Dopesick
Directed by Fred Berner
Written by Rene Balcer, Dick Wolf, Craig Turk, & Dwain Worrell
The team is called in to track down a doctor on the run after a phone call records him killing his wife.
Tropes for the episode:
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Dr. Jason Brock runs a 'pill mill' for a gang of outlaw bikers called 'The Forsaken Sons'.
- Broken Pedestal: Brock's daughter is horrified to discover that not only did her father kill her mother but was lying all along about being a veteran. She had even enlisted herself to live up to his "legacy." When he tries to hold her hostage, she takes him down to beat him, ranting on how it feels to have wasted so many years looking up to a fraud.
- Dr. Feelgood: Dr. Brock is running a pill mill for a biker gang. He writes prescriptions for opiods for the addicts the biker gang sends him as patients without even the most cursory examination: listing 'back pain' as the reason for prescription. The addicts fill the scripts, keep a percentage of the pills for the own use, and give the rest to the bikers to onsell. Aside from the huge number of prescriptions written, the FBI are tipped off because all of his pateints pay cash.
- Phony Veteran: Dr. Brock claims to have served in Bosnia, receiving the Bronze Star, and keeps the medal on display on his desk and multiple photos of himself in uniform in his home and office. However, he actually washed out of basic training and was discharged on spurious medical grounds.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Brock's daughter delivers one of these alongside a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to her father, furious that the main role model in her life is nothing more than a liar and a murderer.
- Reusable Lighter Toss: The leader of the outlaw biker gang who helps Dr. Brock disappear has Brock's car crushed and douses it in gasoline. He tosses a Zippo to one of his underlings who lights it and tosses it on to the car.
