Painkiller (2023)

Inspired by Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker article “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain” and Barry Meier’s novel Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic, this drama series focuses on Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin which was the drug at the center of the post-1996 opioid crisis. More importantly, it focuses on the company’s senior executive, wealthy patriarch Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick), Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba) the lawyer trying to take him down, and those suffering from addiction the drug, such as Taylor Kitsch’s mechanic Glen Kryger. Dina Shihabi strips down to her skivvies as Britt Hufford, a sales representative at Purdue who becomes the mentor of former college athlete and new hire Shannon Shaeffer, played by West Duchovny, who keeps covered except for some killer pokies. But it’s Carolina Bartczak, who wins the skin game with her climactic sex scene as Kryger’s wife, Lily.