Painkiller

Trigger warning: show contains scenes depicting substance and drug abuse and withdrawal

Number of episodes: 6

Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black (Uzo Aduba) takes on Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) in this harrowing story about the origin of the opioid pandemic in the United States and the takedown of Purdue Pharma. Similar to Dopesick, the show follows just how OxyContin was marketed and mass distributed amongst consumers. Unlike Dopesick, you get to see the (hypothetical) perspective from inside Purdue, the follow-through of the legal action taken against them and the role it had in the deaths of thousands. A hurt worker who gets prescribed Oxy (Tim Riggins/Taylor Kitsch), an employee starting her career at Purdue, and a federal investigator (Aduba), amongst others help show the full scope. Most of the characters and dialogue has been change for dramatized but the impact is the same. While this show has humor to it, the subject is not to be taken lightly. This show was very well made and I think it gives an accurate description of how difficult it can be to get justice and what that even looks like.

Rating: 3.5/5