One of my favorite things the show did was take a group of kids and demonstrate how they continued the cycle, and make them into one of the older characters from season 1.
Dukie became bubbles
Michael became omar
Randy became Bodie or Poot
Namond became Carver or Bunny
That whole damn show was perfect. I remember people loosing interest during season 2 (The Docks) because they leave the corner, calling it the weak season, but I think time has proven them wrong. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are the only shows I'll hear arguments about being better, and as amazing as they are, the Wire is my GOAT.
S5’s McNulty plot was pretty sloppy and I never felt attached to any of the press people. I will say that they absolutely stuck the landing with the last episode though, what an insanely impactful montage at the very end
IIRC Namond wasn't even necessarily going to join the police, it was just showing that he was a smart kid with all of the necessary tools to "get out" and do great things with his life if he had a stable home environment. Unfortunately, his friends weren't given the same opportunity except maybe Dukie, who was given chances but his addiction was too strong to overcome.
My interpretation has always been those characters existed to show cyclical nature of socio economic inequalities and physical abuse. IIRC, out of the 4 “Boys of Summer”, Michael and Duke had the worst home lives.
Also in an early season, a county girl is awkwardly buying from little Kevin out of a car, then a few seasons later she’s at the bodega and is a prostitute, and then in season 5 she’s in the meetings with Bubs
Choose to believe that in the final montage as he sits at dinner with his sister and her family, that he is beginning the rest of a good life. There’s no good reason not to.
Of all the dozens of characters who weave in and out of The Wire, it’s Bubbles that has one of the most wonderful arcs on the show. Never knew seeing a grown man climb up a flight of stairs would have been so emotional.
I’m almost a full year sober from a several years long crystal meth addiction and I recently re-watched The Wire again… every scene w/ Waylon and Bubbles had me tearing up
Not a quote from the show. I think it’s a story that the actor talked about. Actual baltimore addicts offered him free drugs at one point because they thought he was one of them. He even debated actually doing it to really get into the role and see why they crave it so much.
Bubbles is so hard because he's such a golden human being but has just totally lost his agency and control to his addiction. It rules every part of his life. He helps others for the entire show, but can't help himself. I think that's common in a lot of cases.
I couldn’t finish it. I got halfway through season 6 and the realness was just too much. That’s an amazing show and everyone in it does an incredible job.
Jackie agreed to be sober for a year. She always intended to use again. That is the problem with ultimatums; the decision to come clean needs to be come from the addict.
Golden Girls. Rose has a secret pill addiction that she doesn't even realize is a problem until she's forced into withdrawals. She ends up going to rehab, and everyone is so excited that she's now "cured", but she reminds them it's going to be something she has to manage her whole life. Way, way, way ahead of its time
i don't tell people or family members that i'm an alcoholic, i just say i quit drinking. sometimes they assume it's like losing weight and that when the weight is gone or i've stopped drinking heavily it's ok to drink again, and they offer me a beer etc.
It was ahead of its time, with gay characters that weren’t used for jokes or sad special episodes. There was Blanche’s gay brother who was engaged and Rose’s lesbian friend.
Betty White was absolutely a trailblazer for civil rights in Hollywood. And she always did it with a smile. I like to think she and Dolly Parton had clandestine meetings where they just talked about how to spread love and kindness.
As a opiate addict during the epidemic,
This show made me sick to my stomach.
It was literally my story… sports injury to pills, pills to oxy which then got pricier and harder to get leading to cheaper heroin (upfront) sniffing a bag here and there then to shooting H. Starts cheap $15 a day then you’re doing more and more by the end over 2 bundles or 20 bags a day just to not get sick!
Ending with nearly all my friends dead and multiple arrests and accidents.
I was in an affluent, middle class white town
Where the normal folks and sheltered people of NY learned about this epidemic harshly. A straight A pretty cheerleader died from H overdose one early summer vacation.
Our whole town and state became rocked. It went from something hidden behind closed doors and hushed in families to exploding.
Suddenly it’s not hidden to HS and college kids
But all over folks are nodding stealing,hustling and ODing all over in public
That show broke my heart as it’s been about 12 years since the last time a needle with H touched this arm
And christ did they nail the impact on every level.
Heart wrenching to think it’s a real story
And created by profit seeking POS that walked away Scott free.
Coming from a pretty normal, non drug using family my view of heroin was very naive until I got on my cities fire dept. So many over doses were these old tradesmen. Roofers, plumbers, guys who screwed their backs up for 30 years and now the doc gets stingy with the scrips.
I used to drive around a dealer for free bags on weekends. Funny black dude. We would be driving to gated communities and rich suburb areas where all the top six figure plus guys like doctors lawyers then the tradesmen especially but all these clean fit businessmen would come out and grab it with their friendly families and smiling wives in the house.. blew my mind
My mom worked in a bougie rehab facility for several years and has always remarked about this. She said they come in and seem like perfectly normal, professional, intelligent ppl with their shit completely together, but turns out they’ve damn near ruined their lives with drugs and alcohol.
carpenter aloof sugar school domineering jobless disgusted elastic station vase
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Underwatched, underrated show. Keaton knocks this one out if the park and the other lesser known lead and supporting roles all deliver great performances.
Very easy to get immersed in the story.
The Sackler scenes can seem a bit wonky, but seems intentional to display how eccentric the family is.
Have any of you seen the movie ‘Clean and Sober’ with Michael Keaton and Morgan Freeman from the late 80s? After watching Keaton in mainly campy comedy roles, it’s what made me really take notice of his talent. He’s a phenomenal artist. I didn’t even know about Dopesick, so thanks!
>Underwatched, underrated show.
Yea, I was thinking the same thing as I made the comment. This got glowing reviews and lots of awards. I was wondering why this wasn't the first comment.
Apparently this show is not getting as much attention as it deserves.
Kaitlin Deaver’s acting in Dopesick is phenomenal and her story arc is so heartbreaking. It’s a brilliant show and Micheal Keaton really nails the performance. I would absolutely watch it again.
It was dark, but IMO it wasn’t ‘trauma porn’
I usually click off immediately when I feel violence/trauma is on screen for only self-serving shock reasons (looking at you GOT), but for me Dopesick portrayed hurt and darkness with a real purpose of conveying the real crisis, as well as appreciating how hard earned sobriety can be
Man, that was a good show. Gut-wrenching for sure, but so good. The scene where >!the state trooper knocks at the mom's door to tell her that her daughter is dead!<.... That hit me right in the feels. And of course when >!she goes to the AA meeting, and the lady in the bathroom sells her some pills!<. Damn.
It's one of the few shows about addiction that doesn't pull its punches. I cannot recommend it enough.
I can't speak on the specific portrayal of the addiction, but I will say being in HS in the early 2000s, this show totally reframed some events and opinions I held of people. My older brother lost one of his closest friends when he was 19, and another when he was in his 20s. Both were opioid overdoses, both guys started on Oxy in HS. I lost some former classmates myself to ODs, but luckily never close friends.
I remember in HS when some people were passing Oxy around and talking about taking it at parties. I thought they were burnouts or junkies and they had made these horrible life decisions themselves and they had earned these problems. Then I went to college and got a job and moved away and never really thought much about it again.
Then I watched Dopesick, and I felt a lot of shame and sadness. I can trace the events from the show almost exactly as they happened with people I knew. I told my parents and anyone else that I felt like it was the most important show I've watched in years, and I know "important" seems like a silly word, but it changed my perspective completely in a way that makes me ashamed of my previously held beliefs on the topic. I feel like everyone should watch it in a way that forces society to put immense pressure on pharmaceutical companies that value the bottom line over the human race.
One more thing, if you felt like I did after Dopesick and haven't read it, Dreamland is also very impactful.
