I'll spare you from saying that this isn't anywhere near as good as Dopesick, since most reviewers have already stated this. Even if that show didn't exist, Painkiller is still objectively... not very good. First of all, the woman who plays Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba) puts on a very weak performance in this, and it surprises me to see some others say the opposite. Right from the beginning, the scene where she not only refuses to sit in the same seat as Richard Sackler, but makes them remove it from the room, is just over the top and corny, and already had me thinking this character was going to be unlikeable. I understand that she apparently represented a whole group of attorneys, which is the excuse for why she just happens to know way more details than any one person would realistically know, but her attempts to make the character so intense and quirky just came off as annoying. Unfortunately, Matthew Broderick's performance was also average at best. Taylor Kitsch (Glen Kryger) easily did the best with his character, in my opinion.
Another thing that multiple people have mentioned is that even though this series is only 6 episodes, it seemed to drag on a lot more than it should have. Pretty sure I burned through all of Dopesick in like two days; meanwhile, I started watching Painkiller three days ago and I'm just now starting episode 5.
I usually like Peter Berg, but he made so many directorial decisions that just do not work in a show like this. One scene that really got on my nerves was when Miss Flowers first introduced her case to her boss, and his response of, "Oxy-What?" must have been replayed a dozen times. It was already too much by the third Oxy-What. Also, the constant reappearance of the dead Arthur Sackler really didn't serve much to the plot and, I hate to use the word again, it came off as corny. A story about addicts and the people who helped add to the opoid epidemic seems like it would be an easy win (and it was for someone else), but telling was very mediocre and forgettable. Way to go, Netflix, you screwed up another good premise.
Another thing that multiple people have mentioned is that even though this series is only 6 episodes, it seemed to drag on a lot more than it should have. Pretty sure I burned through all of Dopesick in like two days; meanwhile, I started watching Painkiller three days ago and I'm just now starting episode 5.
I usually like Peter Berg, but he made so many directorial decisions that just do not work in a show like this. One scene that really got on my nerves was when Miss Flowers first introduced her case to her boss, and his response of, "Oxy-What?" must have been replayed a dozen times. It was already too much by the third Oxy-What. Also, the constant reappearance of the dead Arthur Sackler really didn't serve much to the plot and, I hate to use the word again, it came off as corny. A story about addicts and the people who helped add to the opoid epidemic seems like it would be an easy win (and it was for someone else), but telling was very mediocre and forgettable. Way to go, Netflix, you screwed up another good premise.