Everybody’s talking about Netflix’s “Adolescence” — from Forbes offering three reasons why parents should watch the drama to CNN using it to discuss how “Teenage boys are in crisis.” Released earlier this month, the four-episode miniseries created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (who also stars) explores the consequences of the brutal murder of a 13-year-old girl in a UK town. Director Philip Barantini (Boiling Point) has given the series an unusual and daring format: Each roughly hour-long episode was shot in a single continuous take.
The deal
On the morning after the stabbing of young Katie Leonard, we follow two homicide detectives (Ashley Walters and Faye Marsay) as they burst into the home of their suspect: the victim’s classmate Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper). We watch as the frightened child and his parents go to the police station for processing and an initial interview, including playing surveillance video of the crime.
In episode 2, set a few days later, the detectives visit Jamie and Katie’s school, hoping for a lead on the murder weapon. More importantly, they learn that cyberbullying was a motivating factor, as a teen “translates” Katie’s seemingly innocent emojis into an insult aimed at Jamie’s masculinity.
The final two episodes take place several months later. In one, we witness an interview between Jamie and a psychologist (Erin Doherty) assigned to assess him. In the other, we learn how Jamie’s parents (Graham and Christine Tremarco) and older sister (Amelie Pease) are coping with his absence and their new public notoriety.
Will you like it?
Don’t come to “Adolescence” expecting a murder mystery. The first episode grabs our attention with the startling contrast between the armed cops and their teary, seemingly harmless suspect, but we don’t wonder for long whether Jamie killed Katie. The question quickly becomes “whydunit” — and, more importantly, how could such a thing happen?
Many viewers are taking “Adolescence” as a shocking indictment of the internet in general and the “manosphere” in particular. While that’s true, it’s arguably the least fresh element of the series. None of the scant information presented here will surprise anyone who’s aware of so-called “red pill culture.” (For a crash course from a lefty perspective, check out the “QAnon Anonymous” podcast or the blog We Hunted the Mammoth.) Moreover, those of us old enough to remember 1986’s River’s Edge know that similar tales were inspiring think pieces about feckless youths long before social media.
The power of “Adolescence” lies not in its topical alarmism but in its realism, its gripping use of the tools of procedural drama to lay bare the circumstances around one horrifying act of violence.
Not everyone will love the long-take format, which requires each episode to happen in real time (slowing down for bureaucratic details, speeding up for occasional action) and puts us in the position of a hapless observer tagging along after the characters. But I found the pacing and staging masterful, immersing us in the potboiler of each episode as the tension builds. Episode 2, for instance, makes a familiar point: School is just another form of incarceration. But the artfully choreographed chaos illustrates the thesis so effectively that you might find yourself having middle school flashbacks.
The naturalistic format would fall flat without performances to match, and the actors deliver. As Jamie, Cooper evolves before our eyes from someone who arouses our protective instincts into a far more complex and unsettling figure, without ever summoning “bad seed” clichés. His extended tête-à-tête with the excellent Doherty is riveting, as the two characters vie for control of the narrative. Walters and Marsay far transcend our expectations of TV cops. Graham and Tremarco elicit sympathy as a solid, loving couple struggling to process the unimaginable — and wondering how much responsibility they bear.
In episode 2, Marsay’s detective makes an acerbic point: During the public outcry over murders such as this one, the male perpetrator typically gets all the hand-wringing attention, while the female victim is forgotten. She’s right, and her critique applies to “Adolescence” itself — call it an apologetic footnote. Aside from some wrenching scenes with Katie’s best friend (Fatima Bojang), the series’ focus stays on Jamie and his family — an artistic choice that makes it possible to dig below the surface.
But at no point does “Adolescence” blame girls for the actions of boys, as too many commentators are still wont to do. The series reveals a wasp’s nest of contributing factors — noxious ideology, self-hatred, misunderstanding, the hormone-driven volatility of early adolescence — without painting any of them as extenuating. “Adolescence” isn’t just a warning to parents but a reminder to everyone of how fear and isolation can magnify our cruelty to ourselves and each other. The internet didn’t create that cruelty, but it sure hasn’t helped.
If you like this, try…
Eighth Grade (2018; Kanopy, rentable): Want a similarly themed drama from a female perspective? Director Bo Burnham may not know girlhood firsthand, but he knows social media, and Elsie Fisher gives a gripping performance as a very online 13-year-old.
“Under the Bridge” (eight episodes, 2024; Hulu): Based on a memoir and real events, this uneven but thought-provoking drama explores the social dynamics that led to the murder of a 14-year-old girl by her peers in 1997.
“The Wire” (five seasons, 2002-2008, Max, YouTube Primetime, rentable): David Simon’s series about cops and gangs in Baltimore pioneered the 21st-century procedural drama with its laser-sharp dissection of dysfunctional institutions such as public schools.