Adolescence: All Four Episodes
March 17, 2025 12:25 PM - All Seasons - Subscribe
When a 13-year-old is accused of the murder of a classmate, his family, therapist and the detective in charge are all left asking what really happened. Four, one hour, single shot episodes.
The Guardian:
‘Unnervingly on-the-nose’: why Adolescence is such powerful TV that it could save lives
Adolescence review – the closest thing to TV perfection in decades
Rolling Stone: ‘Adolescence’ Is Harrowing, Heartbreaking, and a Must-Watch
New York Times: 'Adolescence' Is a Cacophonous, Gripping Mini-Series
The Guardian:
‘Unnervingly on-the-nose’: why Adolescence is such powerful TV that it could save lives
Adolescence review – the closest thing to TV perfection in decades
Rolling Stone: ‘Adolescence’ Is Harrowing, Heartbreaking, and a Must-Watch
New York Times: 'Adolescence' Is a Cacophonous, Gripping Mini-Series
I "enjoyed" this such that I binged it from start to finish.
Chillingly believable, especially the psychiatrist (?) determining if the kid was sufficiently culpable to be tried as an adult (?).
I've read reviews writing about how insta(gram) is a completely foreign country for parents/ olds but it all misses the point that the 'culture' can change from week to week.
posted by porpoise at 11:41 PM on March 17 [2 favorites]
Chillingly believable, especially the psychiatrist (?) determining if the kid was sufficiently culpable to be tried as an adult (?).
I've read reviews writing about how insta(gram) is a completely foreign country for parents/ olds but it all misses the point that the 'culture' can change from week to week.
posted by porpoise at 11:41 PM on March 17 [2 favorites]
This was phenomenal, start to finish. Mind-boggling camera work.
I imagine juvenile arrests, processing and interrogation aren't handled with such compassion everywhere.
posted by emelenjr at 5:42 AM on March 18 [6 favorites]
I imagine juvenile arrests, processing and interrogation aren't handled with such compassion everywhere.
posted by emelenjr at 5:42 AM on March 18 [6 favorites]
This thing is amazing.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:47 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
posted by Don Pepino at 9:47 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
Probably the best limited miniseries I’ve seen since Chernobyl. In some ways they’re similar - harrowing, bleak, and examining from different angles a tragedy for which both an individual and society have to bear some of the blame. As a parent of three young kids it was a really tough watch; the problems they’re showing are only going to get worse, I suspect, and there’s only so much you can do to protect them.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:11 AM on March 20 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:11 AM on March 20 [2 favorites]
Thought we would watch the first episode last night, ended up watching them all one after another. Incredible TV. The logistics of the one shot takes are unbelievable.
posted by knapah at 5:35 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
posted by knapah at 5:35 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
I anticipated and tried, but failed, to see any seams. There has to be one around the 35 minute mark in ep 2, when the police chase a schoolchild through an open window - at one point, the camera goes *through* a closed windowpane without breaking it. But I’m damned if I can see any visual artifacts. There’s also an instant or two where nobody is in shot, just a wall, where they could easily stop and reset (I imagine that fucking up the end of a very complex 30-minute (or whatever) wasn’t a good time. Again, though, I didn’t see.
Not anticipated - there’s never a good time to pause the show, so it winds up feeling like a speeding train or roller coaster that *can’t* stop. Very effective
posted by Mogur at 5:46 PM on March 24 [2 favorites]
Not anticipated - there’s never a good time to pause the show, so it winds up feeling like a speeding train or roller coaster that *can’t* stop. Very effective
posted by Mogur at 5:46 PM on March 24 [2 favorites]
Good article about the technical aspects of filming: https://www.cined.com/one-take-no-cuts-how-netflixs-adolescence-was-made/
posted by drossdragon at 4:26 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
posted by drossdragon at 4:26 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
In an interview with Graham, he said they were all single shots. The first episode we see the second take. The fourth episode, they aired the 14th take.
posted by dobbs at 4:31 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
posted by dobbs at 4:31 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
Another phenomenal and timely miniseries written and created by Jack Thorne, the other creator who isn't Stephen Graham, is National Treasure (2016), featuring career performances from the late Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters.
posted by guiseroom at 10:57 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
posted by guiseroom at 10:57 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
Arg, I just realized why Jamie's parents and sister keep using the past tense to talk about him in episode 4 (AND trade fond stories of his early childhood like they're all standing around in a funeral home).