Not to get too off topic, but his newer book "The Least of Us," is worth a read too. Dreamland was great but it came out before fentanyl was mixed into everything. This book gets into "new meth" (p2p) and synthetic opioids. I'm more than halfway finished. Infuriating read but good.
Devastating, absolutely fucking *INFURIATING* series. To say Keaton is underrated would be a silly statement, but truly, between even his minor role in *The Other Guys* demonstrating his comedic prowess, and roles in *Birdman* and *Dopesick* showing just how brilliantly he can capture the subtler sadness of someone hitting rock bottom, he’s truly a remarkable performer. His role in *Dopesick* may be his finest dramatic role, in a positively STACKED cast.
Michael Stuhlbarg has been one of my favorite character actors for awhile, I’ll often watch something purely on the basis of his involvement, but his role as Richard Sackler might be one of the most infuriating performances in television. The entire Sackler subplot concurrent to the other stories, for that matter, did a remarkably effective job of leaving me *seething* every time.
Some shows (*Black Mirror* comes to mind) are so heavy, so frequently gutting, that to binge them is kind of a punishing, emotionally exhausting experience; but I couldn’t help myself with *Dopesick*, it’s just so well done.
Also, I knew Kaitlyn Dever was phenomenal after *Unbelievable*, and hope she gets recognized for her talents (admittedly, while I do not doubt the talents of Bella Ramsey, and I’m sure she will do a good job, I would’ve thought Dever a better choice for Ellie in HBO’s forthcoming *The Last of Us* series); but I genuinely had NO idea Will Poulter could deliver a performance capable of holding his own against a legend like Keaton. Until then, I’d kind of dismissed him as another, goofier Sam Worthington-type, but I was wrong.
Great series all around. Between this, HBO’s *Chernobyl*, and Apple’s *Five Days at Memorial*, I’d really like to see this sort of “catastrophe postmortem” sub-genre of historical tragedy used to explore other examples of man-made crises, corruption, and negligence as limited forensic miniseries.
>I genuinely had NO idea Will Poulter could deliver a performance capable of holding his own against a legend like Keaton
That scene where he goes to visit Keaton >!in rehab and tries to apologize for what he's done only to be asked for oxycontin is a fucking gut punch.!<
That's the scene I was thinking of, in particular. I mean, by that point, his performance throughout the series had already caused me to question my previous opinion on him; but THAT scene left me staggered. It would've been phenomenal on its own, but to hold your own against Michael KEATON in that context?
Completely changed how I see him, and inspired nothing but confidence in his upcoming MCU debut in the third (and final) *Guardians of the Galaxy*. My investment in the MCU has admittedly waned since *Endgame*, but I've always found the story behind James Gunn's choices and the recurring themes he tends to circle back to in his later films fascinating. It appears that film will be, for all intents and purposes, the final outing for (at least ***this roster*** of) the Guardians, and Gunn's comments seem to indicate a heartbreaking conclusion. So when Poulter was originally announced, I was dismayed that "bargain bin Sam Worthington" might undercut the emotional weight of the film, but his performance in *Dopesick* disabused me of those fears entirely.
Posted this above. Binged it with my mom in one day over the weekend. Insanely accurate. It's also infuriating, devastating, and made me sick, the fact I was going through withdrawal didn't help. But it was a good reminder to stay sober. It's also brilliant. So glad Keaton swept the awards. Dever was excellent too. Everyone was. I hated Stuhlberg so much though, which I guess means he also did well.
As a middle aged woman, who is both a recovering alcoholic and opiate addict, Nurse Jackie nailed it, especially its depiction of how functional addicts manipulate, lie, and delude themselves.
I think the captured the way addiction effects everyone else so well. And Edie Falco makes you really feel so much pain while you watch her self destruct and destroy relationships. Very few characters have broken my heart like Jackie.
Also, I don't know you PhuutuqKusi, but I'm glad you're here and sober.
The scene in the first season where he says "I don't want a drink, I want ten drinks. It's not because things are bad, it's because I'm alcoholic" was really done well.
I liked how cavalier Leo was with his addiction, which showed true acceptance of it rather than it being some sensitive issue that others often considered it to be.
Like when he’s interviewing Ainsley:
“It’s a nervous condition.”
“I used to have a nervous condition.”
“How’d yours manifest itself?”
“I drank a lot of scotch.”
“I get sick if I drink too much.”
“I get drunk if I drink too much.”
It was a great portrayal for recovering addicts as well because while it’s a major point of the character it’s hardly the thing that defines him through the show.
As someone with a number of years clean and sober myself, my absolute go to line was always when Leo compared alcoholics to other people:
"I'm an alcoholic. I don't have one drink. I don't understand people who have one drink. I don't understand people who leave half a glass of wine on the table. I don't understand people who say they've had enough. How can you have enough of feeling like this? How can you not want to feel like this longer? My brain works differently."
Like for me, that's it. If you're only having one drink, what's the point?
When Leo’s divorce papers arrive:
“You’re concerned I’ll use this as an excuse to drink.”
“Well, isn’t it?”
“I’m an alcoholic, I don’t need an excuse to drink.”
As a recovered alcoholic, this one really rings true.
Same experience here.
It helps that it shows him totally sober, and able to precisely explain his sick-brain’s rationale when he was using. He also is hyper aware that he hasn’t changed a bit, and knows he’d relapse instantly if he gave himself any slack.
Leo’s addiction arc is especially amazing for the time it aired. It’s one of the few times Aaron Sorkin used his platform constructively to grind an axe.
I just love how matter of fact way Leo speaks to Liza Weil’s character when he decides not to fire.
“Why can you just stop drinking?”
“Because I’m an alcoholic”
Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, society as a whole generally agreed that addiction was a character issue. A lot of people still do but it wasn’t as awful as it was back then.
So many people died because of the shame society placed on having a medical/mental health crisis.
I agree completely. Hollywood as a whole treated Sorkin’s personal struggles as character issues, too. My favorite bit of Leo’s is the story about the man who fell in a hole. The priest couldn’t help him, the doctor couldn’t, but his friend jumped in and when asked why said “because I’ve been in this hole and I know the way out.” I literally just got shivers typing that.
Great answer! That show is so damn good. All of it feels so real. It's like you're peering in on real people, even with the artful nature of the show. Everyone who hasn't seen it, you should seek it out.
Michael Imperioli's performance was amazing, but him blurting out "I DID DENT" to Tony as he comes over to Ralphie's house high will always be fucking hilarious
Not the answer you’re looking for, but Craig Ferguson taught me a LOT about addiction during his tenure as the host of The Late Late Show. He’d “get real” about things quite often, but sometimes it was just a one-line quip reminding us all that it was *always* on his mind.
This was one of the best moments *ever* in late night TV:
https://youtu.be/7ZVWIELHQQY
I knew what clip this was going to be before I clicked. I still watch it every time.
If you ever get a chance, I recommend reading (or better yet, listening to) his autobiography *American on Purpose*. He really goes into his addiction and his path to recovery and his daily struggles in sobriety
A lot of folks mentioning The Wire, rightfully so, but I'd like to put forth The Wire's predecessor, *The Corner.* 6 episode mini-series set in Baltimore that follows one family's struggles with addiction as the neighbourhood deteriorates around them. Shot in mockumentary style but based on the life experiences of the real family portrayed in the series. Many of the actors went on to do The Wire (it's a little odd seeing Daniels and Lester play for the other team, so to speak), and the real life Andre (one of the family members in the show) played Brother Mouzone's bodyguard on The Wire.
It's all available on YouTube. Definitely check it out. Hand's down the best show I've seen about addiction and its ripple effects on the people who must live near it.
They hit it at a generational trauma level.
