Painkiller (series): Dramatized, but a seriously important docu-series regardless

I haven't been very impressed with Netflix's offerings in the past few months. So much so to the point where when my subscription "piggybacking" on someone else's account was rejected that I decided to just not have a Netflix account anymore. I still get all the new shows and movies if I want them through my Plex account though. Someone else is responsible for getting the "good stuff" on to Plex and I am subjected to their whims of what is good or not. This should be very easy for Netflix content though seeing as how most of what they release is garbage.

I like this series for a number of reasons and one of the main ones is that Matthew Broderick is in it.

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I don't immediately recognize any of those other names but was curious if West Duchovny was related to David Duchovny of "X-Files" fame and as it turns out she is his daughter.

I like seeing Matthew in stuff because I think he is a good actor that doesn't get many chances to shine. I have read that this is by his own decision as he lives in New York and chooses to be more involved in the Broadway scene rather than in screen acting. I also feel as though he is probably a genuinely nice person although that is based on nothing other than the interviews I have seen him in and that fact that other than that one thing in France many years ago, he hasn't been involved in a great deal of controversy of any kind.

Painkiller is a story about Oxycontin, which is a pill that you have almost certainly heard about and how tons of people ended up addicted to it and overdosing and dying from it on a regular basis. Despite the regular occurrence of death by overdose, this product was a huge seller and remains an available product on the market even to this day.

The story is dramatized, which they are very clear about at the start of each episode, but I think the overall message is quite clear about the intentional damage for profit that was done by this company, and how corruption lead to it being on the market in the first place and that same corruption is the reason why it continues to be available by prescription despite having been involved in the death of over 300,000 Americans. Well, that is what they said in a show that states they are being dramatic on a Network known for their social programming attempts. So take it with a grain of salt I guess.

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The series is 6, 1-hour long episodes long and I managed to watch every single one of them in a single day....because that's how I roll when something is really good.

It follows the lives of multiple individuals and families including people that are involved on all sides of the opioid problem in America. There is a family who at first genuinely needs pain relief that turns into addiction, a prosecutor whose brother is in jail for selling crack and has a personal beef with this company since they are legally doing the same thing as her brother, and of course the people involved with manufacturing the drug / masterminding its legality, and the very attractive sales representatives that are involved with getting doctors to prescribe the drug more and more.

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The focuses heavily on how Pharmaceutical companies intentionally recruit very attractive people and then brainwash them / teach them how to manipulate people into prescribing a product that the company knows has terrible side effects. The reps themselves have been taught over and over how to respond to all claims against the product, and they are very good at flirting and getting to know the doctors and their staff who ultimately are the ones who write the prescriptions.

They frequently "break the 4th wall" and speak directly to the audience but they don't overuse this tactic. It is just used to speed things along during long speeches where a narrator would normally be used. I liked this tactic because it reminded us that Matthew Broderick and others in the cast are not actually scumbags, they are just playing one on TV.

The only time they get mildly political is when they briefly take aim at a rather famous conservative politician and I'm not going to spoil it but trust me when I say that you will know it when you see it.

Should I watch it?

I think the fact that I watched 6 hours worth of a shoe back-to-back in one sitting should tell you enough about how I feel about this series. It is wonderfully made and actually inspired me to look further into how much of it is pure drama, and how much of it actually happened. I was never part of the Oxy craze, but I certainly did hear about it and knew a few people that used it recreationally on occasion. I have never had the stuff because well, while I will try almost anything once, when it is heroin, I gotta draw the line somewhere. That is essentially what Oxycontin is so I never felt compelled to join that long list of superheroes that went on a one-way trip to death because of it.

I think this is an important series for people to see not just because it is very well-made, but because it exposes how all the people in big Pharma and the government bodies that are involved in regulating them don't actually give a damn about the regular people. Even your doctor doesn't really care about you. They are all in it for the same thing that greedy people are involved with almost anything.... money.

_{Believe it or not there is actually something worth watching on Netflix right now! This is one of them! go see it!}