Warning: This post contains spoilers for the finale ofDopesick.
Somehow, against all odds,Dopesickended with a message of hope.
He also knew he wasn’t going to tie things up with white text on a black screen.
Michael Keaton on ‘Dopesick’.Gene Page/Hulu
“The goal was that it was the origin story, right?
I wanted to document those crimes and what happened to the prosecutors,” says Strong.
“So then, where do you actually end the story?
I never knew.”
That’s why there’s no scroll.
Then there was the added challenge that the real-life saga on which the project is based is still ongoing.
“I was waiting for current events to play out,” says Strong.
One character, meanwhile, didn’t get a happy ending.
In episode 7, Betsy (Kaitlyn Dever)overdoses, a decision that received some pushback.
“There was a moment in which someone high-level felt it was important that she not die.
I didn’t get it.
I just didn’t understand what the problem was.
It felt so false to me to have her and Finnix survive.
So there’s two versions here, right?
“It was certainly challenging,” says Strong.
So I just wanted something to be said that was not depressing.
He continues, “There were a lot of different things at play.
There was a very dark tone through the course of the season.
“I always knew this was the journey,” says Strong.
“He was going to start healing people because of the journey he went on.
And we end the show with a very different person making a very different statement about pain.
Instead of pulling back, we’re pushing in.
