Based on the bestselling book by journalist Beth Macy, and with an all-star ensemble cast including Michael Keaton, Will Poulter, Kaitlyn Dever and Michael Stulhlbarg, Dopesick is a new original series now streaming on Disney+ that tells the shocking true story of America’s opioid epidemic.
The sprawling eight-part original series, now streaming with new episodes released every Wednesday on Disney+, tackles the crisis from several distinct perspectives, from the didactic to the deeply personal. Dopesick is a powerful examination of the pharmaceutical companies, the authorities and the medical professionals ensnared in the scandal as well as the ordinary people who became lost in the fog of an unstoppable addiction.
It unravels the slow horror of the catastrophe from the birth of ‘wonderdrug’ OxyContin in the 1990s to its cataclysmic effect on small towns and cities across America years later.
Spanning over a decade, the series interweaves the story of the influential Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma which gifted OxyContin to America and those who tried to prevent its relentless, unchecked growth. This includes a pair of dogged, deadpan US attorneys Rick Mountcastle and Randy Ramseyer (Peter Sarsgaard and John Hoogenakker) who, upon observing an alarming wave of OxyContin related crimes in Virginia, start to investigate the inner workings of the pharmaceutical company and the deceptive marketing of the omnipotent drug.
The astute tactics they uncover include the creation of an extraordinary FDA assurance which enabled the drug to be labelled and promoted as less addictive than other opioids. The work of Ramseyer and Mountcastle intertwines with that of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Bridget Meyer - an electrifying Rosario Dawson. Meyer has been hopelessly surveying the growing prescription drug addiction rates whilst also attempting to formulate a way to destabilise the stranglehold of Purdue Pharma on the American healthcare industry.
These gripping procedural narratives bleed into the beating heart of the series which centres on Michael Keaton’s Dr Samuel Finnix. In a career best performance, Keaton’s Finnix, a local GP in a tough mining town, succumbs to the persuasive marketing patter of wide-eyed sales rep Billy (Will Poulter). He supplies the drug to his array of patients including mine worker Betsy (Kaitlyn Dever) who, after a serious accident, transforms from a once conscientious labourer into a desperately sick, desperately addicted young girl.
Dopesick reveals the complexities of these characters and exposes how Machiavellian methods were used to conscript pharmacists and doctors ensuring the market was flooded with Purdue Pharma products.
Will Poulter as Billy gives a nuanced performance as a conflicted young man seduced by the promises of the American Dream, grasping the opportunities provided to him by his employers but who is also charmed by the thoughtful, empathetic Dr Finnix.
Billy is encouraged to court the trusting doctor and advised to take advantage of his vulnerabilities - namely the untimely death of his wife from cancer. Capitalising on the doctor’s warmth and wisdom, the salesman uses him as a trusted voice at seminars to assist with the image of the drug.
Dr Finnix unwittingly becomes another cog in the wheel of Purdue propaganda. With advice from Billy, Finnix soon begins to work against his better judgement, individualising dosages and unintentionally forcing Betsy into a hopeless life of addiction. Keaton and Dever masterfully navigate intensely emotional terrain, always retraining the focus of the story back to the human aspect, the fallibility and frailty that Purdue Pharma exploited.
Through the interlinking relationship between the three characters, the series incisively explores how with insidious efforts, dependency on the drug became normalised. Pharmaceutical sales reps were turned into drug pushers, high on greed, whilst Purdue Pharma was busy monetising people's suffering.
Creator Danny Strong's ambitious and impressive project manages to make the complex compelling
It quickly established its own pain industry where the only solution was OxyContin and the only results were overprescribing, overmedicating and overdosing. This disastrous domino effect soon rippled throughout the country as addiction bloomed and created an America overflowing with crime and desperation.
The presence of Purdue Pharma’s Sackler family, namely scion Richard Sackler, haunts the series. While the family may not be a direct part of the layered narrative, their coolly detached intellectualism is embedded within it.
Their world full of museum benefit dinners and boardroom calculations exhibits the marked difference between the avaricious ambitions of those who created the drug and those caught within the maelstrom of its influence. Michael Stuhlbarg’s subtle, soft-voiced characterisation of Richard, a man who perceives himself as a true American visionary but who is forever at odds with his family, is both chilling and fascinating. With Sackler constantly delivering grandiose statements about curing the world’s pain, Dopesick underlines how an unsuspecting America became hooked on an irresistible lie.
Creator Danny Strong’s ambitious and impressive project manages to make the complex compelling whilst never losing sight of the human side of this dark, seemingly endless tragedy. Dopesick is populated with relatable, imperfect humans who falter and make ill-advised decisions when faced with difficulties.
Although there are no archetypal heroes to be found, there are instead the truly brave group of professionals who pursued the Goliath of Big Pharma, determined to make them accountable.
An unforgettable series, Dopesick is a necessary and profoundly moving, in-depth analysis of the devastating scourge of modern America.