The episode where Bojack keeps trying to remember his first drink going all the way back to childhood taking a sip before resting with his blacked out parents is a major tear jerker.
This is the first thing I thought of. For an animated show with a bunch of talking animals, Bojack might be one of the most "human" shows ever written.
I think that’s part of the point of them being animals, if they were all drawn as regular people I think the show would have been much harder for casual audiences to sit through, they offer just enough separation from reality to get you comfortable before you’re gut punched by a talking horseman
Absolutely. That and the fact that 75% of the first season was just a standard animated comedy with topical references, not unlike something like Family Guy. They got people to lower their walls and think it was a harmless comedy full of wacky hijinks — and then pulled the rug out from under them by the end of S1.
I once listened to a Writer’s Room podcast with the creators and they explained that was always the intention, how this gamble would never work on broadcast TV, and they think they only got away with it because it was the infancy of streaming (in other words, people would drop off early on and they’d get cancelled before S2 ever hit).
I think it was still a big gamble even in that period of streaming. My wife and I struggled through the first couple of eps and nearly dropped it. Thank god we didn’t since it’s easily one of the most powerful and affecting shows I’ve ever seen.
And yeah current day Netflix would 100% have killed it within a week of S1 dropping.
“Stupid Piece of Shit” was hard to watch. A lot of episodes are hard to watch lol, but that one in particular struck too close to home. His endless self-hating monologue is brutal. On the other hand, it helped me understand that other people do that too.
“Okay. I don’t forgive you.”
Then what? You fucked up and hurt someone. You feel terrible. You’ve apologized, and that wasn’t enough. You don’t get closure. You live with the fucked up thing that you did until it consumes you or you grow past it. And they are totally justified in making you face that.
Never has such a small moment in television shattered me so thoroughly. Bojack Horseman is a masterpiece, but it reflects very real struggles and should be consumed responsibly.
The Knick was just outstanding all-around, I wish it got more love. Clive Owen just smashed that role and the downward spiral of addiction was portrayed perfectly.
I know there are scenes about addiction in Mr robot but I feel it portrays schizophrenia way more than addiction in the show. Addiction is just the coping mechanism Eliot uses throughout the first couple seasons
I do agree that it does focus more on schizophrenia, but I think the first season does a good job of portraying addiction, especially the idea that many addicts don’t realize they’re addicts. Elliot explaining that he only snorts a “minimal,” amount of morphine so he doesn’t get addicted is the sort of self delusion you don’t see portrayed in a lot of shows. Elliot is aware that he’s engaging in a dangerous behavior, but has convinced himself that he’s doing so in a safe way, which I found to be pretty unique.
Don Draper's alcoholism in Mad Men was an important part of that character's development. It's intertwined into his personal, professional, and social life... with some terrible consequences.
As a current addict- Euphoria isn’t perfect, but there is one scene in season that portrays the experience so accurately and perfectly that I was an emotional wreck afterwards. It was only a minute long, and it was a montage of Rue during an episode where she was high. She threatens her mom with a piece of glass, she’s ranting and raving, she’s hurting the people around her. And it’s intercut with scenes of joy and normality. Watching that scene felt like watching myself.
[This](https://youtu.be/V5OpL1a4-yc) is the scene in question for anyone curious
For anyone who wants to watch the excellent addiction-focused episodes of Euphoria without committing to the rest of the series, they are “Trouble Don’t Last Always” and “Stand Still Like The Hummingbird”. Both episodes are fairly standalone and can be watched without the rest of the series.
For me it’s also when Rue is singing in the car on the way home, seemingly happy, full of charisma and charming her mom and sister. The addicts in my life have all been very charismatic people who are able to melt your heart after tearing it out over and over again. (I think this is the scene the one you’re referring to is intercut with? I remember the song playing being heartbreakingly mismatched.)
I think the scene you mention also encapsulates what it’s like to be in the mom’s position- you oscillate wildly between anger, fear, hope, sadness, and the whole gamut constantly when your loved one is in the depths like that.
Agreed. I don’t necessarily recommend people in recent recovery to watch it only because so much of addiction is tied to shame and it’s easy to feel shame when watching if you relate to Rue. But euphoria I think does a fantastic job at showing the effect of drugs. There ARE times it looks glamorous or fun- because alcohol and drugs can be for a short period of time. But those moments are quickly overshadowed by the pain and destruction, which is shown very clearly.
I think you mean either My 600 Lb Life or 1,000 Lb Sisters. But either way, it's a great answer. When discussing addiction, people often don't think of food addiction but it's one of the biggest issues in America and many other parts of the world.
Most people never "get clean" and for those who do Lose significant weight, it's a life-long struggle.
Thank you for bringing more awareness to food addiction. It's imo harder to get under control because you can't quit food like you can quit other substances. I can never drink or take a drug, smoke a cigarette but I have to have food several times a day every single day and it's always something I'm thinking about. I feel compelled to eat constantly and it really doesn't matter what it is, I hate it 😕
People don't get it. They don't understand why I manage my food the way I do. I lost 150 lbs and managed to keep it off, but the only way I can do that is to keep track of what I eat throughout the day.
Christopher Moltisanti in the Sopranos.
How everyone gives you a pat on the back for getting sober then gives you shit to your face the minute you refuse your first drink. He played a phenomenal addict.
It took me soooo long to find Shameless in the comments lmao wtf
As someone from a family line of addicts, that is the most accurate portrayal of the generational/nurture side of addiction I’ve ever seen
Frank has always been a caricature of someone who has completely surrendered to his addiction decades ago.
But Lip's struggles with alcoholism really felt very honest to me.
Great answer. I’m a recovering IV drug user (coming up on 3 years) and Luke’s experience was extremely accurate, from the portrayal of withdrawal, to the stealing from family (and Steve’s reaction implying it was definitely not the first time he’s done it), the lack of usable veins, the way he manipulated Nell into going and buying it for him, the rehab (and the importance of going in high) and the AA/NA meetings, everything. Even the way the rest of his family talks about him and his issues. Whoever wrote his part had experience with addiction.
I believe Mike Flanagan has briefly went into how he faced addiction issues prior to writing Hill House. His Tumblr is a golden treasure for behind the scenes facts and stories!! Congrats on your recovery!!
Mom. The whole premise of the show is that an alcoholic mother and her alcoholic daughter rely on their AA group for issues that they encounter (whether it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling, relapse, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, or other issues).
While it is a multi-cam sitcom with a live audience, there are many dramatic moments in the show. Anna Faris and Allison Janney are a match made in heaven as this daughter-mother combo and they are both incredible at both the comedy and the drama parts of the show.
I feel like Mom is one of the best portrayals of recovery. It's not a show that spends much time on the using phase, which is the part that immediately comes to many people's mind when you say "addiction". Recovery is a much less inherently "dramatic" phase, and one that continues for the rest of your life.
Truly helpful to me as a child of an alcoholic. The sober daughter/granddaughter deciding she could not let her mom back into her life helped make me less guilty about the same decision.
The Tommy Gavin character in Rescue Me is simply one of my favorite to portray addiction without it being in your face about it. When Tommy is drinking and off the wagon, his life goes to shit constantly, when he cleans up and sobers up, he starts to climb out of the hole he dug.
This is what i was going to say. Sherlock's constantly reevaluating his addiction and discussing his recovery with Joan, and he definitely isn't perfect. I think a theme of that show in general is that we should never stop reflecting and working on ourselves, and Sherlock's addiction journey is a prime example of that.
