Dopesick (2021)

The series offers a mostly sober, compelling and clear dramatisation of one of the most shameful examples of big pharma wrongdoing in recent history, which will have you recoiling in fury. It interweaves real-life investigators and fictional characters in a fractured but effective timeline that highlights corporate greed and its human cost.

The critic praises the effective telling of the Big Pharma scandal through individual human stories and calls out the repugnant corporate malignancy while noting the challenge of keeping the complex story moving.

The critic views it as a box-set study showing the opioid crisis as caused by 'America generally', praising how well it charts the boom in abuse amid systemic issues.

The series has admirable intentions in shedding light on the opioid crisis but borders on cumbersome due to its reluctance to short-shrift any narratives and its disorienting nonlinear structure spanning too much ground.

The critic finds it a powerful illustration of corporate greed and suffering but notes the series tries to tackle too much, resulting in a chaotic structure that dissipates narrative momentum.

The ambitious scope of the series dulls its impact despite often moving results from individual storylines, particularly those involving Michael Keaton and Kaitlyn Dever; its vastness becomes an Achilles’ heel through time-hopping and too many threads.

The critic finds it hard-hitting and angry when exploring the human cost but frustratingly muddled and heavy-handed elsewhere due to its ambitious, sprawling approach.

An important topic is marred by questionable storytelling choices and performances in this muddled telling of an urgent story. While some fictional characters and performances land effectively, the overall structure and many elements feel flat or melodramatic.

The sprawling eight-episode series is passionate and affecting in its examination of the opioid crisis but feels housed in the wrong package as a dense, dour limited series.

The series chronicles the opioid epidemic through multiple perspectives on Purdue Pharma's OxyContin push, delivering a heavy but accurate indictment of corporate greed and regulatory failure. Keaton's haunted performance as the addicted doctor and strong ensemble work stand out amid the grim storytelling.