You Can See Everything is the movie event of the fall. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary has proved to be a potent mixture of zeitgeisty cultural insight and its own discourse-generating machine about the value and nature of documentary filmmaking. The screenings have been sold out and everyone wants to discuss and argue about each scene in minute detail. It is a testament to the film that even given a three-hour runtime, basically every moment feels like it could be ripped out and discussed as though it were the skeleton key for the entire premise. But there is one particular scene that I can’t let go of, and that I really feel needs to be examined at length in order to unearth certain truths about the film and the participants involved. That is the scene in which Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes’s partner and the father of her two children, shows hog.
Obviously, I am not alone in wanting to discuss this scene, which occurs when Evans decides to shower in front of the filmmakers. It has inspired much conversation, including with Oppenheim himself, who confirmed that the scene was Billy’s idea and that he just did it in front of the cameras, no prodding or even discussion necessary beforehand. But this raises the obvious question: Why? What was the thought process here? And what does it say about Billy in general? We are only left to speculate and theorize. Please understand that this is purely for the sake of journalism.
Theory No. 1: Billy is proud of his penis and wants to show it off.
This might be the most obvious answer, but it's also the least interesting. Plenty of people are proud of their dicks, even those with ones that look completely unimpressive. Being an exhibitionist about it is really just a facet of being overly prideful in general. Guys like this are also proud of their bank accounts, the kind of car they drive, their business cards, whatever. It's the attitude of the ego-heavy, and the penis is a metonym.
In the scene just before showing hog, the cameras are with Billy as he works out for what I’m sure is just the first time on that day. Even before really delving into him as a person, it is obvious that Billy is a “type” of rich Silicon Valley asshole. A guy who speaks in jargon and internet memes, who structures his life around stuff he learned from The Joe Rogan Experience. While he tries to play it cool, there is no doubt he wanted a big part of this documentary to feature him working out. That’s all fine, but this sort of guy also wants to show off his penis under the most flattering possible circumstances, rather offering a brief glimpse while flaccid and wet. There's more going on here.
Theory No. 2: This is Billy’s way of showing that he and Elizabeth are truly hiding nothing.
This was the first thought I had upon seeing Billy’s little William. Oh, is this his way of telling everyone that he’s such an open book that you can even see his uncut penis. It’s obviously silly, but this is the kind of thought process most scammers have. A classic distraction technique to change the issue or to relay an image of authenticity or vulnerability. You see this kind of behavior in the performative affability of other Silicon Valley tech magnates. Introducing destructive ideas and concepts but with a smile and a friendly demeanor, because no one so charming and so willing to put themselves in the fire of public opinion could actually be evil and destructive. Maybe they should get a second consideration or some benefit of the doubt.
Much of the couple's behavior is meant to position themselves not as criminals or monsters, but as technological gurus who were, unfortunately, too early with their genius—both in the scientific realm of their blood technology and also as visionaries and inventors. Steve Jobs was long ago deified even before his death, and both Holmes and Evans are his disciples, bringing Jobs’s never-say-die self-belief and willfulness to try to bend reality and truth to their whims. No one in Silicon Valley is ever wrong, just tragically misunderstood. And really, if the last 10 years of American life has proven anything, it's that the only difference between fraud and success is how long you can keep people investing in you.
Theory No. 3: Billy is trying to establish himself as the alpha in this situation between him and the documentary crew.
Another thing that becomes evident as the film goes on is this push and pull of the power dynamics happening between Evans and Fielder. Fielder is constantly asking questions and prodding his subjects to go further and deeper on their thoughts. This is a problem for Evans who, despite the premise of the film, very much wishes to control the narrative as much as possible. He will disrupt interviews if he’s worried about how in-depth they’re getting, he will use the children to distract in moments, or he will, most hilariously, just announce that he and Holmes have things they gotta do that the cameras can’t join in on.
