Is Dopesick worth watching?

Yes it is.

I'm going on Episode 6. It's fantastic. Michael Keaton sure deserved that Emmy AND that Golden Globe. The entire cast is great. The writing is great. It's riveting, because you know it's true.

Dark topic, but great series.

Obviously everyone has different taste but I thought it was great and definitely worth the time.

One of my favorite limited series ever. And I had zero desire to watch it at first. Seemed too depressing.

And it was.

But it was also riveting.

Yes, and Michael Keaton is terrific as always!

Another vote yes to watching it.

I enjoyed it - which is surprising given the topic - it's dark but ultimately I think it's a story that really needed to be told.

And I suppose it's a little late to jump on this bandwagon, but Michael Keaton has never been better - this is the role of his career.

Dopesick perpetuates the idiotic notion that opioids are PURE EVIL in every single context, even recovering from prostate surgery.

It’s funny how for a while Bill Murray was the “acclaimed comedy guy” who could cross over into dramas (except he was never convincing to me in the latter), when Michael Keaton was always that guy, even going back to Clean and Sober. He was able to use that comedy smugness as a cover for his inner pain in a way that way always so effective. And he emoted just enough without over emoting (unlike say Robin Williams)

I was so bummed when he didn’t win the Oscar for Birdman so at least in some way he’s getting his due.

(I still love Murray in comedies though, sorry guys)

If the book Empire of Pain is something you can’t get into, though it’s one of the most accessible nonfiction books and everyone should give it a try, this is a worthy introduction to the Evil Sackler Empire.

R8, actually no it doesn't. Not at all.

It absolutely does, R11! When the prosecutor is in recovery after his surgery, he tells the nurse his pain is a 12 out of 10. she offers him a reasonable dose of oxycontin and he valiantly refuses, opting only for an XL dose of ibuprofen. His needless pain is courageous because we, the viewer, are told he avoided a life destroyed by addiction, which is what happens to every person in the movie who takes opioids--whether for an initially legitimate purpose or not. We are lead to believe that clinicians asking patients about pain in a systematic way have been duped by Purdue marketing.

R12 he didn’t want to take OxyContin as was being pushed on him in the hospital. They asked for different strong pain relievers non narcotic in that scene. The series didn’t imply all opioids are bad. They say in many circumstances they work if used as properly prescribed, not in the way Purdue pushed for double doses of Oxy.

I thought it was superb. Had read the Beth Macy book it was loosely based on years ago. Michael Keaton was great but so was Will Poulter and indeed all the cast.

R13 that was one person making a choice for him, IIRC. Admittedly, I watched the series a year or so ago, so I don't remember everything, but I do seem to remember that the issue wasn't that opioids aren't incredibly useful in severe pain scenarios (I could swear many doctors repeatedly say opioids are a wonder drug for pain, right?), it's that Purdue flat out lied about their addictive properties of Oxy. And because of that lie? Nurses and doctors were handing it out to ANY pain. Not just severe pain.

Keaton was fantastic, as was just about everyone else in this, but the biggest surprise for me was John Hoogenakker, who played Sarsgaard’s investigator partner. I’ve only ever seen him in silly commercials and popping up here and there in movies and shows, but man, he was great in this.