It was also in a way a man rediscovering his conscience. We move from “Yeah I’ll fix your race for fun” to “Let’s blow the lid off this mess”. I don’t believe for one minute he wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been turning into Russia’s scape goat. But even before that, why is he putting his career and life on the line letting an American look behind the curtain? (I think there are some less than altruistic and/or well thought out reasons he did it. Yet he still did it.)

I also love that the doctor initially seems like a caricature. For about a third of the film I kept thinking this guy is just some bad actor stand in. Not until they are actually in Russia in WADA could I let go of that notion. Until then he seemed so off the wall I was convinced it was a satire.

I think we would be incredibly naive to think any other country with elite athletes doesn’t have “dirty” competitors. It’s like saying you won’t bet at all when you’re in Vegas, especially if you’ve got the resources to count cards undetected. But the level of intrigue over it to appear above board was staggering.