Dopesick

First-rate, often heroic television. ... When it stays true to its course, the series is urgent, even vital. Flaws of ambition are much preferable to pulling up short, and “Dopesick” never pulls up short.

Dopesick (premiering October 13) deftly corrals the vast addiction epidemic through intimate, deeply engrossing stories of human devastation. Keaton is phenomenally poignant as Dr. Finnix. ... Dever adds another remarkable performance to her growing résumé as Betsy, whose descent into desperate addiction is almost too painful to watch.

For all its faults and lulls, I wanted to keep watching. Every reveal is damning and essential.

At times Dopesick can feel similarly overwhelming. But it also feels important that these stories be told.

Based on early episodes, Dopesick is a (mostly) sober, compelling and clear dramatisation of one of the most shameful examples of big pharma wrongdoing in recent history, which will have you recoiling in fury.

It's a large credit to the show's writing, and its excellent performances, that "Dopesick" breaks away from its initial “and then this happened” type of plotting. These characters may have a part to play in the mechanics of this story, but they have more dimension than simply symbols, especially as the plotting (hour-long episodes) gives space for the story to be about everyone’s psychological pains and problems

“Dopesick” feels urgent and immediate, and it moves forward with a propulsive energy.

The cast is excellent and empathetic, helping ground the series.

Scattered in places, in its totality it's an engrossing eight-part series, made more so by Purdue's bankruptcy proceedings and the Sackler family's efforts to avoid additional consequences.

It’s both understated and obvious. Given the subject matter, there will be some frustrating if not unpredictable outcomes, some of which are supplied by history. But there is a welcome lack of pounded tables, clenched jaws, throbbing temples and speechifying.

Dopesick would be better if the story did not jump around so much in time. ... But as the characters reveal their struggles, Dopesick gets better and better, emphasizing how dwarfed each individual is by the massive power of Purdue.

Dopesick will certainly be a slow burn in spots. But it deals with a subject whose depth most people aren’t aware of, and the performances are so good that it should keep viewers interested.

Even if some elements of “Dopesick” feel too pat, the story as a whole is a worthwhile indictment of a government regulation system that allowed Purdue to operate for years with impunity, ruining the lives of thousands of Americans.

Dopesick is not an easy watch, and despite its subject matter, it sometimes struggles to establish itself as a necessary one. But when it does choose substance over gimmicky style, you won’t be able to look away.

This is an uneven series that is often quite good but feels like a missed opportunity to be something great.

It verges at times on hokey melodrama. ... So, yes, I’m disappointed. But I'm recommending Dopesick anyway, because quite honestly I don’t think the show was designed for a viewer like me. ... Hulu has apparently decided that this adaptation of a nonfiction book should resemble a very long movie-of-the-week — but you know, a lot of people like to watch those.

The result is a series that is far more chaotic than it needs to be; the more familiar you already are with the Sackler story and the opioid crisis, the more you will get out of it, which is not the dramatic ideal. But the main points and the outrage are clear.

While it bites off more than it can reasonably chew and can be a little heavy-handed at times, when the series breaks your heart, it really shatters it.

The story lines Strong and his fellow writers give their Appalachian everypeople are a mixed bag, sometimes skating along on addiction and recovery boiler plate that’s interchangeable with a thousand other dramas. But they’re generally watchable because of the bone-deep credibility of Dever’s and Keaton’s performances.

Committed turns from Keaton (always an excellent everyman) and Dever (who goes through the wringer) only get you so far, as Hulu’s valiant endeavor just keeps hammering home a point it made straight from the jump.

Dopesick struggles to feel like a persuasive narrative because its cop characters all feel as if they have to justify the chase. ... [Kaitlyn Dever’s] scenes, along with those of Stuhlbarg’s merciless Sackler, do showcase the show’s potential electricity, but the false narratives and overwrought justifications of the cop story at its center renders Dopesick a bit bland.

In isolated moments, the miniseries functions exactly as prescribed, offering a devastating portrait of how Purdue helped turn us into, as DEA agent Bridget Meyer (Rosario Dawson) puts it, “a pill-popping zombie nation.” More often, though, the drama’s emotional impact fades too quickly, and chief writer and producer Danny Strong (Empire) attempts to compensate by doubling the dosage.

None of the characters' tales feel fully realized, or even complete, at the end of the seven episodes made available for review. Since Strong's script leans heavily on humanizing the toll this emergency is taking on every aspect of American life — save for the people profiting off it — that lack of substance ultimately defeats the story.