WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Inventing Anna and The Dropout, streaming now on Netflix and Hulu, respectively.
Netflix's Inventing Anna and Hulu's The Dropout are the latest series to explore infamous true-crime tales of the past decade. The two shows, which are based on real events, tell the stories of very intelligent women, who tried to make it in their respective fields and almost succeeded, if not for the fact that they cheated. While the shows have similar themes, much like their protagonists, they cannot be more different from each other. Both stories are quite shocking on their own right, but which one is better?
Inventing Anna tells the story of a young Russian-born woman named, Anna Sorokin, who tries to achieve success in the American business world by pretending to be a German heiress, known as Anna Delvey. Sorokin is played by actress Julia Garner, who will be next seen in the remaining final episodes of Netflix's Ozark. Anna builds her reputation and enters New York's most elite circles by lying her way in. Her goal is to create a luxurious private art club for the rich and famous, and in her efforts to materialize her dream, she defrauds financial institutions, investors, hotels and even some of her own friends.
The Dropout is about Elizabeth Holmes (played by Amanda Seyfried), a biotechnology entrepreneur and Stanford University dropout, who claims to have revolutionized blood testing methodologies through the new inventions of her company, Theranos. The series follows Elizabeth's journey in building her company with a genuine passion for innovative ideas but slowly getting in over her head, leading to her lying to investors and even to the government.
Both shows depict their protagonists more positively and not necessarily as villains, even though they are convicted felons. Inventing Anna positions Anna Delvey in a way that makes the audience almost root for her despite the fact that she constantly lies to everyone and even puts one of her friends in debt. The Netflix series makes a case for how difficult it is for someone from a modest background to become successful, so the dramatization of Anna's efforts presents her as an underdog. Viewers are tantalized by the fact that Anna gets so close to making it, as her success is presented as the ultimate realization of the "American dream."
The Dropout does something similar with Holmes but in a less obvious way. The story begins with Holmes being presented as young woman, who hopes to find success in a male-dominated field solely based on her ingenuity. Holmes' ambition is highlighted early on along with the challenges that she faces along the way, which makes the audience naturally sympathize with her.
Besides their many similarities, the two shows actually completely contrast each other through their storytelling format. Inventing Anna teases the audience that there is something conspicuous about Anna Delvey right away. The show starts with her arrest and more information gets unveiled through the use of flashbacks. Even though viewers don't have all the details from the beginning, it quickly becomes evident that Anna is not who she says she is.
Meanwhile, The Dropout initially presents Holmes as the classically ambitious and very intelligent hero, who starts to pursue her dreams based on a legitimate idea that she truly believes in. She doesn't start out with the intention to deceive anyone, but through a series of wrong choices she slowly deviates from her initially altruistic goal. The two characters' journeys are indeed the exact opposite of each other. Anna starts out as a liar and slowly tries to become a legitimate businesswoman, while Elizabeth begins legitimately but ends up a becoming a fraud.
While Inventing Anna captured audiences' attention with Anna Sorokin's almost unbelievable escapades, it is The Dropout that truly stands out due to Elizabeth Holmes's mind-blowing story. It is perhaps the magnitude of Holmes' fraudulent actions, the number of people she affected, and the lengths she went to maintain her lie that are most shocking. Moreover, by following Holmes' slow transformation step by step, the series takes viewers through a journey inside Holmes' psyche that feels extremely intimate and makes for a very compelling TV experience.
Inventing Anna is available to stream on Netflix, and The Dropout is currently streaming on Hulu.