VIDEO – EPILOGUE –
Aug. 14, 2023 – The series, which Netflix is careful to note is a fictionalized retelling of true events, concludes with Richard being beaten to a bloody pulp by the ghostly apparition of his legacy-obsessed father Arthur Sackler (Clark Gregg). Richard is merely trying to explain to his pops that the Sackler family and their Purdue Pharma company has cut a pretty good deal with the government to avoid criminal punishment for their role in developing the drug OxyContin and perpetuating the opioid crisis. But Arthur is just not having it. It’s certainly a cathartic moment for an audience that just spent six episodes witnessing the human destruction that Richard’s company wrought … but it’s just that: a moment. It’s telling that this miniseries, based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker article and Barry Meier’s book, has to turn to the realm of the fantastical to visit judgment on the Sackler family. It’s safe to assume that the real Richard Sackler didn’t get his ass kicked by The Ghosts of Vengeful Dad’s Past like Ebenezer Scrooge. That’s just a dramatization to cover up for the dismal reality of how this all really went down.
With that in mind, let’s examine how Painkiller leaves off its story and how the saga of Purdue Pharama and the opioid crisis have progressed since.
