Note: the following contains spoilers for “Painkiller” episodes 1-6.
As “Painkiller” viewers make their way to the end of the six-episode limited series, those holding out hope for justice or a happy ending for characters overtaken by opioid addiction might be disappointed — a choice that director and EP Pete Berg says is only “honest” to the tragedy of the crisis.
“As Uzo [Aduba] says in the middle of the series, the story is a tragedy, and … no matter how much money Purdue Pharma pays to the families of dead people, I don’t know that there’s a number that’s going to ever turn this thing in anything even close to happy,” Berg told TheWrap. “We didn’t want to pretend that there is a happy ending to this story. Unfortunately, there is not.”
In the last episode of “Painkiller,” which is now streaming on Netflix, Shannon’s cooperation enables...
As “Painkiller” viewers make their way to the end of the six-episode limited series, those holding out hope for justice or a happy ending for characters overtaken by opioid addiction might be disappointed — a choice that director and EP Pete Berg says is only “honest” to the tragedy of the crisis.
“As Uzo [Aduba] says in the middle of the series, the story is a tragedy, and … no matter how much money Purdue Pharma pays to the families of dead people, I don’t know that there’s a number that’s going to ever turn this thing in anything even close to happy,” Berg told TheWrap. “We didn’t want to pretend that there is a happy ending to this story. Unfortunately, there is not.”
In the last episode of “Painkiller,” which is now streaming on Netflix, Shannon’s cooperation enables...
- 8/21/2023
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
This article contains spoilers for Painkiller.
The ending of Netflix‘s Painkiller puts a lot of energy into properly punishing its antagonist Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick).
The series, which Netflix is careful to note is a fictionalized retelling of true events, concludes with Richard being beaten to a bloody pulp by the ghostly apparition of his legacy-obsessed uncle Arthur Sackler (Clark Gregg). Richard is merely trying to explain to his uncle that the Sackler family and their Purdue Pharma company has cut a pretty good deal with the government to avoid criminal punishment for their role in developing the drug OxyContin and perpetuating the opioid crisis. But Arthur is just not having it.
In-between violent punches to Richard’s face, Arthur decries his nephew’s decision to give even an inch to prosecutors, screaming, “You were weak. You conceded. I don’t care about immunity. You tore down the name that I built.
The ending of Netflix‘s Painkiller puts a lot of energy into properly punishing its antagonist Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick).
The series, which Netflix is careful to note is a fictionalized retelling of true events, concludes with Richard being beaten to a bloody pulp by the ghostly apparition of his legacy-obsessed uncle Arthur Sackler (Clark Gregg). Richard is merely trying to explain to his uncle that the Sackler family and their Purdue Pharma company has cut a pretty good deal with the government to avoid criminal punishment for their role in developing the drug OxyContin and perpetuating the opioid crisis. But Arthur is just not having it.
In-between violent punches to Richard’s face, Arthur decries his nephew’s decision to give even an inch to prosecutors, screaming, “You were weak. You conceded. I don’t care about immunity. You tore down the name that I built.
- 8/14/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
In the first episode of Painkiller, Edie Flowers visited the lawyers to share her findings about the drug OxyContin and its fatal effects on ordinary people who took it as a mere painkiller. In the second episode of Painkiller, we will witness the further grave consequences that this drug caused for its victims, such as Glen Krygar, who developed an addiction to this pill, casting a dark shadow over his life. Simultaneously, this episode showcases the rampant advertisements and marketing promotions for the drug, aiming to attract more customers to take these death pills.
How Did Shannon And Britt Promote The Drug?
Painkiller Episode 2 begins with Edie shedding light on Arthur Sackler’s cunning business strategies, which he once utilized to push the marketing of Valium. He fabricated the names of doctors and their endorsements of the drug to increase demand for the medicine in the marketplace. Edie claimed that in this regard,...
How Did Shannon And Britt Promote The Drug?
Painkiller Episode 2 begins with Edie shedding light on Arthur Sackler’s cunning business strategies, which he once utilized to push the marketing of Valium. He fabricated the names of doctors and their endorsements of the drug to increase demand for the medicine in the marketplace. Edie claimed that in this regard,...
