The boys are not alright.
A television series about a shy, awkward thirteen year old boy Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) who spends far too much time online, and charged with killing Katie, a female classmate who sexually deflects him, could unfold in a number of familiar ways. It could devolved a story of broken families, affected by drugs, poverty, mental health, and crime, but it isn’t. The Miller family is average in almost every regard which makes Adolescence more disturbing.
The subdued, even-handed, real life, one take (oner) telling of the Millers’ story adds to the chilling nature of Adolescence. It relies on what is explicit and what is implied to make its potent message more penetrative. There aren’t any screaming matches here.
The series is inspired by several incidents in the U.K. when teenage girls were stabbed by young male perpetrators facing intense peer pressure. This is similar to many violent acts young people face to secure gang entrance, initiation, and acceptance.
Eddie Miller (Stephan Graham) is Jamie’s dad and “responsible adult” during legal proceedings, Detective Inspector Bascombe (Ashley Walters) leads the case, Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty) is the clinical forensic psychologist assigned to Jamie, and Manda (Christine Tremarco) is Jamie’s mother, desperately trying to make sense of it all.
Manda Miller (Christine Tremarco) and Eddie Miller (Stephen Graham) Photo courtesy of Netflix
“Eddie is a product of his upbringing. Sure, he’s the breadwinner of the Miller family, but he lacks the emotional toolbox to properly connect with Jamie.” The event is almost as traumatic for him as it is for his son. Jamie is too young and shell-shocked to properly process what he’s done and what’s happening to him.
Telling the story in a single take (an onerous) ensures there’s no respite. Adolescence commands our attention over four episodes.
This Could Happen In Your Neighborhood
Created by Stephen Graham (Boiling Point) and Jack Thorne (Wonder), the television series isn’t a sensationalist piece of clickbait about the fringes of society who are dismissed as not directly affecting us or being too uncomfortable to discuss. Adolescence excavates the dark recess of certain online communities and their insidious impact on impressionable boys looking for direction.
Jamie could be any adolescent boy, in any school, in any country who’s isolated, confused, and gradually succumbing to misogyny.
“What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet and from social media?” asks Graham.
Adolescence digs far deeper than an accurate police procedural trying to catch the villain and put them in prison. It’s more of a psychological medication of why men subscribe to such radical viewpoints. That makes solutions difficult and prevention essential.
The Intention Of Adolescence
Team Graham and Thorne (both fathers) researched their show with a sense of determination and apprehension. “It was a deep dive into some of the biggest issues of our time; the potentially devastating problems caused by social media, online bullying (of which Jamie was subjected to) and the disconnect between children and parents who no longer understand their kids’ world.” It gets deep into the heart of pernicious online communities which prey on the vulnerable to distort and degrade human value to give them a perverted sense of common purpose.
For the creators, the North Star of Adolescence was thrusting adolescent male rage and alienation into the harsh, and often blinding, spotlight.
Jack Thorne. Photo by StillMoving.Net/ Netflix
“Social media is marginalizing our young men and making them feel separate. It’s giving them reasons to hate and preaching that manipulating girls is the way to succeed with them.” If a girl rejects a boy, it’s her fault and there must be repercussions.
Adolescence’s audiences deserves some explanation into the why of it all. Jack Thorne turned to Gitta Sereny’s book, Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill, as a starting point. “It ends, not on a note of justice being served, but on the devastating familial effects of such an action.” It’s raw and brutally honest.
The Structure Of Adolescence
Set over a thirteen month period, the four episodes in the series each have different settings and time frames. Episode One focuses on Jamie’s (and his family’s) traumatizing arrest and the mundane, but intrusive procedures he faces at the local police station.
Episode Two is set in the aftermath of the crime in the chaotic comprehensive school where pupils and teachers know both Jamie and Katie and are still in shock over the murder.
Episode Three is set several months later, between Jamie and the child psychologist who is sent to assess him for the court. This intense two-parter takes place in the claustrophobic interview room of a Young Offenders Institute. Thorne’s theater background comes in handy for this verbally-rich, intense exchange.
Episode Four returns to the Millers’ suburban home, thirteen months after the initial arrest, while Jamie is still on remand for the murder. It centers on the family and victims of the crime and sees Eddie and Manda grapple with grief and anger and ask themselves the kind of brutal questions no parent ever wants to ask – if they were complicit in their son’s behavior.
By design, there isn’t a definitive conclusion to the series or settled sense of justice. Adolescence meditates on the lingering thoughts and feelings, rather than the offer a specific path forward. Being open-ended and inconclusive isn’t a storytelling bug. It’s a feature.
Adolescence holds a mirror to society and it’s our job to decide how to address these multi-pronged social ills.
The point of Adolescence isn’t to lay blame. People operate from their place of personal experience and knowledge. There are no winners. The aim of the series is to raise awareness and instigate difficult conversations.