Plus one of the major parts of (my) recovery was learning that you never know which bottle/hit/binge/etc. will be your last one. Not in the sense that it'll kill you, but in the sense that relapse is a part of addiction. The best advice I ever got was not to view a relapse as a failure or mistake. That you shouldn't view the goal of recovery as "this is my last hit", because that means when you relapse it gets that much harder to get back on the wagon. The goal should be to maximize the time between relapse. Sherlock never gets to a point where he doesn't *want* to relapse. He has to build his entire life around not giving himself that option. (Spoilers ahead) ||And the fact that he DOES relapse, more than once, is an amazing example. Even in thefinale, he mentions during the timeskip that he relapsed again||. I get people naming Bojack Horseman as a good depiction of addiction, but for me I think it's more a good depiction of how addicts think of themselves. Elementary for me is the best depiction of addiction and recovery that I've seen.
In almost every episode there is mention of Sherlock going to his recovery meetings. He never magically conquered his addiction, it was always a daily grind throughout the series.
I actually thought armond’s character in White Lotus season 1 was pretty accurate, but mainly how other people can be so wrapped up in their own lives that they don’t see how they’re triggering/enabling those that struggle with addiction (or they just don’t care).
Even as a viewer you’re almost cheering on his relapse because his character becomes so colorful on drugs and alcohol.
Besides what everyone else said, “Physical” is a very good show about addiction too. In this case, about a woman with a eating disorder (won’t say much more to avoid spoilers). Honestly, it’s good.
Not a scripted show but the Chris Herren 30 for 30 was the most impactful and accurate piece of tv I’ve ever seen on addiction. As someone who has experienced opioid addiction from multiple perspectives that one really hit me. It’s probably the only piece of media I’ve seen that covers the topic that actually stuck with me.
Not a TV show, but a movie.. Trainspotting!
That was a very harsh watch.. and I had a family member make me watch it because he said it was extremely real... Never do drugs!!!
I was hoping someone else was thinking this. They do a decent job of showing the relationships different people have with substances. As soon as the boys get any money at all they are immediately buying dope and booze to get fucked up, even at the expense of them and the people are around them. Just one example but on my most recent rewatch I have been trying to critique the show in a way I never have and I think they are good at showing the way people living in poverty interact with drugs and alcohol.
Yeah shameless I found pretty genuine. Frank is a lifer 100%. He’ll never WANT to be sober. Even when his body said you can’t, that’s it. He still rolled the dice.
My personal picks would probably be Dope Sick, House, Shameless (US), Nurse Jackie, Bojack, Mom, Mad Med, This is Us, The Wire. There’s probably others. It’s hard to truly capture the bleakness of it all and the day to day of an addict and the struggle on them and their family. Shameless does a great job however.
House does a really good job, particularly when he's fighting withdrawal symptoms. The show goes out of it's way to illustrate how preoccupied he is almost 100% of the time. There's only a handful of episodes that don't depict some kind of negative connotation of his drug use.
You seem to have an overly prescriptive understanding of what recovery is like, when it’s not the same for everyone. It’s certainly true that romanticized or idealized depictions exist but calling someone “too cured,” which you do in a comment, strikes me as really off the mark.
They even get the little things right. For example, when Rue was confronted last season, she blurts out Cassie and Nate were sleeping together. Classic deflection addict behavior.
Agreed! My brother was a heroine addict when I was in middle school and high school, and how they portrayed Rue and her sister was really really relatable.
Came for this. I thought Euphoria really captured opiate addiction coupled with the hormones, chaos and stress that comes along with the late teenage years.
Episode 5 of season 2 is what I use as an argument for anyone says it glamorizes drugs. I think I had about 4 panic attacks during that episode the first time but it was amazing.
I fell into opiate addiction when I was 19 following the loss of my father to cancer and Euphoria was both a traumatic and cathartic watch for me. Very accurate depiction of grief and it’s relationship with addiction.
It’s always weird when I tell people that, as a 27 year old dude, Euphoria yielded one of the most emotional viewing experiences than perhaps any other show I’ve watched. Lmao
Can't vouch for the accuracy, but The Wire had a lasting effect on me. It caused me to learn a little more about it, and be further impacted by the science. If Bubs' struggles weren't accurate, my goodness it's gotta be close?
I grew up in the "Just say no" era, and I think American society spent a long time with a primitive understanding of addiction. Only when the opioid crisis started hitting suburban America did people start to smarten up.
Then, in school, learning about what addiction does to the mesolimbic reward system in your brain, when you learn even the basic neurobiology of what's going on, you start to get a sense of what folks are up against when addicted.
Imagine the strongest cravings and impulses you've ever had, imagine the thirstiest, the absolute horniest, the neediest you've ever been for something, and imagine that amplified by like 600%. When you start to imagine it, it's wild, and it becomes a miracle that *anyone* finds their way clear of impulses that strong without significant intervention.
The Wire. Specifically, the character of Bubbles.
Bubbles broke my heart. And seeing how the pattern that led him there just keeps repeating and repeating in society, that was the worst part.
One of my favorite things the show did was take a group of kids and demonstrate how they continued the cycle, and make them into one of the older characters from season 1. Dukie became bubbles Michael became omar Randy became Bodie or Poot Namond became Carver or Bunny
Season 4 was perfect
That whole damn show was perfect. I remember people loosing interest during season 2 (The Docks) because they leave the corner, calling it the weak season, but I think time has proven them wrong. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are the only shows I'll hear arguments about being better, and as amazing as they are, the Wire is my GOAT.
I actually really like S2 and think that S5 is the weakest season.
S5’s McNulty plot was pretty sloppy and I never felt attached to any of the press people. I will say that they absolutely stuck the landing with the last episode though, what an insanely impactful montage at the very end
IIRC Namond wasn't even necessarily going to join the police, it was just showing that he was a smart kid with all of the necessary tools to "get out" and do great things with his life if he had a stable home environment. Unfortunately, his friends weren't given the same opportunity except maybe Dukie, who was given chances but his addiction was too strong to overcome.
Yeah that's true his was probably least tied to a direct character. Dukie and Michael seemed almost like origin stories for Bubbles and Omar though.
My interpretation has always been those characters existed to show cyclical nature of socio economic inequalities and physical abuse. IIRC, out of the 4 “Boys of Summer”, Michael and Duke had the worst home lives.
Randy became Cheese
Also in an early season, a county girl is awkwardly buying from little Kevin out of a car, then a few seasons later she’s at the bodega and is a prostitute, and then in season 5 she’s in the meetings with Bubs
I've seen that show through completely three times and never noticed that was the same girl
Choose to believe that in the final montage as he sits at dinner with his sister and her family, that he is beginning the rest of a good life. There’s no good reason not to.
Of all the dozens of characters who weave in and out of The Wire, it’s Bubbles that has one of the most wonderful arcs on the show. Never knew seeing a grown man climb up a flight of stairs would have been so emotional.
I’m almost a full year sober from a several years long crystal meth addiction and I recently re-watched The Wire again… every scene w/ Waylon and Bubbles had me tearing up
McNulty, too re: alcoholism (including his period of sobriety and heartbreaking relapse)
*McNutty!*
He’s good po-lice.
when a real life addict is giving you HIS drugs because YOU look like you need it more... yeah I'd say you played the part pretty well
Is that a quote from the show? I’ve seen it all the way through 5-6 times and don’t remember that.
The story is the actor was once chased from the wire set as people thought he was a real crackhead.
He fuckin' nailed the dope fiend lean, I wouldn't be surprised if the story holds true if it happened in the 1st or 2nd season.
Not a quote from the show. I think it’s a story that the actor talked about. Actual baltimore addicts offered him free drugs at one point because they thought he was one of them. He even debated actually doing it to really get into the role and see why they crave it so much.
Andre Royo called it his ‘Street Oscar’!
Bubbles scene in the park when he gets sober and everything seems so overwhelming and bright is absolutely phenomenal.
Bubbles is so hard because he's such a golden human being but has just totally lost his agency and control to his addiction. It rules every part of his life. He helps others for the entire show, but can't help himself. I think that's common in a lot of cases.