- 8/12/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
When atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the country responsible for the detonation thought only of victory in the war, disregarding the ordinary people who lost their lives in the blasts. This illustrates how extremely powerful individuals in a nation make drastic decisions that have the potential for economic or broader advantages, even at the cost of risking the common people’s lives. In Netflix’s latest offering, Painkiller, director Peter Berg depicts such drastic circumstances through its fictional retelling of a horrific true story. Painkiller is a story about a pharmaceutical company known as Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, that came up with a life-threatening drug called OxyContin disguised as a seemingly harmless painkiller that led a significant portion of the American population to develop addictions and subsequently lose their lives.
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was Edie Flowers? What Was She Investigating?
In the opening of each episode of Painkiller,...
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was Edie Flowers? What Was She Investigating?
In the opening of each episode of Painkiller,...
- 8/12/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
There are many serious factors that led to a stunningly high portion of the American population getting addicted to drugs. Socio-economic tension, along with corrupt medical practices and pharmaceutical marketing, escalated the issue to a dangerous level. This turned an alarming number of people into drug addicts through painkillers. Among these pharmaceutical companies, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, founded by John Purdue Grey and owned by the Sackler family, altered the course of medical practices by introducing an extremely dangerous and addictive drug as a pain reliever.
Pain is an unbearable feeling, much like a sharp blade slicing through our skin or a heavy weight burdening our spirit. Whether physical or mental, humans tend to try to get rid of this pain using any means possible. If someone were to profit from exploiting pain, a strong, intolerable sensation and a fundamental aspect of humanity, they could potentially become a dominant figure. This is...
Pain is an unbearable feeling, much like a sharp blade slicing through our skin or a heavy weight burdening our spirit. Whether physical or mental, humans tend to try to get rid of this pain using any means possible. If someone were to profit from exploiting pain, a strong, intolerable sensation and a fundamental aspect of humanity, they could potentially become a dominant figure. This is...
- 8/12/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
Making a compelling show about the opioid crisis was certainly a challenge for “Painkiller” executive producer Eric Newman — especially one that kept viewers engaged for the entirety of the Netflix six-episode limited series without feeling like the show was overly burdensome emotionally.
“Because so many people know someone [or] have lost someone from opioid abuse, it can appear daunting, to jump into a show on the subject, and we were very conscious about not wanting it to feel an exercise in grief,” Newman told TheWrap.
With the hopes that Netflix’s broad reach will share the tragic story of the epidemic that has destroyed so many lives and crushed an uncountable number of families — and “why it can’t happen again” — with as many people as possible, the “Painkiller” team adjusted the series’ tone to ensure viewers would stick it out until the end.
“The tone, the casting, all of it...
“Because so many people know someone [or] have lost someone from opioid abuse, it can appear daunting, to jump into a show on the subject, and we were very conscious about not wanting it to feel an exercise in grief,” Newman told TheWrap.
With the hopes that Netflix’s broad reach will share the tragic story of the epidemic that has destroyed so many lives and crushed an uncountable number of families — and “why it can’t happen again” — with as many people as possible, the “Painkiller” team adjusted the series’ tone to ensure viewers would stick it out until the end.
“The tone, the casting, all of it...
- 8/11/2023
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
While Fentanyl now dominates headlines as the drug wreaking havoc on our society, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was OxyContin that led conversations about the impact of overprescribed opioids. Formulated, produced, marketed and sold by the family-run organization Purdue Pharma, Oxy quickly grew in popularity because it was marketed as a safe, “non-addictive” opioid. Oxy was then pushed onto patients through respected healthcare professionals who were misinformed about the drug and profited greatly from prescribing it.
Barry Meier’s book “Pain Killer” and the New Yorker article “The Family That Built the Empire of Pain,” by Patrick Radden Keefe, documented the rise of OxyContin and the lasting impact it had here in the U.S., and both serve as the foundation for Netflix’s new limited series “Painkiller.” Directed by Peter Berg, the show is a fictionalized account of the opioid epidemic as told from the perspective of the survivors,...
Barry Meier’s book “Pain Killer” and the New Yorker article “The Family That Built the Empire of Pain,” by Patrick Radden Keefe, documented the rise of OxyContin and the lasting impact it had here in the U.S., and both serve as the foundation for Netflix’s new limited series “Painkiller.” Directed by Peter Berg, the show is a fictionalized account of the opioid epidemic as told from the perspective of the survivors,...
