'Painkiller's Best Performance Is From an Up-and-Coming Actor

The Big Picture

• Painkiller is a gripping TV show that shines a light on the opioid epidemic and Purdue Pharmaceuticals' role in creating it.
• West Duchovny delivers a standout performance as Shannon, an ambitious young professional who becomes entangled in the dangerous world of Oxycontin sales.
• Duchovny's portrayal of Shannon's transformation from a carefree salesperson to a conflicted individual facing a moral dilemma is both powerful and convincing.

Netflix's Painkiller is the award-nominated TV series that tells the sordid true story of the opioid epidemic, emphasizing Purdue Pharmaceuticals' role in creating the problem. It is similar to the Hulu show Dopesick which was met with critical and audience praise after its release in 2021. The show has a terrific, experienced cast, including stalwarts like Matthew Broderick, Taylor Kitsch, and Uzo Aduba. Still, it's a relative newcomer who has the most memorable turn in the harrowing story. West Duchovny is the daughter of X-Files star David Duchovny and Deep Impact and Bad Boys actress Téa Leoni. It is an unexpected show-stealing performance and confirms that Duchovny's trajectory is definitely headed in the right direction. Given that Aduba gives a strong performance and Kitsch is solid per usual, the newcomer who only has a few credits to her name up to this point, makes the most of what's likely the most important role in her blossoming career.

Painkiller (2023)

The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA.

Who Does West Duchovny Play in 'Painkiller'?

West Duchovny gets to sink her teeth into the part of Shannon Schaeffer, an ambitious young professional who falls in with the sales team at Purdue Pharma where she's mentored by a winsome and larger-than-life saleswoman named Britt Hufford (Dina Shihabi). Schaeffer is a green, doe-eyed rookie who is taken under Britt's wing and psychologically groomed to become a cutthroat peddler of Oxycontin. The two team up to make office visits to doctors all over their sales region and proceed to do whatever they have to do to get them to start prescribing the dangerously addictive opioid.

West is both believable and convincing as a young woman who believes what she's doing is right and part of the job if she wants to become a successful saleswoman like Britt. She admires Britt for her steely, no-bullshit attitude in a profession where you can't afford to take "no" for an answer. It's clear that she's out to make a good impression and West delivers the part of Shannon with just the right amount of naïveté and earnest amateurism on her way to setting up a character that will slowly grow in confidence before facing a moral dilemma as the truth about the drug she's pushing becomes clearer.

The True Story Behind Netflix's 'Painkiller'

The fictionalized limited series chronicles one of the greatest tragedies in American history.

'Painkiller's Moral Dilemma Vexes Duchovny's Shannon

Shannon is having the time of her life partnering up with Britt and making the rounds selling Oxy to as many doctors as she can. She has lots of money, a new sports car, and is really getting up to speed with each successful sale, But all good things must come to an end, and as the truth about Oxy and Purdue Pharma starts to unfold around her, she will soon face a reckoning that will test her mettle as a human being. Duchovny absolutely thrives as a young woman who is thriving in the topsy-turvy, fast-paced world of sales, and when her world starts to collapse like a house of cards. She is able to pull an about-face and go from 100 miles per hour to a dead stop on a dime. When the shit begins to hit the fan, Duchovny shows incredible versatility downshifting from a carefree kid trying to make a name for herself in a cutthroat business world into a pensive and introspective type who becomes more conflicted over the course of the six-episode show.

Shannon's Spiral Hits a New Low in 'Painkiller'

One of the most difficult things an actor is asked to do is convince the audience that she is in the midst of a life-threatening existential crisis. Duchovny aces this part of the test as well. As she starts to spiral downward with concern that is starting to morph into regret and self-loathing, she handles the transition with grade-A aplomb. While attending one of Purdue's many glitzy and over-the-top parties/seminars, Shannon is already feeling an enormous amount of regret over her actions, but she has an experience in the bathroom that pushes her over the edge. When a group of her friends and colleagues begin to extoll the amazing high they get from taking Oxycontin, snorting the drug for an immediate high, the rubber hits the road for Shannon, who has never used the drug herself. They convince her to snort some as well, and

It's at the point when Duchovny is convinced to join them that her spot-on performance hits its flashpoint. She deftly plays the young woman who suddenly realizes that she's completely misread the entire situation. It's like the old saying in poker, "If you haven't identified the sucker at the table within the first half-hour, then you are the sucker." And it's a pleasure to see Duchovny stick the landing when this realization smacks her in the nose. High on the drug, a psychologically broken Shannon nearly drowns in the swimming pool at the end of Episode 5. That's when she knows the jig is up, and she'd better come clean before she is destroyed by guilt and shame.

West Duchovny Tops Off a Great Performance

At the beginning of Episode 6, Shannon's breakdown in the finale is the best scene in the entire series. She meets with lawyer Edie Flowers (Aduba) in a diner and tells her that she's done hurting people, and her desperate portrayal is some of Painkiller's best acting. She decides that she will work with the U.S. Attorney's office and turns over all the information she has on the wrongdoing at Purdue. By doing so, she becomes the most pivotal player in taking the company and its CEO Richard Sackler (Broderick) down. She follows that up with a "come to Jesus" showdown with her mentor and friend Britt, and her frenzied exchange with the hard-driving corporate shill is the cherry on top of a dynamic turn by a terrific newcomer. West Duchovny may be from an acting family, but she's by no means a nepo baby! Sometimes great acting is simply genetic, and her performances in both Painkillers as well as Hulu's Saint X make us excited to see West Duchovny's growth as an actress.

Painkiller is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

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