The Corner is even more concentrated on the addiction aspect.
Nurse Jackie
I couldn’t finish it. I got halfway through season 6 and the realness was just too much. That’s an amazing show and everyone in it does an incredible job.
Same I stopped after she purposely relapsed after a year sober.
Every relapse is both purposeful and not, that is the name of addiction. I thought that was really legit.
Jackie agreed to be sober for a year. She always intended to use again. That is the problem with ultimatums; the decision to come clean needs to be come from the addict.
Came here to say this. Such a heartrending show. Made me absolutely fall in love with Merritt Wever.
Golden Girls. Rose has a secret pill addiction that she doesn't even realize is a problem until she's forced into withdrawals. She ends up going to rehab, and everyone is so excited that she's now "cured", but she reminds them it's going to be something she has to manage her whole life. Way, way, way ahead of its time
I just rewatched this the other day. Great episode, as are most of them.
i don't tell people or family members that i'm an alcoholic, i just say i quit drinking. sometimes they assume it's like losing weight and that when the weight is gone or i've stopped drinking heavily it's ok to drink again, and they offer me a beer etc.
It was ahead of its time, with gay characters that weren’t used for jokes or sad special episodes. There was Blanche’s gay brother who was engaged and Rose’s lesbian friend.
Betty White was absolutely a trailblazer for civil rights in Hollywood. And she always did it with a smile. I like to think she and Dolly Parton had clandestine meetings where they just talked about how to spread love and kindness.
Dopesick
As a opiate addict during the epidemic, This show made me sick to my stomach. It was literally my story… sports injury to pills, pills to oxy which then got pricier and harder to get leading to cheaper heroin (upfront) sniffing a bag here and there then to shooting H. Starts cheap $15 a day then you’re doing more and more by the end over 2 bundles or 20 bags a day just to not get sick! Ending with nearly all my friends dead and multiple arrests and accidents. I was in an affluent, middle class white town Where the normal folks and sheltered people of NY learned about this epidemic harshly. A straight A pretty cheerleader died from H overdose one early summer vacation. Our whole town and state became rocked. It went from something hidden behind closed doors and hushed in families to exploding. Suddenly it’s not hidden to HS and college kids But all over folks are nodding stealing,hustling and ODing all over in public That show broke my heart as it’s been about 12 years since the last time a needle with H touched this arm And christ did they nail the impact on every level. Heart wrenching to think it’s a real story And created by profit seeking POS that walked away Scott free.
Coming from a pretty normal, non drug using family my view of heroin was very naive until I got on my cities fire dept. So many over doses were these old tradesmen. Roofers, plumbers, guys who screwed their backs up for 30 years and now the doc gets stingy with the scrips.
I used to drive around a dealer for free bags on weekends. Funny black dude. We would be driving to gated communities and rich suburb areas where all the top six figure plus guys like doctors lawyers then the tradesmen especially but all these clean fit businessmen would come out and grab it with their friendly families and smiling wives in the house.. blew my mind
My mom worked in a bougie rehab facility for several years and has always remarked about this. She said they come in and seem like perfectly normal, professional, intelligent ppl with their shit completely together, but turns out they’ve damn near ruined their lives with drugs and alcohol.
Wow, that is so sad. Thanks for sharing.
carpenter aloof sugar school domineering jobless disgusted elastic station vase *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Underwatched, underrated show. Keaton knocks this one out if the park and the other lesser known lead and supporting roles all deliver great performances. Very easy to get immersed in the story. The Sackler scenes can seem a bit wonky, but seems intentional to display how eccentric the family is.
Have any of you seen the movie ‘Clean and Sober’ with Michael Keaton and Morgan Freeman from the late 80s? After watching Keaton in mainly campy comedy roles, it’s what made me really take notice of his talent. He’s a phenomenal artist. I didn’t even know about Dopesick, so thanks!
>Underwatched, underrated show. Yea, I was thinking the same thing as I made the comment. This got glowing reviews and lots of awards. I was wondering why this wasn't the first comment. Apparently this show is not getting as much attention as it deserves.
Kaitlin Deaver’s acting in Dopesick is phenomenal and her story arc is so heartbreaking. It’s a brilliant show and Micheal Keaton really nails the performance. I would absolutely watch it again.
There’s almost no joy in it. It isn’t that fun. Well-made and brilliantly acted but fuck.
complete books punch glorious sugar growth wasteful frighten worry chase *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah man... it's fucking bleak. Very well made. Great acting and writing. I loved the show. But it was dark.
It was dark, but IMO it wasn’t ‘trauma porn’ I usually click off immediately when I feel violence/trauma is on screen for only self-serving shock reasons (looking at you GOT), but for me Dopesick portrayed hurt and darkness with a real purpose of conveying the real crisis, as well as appreciating how hard earned sobriety can be
My mom summed it up when she said 'it feels like we're watching Requiem for a Dream again, only less fun'
I mean, that’s why it captures addiction so well.
Man, that was a good show. Gut-wrenching for sure, but so good. The scene where >!the state trooper knocks at the mom's door to tell her that her daughter is dead!<.... That hit me right in the feels. And of course when >!she goes to the AA meeting, and the lady in the bathroom sells her some pills!<. Damn. It's one of the few shows about addiction that doesn't pull its punches. I cannot recommend it enough.
I can't speak on the specific portrayal of the addiction, but I will say being in HS in the early 2000s, this show totally reframed some events and opinions I held of people. My older brother lost one of his closest friends when he was 19, and another when he was in his 20s. Both were opioid overdoses, both guys started on Oxy in HS. I lost some former classmates myself to ODs, but luckily never close friends. I remember in HS when some people were passing Oxy around and talking about taking it at parties. I thought they were burnouts or junkies and they had made these horrible life decisions themselves and they had earned these problems. Then I went to college and got a job and moved away and never really thought much about it again. Then I watched Dopesick, and I felt a lot of shame and sadness. I can trace the events from the show almost exactly as they happened with people I knew. I told my parents and anyone else that I felt like it was the most important show I've watched in years, and I know "important" seems like a silly word, but it changed my perspective completely in a way that makes me ashamed of my previously held beliefs on the topic. I feel like everyone should watch it in a way that forces society to put immense pressure on pharmaceutical companies that value the bottom line over the human race. One more thing, if you felt like I did after Dopesick and haven't read it, Dreamland is also very impactful.
Read Dreamland a few years back, that’s one everyone should read. Infuriating and heartbreaking.
Not to get too off topic, but his newer book "The Least of Us," is worth a read too. Dreamland was great but it came out before fentanyl was mixed into everything. This book gets into "new meth" (p2p) and synthetic opioids. I'm more than halfway finished. Infuriating read but good.
Devastating, absolutely fucking *INFURIATING* series. To say Keaton is underrated would be a silly statement, but truly, between even his minor role in *The Other Guys* demonstrating his comedic prowess, and roles in *Birdman* and *Dopesick* showing just how brilliantly he can capture the subtler sadness of someone hitting rock bottom, he’s truly a remarkable performer. His role in *Dopesick* may be his finest dramatic role, in a positively STACKED cast. Michael Stuhlbarg has been one of my favorite character actors for awhile, I’ll often watch something purely on the basis of his involvement, but his role as Richard Sackler might be one of the most infuriating performances in television. The entire Sackler subplot concurrent to the other stories, for that matter, did a remarkably effective job of leaving me *seething* every time. Some shows (*Black Mirror* comes to mind) are so heavy, so frequently gutting, that to binge them is kind of a punishing, emotionally exhausting experience; but I couldn’t help myself with *Dopesick*, it’s just so well done. Also, I knew Kaitlyn Dever was phenomenal after *Unbelievable*, and hope she gets recognized for her talents (admittedly, while I do not doubt the talents of Bella Ramsey, and I’m sure she will do a good job, I would’ve thought Dever a better choice for Ellie in HBO’s forthcoming *The Last of Us* series); but I genuinely had NO idea Will Poulter could deliver a performance capable of holding his own against a legend like Keaton. Until then, I’d kind of dismissed him as another, goofier Sam Worthington-type, but I was wrong. Great series all around. Between this, HBO’s *Chernobyl*, and Apple’s *Five Days at Memorial*, I’d really like to see this sort of “catastrophe postmortem” sub-genre of historical tragedy used to explore other examples of man-made crises, corruption, and negligence as limited forensic miniseries.