- 8/10/2023
- by Aramide Tinubu
- Variety Film + TV
In the second episode of Netflix’s Painkiller, two sales representatives (West Duchovny and Dina Shihabi) call in on various doctors’ offices to push a pill that promises to reduce pain and enhance quality of life. Like all good sales reps, they come bearing gifts, among them a cute stuffed toy in the shape of a pill, a recurring motif throughout the series meant to represent danger disguised as something innocuous. The drug in question is OxyContin, and the sales reps work for Purdue Pharma, the company that, under the ownership of the now infamous Sackler family, marketed the opioid to millions of Americans to devastating results.
The plot unfolds as Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba), a jaded state investigator, recounts her findings to the lawyers trying to build a case against the Sacklers. The series attempts to address every possible angle of the scandal, from the company that created the drug,...
The plot unfolds as Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba), a jaded state investigator, recounts her findings to the lawyers trying to build a case against the Sacklers. The series attempts to address every possible angle of the scandal, from the company that created the drug,...
- 8/10/2023
- by Amelia Stout
- Slant Magazine
There’s a thin line between pain and pleasure, and if you’re not careful, people looking to get rich off your threshold will take advantage. Netflix‘s new Painkiller trailer looks at the ongoing opioid crisis, with the war between medicine and money raging like roaring wildfire in certain parts of the world. According to Netflix, Painkiller presents a 6-episode series exploring the “how” and the “who” of the epidemic.
Here’s the official synopsis for Painkiller:
A fictionalized retelling of events, Painkiller is a scripted limited series that explores some of the origins and aftermath of the opioid crisis in America, highlighting the stories of the perpetrators, victims, and truth-seekers whose lives are forever altered by the invention of OxyContin. An examination of crime, accountability, and the systems that have repeatedly failed hundreds of thousands of Americans, Painkiller is based on the book “Pain Killer” by Barry Meier...
Here’s the official synopsis for Painkiller:
A fictionalized retelling of events, Painkiller is a scripted limited series that explores some of the origins and aftermath of the opioid crisis in America, highlighting the stories of the perpetrators, victims, and truth-seekers whose lives are forever altered by the invention of OxyContin. An examination of crime, accountability, and the systems that have repeatedly failed hundreds of thousands of Americans, Painkiller is based on the book “Pain Killer” by Barry Meier...
- 7/11/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
"The more you prescribe, the more you'll help." Netflix has revealed a trailer for their series Painkiller, a scripted account about the origins of the opioid crisis in America. The series is directed by Pete Berg, yes that Pete Berg, director of the movies Friday Night Lights, Hancock, Battleship, Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, and Patriots Day. Over its six episodes, Painkiller sets out to unpack the "how" and "who" of the epidemic. "This is the origin story of the collision between medicine and money that allowed it to happen. One of the many things that I thought was missing [from the conversation] was the introduction of the drug into mainstream medicine. How Arthur Sackler, this psychiatrist... who specialized in lobotomies, started to realize that the future was in pills — specifically in advertising pills. Whoever could market their drug better was going to make the most money." The tone of the series acts as...
- 7/11/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Painkiller, Netflix’s anticipated and upcoming new limited series about the U.S. opioid crisis, has dropped its first trailer.
The six-episode series releasing Aug. 10 from the EP team of Eric Newman (Narcos, True Story) and director Pete Berg (Friday Night Lights, Spenser Confidential) is inspired by real events amid the country’s opioid crisis and features a cast including Uzo Aduba, Matthew Broderick, Taylor Kitsch (marking a Fnl reunion with Berg), Dina Shihabi, West Duchovny and John Rothman.
Alex Gibney (The Crime of the Century, Going Clear) also executive produces with creators, showrunners and writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).
The trailer introduces Aduba’s character as Edie, the investigator leading the case against Purdue Pharma, with Broderick playing Richard Sackler, a scion of the billionaire family that controls Purdue and a senior executive at the company.
Sackler explains that human behavior is...
The six-episode series releasing Aug. 10 from the EP team of Eric Newman (Narcos, True Story) and director Pete Berg (Friday Night Lights, Spenser Confidential) is inspired by real events amid the country’s opioid crisis and features a cast including Uzo Aduba, Matthew Broderick, Taylor Kitsch (marking a Fnl reunion with Berg), Dina Shihabi, West Duchovny and John Rothman.
