Painkiller

This is a well done, dark journey into an American hell created by an evil family and their soulless minions. While it is disgraceful that the endless suffering of the victims and their families has been turned into entertainment, this is important. The world needs to see what happens when an evil family is allowed to destroy America for profit. This covers the same material as Dopesick but a different take. Same info and honestly I enjoyed both. The portrayal of the Sacklers in both is not flattering. Truly evil people. The actors were amazing. A list talent and great writing. Highly recommend this and every American should see it.

Painkiller is a rather fantistical retelling of a sad story that is all too familiar to many of us. It doesn't compare very favorably with Dopesick, counting on flashy visuals that almost overwhelm a compelling narrative. The acting is excellent, as are the technical aspects, and the show is, in it's way, entertaining. It's always a pleasure to watch Matthew Broderick. The most moving aspect of the series may be the heartfelt disclaimers that introduce each episode. As the deplorable Sacklers have now been shielded from further lawsuits, they will now be able to slink off the stage to enjoy their off-shore millions. None have served jail time, none have been prosecuted. Perhaps the only bit of satisfaction is to see the Sackler name obliterated from the many art museum wings and hospitals that they funded with their ill gotten fortune. Disgrace is their only legacy.

This story has already been dramatised by hulu in dopesick so redoing the exact same thing, when the first time it was done so immaculately, is bound to not go that well...this is a much more superficial version in the sense that it is created with a more entertaining aspect than adherence to the actual truth and it is also squeezed in only 6 episodes when there is so much more to cover. It is an ok show, with few good performances, like Richard Sackler's role, but only because the story behind it is so fascinating, otherwise there is nothing great to hold the viewer. It is like when Jennifer Lawrence was booked to play Elizabeth Holmes in the film Bad Blood but after seeing The Dropout and Amanda Seyfried's performance, she said "what's the point in redoing something that has been done so well?" and quit...So if you want the best version of this story, check out Dopesick.

It's not bad and quite enjoyable. The problem here for anyone who has taken the time to watch the massively superior Dopesick is that they have watched Dopesick. This version of events seems quite rushed and doesn't come close to the nuanced performances and detailed storytelling of Dopesick. It's hard to put your finger on the why this fails to be as impactful as Dopesick but it fails big time. After watching Dopesick I did quite a bit of research on the subject matter and found the storytelling to be quite accurate in that production. I feel so sorry for all the people whose lives have been ruined by this travesty and genuinely feel Dopesick does a much better job of telling this unfortunate story.

I'm surprised by the low ratings and glad I didn't read before watching because I enjoyed the show.

It showed various perspectives from the Sackler family and employees, the pharma reps, the doctors, the whistleblowers, the patients and then the addicts.

I thought it was filmed well, there were comedic moments not to poke fun at the subject matter which is very sad but more at the impotence of the law makers and greed of the Sackler family and it's employees and those who jumped ship.

I thought the ending was a bit rushed I'd have liked more epilogue but overall we binged over 2 days as it was very watchable.