Sleek, great dialogue and ‘throw it in your face riches’ for the settings, Ms. Zellweger is the whole show. She is sexy, smart, and secretive—and she has aged well.
Underlying in the plot is the very story of a real woman, Elizabeth Holmes, the first youthful billionaire because of her invention refined and produced at her firm
Thorenos, set in Silicon Valley. Her rise and then her fall (except the portion of going to jail) are fully explored in WHAT/IF.
The series follows Ms. Holmes life who, by then, was sitting in jail waiting for the arrival of her second child. Actually, it’s not about birthing her children—heaven forbid. Rene’s character would never harbor such a desire! No, it’s the story told over and over again as Ms. Holmes was interviewed on first-class talk shows and seen on the covers of prestigious business magazines explaining her process, and then later as she began her fall from grace.
At the top of her game, sitting at her conference table were a group of CEO’s, influential politicians and just plain hungry wealthy men hoping to bring their private investors into the hottest new discovery by a woman who talked the game and walked the walk,
Her idea almost worked. She pre-dated the Covid method where, I am sure, someone else finished up after Ms. Holmes faced fraud charges and was sent to jail. Before that, Ms. Holmes made millions formulating and using someone else’s formula to become the first youngest billionaire of her day. To get there, she lied, stole, and “did whatever it takes” as she tells the young man she so highly influenced who stayed under her spell for most of her successful years. (This will sound sooo familiar as Sean, played by Blake Jenner, almost loses the real woman he is in love with –Lisa, played by Jane Levy, whose original idea it was and who worked for Anne’s company.
Ms. Holmes added to the idea of turning individual blood collections into results returned to outlets (like Walgreens, CVS and Walmart) within hours of samples being given. Only she had the tanks and the fake results and displayed them to these large companies, sparking their hopes and putting money—lots of it—into Ms. Holmes pockets. Had she spent the money on true research, she might have been able to corner the market when the Covid invasion arrived and been up there with Bill Gates and others like him.
Sound familiar. Well, in the series, Rene is as illusive about how she has made so much money and exactly where it came from. Although it bothered me to realize how captivated a young man could be over a weak promise (the bad vs possible jail time wasn’t the real issue). The issue was his obsession, against all odds, of not being favored any longer by Ms. Zellweger—had they worked a little more on the script and made his predicament more valid – of leaving a devoted loving wife behind. But Rene is the whole show and was provided with a great coomeback!