Elizabeth Holmes jailed, but Theranos CEO clings to sad ‘delusion’

Spoiler warning: this article alludes to major plot details from the TV series Succession, including its finale.

Jeremy Strong, the actor who so entrancingly portrays Succession’s chief failson, Kendall Roy, is in one crucial way the inverse of his character. He is, indisputably, a serious person.

The chatter around Strong has long fixated on his peculiar process, which pushes the boundaries of method acting to offputting new frontiers. Less is said about his true defining trait: the sheer thoughtfulness with which he approaches his work.

Strong is one of those actors who thinks so deeply and insightfully about a character that listening to him speak about Kendall is no less compelling than watching him on screen.

Weirdly, it was his interview with Succession’s companion podcast, discussing the show’s finale, that echoed in my head on Tuesday as I watched real life business screw-up Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced former CEO of Theranos, report to prison.

Strong spoke of Succession as a vehicle for exploring how the Roys’ personal trauma is “scaled up in such a way” as to have “major repercussions in the world”. That’s a fitting description of what happened with Holmes. Whatever demons drove her, and however relatable they were, the deception at the heart of Theranos grew to such a scale that it threatened to derail thousands of lives.

A quick summary for the unfamiliar: Holmes pretended to have pioneered a machine capable of conducting a wide range of medical tests from a single drop of blood. She knew it did not work, and that its unreliable results could menace people’s health. But she continued to lie as the money accrued, making her the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire.

She was eventually convicted on multiple counts for defrauding investors, leading to the 11-year prison sentence she started this week.

Strong’s more challenging insight is that the fictional Roy children are trapped in a “doom loop”. His interpretation of series creator Jesse Armstrong’s message is that people essentially do not change; their flaws remain static. The Roys repeatedly try to escape their malevolent father’s influence and always end up back where they started, hungering for his approval. Nothing ever truly changes.

This, too, is depressingly evident in Holmes. Speaking to The New York Times recently, in her first interview since the Theranos scam imploded, she revealed she was continuing to work on “healthcare-related inventions” and intended to keep doing so in prison.

“I still dream about being able to contribute in that space,” Holmes said.

“I still feel the same calling to it as I always did and I still think the need is there.”

The author of the article described this as an “idealistic delusion”: “I get the sense that she truly believes she could have, and in fact she still could, change the world.”

How reminiscent this is of Kendall Roy, convinced since the age of seven that he was destined to be CEO of his father’s company, that he was a “cog” capable of fitting only one machine.

After losing the support of his sister and failing in his attempt to retain control of Waystar Royco, Kendall returns to the board room, flailing, searching for a non-existent lifeline.

“It’s over,” his godfather Frank tells him. “You don’t have it.”

On the podcast, Strong described another version of the scene that didn’t make the cut, but informed his performance for the rest of the episode. In that version, Frank added one more biting rebuke: “You never had it.”

“I think he realises, maybe not that he’s bulls***, but that he never had it. That this entire thing was fallacious, and was a fantasy. And the whole thing deflates, and he goes from a superbeing to a wraith,” Strong said.

Writing to the judge in her case, Holmes’ partner Billy Evans said she was “not a natural born leader” and “more of a zealot than a showman”. Kendall is the same. His zealotry breaks free every time he feels ascendant, unnerving and repelling those around him.

Holmes was always bulls***. She never had it. Her vision was a fantasy. A court has concluded as much, yet still she clings to it. If anything, Succession’s bleak assessment of human nature and self-delusion is too generous.

Twitter: @SamClench