Netflix Docuseries ‘The One About Matthew Perry’ Is a Tragic, Mournful Portrait of Addiction: TV Review
The three-part Netflix series portrays Matthew Perry’s decades-long struggle with addiction through accounts from his family, friends, former partners and fellow addicts. It presents his talent, humour and fame alongside the chronic illness that led to his death from a ketamine overdose in 2023, showing how the series situates his public success within a more private struggle.
Perry’s younger half-sister, therapist Mia Perry Bowick, is a central voice, joined by people who knew him before and after he became famous. The series uses interviews, archival footage and Perry’s own recorded words, and includes established details such as his 2018 sepsis-induced coma linked to opiate use. It offers few major revelations, instead adding personal testimony about the impact of his addiction and the anxiety he experienced around the 2021 “Friends” reunion.
In short
- The series traces Perry’s addiction through accounts from people close to him.
- It adds personal testimony rather than major new revelations.
- Perry died from a ketamine overdose in 2023.
Explained simply
Matthew Perry was an actor best known for playing Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends, which became a major television hit in the 1990s. He spoke publicly about his struggles with addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs, including opiates, over several decades.
Addiction is a long-term health condition that can affect a person’s choices, relationships and physical health. Perry’s experiences drew attention to how illness can continue alongside a successful public career, and to the effects on family and friends who try to support someone.
Perry died in 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine, a drug used in medical treatment and sometimes misused. His death renewed public interest in his health and the pressures he described around fame, including before a Friends reunion.