What’s it rated? TV-MA
When? 2023
Where’s it showing? Netflix
In 2021, Hulu brought us the mini-series Dopesick, which took us to the boardrooms, courtrooms, and living rooms of those inside the opioid crisis. 2023 brings us Painkiller, another look at the crisis, the cover-up, and the eventual rulings against Purdue and the Sackler family.
We follow several threads that soon weave together. Glen (Taylor Kitsch) is an auto shop owner and family man who gets hooked on Oxycontin following an accident at work. Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba) is an investigator who doggedly pursues the corrupt company despite those above her demanding her silence. Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick) is the money-hungry president of Purdue, who cares much more for his bottom line than he does for his fellow humans. Shannon Shaeffer (West Duchovny) is the pharma rep turned whistleblower searching to make amends for pushing high doses to doctors and onto patients.
Their stories are interwoven and at times overlapping. We watch the rise of Sackler’s greed, the cover-up plotted and executed, and the dissolving lives of addicts and the families that surround them. This well-crafted and beautifully acted miniseries will hit you in your gut. Maddening and heartbreaking, Painkiller peels back the layers of this tragic story with repercussions still being felt daily by millions. (six approximately 50-min. episodes) Δ
This article appears in Sep 7-17, 2023.