Control is a major theme of You Can See Everything: who has it or who thinks they have it and who is trying to maintain it becomes a matter of much debate and consternation. Fielder at times gets particularly frustrated with the ways Evans tries to wrestle the narrative away. Evans clearly has a vision for how this project is meant to go in his head, or maybe he believes that he can outwit or control a comedian. And perhaps there is some psychological taunting happening in that tiny shower where Billy lets it all hang out, as if to say, "Don’t forget who the real man is.” It makes sense: Evans is taller, more assertive, more aggressive, and he's obviously packing something worth showing off. Lord knows Fielder has expressed penis anxiety in his art—in highly NSFW manner—before, so it's not crazy to think Evans might be stoking that flame.
There is a palpable tension between Fielder and Evans throughout the movie. At various moments, it feels as if the two men are literally fighting over what’s best for Holmes. Fielder is obviously suspicious of him even more than Holmes, but he’s also taking advantage of how easily they dismiss him as a comedian. Evans, between his tech jargon and his suspicious sniffing, likes to use therapy language to feign disappointment about Fielder’s method (heh) and also subtly mention the number of guns he keeps on his person in highly paranoid fashion. If that’s not a guy that watches Andrew Tate videos and Nick Fuentes streams then I don’t know who else would be. And a man like that is all about projecting some sigma male grindset fueled literal dick-measuring contest. Unless of course…
Theory No. 4: Billy is formally inviting Fielder (maybe Oppenheim too?) into a throuple with him and Elizabeth.
You Can See Everything is full of tension between this triangle of sorts, and that tension can often be a little sexually charged. There are moments when Fielder plays enthralled to or protective of Holmes—and whether that is a knowing construct to throw into the process of filming or a genuine reaction by him, we are conscious of the fact that something is happening between them. While Evans can play the dynamic with competitive aggression, there is also a twinge of sexual curiosity in the eyes, recognizable to anyone that has ever had a couple hit you with the my partner and I noticed you from across the bar type of game. Is that too much? Well consider this: Why were these guys chosen to make this documentary?
In the film it is mentioned that Holmes and Evans had spoken to different studios about a project documenting her last days before turning herself in, and when the idea of Fielder and Oppenheim became a possibility they were open to it. At one point, Evans claims that he showed Holmes Nathan For You and argued that he might be the right choice as a result. Now to anyone who has watched Nathan For You, what about that show would make them think that Fielder was the person for this job? As Fielder helpfully points out, and I'm paraphrasing obviously, Isn't it funny that I did a show where I worked with scammy businesses and you're going to prison for a scam business? Fielder openly wonders why he was given this access—it makes him curious and a bit anxious. He wonders if he only got the job because he's not someone they expect to understand science or the specifics of what Holmes was charged with. He also wonders if they see him as someone who can be easily manipulated. And part of that manipulation might be in a very subtle type of seduction. This was, after all, what some people accused Holmes of doing in order to get the funding that she did for Theranos.
Now I have always found this argument about Holmes to be a little ... wanting. Wow a 20-year-old skinny blond woman was able to convince a bunch of old men to give her money? What powers of seduction she must have. But I do think that this question of seduction is an imperative one when it comes to shady rich people in Silicon Valley and how they see comedians. If you've paid any attention to these wealthy ghouls who fancy themselves the tech elite, you might notice they have a strange fixation on comedy and entertainment. Why that's the case is hard to know for sure, but perhaps it is as simple as understanding that natural charisma is something they all lack (and have lacked since they were children) and they wish to acquire it in a kind of vampiric way, which can also be a highly sexual way.
Could Evans have believed that bringing a comedian of Fielder's stature into their circle, seducing him into their dynamic and lives, would sanewash her and bolster their pledge of innocence to the masses at large. Is that dastardly? Is that giving him too much credit? Is that little peek at his low-hanging fruit in the shower a literalized version of what happens to Hollywood actors and comedians who come into the orbit of these tech gurus, both the actual and the aspirant, that are desperate for power and influence? Maybe Evans didn't literally give Fielder a sexual pass, but the image of Evans hovering in the background, encouraging Fielder and Holmes into a deeper intimacy, is hard to ignore.
Maybe that's delusional. But you try watching this for three hours and not come out just a little bit as delusional as this couple seems. Billy's penis—like the rest of the film—is a Rorschach test, revealing just as much about the person seeing it.
