The stories of brilliant and manipulative minds have animated the small screen in recent years, becoming the protagonists of successful TV series that have revived public interest, a magnetic allure driven by ambition and charisma at the center of twisted dynamics that turn seemingly ordinary individuals into figures worth noting, capable of building thriving empires yet grounded in lies. In recent times the world of television has drawn inspiration from true-life events of multi-million-dollar schemes that later plunged into the abyss, casting as leads skilled manipulators able to deceive everyone, constructing a parallel illusion that soon became reality. Here are three TV series that illustrate how the boundary between visionary genius and fraudster is incredibly thin.
The Art of Manipulation: Why the Allure of Great Manipulators Captivates Us
Inventing Anna
Available for streaming on Netflix as a miniseries created by Shonda Rhimes and her Shondaland, Inventing Anna tells a tale inspired by real events, drawing on an article titled Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It written by Jessica Pressler for The New Yorker in 2018 and recounting the feats of Anna Sorokin, known as Anna Delvey. On screen, she is portrayed by Julia Garner, an actress already known for her work in Ozark; in this case Anna is a young woman who managed to ascend within the heart of New York’s high society under a false name, posing as a wealthy German heiress. Ambitious and manipulative, she managed to persuade everyone of her lie, pushing forward her vision of a private artist club, thereby securing astronomical loans and living a lifestyle she otherwise could never sustain. Her suspicions are finally raised when journalist Vivian Kent begins to investigate, and, as she digs deeper, decides to carry the inquiry forward.
The Dropout
Amanda Seyfried chose to challenge herself by portraying Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout, a miniseries released in 2022 on Disney+. Created by Elizabeth Meriwether, the story is adapted from the eponymous podcast by Rebecca Jarvis and chronicles the ascent and collapse of Theranos, the biotech company founded by Elizabeth Holmes that promised astonishing breakthroughs: the original project claimed it could perform hundreds of blood tests from a single drop of blood drawn from the fingertip. Holmes quickly became the youngest self-made billionaire in Silicon Valley, but her empire rested on a dense web of lies, with the fundamental premise that her technology actually never worked.
WeCrashed
2022 was the year of stories about grand manipulations and corporate deceptions inspired by real events, and WeCrashed proves it, a miniseries drawn from the Wondery podcast WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork featuring a Hollywood power couple: Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto. Streaming on Apple TV, the series retraces the arc of WeWork, the coworking company that expanded at dizzying speed to become an industry giant before suffering a disastrous financial collapse. Led by the ambitious founder Adam Neumann and his wife Rebekah, the company stood out for its aggressive expansion as well as its over-the-top corporate culture. The miniseries also delves deeply into the couple’s dynamic, highlighting their toxic yet symbiotic relationship.
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