First of all, I am not going to score this show. I find it not really appropriate to score a show that is about the pain and immense sorrow that is caused to people. And the main reason is that still many millions of people struggle daily with the (after-)effects of what the Sackler family did...
As society, we need to ask ourselves how on earth it is possible that the Sackler family - whom is directly responsible for addicting millions of people worldwide - is allowed to get away with what they have done. And it is not only the additing of so many people... No! It is the consequential deaths that are the result of those addictions.
That the Sackler family is able to still live in extreme luxury is beyond me. Yes, they may have 'settled' federal lawsuits by paying a multi-billion fine, but that was a small amount compared to the gigantic profits they have made altogether.
I think it therefore all the more important that the victims - and even casualties - are put center stage by such a series as this. Where we had "Dopesick" (Hulu) some time ago - where already a large group of society is made aware of what happened - it is this time "Painkiller" that is dropped on the Netflix service. And I hope that as many people as possible will watch this show. Because the Sackler family did get away with addicting millions of people! And they should be made accountable for all deaths that they caused!
If I look at the storyline of "Painkiller", it contains all the main elements that we also know from "Dopesick". I personally found that "Dopesick" gave more details, but that can also expected with its duration of over 8 hours, versus around 4.5 hours for "Dopesick".
The acting in "Dopesick" is overall pretty decent, with a clear outperformance by Matthew Broderick. Dina Shihabi, whom we know from e.g. "Archive 81" - a show that unfortunately got discontinued after 1 season - also did a pretty good job as one of the bad guys.