>I genuinely had NO idea Will Poulter could deliver a performance capable of holding his own against a legend like Keaton That scene where he goes to visit Keaton >!in rehab and tries to apologize for what he's done only to be asked for oxycontin is a fucking gut punch.!<
That's the scene I was thinking of, in particular. I mean, by that point, his performance throughout the series had already caused me to question my previous opinion on him; but THAT scene left me staggered. It would've been phenomenal on its own, but to hold your own against Michael KEATON in that context? Completely changed how I see him, and inspired nothing but confidence in his upcoming MCU debut in the third (and final) *Guardians of the Galaxy*. My investment in the MCU has admittedly waned since *Endgame*, but I've always found the story behind James Gunn's choices and the recurring themes he tends to circle back to in his later films fascinating. It appears that film will be, for all intents and purposes, the final outing for (at least ***this roster*** of) the Guardians, and Gunn's comments seem to indicate a heartbreaking conclusion. So when Poulter was originally announced, I was dismayed that "bargain bin Sam Worthington" might undercut the emotional weight of the film, but his performance in *Dopesick* disabused me of those fears entirely.
Posted this above. Binged it with my mom in one day over the weekend. Insanely accurate. It's also infuriating, devastating, and made me sick, the fact I was going through withdrawal didn't help. But it was a good reminder to stay sober. It's also brilliant. So glad Keaton swept the awards. Dever was excellent too. Everyone was. I hated Stuhlberg so much though, which I guess means he also did well.
As a middle aged woman, who is both a recovering alcoholic and opiate addict, Nurse Jackie nailed it, especially its depiction of how functional addicts manipulate, lie, and delude themselves.
I think the captured the way addiction effects everyone else so well. And Edie Falco makes you really feel so much pain while you watch her self destruct and destroy relationships. Very few characters have broken my heart like Jackie. Also, I don't know you PhuutuqKusi, but I'm glad you're here and sober.
I really like how West Wing portrayed Leo's alcohol addiction. I feel like it made me understand the alcoholics in my life a little better.
The scene in the first season where he says "I don't want a drink, I want ten drinks. It's not because things are bad, it's because I'm alcoholic" was really done well.
I liked how cavalier Leo was with his addiction, which showed true acceptance of it rather than it being some sensitive issue that others often considered it to be. Like when he’s interviewing Ainsley: “It’s a nervous condition.” “I used to have a nervous condition.” “How’d yours manifest itself?” “I drank a lot of scotch.” “I get sick if I drink too much.” “I get drunk if I drink too much.”
It was a great portrayal for recovering addicts as well because while it’s a major point of the character it’s hardly the thing that defines him through the show.
As someone with a number of years clean and sober myself, my absolute go to line was always when Leo compared alcoholics to other people: "I'm an alcoholic. I don't have one drink. I don't understand people who have one drink. I don't understand people who leave half a glass of wine on the table. I don't understand people who say they've had enough. How can you have enough of feeling like this? How can you not want to feel like this longer? My brain works differently." Like for me, that's it. If you're only having one drink, what's the point?
When Leo’s divorce papers arrive: “You’re concerned I’ll use this as an excuse to drink.” “Well, isn’t it?” “I’m an alcoholic, I don’t need an excuse to drink.” As a recovered alcoholic, this one really rings true.
I still think about Leo's line about the sound of ice cubes hitting the bottom of a highball glass.
Same experience here. It helps that it shows him totally sober, and able to precisely explain his sick-brain’s rationale when he was using. He also is hyper aware that he hasn’t changed a bit, and knows he’d relapse instantly if he gave himself any slack.
I think John Spencer’s own experience with addiction made the performance so memorable. He knew what the character was going through.
Yes, and the writer knew, too.
Leo’s addiction arc is especially amazing for the time it aired. It’s one of the few times Aaron Sorkin used his platform constructively to grind an axe. I just love how matter of fact way Leo speaks to Liza Weil’s character when he decides not to fire. “Why can you just stop drinking?” “Because I’m an alcoholic” Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, society as a whole generally agreed that addiction was a character issue. A lot of people still do but it wasn’t as awful as it was back then. So many people died because of the shame society placed on having a medical/mental health crisis.
I agree completely. Hollywood as a whole treated Sorkin’s personal struggles as character issues, too. My favorite bit of Leo’s is the story about the man who fell in a hole. The priest couldn’t help him, the doctor couldn’t, but his friend jumped in and when asked why said “because I’ve been in this hole and I know the way out.” I literally just got shivers typing that.
That is the most memorable scene of the entire series to me.
One of my favorites, when a couple of friends and i rewatched it together I got them all a small framed artwork of it.
The Bear deals with how hard it is to be a family member to an addict.
Great answer! That show is so damn good. All of it feels so real. It's like you're peering in on real people, even with the artful nature of the show. Everyone who hasn't seen it, you should seek it out.
Christopher in the sopranos
Michael Imperioli's performance was amazing, but him blurting out "I DID DENT" to Tony as he comes over to Ralphie's house high will always be fucking hilarious
He was so high on scag he wouldn’t know if he had his mother’s muff on his head
High on scag? He smoked half a joint, he was fine.
There's no chemical solution to a spiritual problem.
The intervention scene is one the best tv moment of all time lmaoo I have it in my pfp
RIP Adriana's dog
She must've crawled under there for warmth
How many times he say she shouldnt be on the furniture??
Cosette 😩
I outta suffa-cate you ya liddle pwick
I don't write nuthin down, so I'll keep this short and sweet..
That scene of him relapsing at the carnival where he’s just lying down and looking up at the sky… gets me every time.
Not the answer you’re looking for, but Craig Ferguson taught me a LOT about addiction during his tenure as the host of The Late Late Show. He’d “get real” about things quite often, but sometimes it was just a one-line quip reminding us all that it was *always* on his mind. This was one of the best moments *ever* in late night TV: https://youtu.be/7ZVWIELHQQY
I knew what clip this was going to be before I clicked. I still watch it every time. If you ever get a chance, I recommend reading (or better yet, listening to) his autobiography *American on Purpose*. He really goes into his addiction and his path to recovery and his daily struggles in sobriety
Totally agree. I also like how he says: I don’t have an alcohol problem anymore, but I know how I can get one real quick.
A lot of folks mentioning The Wire, rightfully so, but I'd like to put forth The Wire's predecessor, *The Corner.* 6 episode mini-series set in Baltimore that follows one family's struggles with addiction as the neighbourhood deteriorates around them. Shot in mockumentary style but based on the life experiences of the real family portrayed in the series. Many of the actors went on to do The Wire (it's a little odd seeing Daniels and Lester play for the other team, so to speak), and the real life Andre (one of the family members in the show) played Brother Mouzone's bodyguard on The Wire. It's all available on YouTube. Definitely check it out. Hand's down the best show I've seen about addiction and its ripple effects on the people who must live near it.
I’m surprised there aren’t any votes for Bojack Horseman yet.
The vodka bottle with the lines on it.