:(
posted by Mogur at 6:04 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]
:(
posted by Mogur at 6:04 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]
All the characters involved are very nuanced. The son, the cops, the dad, mum, sister, etc.
Which makes it so much more moving. And so much more like the devastations of real life.
The moment at the very end where the dad on a whim tucks the teddy bear into bed was for me the emotional catalysis of all that happened before.
posted by jouke at 10:58 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]
Which makes it so much more moving. And so much more like the devastations of real life.
The moment at the very end where the dad on a whim tucks the teddy bear into bed was for me the emotional catalysis of all that happened before.
posted by jouke at 10:58 AM on March 27 [2 favorites]
Through episode 3 now. So much craftsmanship and intelligence, and done with so little. Each episode has a building and environs as the setting, that's it. Just a few key actors. Almost no props to speak of: Ep. 3 has a table, a couple of chairs, a sandwich, an organizer with paperwork, a bank of monitors at one point. That's all. Everything in the production comes from the script, the acting and the direction, which reach searing heights at critical moments. I'm thoroughly impressed.
posted by gimonca at 11:39 AM on March 29 [1 favorite]
posted by gimonca at 11:39 AM on March 29 [1 favorite]
In an interview with Graham, he said they were all single shots. The first episode we see the second take. The fourth episode, they aired the 14th take.
From Netflix's UK twitter account:
@NetflixUK
Q: Which takes were chosen for the final episodes?
Ep 1 - Take 2 - shot on shoot day 1 of 5
Ep 2 - Take 13 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
Ep 3 - Take 11 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
Ep 4 - Take 16 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
10:45 AM · Mar 15, 2025
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on March 30 [3 favorites]
From Netflix's UK twitter account:
@NetflixUK
Q: Which takes were chosen for the final episodes?
Ep 1 - Take 2 - shot on shoot day 1 of 5
Ep 2 - Take 13 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
Ep 3 - Take 11 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
Ep 4 - Take 16 - shot on shoot day 5 of 5
10:45 AM · Mar 15, 2025
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on March 30 [3 favorites]
I feel like people are focusing on the Andrew Tate stuff a little too much. I don't think the show is very deep but it's a little deeper than that. For one, the incel language is not used by Jamie, it's used by his bullies. For two, the cop's son does not seem to be into manosphere stuff, but he's Not Ok either and he needs his dad to not neglect him, and that's really all the show is saying imho.
posted by fleacircus at 10:33 PM on March 30 [2 favorites]
posted by fleacircus at 10:33 PM on March 30 [2 favorites]
Just finished earlier today. Very powerful and I was too moved by the tucking in of the teddy bear.
Regarding the window in episode 2 (and I assume the shed window at the beginning of episode 4, it is explained to me that there is no glass in the window, so the cameraperson on the inside of the building passed the camera through the open hole to a different camera person waiting on the outside. In post production, the "glass" and its necessary reflections were added.
posted by mmascolino at 11:32 AM on March 31 [2 favorites]
Regarding the window in episode 2 (and I assume the shed window at the beginning of episode 4, it is explained to me that there is no glass in the window, so the cameraperson on the inside of the building passed the camera through the open hole to a different camera person waiting on the outside. In post production, the "glass" and its necessary reflections were added.
posted by mmascolino at 11:32 AM on March 31 [2 favorites]
adolescence reminds me of the wire in that you go in thinking it's about one thing (murder or cops-and-robbers), but it's actually about other, more important things.
