The Dropout's Yoda Theranos Inspiration Is A Bizarre Plot Hole
Amanda Seyfried stars in The Dropout as the founder and CEO of Theranos, but one of her biggest inspirations for starting the company is a reference to Yoda that comes six years too soon. The Hulu original based on the ABC podcast of the same name follows the rise and fall of the real-life Elizabeth Holmes (played in The Dropout by Seyfried). Early on in the first episode, she is shown writing in her “Ideas Notebook.” When she closes it, audiences see that there is a sticker of Yoda on the cover. Later on in the episode, she closely examines the sticker before coming up with the invention that becomes the basis for Theranos.
In a scene that takes place in 2002, Elizabeth is shown during a summer college program that takes her to Beijing. While there, she becomes close with Sunny (Naveen Andrews) and tells him she wants to invent something in the biomedical industry. She goes on to say that she is drawn to the industry because she wants to “help people” and “be a billionaire like Steve Jobs.” Although Elizabeth Holmes is obsessed with Steve Jobs, she is absolutely enchanted by Yoda. There’s a sticker of the Jedi master on her notebook so she can continue being inspired by him while coming up with inventions. She quotes Yoda to Professor Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf) and has a mural of the same quote – “Do or do not. There is no try.” – painted in the Theranos lobby.
There’s one small problem with Elizabeth’s propensity for Star Wars: her sticker shows the version of Yoda found in The Clone Wars, which wasn’t released until 2008, making the reference over half a decade early. Having her repeatedly quote Yoda and making it apparent that Theranos was influenced by the alien means that showing the audience an anachronistic sticker from The Clone Wars creates a sizeable plot hole. The oversight is especially strange considering the attention creators paid toward the soundtrack for The Dropout, making sure any diegetic songs were appropriately placed based on the year in which a scene takes place. The special attention to the show’s music makes this lack of attentiveness even more bizarre because Yoda is Elizabeth’s primary inspiration for her company.
In real life, the Theranos founder and CEO was also obsessed with the fictional character. The mural in the show is based on a real mural Holmes had painted. Throughout her journey, she remained constantly inspired by the little green alien. The significance of Yoda is heavily stressed in the TV show to pay tribute to the importance Holmes placed on the Yoda and his strange speech pattern. In the HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, a former Theranos employee states that a long discussion on technical issues concluded with naming their Cloud Yoda. The documentary also shows a clip of Holmes saying, "Yoda sounds like, ‘Do or do not. There is no try." - before showing an image of her standing in front of the mural recreated for the Hulu series.
The lack of attention to such a significant part of her story is bizarre considering the enormous importance of Yoda. However, the fact that the true-to-life Elizabeth Holmes was equally captivated by the fictional green character saves creators from the giant blunder. Because the Yoda storyline wasn’t invented for The Dropout, the before its time sticker ends up being more of a goof than an actual plot hole.