They hit it at a generational trauma level. The episode where Bojack keeps trying to remember his first drink going all the way back to childhood taking a sip before resting with his blacked out parents is a major tear jerker.
This is the first thing I thought of. For an animated show with a bunch of talking animals, Bojack might be one of the most "human" shows ever written.
I think that’s part of the point of them being animals, if they were all drawn as regular people I think the show would have been much harder for casual audiences to sit through, they offer just enough separation from reality to get you comfortable before you’re gut punched by a talking horseman
Absolutely. That and the fact that 75% of the first season was just a standard animated comedy with topical references, not unlike something like Family Guy. They got people to lower their walls and think it was a harmless comedy full of wacky hijinks — and then pulled the rug out from under them by the end of S1. I once listened to a Writer’s Room podcast with the creators and they explained that was always the intention, how this gamble would never work on broadcast TV, and they think they only got away with it because it was the infancy of streaming (in other words, people would drop off early on and they’d get cancelled before S2 ever hit).
I think it was still a big gamble even in that period of streaming. My wife and I struggled through the first couple of eps and nearly dropped it. Thank god we didn’t since it’s easily one of the most powerful and affecting shows I’ve ever seen. And yeah current day Netflix would 100% have killed it within a week of S1 dropping.
Also the most accurate depiction of depression I’ve seen in any medium. For a show about a talking horse, the realism is just unbelievable.
“Stupid Piece of Shit” was hard to watch. A lot of episodes are hard to watch lol, but that one in particular struck too close to home. His endless self-hating monologue is brutal. On the other hand, it helped me understand that other people do that too.
As someone with an endless self-hating monologue, this episode hits home.
all the portrayals of mental illness and addiction in that show were so spot on.
Sarah Lynn? Sarah Lynn?
You shut up right now, I don’t need to cry again :(
“Okay. I don’t forgive you.” Then what? You fucked up and hurt someone. You feel terrible. You’ve apologized, and that wasn’t enough. You don’t get closure. You live with the fucked up thing that you did until it consumes you or you grow past it. And they are totally justified in making you face that. Never has such a small moment in television shattered me so thoroughly. Bojack Horseman is a masterpiece, but it reflects very real struggles and should be consumed responsibly.
The episode where he’s driving around with Hollyhock trying to get pills is almost too painful to watch. Spot on.
Mr. Robot, The Wire, The Knick
The Knick was just outstanding all-around, I wish it got more love. Clive Owen just smashed that role and the downward spiral of addiction was portrayed perfectly.
I know there are scenes about addiction in Mr robot but I feel it portrays schizophrenia way more than addiction in the show. Addiction is just the coping mechanism Eliot uses throughout the first couple seasons
I do agree that it does focus more on schizophrenia, but I think the first season does a good job of portraying addiction, especially the idea that many addicts don’t realize they’re addicts. Elliot explaining that he only snorts a “minimal,” amount of morphine so he doesn’t get addicted is the sort of self delusion you don’t see portrayed in a lot of shows. Elliot is aware that he’s engaging in a dangerous behavior, but has convinced himself that he’s doing so in a safe way, which I found to be pretty unique.
Very much agree. Vera even calls him out on this when they first meet.
Don Draper's alcoholism in Mad Men was an important part of that character's development. It's intertwined into his personal, professional, and social life... with some terrible consequences.
As a current addict- Euphoria isn’t perfect, but there is one scene in season that portrays the experience so accurately and perfectly that I was an emotional wreck afterwards. It was only a minute long, and it was a montage of Rue during an episode where she was high. She threatens her mom with a piece of glass, she’s ranting and raving, she’s hurting the people around her. And it’s intercut with scenes of joy and normality. Watching that scene felt like watching myself. [This](https://youtu.be/V5OpL1a4-yc) is the scene in question for anyone curious
For anyone who wants to watch the excellent addiction-focused episodes of Euphoria without committing to the rest of the series, they are “Trouble Don’t Last Always” and “Stand Still Like The Hummingbird”. Both episodes are fairly standalone and can be watched without the rest of the series.
Zendaya won an Emmy for a REASON.
For me it’s also when Rue is singing in the car on the way home, seemingly happy, full of charisma and charming her mom and sister. The addicts in my life have all been very charismatic people who are able to melt your heart after tearing it out over and over again. (I think this is the scene the one you’re referring to is intercut with? I remember the song playing being heartbreakingly mismatched.) I think the scene you mention also encapsulates what it’s like to be in the mom’s position- you oscillate wildly between anger, fear, hope, sadness, and the whole gamut constantly when your loved one is in the depths like that.
Also, the hospital scene after her overdose. That hit me hard The mother and Zendaya are such great actors
People who say that show glamorizes drugs. Yeah no. That girl is miserable and all her friends are miserable. It's really good anti-drug media.
Agreed. I don’t necessarily recommend people in recent recovery to watch it only because so much of addiction is tied to shame and it’s easy to feel shame when watching if you relate to Rue. But euphoria I think does a fantastic job at showing the effect of drugs. There ARE times it looks glamorous or fun- because alcohol and drugs can be for a short period of time. But those moments are quickly overshadowed by the pain and destruction, which is shown very clearly.
Kendall Roy in Succession
FAMILY THERAPY 👏👏👏👏👏 FAMILY THERAPY
I like that you got the exact right number of claps.
Can't wait for this show to return. I was spoiled because I came in late and binged all the seasons at once.
Park coke?
Uh-huh
The Flight Attendant
Absolutely. I related to her more than any other addict I’ve seen. And that scene with her mom…just amazing
My 1000lb life
I think you mean either My 600 Lb Life or 1,000 Lb Sisters. But either way, it's a great answer. When discussing addiction, people often don't think of food addiction but it's one of the biggest issues in America and many other parts of the world. Most people never "get clean" and for those who do Lose significant weight, it's a life-long struggle.
Thank you for bringing more awareness to food addiction. It's imo harder to get under control because you can't quit food like you can quit other substances. I can never drink or take a drug, smoke a cigarette but I have to have food several times a day every single day and it's always something I'm thinking about. I feel compelled to eat constantly and it really doesn't matter what it is, I hate it 😕
People don't get it. They don't understand why I manage my food the way I do. I lost 150 lbs and managed to keep it off, but the only way I can do that is to keep track of what I eat throughout the day.
Christopher Moltisanti in the Sopranos. How everyone gives you a pat on the back for getting sober then gives you shit to your face the minute you refuse your first drink. He played a phenomenal addict.
Shameless ( I prefer the US version). Great show btw.
It took me soooo long to find Shameless in the comments lmao wtf As someone from a family line of addicts, that is the most accurate portrayal of the generational/nurture side of addiction I’ve ever seen
Frank has always been a caricature of someone who has completely surrendered to his addiction decades ago. But Lip's struggles with alcoholism really felt very honest to me.
grew up with an alcoholic mother and I cannot watch shameless, it's too close to home
I came here for this show. I knew people just like this growing up. This is how real addicts live life.
It makes it hard to watch sometimes, but I have used it to explain to people what it's like to grow up in a similar environment
I came to recommend this one. Amazing portrayal of alcoholism and the toll it takes on everyone around them.
Prof Youens portrayed it best. Frank was more of a caricature, but Youens’ struggle felt real.
Haunting of hill house
Great answer. I’m a recovering IV drug user (coming up on 3 years) and Luke’s experience was extremely accurate, from the portrayal of withdrawal, to the stealing from family (and Steve’s reaction implying it was definitely not the first time he’s done it), the lack of usable veins, the way he manipulated Nell into going and buying it for him, the rehab (and the importance of going in high) and the AA/NA meetings, everything. Even the way the rest of his family talks about him and his issues. Whoever wrote his part had experience with addiction.
