman with terminal cancer on how to test her blood with the profiler. ..
Edmond leaves the meeting early to go for a walk to clear his head. He feels terrible, lying about a device that doesn’t work. Elizabeth repeatedly insists that this is just how things are done. ..
Elizabeth is out of town on business, so Sunny takes advantage of Ian, convincing him he is a consultant. Sunny takes Ian on a tour around the lab, asking him several questions. ..
Don Lucas, the CEO of Theranos, has concerns about the accuracy of Elizabeth Holmes’ projections. He tells Avie that he trusts her and advises her to resign from the board. Avie agrees, but on the condition that Don start asking more questions.
Elizabeth looks in the mirror and repeats to herself, “I am in a trial.”
The engineers at Elizabeth’s lab are curious about Brendan Morris, the new hire. It turns out that he’s working on a completely different prototype - one that many of the engineers view as a betrayal. ..
Elizabeth tells them she simply wants something that works, even if it doesn’t follow her original vision. Ian then lets slip that a “consultant”–Sunny–came by the lab. Sunny is a consultant who came by the lab to help them with their project. ..
Sunny doesn’t take her confrontation well. After looking at her research more closely, he knows she is far from where she needs to be. Not only that, but employees don’t respect her. She goes to bed repeating to herself the phrase “This is an inspiring step forward.” ..
Elizabeth decides to go with Brendan’s machine moving forward. She fires Edmond. Soon after, Rakesh comes to Edmond’s place to tell him he quit. ..
Ana, a patient who just met secretly with Avie, accuses Elizabeth of proceeding with the Pfizer trial on terminal cancer patients with a proto she knew didn’t work. She then quits along with her entire design team. This leads Don to tell Elizabeth that he is going to call for a vote of no confidence in her as the CEO.
Elizabeth plans to take her case to the public, hoping to get them behind her and force the board to change their decision. ..
Elizabeth starts to cry in front of them. She agrees she needs supervision. That’s why she’s bringing in an “old friend” of hers (Sunny) as the COO, while she remains CEO. She says he has promised $20 million to Theranos in return. She then begs Don to give her another chance.
Sunny is convinced to go along with Elizabeth’s ploy to make herself look more CEO-like in the episode finale. The episode ends with Elizabeth cleaning up to look more CEO-worthy and drinking her healthy green juice. She’s turning over a new leaf, so to speak.
The Episode Review
The Dropout’s conflict starts to feel repetitive by episode 3. Elizabeth lies to buy more time, Theranos is jeopardized, and the cycle repeats.
Elizabeth’s character arc and Seyfried’s desperation and unravelling are the film’s saving graces. ..
The gripping ending creates a nice symmetry to the first three episodes, while firmly establishing Naveen Andrews’ place in the series. It’s a turning point in the series, and one neither Elizabeth nor Sunny can easily come back from. ..
