I don’t even think I can form a proper review for this one. I can sing my usual praises but to formulate how this made me feel, well I’d probably need 3-5 business days to process. This one sits heavily on the soul so I’ll try my best to say how I feel about it.
This story starts off with a police crew barging into the home of the Miller’s, where their 13 year old son Jamie has been accused of murdering his classmate. Over the course of the four episode limited series, we delve deep into both the investigation and psyche of Jamie as we as viewers try to understand why he did what he did.
I won’t sugarcoat it. This series is very emotionally heavy. We’re looking at a child who’s been accused of a very serious crime while probably thinking to ourselves “surely he couldn’t have done it. He’s just a kid”. As adults watching this, we’re trying to pay attention to the details of the investigation while taking Jamie’s view into account and that’s where the scale begins to tip. Do we believe the investigation? Or do we believe the child? The show does a fantastic job trying to convince viewers to join either side, whether it be the side of justice or protecting a child. It also doesn’t help that they show not only how Jamie feels but how his actions have affected those around him. The victim’s friends and family, Jamie’s own friends and family; though there may have only been only one victim involved, it sent a shockwave through those that were close to them. Trying to take in all these raw feelings as a viewer felt extremely heavy and was difficult to watch at times.
From a technical aspect, I was beyond impressed by the fact that this entire series was shot with a single continuous take. I’ve never witnessed anything like this before. If a character was talking, the camera was on them. If someone else began speaking, the camera slid over to them. Then if someone leaves to go to another part of the building, the camera follows. It was unbelievable. There was one scene where a schoolboy escaped out his classroom window and the way that was shot was just incredible. I’m speechless as to how careful and technical everyone had to be in order for this to work smoothly.
The most harsh thing about this series is how it reveals the reality of what’s happening in today’s world. An uptick in violence against women, knife violence in the U.K., and how kids today have basically no online monitoring which leads to harmful ideology that often leads to toxic behaviors, including violence against others. Jamie was an unfortunate victim of online (and offline) bullying which led to an unfortunate situation. The idea of masculinity was brought up in episode three, and you can see just how much Jamie was influenced by both men online and by the men in his life. A certain “influencer” whose name I won’t bring up comes to mind when we think about toxic masculinity. Loves women but sees them as lesser. Believes emotion makes men weak and vulnerability makes you feminine. While Jamie does exhibit some, mild even, behaviors like this, you can still see the confusion in him as he struggles between right and wrong. We as a society need to start raising our boys better. Teaching them better values. Teach them to do better and be better not just as men but as a decent human being altogether.
As usual, I have to compliment the breakout star himself, Owen Cooper. He blew my mind with his impressive acting. Not bad for a kid whose only experience was drama club. I predicted this before with Walker Scobell and I’ll do it again here. This kid is going to be a star and he’s going to go far.
If you too want to experience a soul crushing show that’ll make you put Netflix away for a few days, Adolescence is available to stream now on Netflix.
Fandom Lair 