Alex Gibney (The Crime of the Century, Going Clear) also executive produces with creators, showrunners and writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).
The trailer introduces Aduba’s character as Edie, the investigator leading the case against Purdue Pharma, with Broderick playing Richard Sackler, a scion of the billionaire family that controls Purdue and a senior executive at the company.
Sackler explains that human behavior is...
- 7/11/2023
- by Jackie Strause
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Comedian Hannah Gadsby is speaking up about the controversial ties the Sackler family has to their upcoming art show.
Gadsby, who uses they/them pronouns, co-creates the exhibit “It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby” at the Brooklyn Museum, a show dedicated to unwrapping the complicated legacy of the artist. The program’s curators also include Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
“I’m doing a show at the Brooklyn Museum. There’s one Sackler on the board [trustee emerita Elizabeth A. Sackler]. We vetted this. Apparently, they’ve separated their earning streams from the problematic one,” Gadsby told Variety. “I mean, take that with a grain of salt. Doesn’t matter what cultural institution you work with in America, you’re going to be working with billionaires and there’s not a billionaire on this planet that is not fucked up. It is just morally reprehensible.
Gadsby, who uses they/them pronouns, co-creates the exhibit “It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby” at the Brooklyn Museum, a show dedicated to unwrapping the complicated legacy of the artist. The program’s curators also include Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
“I’m doing a show at the Brooklyn Museum. There’s one Sackler on the board [trustee emerita Elizabeth A. Sackler]. We vetted this. Apparently, they’ve separated their earning streams from the problematic one,” Gadsby told Variety. “I mean, take that with a grain of salt. Doesn’t matter what cultural institution you work with in America, you’re going to be working with billionaires and there’s not a billionaire on this planet that is not fucked up. It is just morally reprehensible.
- 5/9/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Editor’s Note: This story, including the headline, has been updated to reflect that the Sackler family is not directly connected with Hannah Gadsby’s “It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby” exhibit.
Hannah Gadsby isn’t a one-trick-pony, and that point is driven home with their latest standup performance on Netflix, titled “Something Special.”
The comedian is proving they’ve grown, revealing that this show is meant to show them “changing as life changes them.” Instead of the scrutinizing takes on celebrity culture for which they’ve become known, in “Something Special,” Gadsby offers a more positive outlook on life as they share personal stories about their new marriage to their partner, Jenney Shamash, and family anecdotes.
But Gadsby’s growth hasn’t happened without controversy. After publicly criticizing Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos for comedian Dave Chappelle’s anti-trans comments made in his 2021 special, “The Closer,...
Hannah Gadsby isn’t a one-trick-pony, and that point is driven home with their latest standup performance on Netflix, titled “Something Special.”
The comedian is proving they’ve grown, revealing that this show is meant to show them “changing as life changes them.” Instead of the scrutinizing takes on celebrity culture for which they’ve become known, in “Something Special,” Gadsby offers a more positive outlook on life as they share personal stories about their new marriage to their partner, Jenney Shamash, and family anecdotes.
But Gadsby’s growth hasn’t happened without controversy. After publicly criticizing Netflix and CEO Ted Sarandos for comedian Dave Chappelle’s anti-trans comments made in his 2021 special, “The Closer,...
- 5/9/2023
- by BreAnna Bell
- Variety Film + TV
When you hear the phrase “the opioid crisis,” it can sound like it’s referring to a natural disaster with a beginning and an end. But as Alex Gibney’s shattering two-part, four-hour HBO documentary “The Crime of the Century” makes devastatingly clear, the opioid crisis is more than a human tragedy that has claimed half a million lives. It’s part of what America has become. We’re a nation of addicts, fueled by scuzzy alternating currents of pleasure and despair; a nation of corporate malfeasance; of doctors who knowingly trash the credo of “do no harm”; of regulatory agencies that no longer function as they were designed to; of politicians who allow laws to be written for them. “The Crime of the Century” is a saga of addiction that could have been entitled “What We Did for Greed.”
Gibney is our most avid and deep-drilling documentary muckraker, and...
Gibney is our most avid and deep-drilling documentary muckraker, and...
- 5/3/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
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