The Big Picture
- Painkiller fails to address the opioid epidemic with the attention and respect it deserves, opting for a glib, satirical approach instead.
- Dopesick develops its characters effectively, providing multiple perspectives on the devastating effects of Oxycontin, while Painkiller falls short in fleshing out its characters and making a meaningful impact.
- The casting in Dopesick elevates the series, with standout performances from Michael Stuhlbarg and Michael Keaton, while Painkiller suffers from miscasting and shallow writing.
Dopesick takes us all the way back to 1996, with a shot of a hardscrabble West Virginia coal mining town set to the equally tumultuous sounds of Johnny Cash, setting a certain tone from the very opening of the Hulu series. There is nothing glitzy or glamorous about the topic that it addresses, but the new Netflix limited series Painkiller forgets that. The opioid epidemic has hit the United States unbelievably hard, and it should always be addressed with the attention that it deserves — not the treatment that will pull the highest ratings. There are a multitude of things that the Hulu series gets right that Painkiller doesn’t measure up to, from the accuracy of the devastation to better, more thoroughly fleshed-out main characters to the actual performances of the key players. Let’s take a look at why Painkiller pales in comparison to Dopesick, which premiered back in 2021 to both critical and audience acclaim.
‘Dopesick’ Addresses the Opioid Epidemic With Respect
Netflix’s Painkiller does a bit of a bait and switch on us by beginning every episode with the testimonials of mothers who have lost young children to opioid abuse. These are heartbreaking tales of real people who have been devastated by the drug. The problem with these testimonials is that they are immediately followed by a scripted reading of how just about everything, except for the story itself, is fictional. The names, places, and dialogue are all fluffed up for Hollywood and these parents are forced to read this disclaimer which feels like the audience is getting hoodwinked right off the bat.
Dopesick doesn’t go for the manufactured tearjerker, it does a beeline to the heart of the matter which is the depiction of blue-collar people who are being lied to on every level in the process of becoming addicted to the horrible drug Oxycontin made by Purdue Pharmaceuticals. Dopesick tackles the issue with an earnestness that Painkiller hasn’t. Netflix has long had issues with spreading itself too thin and not devoting enough time and money to story development, but we digress. While the Hulu show delivers the necessary grit and reverence to the topic, the Netflix version didn’t perform its due diligence to address the worst drug epidemic in history. Painkiller has a glib, satirical muckraking feel about it and never gets serious enough about the topic or the characters it pushes.
‘Dopesick’ Takes the Time To Develop All of Its Characters
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Dopesick surrounds the epidemic from four separate and well-written points of view, illustrating the effect Oxycontin has on the patient, the doctor that unwittingly prescribed it, the DEA’s effort to get to the bottom of the issue, and the legal aspect of the lawyers who try to put Purdue and Richard Sackler (Michael Stuhlbarg) out of business. Each of the leads on these multifaceted fronts is given sufficient airtime and gravitas to reel you into the story, to the point that you’re fully invested in the outcome of their individual story arcs.
Put very simply, Painkiller doesn’t. In a formula that seems to be Netflix’s approach to stories based on real-life events lately, the limited series goes for the low-hanging fruit, leaving viewers always looking for that emotionally heavy knockout punch that never seems to come. In spite of a stellar cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, Uzo Aduba, and West Duchovny, there is a gnawing feeling that the show is always shying away from the crux of the issue and reticent to make any kind of real statement — not necessarily a political statement of any kind, just something to let us know that we’re being taken down a meaningful path that is worth the time invested. Unfortunately, Painkiller never gets there.
Perfectly Cast Lead Roles Elevate ‘Dopesick’
This portion of the article could have also been labeled “The Horrible Miscasting of Matthew Broderick,” but even if the actor brought what he could to the role of Richard Sackler, this is another area that earns Dopesick a win. Not only is Michael Stuhlbarg a far more appropriate choice for the role of an evil and greedy corporate devil, his macabre and ghoulishly detached presence is exactly what the doctor ordered. On the other hand, the writing of Broderick’s version of Sackler is cartoonish and absurd. From the focus on his relationship with his dog to the unfortunate dancing sequences at Purdue parties, Broderick’s agent should have given this part a hard pass.
In addition to Dopesick‘s superior portrayal of Richard Sackler, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Michael Keaton‘s dead-on performance as small-town doctor Samuel Finnix, who accidentally gets all of his patients addicted to Oxy before succumbing to the allure of the opioid himself. Keaton hits a home run and has far more experience in these types of heavier dramas. We don’t even really know the doctor who prescribes Oxycontin to Kitsch’s Glen Kryger; we just know that he’s also a bit of a clown with his German and Irish accents. By contrast, Keaton was rightfully rewarded with both an Emmy and Golden Globe for his desperate portrayal.
Chalk another win for Dopesick in the juxtaposition of the two main characters responsible for delivering the killer drug into the hands of the doctors who then prescribe them. Will Poulter‘s performance as Purdue sales rep Billy Cutler is given with all manner of nuance and finesse. The exchanges between him and Keaton are some of the most memorable and impactful in the show. When he begins to realize that he is a part of the problem, you really get yanked into his feelings of consternation and regret. West Duchovny is a promising young actress, and she does good work in Painkiller, but again, it’s the shallow writing that ends up costing her in comparison to the much more weighty and believable Hulu show. The only area where we could rationally make an argument in favor of the Netflix series being better than Dopesick would be in the performance of Uzo Aduba as Edie Flowers, a jaded investigator who makes the most of the lackluster script and packs a punch nevertheless.
What ‘Dopesick’ Does Well That ‘Painkiller’ Doesn’t
It all boils down to doing the necessary due diligence. When you’re taking on such an emotionally profound, sickening story of large-scale corporate betrayal, if you don’t take the time to dig into the root of the weed, it will be exposed. This isn’t a hit piece on Painkiller as much as it is an endorsement of Dopesick and the research and development that went into it. We are still huge fans of Taylor Kitsch (who also bent over backward to add depth), Matthew Broderick, West Duchovny, and particularly Uzo Aduba, but we wish they had been given meatier words and feelings to take from the page than they were. If the Painkiller cast had been given the script from Dopesick, then we might be arguing the complete opposite — with the exception of Broderick. Alas, we can only go by what is right before our very eyes. Ultimately, Dopesick opted for an uglier tone and more believable players, and it strikes an urgent, emotional chord — and although both entries have noble and lofty aspirations in their storytelling, one meets its goals, while the other could have used a rewrite.
Painkiller is currently available to stream on Netflix, while Dopesick is available to stream on Hulu.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
