Adolescence

Clearly a lot of effort in this but too many persistent issues with it for me to really appreciate the excellent acting and filmmaking. Starting with a small critique I don't think the one-hour shot format works for me personally. It's very well done but it doesn't lend itself to effective pacing when you wait for everything in real time. I guess the point is to become more immersed through experiencing the story as it plays out but my last point will touch on why I don't think that holds up. Second it seems like a very missed opportunity that Jamie gets so much screentime, and I'm particularly talking about episode 3. I thought the writers established themselves in episode 2 that they didn't want to make a story about a killer but instead about a victim, but what ended up happening was exactly what they said shouldn't be done. Episode 3 was good in how it tries to portray the psychology of the type of kid who'd do something like what Jamie had done but I don't think it was effective at giving the audience a new perspective onto him and his actions, because I felt the first episode gave us enough context to who he is that we could already predict he'd engage in such behaviour and attitude. It would've been better to do an episode actually focusing on Katie and her family as I thought it would. My third and final point which is the main reason I feel so negatively about this show despite everything is that it is so detached at portraying any sort of reality when it comes to the major issues it brings up that it feels almost comedic and I cannot take it seriously. The destructive effects the internet has had on people's (and particularly young men's) minds is mostly played as one evil boogeyman named Andrew Tate and his 4chan goons working at the local Bunnings. It doesn't provide any more substance to the discussion that isn't provided by the typical PSA, don't send nudes, avoid MRAs, be thoughtful. A real issue which harms real people is Hollywood-ified into "these emojis have some crazy meanings". In MGS2: Sons of Liberty the Patriots plan to use the GW AI to control the flow of digital information and restrict people into echo chambers so that they only see what the Patriots want them to, disconnecting them from the truth. In the modern day we have the same process in place, but rather than digital information being governed by an AI it is controlled in the same way all other things are: money. Lies and pain produce cash for the most selfish of people as it always has and grifters on the internet just find new ways of doing so. The true issue at the heart of things is that there is a lot of money made by destroying the lives of children, as they are the most easily influenced into believing certain opinions such as hateful views on women and minorities, and are susceptible to internet addiction. I find it very frustrating that for how often the issue of kids' minds being influenced by the internet that nothing close to this is brought up. This story doesn't conclude on anything remotely close to a solution for how we can do better. Nothing on teaching critical thinking and empathy, considering the purpose behind the content we consume and whether it helps or not. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it didn't actively redirect the audience away from how major this issue is, except it does. Every single scene where they try to address how online content is influencing people plays out like it was written by someone who has never personally thought or cared about any of this whatsoever but thought about adding it in because someone else described a scene from a separate show to them about the topic. The actors are incredible. The cinematography is amazing. The researchers and writers phone it in via an Australian internet connection from Nokia's inherited from their grandparents. I enjoyed some parts but there were other parts I definitely did not.