You Can See Everything: How Elizabeth Holmes Feels About Amanda Seyfried's The Dropout

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This post contains spoilers for "You Can See Everything"

"You Can See Everything" has one of the best villains of 2026, and it's not Elizabeth Holmes. Billy Evans, Holmes' partner of nine years, comes out of the new Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim documentary looking terrible. But "You Can See Everything" doesn't let Holmes, the disgraced founder of fraudulent healthcare startup Theranos, off the hook. Fielder, who, in the documentary, lives with the couple before the start of Holmes' 11-year prison sentence for defrauding Theranos investors, confronts his subject with tough questions throughout. At one point, he even asks her to watch Amanda Seyfried's very watchable Hulu miniseries "The Dropout," in which the actor portrays Holmes. As you might expect, however, Holmes is unimpressed and has an emotional reaction to watching one scene in particular.

"The Dropout" follows Seyfried's Holmes from her preteen years to the moment her deceptive tactics are exposed by The Wall Street Journal's John Carreyrou in 2015 (Carreyrou's book "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup" is the definitive chronicle of the whole sordid affair). Following its debut in 2022, "The Dropout" received widespread critical acclaim and won several Emmys, with Seyfried taking home a lead actor statuette. 

In "You Can See Everything," after having lived with Holmes and her family for some time, Fielder asks Holmes whether she has ever seen "The Dropout." She confirms that she hasn't, so Fielder brings a laptop to show her Seyfried's portrayal. The show is based on real events, but like any dramatization, it also uses artistic license to flesh out the story. This doesn't go over all that well with Holmes or Evans. However, there's one point where "The Dropout" seems to hit a little too close to home.

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"You Can See Everything" is a mystifying masterwork of mind-melting manipulation, blending Lance Oppenheim's predilection for cinematic, stylized visuals with Nathan Fielder's use of recreation and reenactment to create something wonderfully confounding and unique. While the documentary takes those techniques to ever more extreme lengths as it goes on, the scene in which Elizabeth Holmes watches Amanda Seyfried's "The Dropout" performance is a remarkably simple yet effective way of having her reflect on her experiences by witnessing what is essentially a recreation of her life.

A scene from the show where Seyfried's Holmes dances in front of a poster of her idol, Steve Jobs, elicits an amused chuckle from the former Theranos CEO. Asked if it ever happened, she confirms that it did not — though her adoration for Jobs is well established, and according to CNBC, an ex-Theranos employee confirmed she had a framed photo of the late Apple founder in her office.

As Holmes continues to watch "The Dropout," she starts to look uncomfortable at a scene where Seyfried's Holmes interacts with Theranos' former president and chief operating officer, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani (Naveen Andrews). Holmes was in a relationship with Balwani, who was also sentenced to almost 13 years in prison for his role in defrauding Theranos investors. The scene in question sees Seyfried's character and Balwani talking as Holmes prepares for a corporate presentation. Balwani tells her that she should look pretty but not too pretty. Next, we see Seyfried's Holmes yelling, "Get me the f***ing money" at Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison (Hart Bochner), and this, it seems, is too much for the real Holmes, who breaks down and says she can't watch any more.

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If you're yet to watch "You Can See Everything," be warned: A major spoiler is ahead. As the documentary goes on, Nathan Fielder takes his footage to Amanda Seyfried herself, after which she becomes his investigative sidekick, discussing every revelation with Fielder and even performing as Holmes in various reenactments. One of these involves Fielder visiting Holmes in prison, where he's not allowed to bring any recording equipment. His solution is to mock up the entire visit on a realistic prison visiting room set wherein Seyfried plays Holmes, reciting lines written by Fielder based on his recollection of his actual conversation with the Theranos founder.

During this reenactment, Holmes claims that she's been treated poorly by one prison worker who had watched "The Dropout" and didn't take too kindly to what they'd seen. In yet another emotional moment, Holmes (as played by Seyfried) breaks down and criticizes "The Dropout" and Seyfried for playing a version of her she doesn't recognize, implying that the show itself is partly responsible for fostering public hatred of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It should be noted that not only is this moment filtered through Fielder's memory and Seyfried's performance, but there's also no way to verify that any of what Holmes is saying is true.

Regardless, the real Holmes is clearly not a fan of "The Dropout." Throughout "You Can See Everything," she and Billy Evans maintain that the version depicted on the show and in the media is an exaggerated character who bears little resemblance to the real person. Based on the extremely well-documented downfall of Theranos and the revelations that came to light during her trial, however, it's hard to take seriously her claim that "The Dropout" barely resembles a true story.