[PREVIEW] You Can See Everything (And Nothing)

Billy Evans said that he would whisk the eggs himself. In fact, he didn't even say so; after watching his partner, Elizabeth Holmes, limply stirring them with a fork, his agitation growing every second, he simply grabbed the bowl out of her hands and commenced a more vigorous beating. This scene, a centerpiece of the first third of "You Can See Everything," turns the camera on co-director Nathan Fielder as he reacts with confusion to Evans' egg power move. Why take over the whisking? Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood-testing startup Theranos, meekly explains that he doesn't think she uses enough force. This moment turns out to be a portrait in miniature of the dynamic between Holmes and Evans – a beatific but limp woman, overpowered by a domineering man. Or is that exactly what Holmes wants us to see?

"You Can See Everything," directed by absurdist comedian Fielder ("The Rehearsal," "Nathan for You") and wunderkind documentarian Lance Oppenheim ("Some Kind of Heaven," "Primetime"), takes a new angle on the heavily covered, investigated, adapted, and discussed Theranos scandal. The facts of the case are clear enough that Holmes was prosecuted and ultimately convicted on four counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. When Fielder and Oppenheim first pick up cameras in the home where she lived with Evans and their two small children, it is just over a month before she will be reporting to prison to serve an 11-year sentence. What remains less clear is, well... what kind of person is she? Why did she do it, and why did she then invite a famous auteur of discomfort to lurk in the corner of every room during her final days of family togetherness?

As Fielder and Oppenheim zoom in closer and closer to Holmes, trying to understand her and make sense of whether they're being manipulated, their cameras can't capture everything. One starts to wonder if they, and we, are getting too close to see what needs to be seen. In this episode, we discuss how this narrowing of the aperture – the tight closeups, the debates about individual words – fuels Holmes' self-mythologizing and misdirection. Then we get into her angelic mama rebrand and how her troubling relationship with Evans seemingly allows her to present a facade of pure feminine virtue while harnessing the power of his unbridled masculine ambition and abrasiveness. We also talk about Fielder's – and Evans' – theory that she simply thinks differently than other people. And of course, we opine on how the human soul is ultimately unknowable! (How could we not?)

Spoilers abound, so please proceed with caution. Hope you enjoy! xo

"The Elizabeth Holmes Documentary, Through the Eyes of the Reporter Who Exposed Her," by John Carreyrou, NYT

"I was a Theranos whistleblower. In ‘You Can See Everything,’ Elizabeth Holmes is still lying," by Tyler Shultz, Stat News

"Nathan Fielder Tells Us Everything," by Katie Drummond, Wired

"Lance Oppenheim Is Going Places," by Alex Barasch, Vulture

"Nathan Fielder Has Made the Movie of the Year," by Alison Willmore, Vulture

"The Vertiginous Revelations of "You Can See Everything,'" by Richard Brody, The New Yorker

"‘You Can See Everything’ Review: The Slippery Mind of Elizabeth Holmes," by Manohla Dargis, NYT

"You Can’t Know Everything," by John Ganz, Unpopular Front

"You Can Never See Everything," by Sami Sage, Sami Sage Says

"Good Art Is Worth Waiting For," by Kelsey McKinney, Defector

"Go Ahead, Pity Elizabeth Holmes," by Ryu Spaeth, Intelligencer

"You Can See Everything Is Unexpectedly Heartbreaking," by Laura Marsh, The New Republic

"Nathan Fielder & Lance Oppenheim Talk ‘You Can See Everything,’ Elizabeth Holmes & A Surreal Doc About Observation, Perception & Performance," by Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist

"Nathan Fielder Speaks Out on Living With Elizabeth Holmes While Filming ‘You Can See Everything’ Doc: ‘She Seems So Genuine’ but ‘I Know She’s a Liar’," by Jordan Moreau, Variety

"The Story of Billy Evans and 'Theranos 2.0'," by Christopher Hooks, Wired

"Elizabeth Holmes’ Partner Breaks Silence on Explosive Documentary," by Eboni Boykin-Patterson, Daily Beast

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