Adolescence Review
Director: Philip Barantini
Date Created: 2025-03-13 17:07
5
Adolescence Review: This gripping and disturbing four-part miniseries written by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham and is directed by Philip Barantini. The show boasts a strong cast, including Owen Cooper as accused teenager Jamie Miller, Stephen Graham as his devastated father Eddie, Ashley Walters as dogged DI Luke Bascombe, and Erin Doherty as insightful psychologist Briony Ariston. Supporting performances from Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco, Mark Stanley, Jo Hartley, and Amélie Pease enhance the emotional impact of the show. In four episodes, this show is able to make a lasting impact, examining the dark truths of teen violence, cyberbullying, and a justice system playing catch-up.
Adolescence Review
The series starts with a jarring incident: 13-year-old Jamie Miller is charged with the murder of his classmate Katie. Suspense is established from the opening scene as police storm into his house, arresting him in front of his shocked family members. What follows is a tense probe into the case, the psychological currents at play, and the troubled unfolding of a family struggling to comprehend the unthinkable.
Netflix’s Adolescence renders Jamie’s guilt evident from the start. The question is less what happened but why. The series goes in-depth into the dark universe of teen social media, peer pressure, and the frightening influence of misogynistic ideologies on the internet. It does not give easy answers but instead forces viewers to accept uncomfortable truths about the world online and the toxic narratives to which some young boys are being subjected.
One of my favourite things about this series is the way it is telling the story. Every episode is filmed in a single continuous shot, dropping the viewer right in the midst of real-time suspense and building something almost documentary in nature. This choice adds an unbelievable amount of realism—each second feels uncut and raw, pulling the viewer into the emotional chaos of the characters. The lack of cuts forces us to endure each cringe-worthy silence, each tantrum, and each shattering epiphany. It’s a dangerous approach, but it pays off in spades, making the show feel all the more heartbreaking.
And finally to the performance, Owen Cooper is breathtaking. As Jamie, he is infuriating and heartbreaking—a boy who commits an unforgivable act but is also the product of a world he hardly understands. Cooper’s performance encapsulates the contradictions of a teenager’s mind—his moments of defiance, fear, confusion, and pent-up anger make it impossible to view him as a simple villain. He doesn’t solicit sympathy, but the subtleties of his performance make the audience ask how a child reaches this point in the first place.
His exchanges with Erin Doherty, who plays psychologist Briony Ariston, are particularly compelling. One of the best episodes of the series is a long-running therapy session between the two, during which Briony gradually peels away Jamie’s layers of denial and unconscious bias. Doherty is superb, expressing sympathy and unflinching resolve to bring out the truth. The exchange between them sizzles with electricity, building to revelations both frightening and horribly inevitable.
The most disturbing thread throughout the Adolescence series is the impact the internet has on young people, especially boys struggling with concepts of masculinity and power. Social media is the quiet co-conspirator, disseminating poisonous ideologies which glorify privilege, rage, and violence. The program does not simplify Jamie’s behavior to “bad influences,” but it does illuminate how perilous these online groups can be—especially when parents, teachers, and even the authorities are not entirely conscious of their influence.
Ashley Walters as DI Luke Bascombe delivers a tired, low-key intensity to his part. His is a veteran detective who has witnessed the worst of human nature, but even he is taken aback by the insidious manner in which misogyny and violence are being normalized among young people. His moment of understanding just how deeply rooted these concepts are—prompted by something as mundane as his son explaining Instagram emojis—stings. It’s a low-key but gut-punching moment that says a lot about the generation gap in comprehending online culture.
Where the psychological and investigative elements of Netflix Adolescence series are strong, the emotional weight of the series rests firmly on Jamie’s family. Stephen Graham gives a devastating performance as Eddie Miller, the father whose life is destroyed by what his son has done. His early incredulity gradually yields to despair, guilt, and powerlessness as he tries to understand how the boy he brought up could be capable of it. The play resists the easy scapegoats—no bad parents, no obvious lapses of attention or warning signals. Instead, it makes us confront the ugly truth that sometimes the “why” is not as easy as we might wish it to be.
The last episode is largely about Jamie’s family attempting to deal with the aftermath. It is less dark than the earlier episodes but a much-needed exploration of the long-term effects of such an action. That will have you wondering in the back of your head about justice, responsibility, and whether there ever is a right path to redemption for a character like Jamie.
Summing Up
Adolescence is not an easy watch, but it definitely a necessary one. It shines a light on society and exposes the cracks in our understanding of teen behavior, online culture, and the ways in which we are not preventing victims and perpetrators from reaching the darkest corners of the web. The single-take camera work, the powerhouse acting from Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty, and the appallingly uncomfortable but unavoidable questions it is compelled to raise make it one of the most compelling dramas Netflix has produced in recent years.
2025 Adolescence is now streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Welcome to the Family Review: Unnecessary, Chaotic and Messy
