This fascinating miniseries tells the story of the American opioid crisis that began in the '90s with the introduction of the painkiller OxyContin. Thanks to the utter lies told by the pharmaceutical company that manufactured it, it ended up destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
It's a long and complicated story, and the series perhaps makes this unintentionally more complex by continually jumping back and forward in time. Fortunately its edited together well enough to keep things flowing, even if I ended up getting lost a few times in regards to the timeline.
Michael Keaton is fantastic in the role of a small town doctor who is unwittingly caught up in the horrific events that unfold, and Kaitlyn Dever is emerging as an absolute star. Between this and Unbelievable she's been in two of the strongest miniseries of the past few years. Rosario Dawson gets to show her anger in a great role, but the storyline which I found myself most into was the investigation being carried out by two state prosecutors, played by Peter Sarsgaard and John Hoogenakker. While Dever's story was the heart of things, their story was the part that made me want to come back each episode.
The series fumbles in a few places. Most of the attempts to portray the relationships and personal lives of these people fall a bit flat, and end up feeling like uninteresting time filler when I wanted to get back to the investigation.
But the weakest part here is the portrayal of the Sackler family. I know from other things that Michael Stuhlbarg is a good actor, and yet his performance here is bizarre. He's like a moody teenager with communication issues and a silly voice and I was confused by all the choices made. I just couldn't take him seriously. The rest of the family come across similarly cartoonish (although I have to wonder if this was intentional, given how ridiculous these people really are).
Those few downsides aren't enough to stop me recommending this as a must watch miniseries that tackles an important topic. The American health system is sadly very messed up.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2022-01-05T17:00:52Z
This fascinating miniseries tells the story of the American opioid crisis that began in the '90s with the introduction of the painkiller OxyContin. Thanks to the utter lies told by the pharmaceutical company that manufactured it, it ended up destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
It's a long and complicated story, and the series perhaps makes this unintentionally more complex by continually jumping back and forward in time. Fortunately its edited together well enough to keep things flowing, even if I ended up getting lost a few times in regards to the timeline.
Michael Keaton is fantastic in the role of a small town doctor who is unwittingly caught up in the horrific events that unfold, and Kaitlyn Dever is emerging as an absolute star. Between this and Unbelievable she's been in two of the strongest miniseries of the past few years. Rosario Dawson gets to show her anger in a great role, but the storyline which I found myself most into was the investigation being carried out by two state prosecutors, played by Peter Sarsgaard and John Hoogenakker. While Dever's story was the heart of things, their story was the part that made me want to come back each episode.
The series fumbles in a few places. Most of the attempts to portray the relationships and personal lives of these people fall a bit flat, and end up feeling like uninteresting time filler when I wanted to get back to the investigation.
But the weakest part here is the portrayal of the Sackler family. I know from other things that Michael Stuhlbarg is a good actor, and yet his performance here is bizarre. He's like a moody teenager with communication issues and a silly voice and I was confused by all the choices made. I just couldn't take him seriously. The rest of the family come across similarly cartoonish (although I have to wonder if this was intentional, given how ridiculous these people really are).
Those few downsides aren't enough to stop me recommending this as a must watch miniseries that tackles an important topic. The American health system is sadly very messed up.