What is it about?
A series chronicling the origins of the opioid crisis in the United States. Since the 1990s, pharmaceutical lobbies have strongly urged general practitioners to prescribe painkillers based on opiate derivatives to patients with, for example, back pain.
who is he with
He’s best known for his role as Mad Eyes in the Netflix prison series Orange is the New Black, but Ouzo Aduba is much more than that. And he proves it in Painkiller, where he plays an FBI agent. The series also features actors Matthew Broderick (the unforgettable Ferris Bueller) and Taylor Kitsch as a mechanic who becomes addicted to OxyContin.
Is it worth seeing?
It is a pharmaceutical scandal that has traumatized the United States in recent years and left thousands dead. A series of painkillers breaks down the opioid crisis for us, these painkillers that have led to addiction in millions of Americans.
It soon became clear that the company behind the creation of Purdue Pharma was well aware of the dangers of its drug, OxyContin, and that all that mattered to them was profit.
While the series is inspired by real events based on the writings of American journalist Barry Meyer, certain aspects are clearly fictional. Painkiller wants to be didactic but never falls into “too documentary”. It is there to answer the following questions: “Who, when, where and how?”.
How did the company manage to sell this drug that was originally intended for people with cancer? Bribing thousands of doctors? Playing with people’s pain? The findings are as disturbing as they are frightening.
And so every episode begins with the testimony of a man or woman who has lost a family member to OxyContin. To bring us back to reality, to the real consequences, and to realize that even if the painkiller sometimes indulges in some jokes in his story, the subject is serious.
The Netflix series is served by an impeccable cast: a faded but determined Ouzo Aduba to bring down the man at the head of Purdue Pharma, Richard Sackler, played by Matthew Broderick. White wig and fake wrinkles before age, the actor is sometimes unrecognizable as the antagonist you fall in love with.
This is not the first time that the series deals with this topic. You definitely won’t miss the great Dopesik in 2021 that gave Michael Keaton a Golden Globe. If the painkiller doesn’t reach his level, it’s still high.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
