Adolescence

Very gripping and poignant miniseries. I was a bit late in getting to watch this but I'm glad I did. Each of the 4 episodes are impressively filmed in one shot, giving lots of opportunities for the filmmakers to jump through windows, hand cameras off to drones, and use tracking shots to clearly establish geography. The acting is really powerful, particularly from young star Owen Cooper as Jamie, the 13 year old boy accused of murder, as well as series co-creator Stephen Graham's beautiful performance as Jamie's Dad. Episode 1 follows the first day after the violence, with cops conducting an early morning raid to arrest a seemingly innocent 13 year old boy accused of murder, before then showing what he and his family encounter at the city jail. Episode 2 expands on the story by visiting the school where the students knew each other and fermented their animosity to each other. Episode 3 is probably the standout of the series, following a therapist who speaks to Jamie while he's in detention, trying to uncover what exactly is driving his actions. Episode 4 is about Jamie's family and how they cope, blaming themselves and trying to move past the horror of knowing someone close to them may have hurt someone. Thematically, the show is exploring how young males who lack positive male role models can begin to form unhealthy views of women, believing themselves entitled to women's bodies. When paired with toxic masculine rage, this can lead to violence. But the show isn't anti-male. It's actually hugely empathetic to males and their need for positive role models, pointing out that if they find mentorship in the wrong places that can promote toxicity. The show is deeply humanizing both to the Dad character played by series co-creator Stephen Graham, and even to Jamie, who I found myself really empathizing with despite being horrified by his actions. While everyone remembers the third episode, with Owen Cooper giving his shocking, explosive performance to the female therapist; I think the point of the series is in episode 4, where we see that Jamie's Dad has many of the same flaws Jamie does. He is also prone to fits of rage. The Dad hasn't ever hurt anyone, but all that's different between them is that he didn't develop the same toxic viewpoints that would ultimately lead Jamie astray. I've seen some right wing people say "oh it's anti-male! They were hating on Andrew Tate!" Firstly, hating on Andrew Tate should be a positive in anyone’s book. But second, the series doesn't actually do that. Jamie tells the therapist he had been shown manosphere content and he didn't actually like it. Moreover, Katie was actively bullying him, so the story isn't that a young guy listens to Andrew Tate and then turns into a killer. The story is that a young boy grows up without proper influence on how to interact with girls. He tries to prove his manhood to his Father, but feels incapable. Girls start picking on him and further emasculating him, leading to him lashing out against girls due to these factors. It's actually quite fascinating because I empathize with Jamie and understand why he would end up where he does, even while I despise the path he ultimately chooses. That brings me back to episode 4, where the Dad starts wondering what he could have done differently. Nothing here was necessarily his fault, but he still realizes that he failed his son by not providing him a positive nurturing male influence. That's the true message of the show. Yes, it has some commentary about social media too, but the ultimate point here is that young males need positive male influences, and positive relationships with the opposite sex. That is a theme well worth exploring, and I'm glad this series did so. One thing that held me back a bit was that Owen Cooper looks much prettier than the type of boy who I think this is actually being made about in real life. He looks like he'd be the kid all his classmates would find super cute, not the boy who girls are calling undateable, or "the ugliest boy in school" as Jamie seems to believe he is. There's also been some controversy because the closest real life incident about a young British schoolboy stabbing a girl to death, was about a black young man, and some provacateurs have suggested that casting a white character is anti-white somehow? It's a silly critique, but the more accurate one would be that boys who look like Owen Cooper are very rarely in situations like his character in Adolescence. I don't think it impacts the series' quality, because this is fiction so who cares about the race of the protagonist? As drama, I wholly buy that a young boy who looks like Owen could do something like this. But I still don't entirely buy that the likelihood is high for someone who looks like him to go through the set of experiences pushing him into his actions the way this show suggests it did. Casting someone like him seems handpicked to make middle class white parents panic about their kids. ^ And that is exactly what has happened. Ireland and the UK have made this series available in schools, along with teaching guides to accompany the viewings. But I do think that could pose some issues. This is a fictional series, about an event that hasn't happened. If their lessons are going to be about the importance of male role models, and controlling toxic masculine rage, along with promoting positive ways of male/female interaction, then that seems fine. But if they're suggesting that social media or masculinity or the manosphere are what cause boys to kill girls (which some of the hyperbolic reactions to this show have said) then I think we have a problem, because none of those things have been shown on a wide scale in reality. Broader cultural discussions aside, Adolescence was a gripping watch that I had meant to watch in parts, but I was hooked and had to watch it all in one sitting. I'm not sure this is exactly how events like this would go down, but there's enough positives to the viewing experience that I think it's well worth a recommendation.