DOPESICK (S1E8) “The People vs. Purdue Pharma”: It All Comes Down To This

For weeks, viewers have been given a dramatic insight into the inner workings of what would become the Opioid epidemic and the subsequent attempts to bring an end to an empire. For weeks, we have watched as addicts struggled with an addiction that changed their brain’s chemistry, assistant attorneys looked for the hook that would make all the cards fall and DEA agents took on the FDA. Running parallel to their battles against a growing epidemic, was the Sackler Family, primarily Richard Sackler (Michael Stuhlbarg) with his sights on curing the world’s pain and elevating his company and self beyond anything his predecessors could have imagined.

For weeks, Hulu’s Dopesick has drawn an array of emotions in response to each episode, each character, and each viewpoint, creating a platform for discussion along the way and drawing empathy for a group of individuals who have been forgotten and hammered decades since the drug’s release. With “The People vs. Purdue Pharma”, it seemed the pieces had lined up for a swift blow of justice, though as viewers will learn, it is never as easy as it seems.

Never Forget

The opening of “The People vs. Purdue Pharma” is memorable, delivering an emotional blow to viewers. As the last two episodes’ openings had become quiet, almost corporate, Dopesick returns its striking emotional constructions to close out its series. Quietly, figures in black, with a small hint of red peeking from beneath their coats, move around an unidentifiable foyer of an office building. There is a feel of coordination in their steps as they make their way up the spiral staircases, gathering shoulder to shoulder. In a moment, the silence is cut like a knife, cries from the group screaming “take done their name” and “400,000 dead”. Signs accompany the chants,  heartbreak filling the room, threatening to burst. Papers fall to the ground, landing on those who lay on the ground representing those lost, the camera focusing on Betsy’s mother Diane (Mare Winningham), the hardness, regret, and grief still alive within her.

It is not only effective but takes the need for empathy for addicts and victims of the epidemic into a further collective nature. Where Dopesick welcomed our empathy through the addictions of Betsy (Kaitlyn Denver) and Finnix (Michael Keaton), here they are remembered in a sea of souls lost, the red color staining the white clean look of corporate America. It is poignant and moving, both in the sadness, it encompasses but also in the power this demonstration possesses. But as the series cleverly continues, this was not the only demonstration, not the only group standing up. Protests in the street gather, and the end of Sackler family’s pharmaceutical reign is demanded. In these few opening moments, Dopesick drives hard the title of its episode – this is the People vs. Purdue Pharma.

Creating a Future

Moving past the episode’s opening, viewers are returned to Finnix, a feeling of closure on the horizon. “Black Box Warning” started positively for Finnix, his therapy and Suboxone treatment no only effective, but reinstalled his faith in the future. Though, his struggles in reattaining the future he sees for himself proved to be the next step (or hurtle) in his recovery. With a desire to regain his medical license, he was met with speculation and rejection due to the treatment he was currently undergoing. As he found himself in the void, a spark of hope began to bloom with the chance that he could bring the same life-saving treatment to Betsy. Her death would fuel a lasting regret, one that would quietly reverberate with Finnix in “The People vs. Purdue Pharma”. Meeting with his probation officer, he finds former resident and patient Elizabeth (Alayna Hester) waiting her turn. As we have seen in and out over the series, her party taste of the drug led her down a similar path to Betsy.

At this moment, Dopesick provides Finnix not only a chance for redemption but the means to a fulfilling life  – even if he can not regain his medical license. Each week he drives Elizabeth to his clinic to obtain the Suboxone treatment, more joining the caravan as time passes. And as their success grows, his desire to help more grows, especially those whose geographic location makes treatment seemingly impossible. Finnix purchases a bus bringing more and more people for treatment. There is a peaceful closure that Dopesick begins to let settle around Finnix as this new path carves out an impactful future.

Justice comes in the form of battles and wars

Dopesick surprises again by not returning to the courtroom setting it had included snippets from, yet it does not leave viewers hanging. As Rick Mountcastle (Peter Sarsgaard), Randy Ramseyer (John Hoogenakker), and John Brownlee (Jake McDorman) continue with their indictment of Perdue Pharma executives, even without the encouragement of their higher-ups, the heat is turned on to find the nail in the coffin for Purdue Pharma  – before their investigations and charges are canceled out. And as the paths of former Purdue employers and the assistant attorneys begin to cross, the final pieces come into place. You will find it hard not to cheer as the satisfaction and loyalty as a viewer is paid off.

What will not be expected is the overall outcome of the investigation. Where moments will snatch any faith in the justice system, others will immediately contrast reinstalling a faith that may have been shaken with each episode that has dramatically captured the years leading up to the indictment. It is not what you would expect, and the conclusion is sure to be a new platform of discussion in itself, and there is a satisfaction and a deeply ingrained belief that no matter the greed, abuse, or sheer villainy, there will always be others willing to fight. And when the day is over, willing to rise and fight another day.

Conclusion: The Story Doesn’t End There

Dopesick ends in 2006, but the battle raged beyond the timeframe it encompasses. The ripples of the actions of the Sacklers and Perdue Pharma ripple beyond the family and its Stamford, CT office headquarters, each piece of the empire dropped crating its own outward effects. Dopesick is not here to tell a part of the story, but the whole story. It is a testament to the dedication its creators and writers felt to the series. Leading all the way to 2020, Dopesick brings viewers up to speed, the series in itself a part of the People, taking on Purdue, and keeping the need to fight alive.

Have you seen Dopesick? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!

Dopesick is available on Hulu!