david simon once told michael k williams (the actor who played omar) that the wire was about the death of work in american cities.
to me, it feels like adolescence is really about how raising/teaching children has become impossible in modern times.
posted by bruceo at 12:20 PM on April 8
david simon once told michael k williams (the actor who played omar) that the wire was about the death of work in american cities.
to me, it feels like adolescence is really about how raising/teaching children has become impossible in modern times.
posted by bruceo at 12:20 PM on April 8
This was really good, but in some ways watching it felt like a dog whistle, where people already impacted can see it and others can't. I watched it with a guy I was hoping to have a conversation with about some of the stuff in it, and so much of it went over his head. His take was "Yeah, it's tragic when this stuff happens, but the motivation didn't make sense, the kid is horny so he kills the girl? and now their marriage is falling apart because they have a kid in jail?" And I was just kind of so aghast I stared at him for five minutes, because how could we have watched the same four episodes?
posted by FutureExpatCorb at 7:53 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
posted by FutureExpatCorb at 7:53 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
I watched the first two episodes last night and the remaining too tonight. It's a tour de force of filmmaking.
Watching the parents agonize over what they might have done differently made me think of an interview I read years ago with the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin. She said that she researched what makes kids go on murderous shooting rampages in an effort to find out the predicting factors, and basically had to give up the effort, because there isn't a predictable pattern. Kids who do that sort of thing may have been abused or neglected or they may not have been; they may have been in trouble before the rampage or they may not.
Basically, your kids are an unknown country, and you don't know what will happen with them, nor can you be responsible for everything they do. Treat them with love, kindness, and patience, teach them right from wrong and to be accountable for their actions, spend time with them, connect with them as best you can, and do your best to see them as honestly and as clearly as you can, and to get them professional help whenever it's warranted. That's all anyone can do, and even when you do it they may just do something terrible, as Jamie did, despite having good parents and a good home. I don't blame the Millers for their son's actions. They aren't in denial at all about what their son did. Jamie clearly has anger issues and some messed up ideas in that head of his, but pre-stabbing, those could easily have seemed like normal adolescent behaviour to the adults in his life.
I suppose there's some hope for the Millers for the future, because Jamie knows what he did, and that it was wrong, and has decided to take responsibility for it, and he and his family are all just trying to pick up the pieces and carry on with their lives as best they can. Access to mental health services and family counselling will help, and it seems like they have that.
posted by orange swan at 9:11 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
Watching the parents agonize over what they might have done differently made me think of an interview I read years ago with the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin. She said that she researched what makes kids go on murderous shooting rampages in an effort to find out the predicting factors, and basically had to give up the effort, because there isn't a predictable pattern. Kids who do that sort of thing may have been abused or neglected or they may not have been; they may have been in trouble before the rampage or they may not.
Basically, your kids are an unknown country, and you don't know what will happen with them, nor can you be responsible for everything they do. Treat them with love, kindness, and patience, teach them right from wrong and to be accountable for their actions, spend time with them, connect with them as best you can, and do your best to see them as honestly and as clearly as you can, and to get them professional help whenever it's warranted. That's all anyone can do, and even when you do it they may just do something terrible, as Jamie did, despite having good parents and a good home. I don't blame the Millers for their son's actions. They aren't in denial at all about what their son did. Jamie clearly has anger issues and some messed up ideas in that head of his, but pre-stabbing, those could easily have seemed like normal adolescent behaviour to the adults in his life.
I suppose there's some hope for the Millers for the future, because Jamie knows what he did, and that it was wrong, and has decided to take responsibility for it, and he and his family are all just trying to pick up the pieces and carry on with their lives as best they can. Access to mental health services and family counselling will help, and it seems like they have that.
posted by orange swan at 9:11 PM on April 11 [1 favorite]
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posted by Stanczyk at 12:31 PM on March 17 [7 favorites]