“Payback.” “Fisk.” “Painkiller.”

“Payback” (Amazon Prime) British crime thriller. Created by Jed Mercurio, who gave us the remarkable “Line of Duty,” this miniseries never lacked edge of your seat suspense while devoid of the “obligatory” cop-shoot-bad dude banger. Mr Mercurio’s detective/police excursions are more drama than action. 

       Morven Christie (remarkable in two seasons of “The Bay”) is Lexie Noble, an unsuspecting wife who becomes entangled in a police operation to topple a notorious crime lord in Scotland. Veteran Peter Mullan is mob boss Cal Morris and Steven Mackintosh is his second in command Malky Roberts. Mr Mullan could be the other half of today’s cinema’s most sinister old man, along with Brian Cox. But it is Ms Christie’s focus and grip that keeps the tension riveting and the intensity sustained. 🎥📺📹

“Fisk” (Netflix) 2 Seasons, and ongoing. Australian comedy. Revolves around the life of lawyer Helen Tudor-Fisk, who leaves Sydney for Melbourne after her career and marriage fall apart. Simple, 3-4 setting sitcom. Easy laughter although it (also) tackles current pop politics. Very funny. 

       Kitty Flanagan as Helen Tudor-Fisk is a natural. She doesn’t need to exert effort to be funny. In fact, her baggy pants and loose shirt “uniform” are already funny. And the support cast of Julia Zemiro as Roz Gruber, Marty Sheargold as Ray Gruber, and Aaron Chen as George don’t need to be slapstick to elicit laughter. And it’s only 30 minutes less. Per episode. Fine breather from the usual heavy-hearted series. 🎥📺📹

“Painkiller” (Netflix) drama limited series, based on Patrick Radden Keefe's New Yorker article "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain" and “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic” by Barry Meier, focuses on the birth of the opioid crisis, with an emphasis on Purdue Pharma, a company owned by Richard Sackler and his family that was the manufacturer of OxyContin.

       In case you already saw the series “Dopesick” (Hulu) and the Emily Blunt movie “Pain Hustlers” (Netflix), nothing’s big deal about this series. “Dopesick” is a lot better. All the actors here from the guilty Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler and Clark Gregg as Arthur Sackler to those who pursued them, Uzo Aduba as Edie Flowers and Tyler Ritter as John L. Brownlee, from Purdue’s sellers Dina Shihabi as Britt and West Duchovny as Shannon Schaeffer to victim Taylor Kitsch as Glen Kryger–all went through the motion of obligatorily acting.

       And I don’t dig the visual flash as well. What to expect, “Painkiller” is directed by action architect Peter Berg of the “Smokin' Aces” (2006), “The Kingdom” (2007), “Hancock” (2008), “Battleship” (2012), “Lone Survivor” (2013) etcetera bang-bangers. So in case you are wanting a better Sackler/Oxy feature, go to “Dopesick,” instead. 🎥📺📹