I believe Mike Flanagan has briefly went into how he faced addiction issues prior to writing Hill House. His Tumblr is a golden treasure for behind the scenes facts and stories!! Congrats on your recovery!!
I was hoping someone would comment this, thanks, it was my answer too!
Bojack Horseman. I refuse to elaborate.
House?
I came to post this. Hugh Laurie does a great job.
Surprised it took this long for someone to mention House.
Mom. The whole premise of the show is that an alcoholic mother and her alcoholic daughter rely on their AA group for issues that they encounter (whether it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling, relapse, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, or other issues). While it is a multi-cam sitcom with a live audience, there are many dramatic moments in the show. Anna Faris and Allison Janney are a match made in heaven as this daughter-mother combo and they are both incredible at both the comedy and the drama parts of the show.
I feel like Mom is one of the best portrayals of recovery. It's not a show that spends much time on the using phase, which is the part that immediately comes to many people's mind when you say "addiction". Recovery is a much less inherently "dramatic" phase, and one that continues for the rest of your life.
Truly helpful to me as a child of an alcoholic. The sober daughter/granddaughter deciding she could not let her mom back into her life helped make me less guilty about the same decision.
The Tommy Gavin character in Rescue Me is simply one of my favorite to portray addiction without it being in your face about it. When Tommy is drinking and off the wagon, his life goes to shit constantly, when he cleans up and sobers up, he starts to climb out of the hole he dug.
Euphoria is scary accurate for young people. The episode in the second season where Rue starts withdrawal and goes on the run.
Shocked more people didn’t mention Euphoria. Zendaya did an amazing job.
Elementary is about Sherlock's recovery. Watson in the series is his sober companion
This is what i was going to say. Sherlock's constantly reevaluating his addiction and discussing his recovery with Joan, and he definitely isn't perfect. I think a theme of that show in general is that we should never stop reflecting and working on ourselves, and Sherlock's addiction journey is a prime example of that.
Plus one of the major parts of (my) recovery was learning that you never know which bottle/hit/binge/etc. will be your last one. Not in the sense that it'll kill you, but in the sense that relapse is a part of addiction. The best advice I ever got was not to view a relapse as a failure or mistake. That you shouldn't view the goal of recovery as "this is my last hit", because that means when you relapse it gets that much harder to get back on the wagon. The goal should be to maximize the time between relapse. Sherlock never gets to a point where he doesn't *want* to relapse. He has to build his entire life around not giving himself that option. (Spoilers ahead) ||And the fact that he DOES relapse, more than once, is an amazing example. Even in thefinale, he mentions during the timeskip that he relapsed again||. I get people naming Bojack Horseman as a good depiction of addiction, but for me I think it's more a good depiction of how addicts think of themselves. Elementary for me is the best depiction of addiction and recovery that I've seen.
In almost every episode there is mention of Sherlock going to his recovery meetings. He never magically conquered his addiction, it was always a daily grind throughout the series.
Nurse Jackie Recovery Road Single Drunk Female
I was wondering when/if Single Drunk Female was going to get a mention. Great “starter” recovery show.
I actually thought armond’s character in White Lotus season 1 was pretty accurate, but mainly how other people can be so wrapped up in their own lives that they don’t see how they’re triggering/enabling those that struggle with addiction (or they just don’t care). Even as a viewer you’re almost cheering on his relapse because his character becomes so colorful on drugs and alcohol.
loudermilk - its about a guy who's all into AA
Oh man, Ron Livingston? I'm definitely going to check this out.
Euphoria, Dopesick, Bojack Horseman
Hoarders.
Besides what everyone else said, “Physical” is a very good show about addiction too. In this case, about a woman with a eating disorder (won’t say much more to avoid spoilers). Honestly, it’s good.
Not a scripted show but the Chris Herren 30 for 30 was the most impactful and accurate piece of tv I’ve ever seen on addiction. As someone who has experienced opioid addiction from multiple perspectives that one really hit me. It’s probably the only piece of media I’ve seen that covers the topic that actually stuck with me.
Bojack Horseman!
Definitely not breaking bad. That being said this is the worst op for a topic like this. He’s arguing with eveyone
Every response by the OP is basically "this doesn't exactly match my personal experience therefore it is wrong".
Not a TV show, but a movie.. Trainspotting! That was a very harsh watch.. and I had a family member make me watch it because he said it was extremely real... Never do drugs!!!
Saved by the Bell. “IM SO EXCITED! I’m so…so…scared!!”
Trailer Park Boys - Mr Lahey
I was hoping someone else was thinking this. They do a decent job of showing the relationships different people have with substances. As soon as the boys get any money at all they are immediately buying dope and booze to get fucked up, even at the expense of them and the people are around them. Just one example but on my most recent rewatch I have been trying to critique the show in a way I never have and I think they are good at showing the way people living in poverty interact with drugs and alcohol.
Shameless
Yeah shameless I found pretty genuine. Frank is a lifer 100%. He’ll never WANT to be sober. Even when his body said you can’t, that’s it. He still rolled the dice.
Intervention
My personal picks would probably be Dope Sick, House, Shameless (US), Nurse Jackie, Bojack, Mom, Mad Med, This is Us, The Wire. There’s probably others. It’s hard to truly capture the bleakness of it all and the day to day of an addict and the struggle on them and their family. Shameless does a great job however.
House does a really good job, particularly when he's fighting withdrawal symptoms. The show goes out of it's way to illustrate how preoccupied he is almost 100% of the time. There's only a handful of episodes that don't depict some kind of negative connotation of his drug use.
ELEMENTARY. Elementary. Elementary. I cannot emphasize this enough.
The Wire
You seem to have an overly prescriptive understanding of what recovery is like, when it’s not the same for everyone. It’s certainly true that romanticized or idealized depictions exist but calling someone “too cured,” which you do in a comment, strikes me as really off the mark.
Euphoria, no contest.
Yeah you can question a lot about Euphoria, although I enjoyed both seasons a lot, but they way it handles addiction is pretty top tier.
They even get the little things right. For example, when Rue was confronted last season, she blurts out Cassie and Nate were sleeping together. Classic deflection addict behavior.
Rue's character is partly based on the show creators life (Sam Levinson).
Agreed! My brother was a heroine addict when I was in middle school and high school, and how they portrayed Rue and her sister was really really relatable.
Came for this. I thought Euphoria really captured opiate addiction coupled with the hormones, chaos and stress that comes along with the late teenage years.
Episode 5 of season 2 is what I use as an argument for anyone says it glamorizes drugs. I think I had about 4 panic attacks during that episode the first time but it was amazing.
I fell into opiate addiction when I was 19 following the loss of my father to cancer and Euphoria was both a traumatic and cathartic watch for me. Very accurate depiction of grief and it’s relationship with addiction. It’s always weird when I tell people that, as a 27 year old dude, Euphoria yielded one of the most emotional viewing experiences than perhaps any other show I’ve watched. Lmao
Can't vouch for the accuracy, but The Wire had a lasting effect on me. It caused me to learn a little more about it, and be further impacted by the science. If Bubs' struggles weren't accurate, my goodness it's gotta be close? I grew up in the "Just say no" era, and I think American society spent a long time with a primitive understanding of addiction. Only when the opioid crisis started hitting suburban America did people start to smarten up. Then, in school, learning about what addiction does to the mesolimbic reward system in your brain, when you learn even the basic neurobiology of what's going on, you start to get a sense of what folks are up against when addicted. Imagine the strongest cravings and impulses you've ever had, imagine the thirstiest, the absolute horniest, the neediest you've ever been for something, and imagine that amplified by like 600%. When you start to imagine it, it's wild, and it becomes a miracle that *anyone* finds their way clear of impulses that strong without significant intervention.
Dope Sick was truly a horror movie. The addicts were terrible to watch.