Monday, August 22, 2022

Emmy Catch-Up: Dopesick

Dopesick: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Whistleblower” (B+)

It’s crazy to think how long it took for anyone to do something about the fact that oxy is clearly addictive, but there are so many reasons why those who wanted to didn’t end up doing anything about it. Marianne was fiercely committed to getting someone to take action after her daughter died from oxy, but it still took Rick a full year to get back to her, and she wasn’t even the one who was able to provide actual intel since she never worked for Purdue. Maureen was, however, especially since she sent the email to members of the Sackler family about what she had learned before she got fired, but her stress-related relapse made her testifying impossible. Rick is still doing his best to intimidate Purdue by coming in every morning in the middle of the night to fax them between 4am and 5am so that they think there’s a whole team working on the case, but their support isn’t terrific. Randy was shocked by how many search results got pulled up under “crush and snort,” but getting someone to go on the record was much tougher, even with someone like Paula who was well aware of the situation. Samuel, who was up to a horrifying 400mg per day, finally got caught when his receptionist and nurse called in his pill usage following a botched surgery, and he was even in the middle of trying to procure an oxy prescription from the doctor who had saved the patient’s life. Billy coming to visit seemed like it might finally open his eyes, and hopefully it did when Samuel still just wanted more pills, the most surefire sign of out-of-control addiction. Betsy’s situation is also very sad to watch, particularly as her parents found themselves being asked to pay $3000 for their own belongings that she had stolen to buy oxy.

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