Adolescence: A harrowing reflection on the reality of the modern world

Before reading this article, it is important to note that Adolescence covers topics such as violence against women and girls in depth and detail. I will touch upon these themes throughout my review, and I recommend consulting any warnings listed before viewing.

“The boys at my school love Andrew Tate,” is what my 13-year-old sister told me when we were chatting over the phone recently. That was news to me – how on earth could people as young as 13 be enamoured by the toxicity of a man renowned for degrading women and evading the police? However, for those unaware of the rising influence of ‘incel culture’, which Tate is at the fore of, and its grip on the digital world, Adolescence serves as a chilling reality check. Taking these themes to the extremes, Netflix’s newest limited series is a horror story from start to finish. It reveals the fictional tale of Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old boy, being accused of murdering his female classmate, Katie Leonard (Emilia Holliday). But amidst the provoking conversations and the scale of this story, Adolescence has a certain mastery and touch. It evades being yet another crime drama that disappears into the streaming abyss, but a defining moment in British television history.

To understand a problem, especially the crisis of male loneliness and violence, Adolescence has to take the audience to the edge of reality and reason. Whilst not being based on a real story, the elements of the story feel ever so real and relevant. Jamie, initially presented as your average young boy, with a bedroom almost too childish for his age, is immediately arrested. The gravity of his conviction is simultaneously understood by him and the watcher, as they battle the reality with his family. As his story follows him through the ins and outs of his arrest, to the fallout amongst his classmates, and to his therapy appointments, the audience is left with a pit in their stomach. One can’t help but think about how on earth a child, clearly bright and gifted at school, could think to murder.

You cannot help but feel in awe of his performance

It goes without saying that the performance by newcomer Owen Cooper is nothing short of phenomenal. Being new to the acting scene, picked out by writers Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham for having no prior career or formal training, Cooper feels and acts like a normal boy, making his performance both mesmerising and also raw and troubling. You cannot help but feel in awe of his performance, whilst also feeling a level of sympathy for his sense of childhood naivety.

In line with the themes of the story, Adolescence often feels like a male-led ensemble. Stephen Graham, portraying Jamie’s father Eddie Miller, is exceptional as usual. He finds true power as a father coming to the reality of his son’s actions, whilst also grieving Jamie’s childhood. Through his mannerisms and facial expressions, Graham pulls at heartstrings with his sheer guilt at the magnitude of his son’s crime. The audience is left reeling with Eddie as he witnesses the CCTV footage of Jamie’s violence, simultaneously battling his feelings of wanting to comfort his son. He wants to believe his son’s innocence but is also unflinchingly glued to the reality of the situation. We watch as he blames himself in every instance, struggling with his guilt in his dialogue with his wife, Manda (Christine Tremarco), and daughter, Lisa (Amelie Pease). His proclamations that he is a good father feel true and honest through Graham’s portrayal, with fatherhood becoming a running thread throughout Adolescence.

Ashley Walters’ powerful performance as the dedicated detective DI Bascombe reiterates this same guilt and feelings in his role. Eddie and DI Bascombe’s stories interweave and highlight the issues young men face, living with a hardworking and often absent father, who cannot live up to every expectation of fatherhood in educating their sons. In a way that Eddie cannot, DI Bascombe is able to rekindle his relationship with his son, Adam (Amari Jayden Bacchus), who offers an insight to Bascombe on the clearly convoluted world of ‘incel culture’ and the modern-day internet. This is a moment cherished by Bascombe, but sadly one the audience registers cannot be possible with Eddie and Jamie.

Adolescence is both unadulterated and immersive

In stark and poignant contrast to the feelings of troubled masculinity throughout Adolescence, the presence of female fear is equally terrifying, yet powerful. Within this instance, I must talk about the conversation presented in episode three. Nearly an hour is spent showing Jamie’s therapy session with child psychiatrist Briony Ariston, played spectacularly by Erin Docherty. Docherty portrays a woman clearly confused that she could be so terrified by a young boy, brought to tears by Jamie’s to-and-fro between an average, joking boy, and a person clearly overcome by bursts of rage and anger. The set is stripped-back and vast, yet the conversation feels both intimate and gritty in its scale of emotions. Docherty feels firmly within the story, with her professionalism as a therapist becoming worn away when she finds herself in a moral conundrum that would shake her career.

The power of women is further prevalent and subdued in the story of Jade, played beautifully by Fatima Bojang. As she mourns the loss of Katie, her best friend, in a way that becomes angry and argumentative, it is hard to not feel Jade’s pain that Katie is almost anonymous in this story, a feeling quite unusual in dramas which often focus upon the victim. The only chance we get to see Katie is through images at her memorials, the grief of her friends, and the hellish response of her school as they come to terms with the loss. Nevertheless, the narrative of the victim being removed from the heart of the story is something awfully common in the media: we can often name the perpetrator, but the victim’s name disappears into distant memory.

A testament to the power of this story has to be given to the mastery of the camerawork. Adolescence is both unadulterated and immersive, with each episode filmed in one take, exceptionally exhibited by the talent of cinematographer Matthew Lewis. The ability of the camera to follow every breath, every moment, and every thought allows the audience to feel truly engaged in the story. Using drones to gain the effect that the audience is floating throughout the story, almost like an omniscient narrator, it is clear both Lewis and director Philip Barantini did not want the audience to shy away from the difficult moments, and live through every experience alongside the characters. I don’t think I will ever experience anything like the awe of watching Adolescence, and admiring its cinematography, again.

Never has a conversation been started so loudly following a television program

With every television show, there is a story and a response that follows it. The intentions to bring the realities of ‘incel culture’ and the ‘manosphere’ to a wider, unsuspecting audience was done incredibly by everyone involved. As Sir Gareth Southgate spoke about being valuable role models for young men in his speech at the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Adolescence followed, bringing this long-needed conversation to the forefront of both public and political life. Adolescence gained over 24 million viewers in its first four days of release, but also evoked politicians to finally discuss violence against women and girls in depth and with passion. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated this issue was both “abhorrent”, and something “we have to tackle”.  Never has a conversation been started so loudly following a television programme, and serious kudos need to be given to Adolescence for tackling such a difficult story with immense depth and conversational value.

The story of Adolescence has the power to connect with any viewer. From the adolescents experiencing this monumental change in social media content, to the parents who do not understand, to the older siblings, like me, who cannot get their head around why this form of content is so appealing, this story is touching in every detail you draw out of it. However, it goes without saying, whilst Adolescence is incredible, both in its power of storytelling and cinematography, I must say to watch with caution – nothing I have ever watched has felt so heavy and difficult, but equally eye-opening. Whilst it is difficult to consume content that delves into a story of violence against women and girls, it is severely necessary, and that is why Adolescence is so apt. It is a once-in-a-blue-moon experience to witness something so poignant, and I hope the conversations provoked from its creation bring about serious change for the safety of women and girls in society.