Dopesick
2021
Original language: English
- crime
- drama
The story
The story of how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. Look into the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of "one percenter" Big Pharma Manhattan.
What it’s like
Dopesick is a sober, handsomely mounted limited series with warm interior lamplight in Virginia kitchens, sickly fluorescent glare in clinic corridors, and cool, glossy sheen in the Manhattan boardrooms where the money moves. Its camera tends toward steady medium shots and patient two-shots, with handheld unease creeping in as bodies break down and families fracture. The palette shifts from the faded greens and dust of Appalachian mining country to the polished greys and blues of corporate offices, and the score is restrained, mostly low strings and simmering pulses that swell without ever turning melodramatic. The vibe is grim, angry and deeply human, a slow-burning indictment rather than a thriller. It moves in hour-long episodes with a deliberate, procedural rhythm, braiding several perspectives into one picture of how a drug was sold and a town was left to pay. Arcs follow ordinary people pushed past their limits, a doctor doubting his own certainties, a lawyer and investigators chipping away at a powerful lie. Intensity is moderate: drug use, withdrawal and overdose are depicted frankly, with some harrowing scenes of suffering and a few sudden deaths, but there is no gore and little graphic violence. It suits viewers who want serious, morally engaged storytelling about institutions and addiction, watched across a few evenings with the attention it asks for.
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