Dopesick (2021) - Eight hour-long episodes (Hulu)
(Yes, the pun was very much intended in the headline)
I can't fully explain how Dopesick got its hooks on me so easily. But it is one of the best shows I've watched all year.
Maybe it's because I love a good investigation caper that uncovers a massive conspiracy, particularly when it exposes a giant corporation; in this case, a pharmaceutical company. Maybe the show resonated with me on a personal level because, back in my reporter days, I actually remember how big of a deal it was for my newspaper to cover a local opioid story (this was well after the initial waves of national stories, but it was still a big deal). Or maybe the show scratched my writer's itch because the pacing was incredible, allowing the viewers to see the how people digressed in real time from the effects of OxyContin.
Obviously it's a combination of all those things. But what maybe sets Dopesick apart the most for me is how accurately and realistically the show's portrayal of the entire crisis was executed. I tend to like fictional works more than works based on true stories, and I'm almost completely ignorant to what really happened when the Opioid crisis was at the forefront of the national consciousness, but based on my "research" of the show and the Opioid crisis, as well as several interviews of the real people on whom the show's characters are based, it definitely seems like the writers hit the nail on the head. They did a great job of staying true to the facts without overdramatizing or politicizing the story, which would've undermined the show's true purpose of showing how dangerous this crisis became, how ridiculous it was for FEMA and the U.S. Attorney's office to try and put a stop to it all, and how Purdue Pharma proved the Bible isn't wrong for saying "the love of money is the root of all evil."
The show even hopped back and forth between multiple stories spanning multiple time periods. If you've read other blogs of mine, you know I'm growing quite fatigued with this lazy writing mechanic. But "Dopesick" is a good example of how to make this mechanic work well (thought not perfectly). Each episode hinged on the same part of the over-arching development of the crisis. After several time hops within each episode and from one episode to the next, the dialogue needed to be transparent to give audiences friendly reminders to make it easy to pick up on what was happening, where we last saw these characters, etc.
I had fun seeing the parallel storytelling during the early episodes that showed innocent local doctors - including Michael Keaton's character (Keaton was brilliant throughout the show) - unknowingly prescribe OxyContin in the 1990s, as well as U.S. Attorneys start to uncover the lies told to these doctors through falsified marketing and manipulative, greedy sales representatives (who, thankfully, were not portrayed as fully innocent throughout this whole mess).
The parallel structure continued in the middle episodes, which began to show the true effects of OxyContin, from the health of the public and the ramifications of OxyContin's addictive nature through the lens of specific characters, to the increase in robberies and public safety concerns. Then we flash forward to when FEMA - led by Rosario Dawson's character (Dawson was perfectly cast for this role; she was perfectly calm, heartbroken, angry, ball-busting, or passionate whenever she needed to be) - started poking around with investigations that led to intense meetings with the disgusting big-wig Purdue Pharma board members and lawyers (all of whom are terrible people). Again, great pacing.
As the show progresses, the spotlight begins to focus more and more on Richard Sackler and the top executives, who, to this point, have been solely concerned with profiting from OxyContin in the U.S. and expanding its reach on a global scale, ignoring all the warning signs in the process. But these execs are soon forced to take drastic measures to ensure they deflect all negativity in the public's eye and counter all documentation and legal issues that could pose problems to them. For a number of reasons, I personally wish the show gave us more of the legal struggle to expose such a gigantic conspiracy. First of all, it would explain how our corrupt legal system is mostly corrupt because of corrupt people (particularly when one or two people who could've been problems for Purdue Pharma simply get bought out/sell their souls). It should not have been that hard for the courts to understand the big picture of what Purdue Pharma was truly up to, regardless of how their corporate lawyers spun their tales anytime reputable evidence was brought into the case.
Secondly, and more importantly, seeing more of the legal side of the story would go a longer way to show just how ridiculously easy it was for Purdue Pharma to get away with so many lies. No one within these corporations is really permitted to provide the oversight and accountability needed to keep things like this from happening. Probably the most appalling part of the story for me was how easily the execs kept everything quiet by bullying any employee who dared to show enough of a conscience to stand up for what's right. One woman in Purdue Pharma was canned because of a simple email, and she was one of several people who were practically forced to sign NDAs for fear of their lives falling apart.
I also wish we saw more of the public outrage. We see enough newspaper clippings and news reports to understand the public's interest, but it should go beyond just that. We do see a public protest in the final episode, but that wasn't enough. In hindsight, I suppose it was better to keep the scope focused on the characters and stories established rather than let the rage get too broad. I do think there is plenty more story to warrant a second season, and I suspect we'd see more on the crisis from a national perspective once the lid is truly blown off the top of this can of worms.
The only story I didn't care for was the lesbian love story. Betsy is a fictional character, not based on any one particular person's story in the Virginia time and setting. And it's pretty obvious that this story was shoehorned in; in fact, it's almost a detrimental distraction, but thankfully Betsy's arc shifts its focus to the drug's effect on her. I didn't love how her Christian parents were portrayed as if they should feel guilty about their beliefs. Should Christians condemn gay people? Of course not, and there are plenty of Christians who do not show love to all people the way Jesus wants. To be clear, I don't hate that a lesbian was on a TV show (though it doesn't seem to be part of this particular true story nor the book on which this show is based). I'm just getting tired of the one-side rhetoric. But I, in no way, think any less of the show's quality. Dopesick is an absolute must-see show. I probably will rewatch this season, and I'm definitely hoping for more seasons.
Notes
-I was truly floored by the lunatic expert who claimed that there is no such thing as addiction. Admittedly, he got me thinking about it, and my wife and I had a great discussion about that, but man, that was a wild notion.
-Michael Stuhlbarg's performance as Richard Sackler was completely unsettling in the very best of ways. I was glued to every word he said, and I was both enraged and impressed with his willingness to undercut whomever he had to in order to execute his callous, shameless schemes. Brilliant acting.
-The best discovery the U.S. Attorneys uncovered was how so much of Purdue Pharma's false marketing was derived from one completely out-of-context study mentioned in one tiny article in a magazine a few decades ago, as if that's enough on which to base OxyCotin's entire operation. Looks like someone never learned the importance of citing more than one source in grade school.