Directed by Erin Lee Carr, How to Fix a Drug Scandal focuses on two chemists who manipulated the legal system to their advantage, but for entirely different reasons. By deconstructing the fallout of cases involving drug analysts Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan, the four-part Netflix docuseries offers the essential information; however, it may not provide the clarity that some viewers are looking for. How to Fix a Drug Scandal, which Netflix released in April 2020, leaves out some key information pertaining to the stories it tells.
How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores both Farak and Dookhan's stories. In September 2012, Dookhan was arrested for obstruction of justice and falsification of academic records. Once known as a productive employee at Boston's Hinton State Laboratory Institute, she admitted to fabricating test results in order to speed up the legal process. The popular Netflix docuseries reveals that Dookhan viewed herself as part of the prosecution team, and also that she misrepresented herself both in public and through e-mail exchanges. How to Fix a Drug Scandal also documents how and why Farak, another analyst, tampered with drug evidence at Morrill Science Center in Amherst, along with defense attorney Luke Ryan's attempts to uncover the truth about Farak's drug addiction.
How to Fix a Drug Scandal reveals that Dookhan's incompetence and Farak's drug use led to over 35,000 cases being dismissed. In addition, the Netflix docuseries explains how the Massachusetts' Attorney General's Office prevented Ryan from receiving exculpatory evidence that could've helped his clients. However, How to Fix a Drug Scandal on Netflix leaves out, or doesn't fully address, key details about its subject matter.
A More Thorough Depiction Of Farak
Actress Shannon O'Neill portrays Farak in How to a Fix a Drug Scandal. The Netflix docuseries makes it clear that moments were re-created based on text from unsealed court transcripts; however, casual streamers may get confused about the artistic filmmaking choice, or even believe that O'Neill is indeed Farak. Regardless, there's little attention paid to the humanity of the actual chemist, aside from unflattering court photos, a first-episode sequence that details her high school accomplishments, and various sequences that focus on her drug use at work from 2004 to 2013. As a result, How to a Fix a Drug Scandal on Netflix loses a sense of realism via stylized sequences featuring an actress known primarily for her work on the HBO comedy series High Maintenance.
The Extent Of The Amherst Lab "Mess"
The Netflix docuseries progressively details the specifics of Farak's drug use and how she spiraled out of control, but her day-to-day routine isn't always clear. For example, interviewees state that the Amherst lab was "grotesquely-underfunded," yet the visuals mostly focus on the recreated visuals of Farak and the faux interior of her office, rather than images of the real laboratory. How to Fix a Drug Scandal on Netflix includes interviews from Farak's colleagues, and Ryan is filmed outside the Morril Science Center near the end, but it would've been beneficial for viewers to receive a better understanding of the inner workings and how Farak maneuvered over the years while covering up her drug addiction.
Annie Dookhan's Backstory
Dookhan hasn't spoken to the press since 2013, so she remains an enigmatic figure in How to Fix a Drug Scandal. There's an entire sequence devoted to her catfishing prosecutor George Papachristos, in which she alleges — through an assumed identity — that she's divorced and ready to mingle. In reality, Dookhan was married to Surrendranath Dookhana, the father of her disabled son, Branden — both of whom don't appear in How to Fix a Drug Scandal, presumably to protect their privacy. Overall,the Netflix docuseries implies that Dookhan took a shortcut to success, but her backstory is mostly left unexplored.
More Personal Stories To Complement The Numbers
Since How to Fix a Drug Scandal is fundamentally about drug addiction in America, there's a surprising absence of addiction-related analysis in the Netflix docuseries. Viewers learn that Farak initially experimented with drug evidence to gain energy and to be more productive. In fact, it's even suggested that she probably never would've been caught if she hadn't spiraled out of control by smoking crack cocaine (and thus losing her focus). How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores two specific legal cases that were affected by the focal chemists' misconduct, but doesn't take an in-depth approach by psychoanalyzing the major societal issue that is drug addiction. Instead, there are talking heads — lawyers and journalists — who offer statistics and their opinions about Farak and Dookhan in How to Fix a Drug Scandal on Netflix, along with prosecuted individuals who speak more about the law and less about their personal experiences with addiction.