Roderick Usher is the head of a corrupt pharmaceutical industry that sells a drug that is contributing to the opioid epidemic. He has six children, and the story begins with him having just lost all six of them. The story follows several timelines, one of which is Roderick Usher’s confession to Auggie Dupin, an American prosecutor who has tried all his life to have Usher persecuted for corruption. Usher goes through two stories: his life with his sister Madeline from childhood to the present day, and the reason for the death of his children. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, this mini-series has just the right dose of gothic horror mixed with the current opioid epidemic. Some fine speeches, beautiful images and a captivating story. I loved it.
“- Death was something new for my children. They really hadn’t faced it. But like with all other things, Ushers adapt quickly. One thing I tried to teach them, the art of the pivot. When life hands you lemons…
– Make lemonade ?
– No. First, you roll out a multi-media campaign to convince people lemons are incredibly scarce, which only works if you stockpile lemons, control the supply, then a… A media blitz. Lemon is the only way to say “I love you”, the must-have accessory for engagements or anniversaries. Roses are out, lemons are in. Billboards that say she won’t have sex with you unless you got lemons. You cut De Beers in on it. Limited edition lemon bracelets, yellow diamonds called lemon drops. You get Apple to call their new operating system OS-Lemón. A little accent over the “o”. You charge 40% more for organic lemons, 50% more for conflit-free lemons. You pack the Capitol with lemon lobbyists, you get a Kardashian to suck a lemon wedge in a leaked sex tape. Timothée Chalamet wears lemon shoes at Cannes. Get a hashtag campaign. Something isn’t “cool” or “tight” or “awesome”, no, it’s “lemon”. “Did you see that movie ?”, “Did you go to that concert ? It was effing lemon”. Billie Eilish, “OMG, hashtag… lemon”. You get Dr Oz to recommend four lemons a day and a lemon suppository supplement to get rid of toxins ’cause there’s nothing scarier than toxins. Then, you patent the seeds. You write a line of genetic code that makes lemons look just a little more like tits… and you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence… you cross-pollinate… you get those seeds circulating in the wild, and then you sue the farmers for copyright infringement when that genetic code shows up on their land. Sit back, rake in the millions, and then, when you’re done and you’ve sold your lem-pire for a few billion dollars, then, and only then, you make some fucking lemonade.”
Eight episodes of approximately 1 hour
Episode 1. A Midnight Dreary
Episode 2. The Masque of the Red Death
Episode 3. Murder in the Rue Morgue
Episode 4. The Black Cat
Episode 5. The Tell-Tale Heart
Episode 6. Goldbug
Episode 7. The Pit and the Pendulum
Episode 8. The Raven