Serie - Hulu : Dopesick - We've discovered the first two episodes

By Mulder, 12 october 2021

Based on Beth Macy's best-selling book, the drama miniseries Dopesick takes a hard-hitting look at the opioid addiction plaguing America. In eight episodes that air weekly, it examines how one company single-handedly triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. From the boardrooms of Big Pharma to the plight of a Virginia mining community to the corridors of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Dopesick introduces viewers to drug-ravaged but still hopeful families whose stories intertwine as the story unfolds. Defying all odds, heroes will emerge in this intense struggle to combat the cowardly corporations and their allies who thrive against a backdrop of national crisis. These hard-hitting, realistic portraits - which act as a mirror of today's America - will be available exclusively in Star World on Disney+ starting November 12 (in the U.S. starting October 13 on Hulu).

While movie theaters are struggling to fill up and we're still in the midst of a pandemic despite a vaccine that appeared very quickly to allow us to regain some semblance of life, the public's attention seems to be turning more and more to streaming platforms that are able to offer us excellent series, whether they are new and unreleased or hits from the past. Hulu understands that in order to keep the audience's attention, they need to offer not only great programs but also new content. In this sense, the first two episodes we discovered of the Dopesick series totally caught our attention and show that a true story can not only give rise to an excellent book that quickly becomes a bestseller but also to a series with a prestigious cast, whether it be Barry Levinson behind the camera (The Best (The Natural) (1984), Rain Man (1988), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and more recently The Bay (2012), Rock the Kasbah (2015)) but also in front of the camera including Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Will Poulter, and Rosario Dawson.

The first two episodes show how a large pharmaceutical company Purdue has put a new drug on the market with many harmful effects and without worrying about them. Its desire to get rich and to train super salesmen capable of entangling many competent doctors in their wake is really chilling. However, Dopesick is not a simple reflection of a case that made a lot of noise in the world, but also a work of fiction with fictional characters, notably the character played by Michael Keaton, who is always an excellent actor when he is directed by a great director.  Dopesick is not satisfied with telling a story at a single moment in time, but rather multiplies the periods to give us a better understanding of a fascinating case showing the excesses of a pharmaceutical laboratory.

It is important to note that this excellent series allows to highlight how during twenty years, a renowned laboratory caused from 1999 to 2019 more than 500 000 deaths of opioid overdose in the United States. From this tragedy its common measure the journalist Beth Macy has drawn a book in 2018 Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors And The Drug Company That Addicted America. Which serves as the basis for the script of this series having as showrunner Danny Strong. While many American series try to reproduce artificial models that have proven themselves many times, it is interesting to see that Dopesick finds all the flavor of great American series that not only know how to hold our attention intelligently but also show us the many flaws of a society formatted to success at any price. The observation, as disturbing as it is entertaining, makes Dopesick an engaging and successful series.

Synopsis:
In the heart of a small town in the state of Virginia, the portrait of families affected by the opiate crisis in the United States. The relatives of the addicts launch a war with the pharmaceutical lobbies. The police and doctors also fight daily against the scourge...

Dopesick
Based on Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
Directed by Barry Levinson
Written and developed by Danny Strong
Starring Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Will Poulter, John Hoogenakker, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson
Executive producers : Danny Strong, Michael Keaton, John Goldwyn, Warren Littlefield, Beth Macy Karen Rosenfelt, Barry Levinson
Production companies : 20th Television, John Goldwyn Productions, The Littlefield Company
Original network : Hulu (United States), Disney + (France)

Rating : 4/5

Photos : Copyright Hulu

(Source : press release)