Adolescence

This is genuinely monumental and I’m so glad it’s getting the attention it deserves. Firstly, the one-take eps are perfect, I wish everything was done like that bc you don’t get distracted by the chopping and changing scenes and it kinda feels like ur watching a play. I’m so so glad that we didn’t all just forget about the damage of influencers like Andrew Tate and hopefully we’re more aware of the fucked up generation who have been shaped by them. That interview episode was genuinely terrifying bc it’s an actual reality that these things do happen and lots of boys are being influenced by this whole ‘manosphere’ ‘incel’ stuff at the moment without even realising. Jamie gets the most angry and loses control whenever the interviewer tells him what to do or doesn’t contradict him about being ugly or that his dad is ashamed of him because he has been so exposed to this deep rooted hatred of women so young and yet at the same time when he was being pulled away all he could ask again and again was if she liked her because he also can’t bare not having the woman’s approval. He thinks women are his property and he’s fucking 13 years old! That haunting line about how he’s good because others would have touched any part they wanted before killing her, like he’s a saint for ‘holding back’ was so disturbing too - this is all a direct insight to his emotions when Katie rejected him and made him feel inferior and he stabbed her 7 times so when ppl are saying ‘yeah but he was bullied by her in his defence’, that’s nearly the most terrifying part. The metaphor of the sandwich was also brilliant. It wasn’t even a sandwich that he liked and wanted to eat so he made a fuss about hating the flavours and then picked up and ate it just because it was there. Which is exactly his mindset and a lot of boys in this generations mindset to women. Also the irony of him being afraid of needles when he stabbed her 7 times was genius bc it shows how he just had no empathy whatsoever for women despite having an older sister and lovely mother. Like it’s terrifying how the influence of these ‘manosphere’ podcasts and porn which is ALWAYS glamorising men being violent to women in sex and prioritising his pleasure, can override all his experiences with the women in his family. And I loved how they included Jamie’s innocence amongst it all even in the interview to show that he was just a little boy and it wasn’t like he was born with these views on women, it was something that was taught to him online without anyone realising. And the fact that the parents will get the blame for not checking what he was doing in his room instead of questioning why tf Andrew Tate and etc. are accessible for anyone of any age at all. I also think that the way they showed us the arrest from the parents perspective so that we truly believed he was innocent up until the tape was shown left us as the viewer even more disgusted and horrified at Jamie’s actions and this is precisely the emotions that should be provoked by this topic so I’m honestly thankful af that this work is being so celebrated and talked about and I know people don’t like liking mainstream stuff sometimes but this really is something everyone must watch. Especially for people like myself who are fortunate to live in a safer area and in a a safer school because it’s really eye opening to the generation of boys that will soon be men and still adopt this mindset. And the fact that even Ryan was encouraging him to get the knife just to scare her a bit links the message in with the hugely rising stats on knife crime in the UK. Ok final thing, I have to commend the acting in this, and I think largely it was so impressive because of the one-takes so the actors are on this journey where they are actually living it in real time. Standout performances for me were Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty.