Adolescence – Limited Series

Rating:

Main Cast: Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters

Creators: Jack Thorne, Stephen Graham

Two things can be true. And so they are in the Netflix limited series Adolescence. The show is notable for mulitple reasons. It has stirred controversy among political pundits. It was filmed using a unique, intense style. It takes an unflinching look at a painful topic. And it has become one of the most-watched series ever to air on Netflix.

Adolescence tells the story of a teenager accused of the brutal murder of a classmate. It’s only four episodes and each plays out in real time. In fact, each plays out in one continuous shot. There is no score to cut or build the tension and no expository filler to provide background or dilute the events.

We begin on the day Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested at his home. The first episode begins when the police arrive at his door, led by DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters). The arrest is ugly and violent. Jamie professes his innocence and we follow him to the station where his father Eddie (Stephen Graham) becomes his appropriate adult, sitting in on all questioning.

Each episode jumps ahead. First by days, then weeks, then months, as the investigation into the girl’s death proceeds.

The single-shot, real-time filming brings real depth and urgency to every interaction. It feels like we’re with these people – Jamie, his family, his classmates, the detectives – as each in their own way deals with this tragedy. Stylistically, it is very effective and beautifully executed.

Every performer is up to the daunting task of doing everything right in one take. From the young Owen Cooper (remarkable in his first role), whose journey as Jamie is both sad and terrifying, to Stephen Graham, who is phenomenal as his bewildered, grieving, and angry father. Episode three stands out, with Erin Doherty as a counselor assessing Jamie. She is outstanding in this very intense hour.

You don’t need to know more to watch Adolescence, and I highly recommend it. But I would also like to take a look at some of the themes and subtext playing out here.

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First, ignore the squawking of any political talking heads. Not one of them has a genuine motive for their performative outrage. Nor do they have any real interest in addressing the problems so subtly and powerfully introduced in the show. They, and to be fair, most of us, simply don’t want to look at teenage tragedy. Adolescence makes them uncomfortable. And it should.

Co-creator Stephen Graham has talked about this project and his desire to address the growing influence of incel culture online. It’s real and it’s toxic and it’s frightening. But it isn’t the whole problem. I don’t blame Graham and co-creator Jack Thorne for not digging deeper, because this is their story to tell. One of sadness and fear and guilt and anger and the perils of being, and raising, teenagers.

And they are right to be disgusted by those who preach the incel gospel. But it isn’t the underlying issue. Just like it wasn’t TV and it wasn’t video games. These are all symptoms of the larger, much more uncomfortable problem of male violence.

Adolescence struck a chord with audiences all around the world. This isn’t an American or European issue, it’s a global issue. Societies everywhere have a long history of not just accepting but glorifying and encouraging male violence. Strong men who protect women and children, right?

Unfortunately, the people at whom that violence is directed are overwhelmingly those same women and children. We do not live in a world where physical strength can protect anyone from predatory corporations, income inequity, or the breakdown of social support systems. All of that rage that has been carefully curated for millennia becomes the black eyes, broken bones, and murders of women and children.

Adolescence looks hard at the ugly indoctrination of teenage boys into this global culture of misogyny and violence. Today it’s incels online, telling children to hate other children at a time when their brains and bodies are unable to withstand such an onslaught.

As you watch the series, notice how the women and girls are portrayed. Again, this is not their story, so I’m not talking about how large their roles are in each episode. Look instead at things like the school uniforms. The boys are in pants, shirts, ties, and jackets. The girls are in skirts that do not, in any practical way, cover their bodies. They are on display from the moment they enter that system, as sexual objects before they or their male classmates even understand the words. They are unknowingly set up for a dynamic that will damage all of them before the end of high school.

The adult men in Adolescence are fascinating in their complexity. Both DI Bascombe and Eddie Miller are violent men, but in very different ways. The detective is simmering with rage in nearly every scene. He’s not a good or attentive father, but as he watches this tragedy unfold he sees the damage he’s done to his relationship with his quiet son.

Eddie comes from a violent family and is doing everything in his power to break the cycle. He has a short temper, but a guilty one. He works so hard to overcome his early life that he fails to see the other influences creeping into his family.

These are not bad men. They are men whose anger has always been considered power, and they’re recognizing how damaging it is for the first time. It’s both heartbreaking and incredible. Eddie’s disgust at those who support his son, not because he’s a child but because they embrace violence against women and girls, is palpable.

I don’t know if Thorne and Graham were trying to crack open a discussion of more than incel culture. But I think the reason the series has resonated worldwide is because they captured that kernel of fundamental wrongness that is attempting to push young teenagers toward behavior that they know, instinctively, is wrong. That pressure has created hundreds of generations of damaged men and bloodied and battered women.

This is, clearly, my point of view as a woman who has raised children and, frankly, seen some shit. Your mileage may vary.

Sue Millinocket

Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills  She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.