Unpack how Netflix’s Adolescence highlights the importance of community, family, and support systems in shaping a teenager’s journey.
It takes a village to raise a child. This statement is a testament portrayed in this limited series, Adolescence on Netflix. Directed by Philip Barantini and co-written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, Adolescence dives deep into the raw and turbulent journey of growing up. Adolescence isn't just a coming-of-age series, it explores how a child’s environment plays a crucial role in their emotional and psychological development.
Adolescence comprises four gripping episodes, each packed with tension, emotion, and a wave of urgency regarding how modern times have come down. The first episode begins when the lives of the Miller family come crashing down when their youngest son, Jamie, played by (Owen Cooper) a thirteen-year-old boy, is arrested on suspicion of killing his classmate, Katie. What could have started as an ordinary morning turned into a life-altering event in seconds for the Miller family, with Eddie (Stephen Graham) and Manda (Christine Tremarco) as parents and sister (Amelie Pease), following the police dragging Jamie to the police station, still unable to process what happened.
The plot doesn’t leave any gaps for suspense; it answers the question about what happened that night in the first few minutes. Instead, it bridges the gaps as to Why the incident happened. In hindsight, what started from the murder of a young girl, Katie by her classmate Jamie, every episode reveals the grim realities behind the murder, addressing issues of misogyny, toxic masculinity, male rage, and the horrors of the influence of social media on adolescents in the present age.
The second episode revolves around Detective Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) navigating their way to find the answers and the murder weapon within the school premises. This episode uncovers the realism of the deteriorating environment Jamie and Katie are exposed to, a toxic environment of blatant bullying, students fueled with rage having no remorse and empathy, and an institution where teachers have little to no control over the students.
The third episode starts off 7 months after Katie’s death, where Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty), the clinical psychologist, conducts a session to assess Jamie with the objective of compiling an independent pre-sentence report for the judge to get an understanding of Jamie’s understanding. The premise of this episode is one continuous shot in the children’s mental health facility, which sets the tone of revealing Jamie’s psyche.
Within the four walls of the facility, Briony and Jamie face each other. A table in between them. Hot chocolate on the left and a pickled sandwich on the right create a dynamic between the two, an intrinsic chess match. The tension between them, coupled with the spectrum of emotions, leads to the revelation of a monstrous outburst of rage cloaked inside a young boy, Jamie. This episode is a harrowing reality that Jamie lost his childlike innocence and how the glimmer of hope Briony had diminishes with every passing second.
The fourth episode starts with Eddie’s 50th birthday, a full English breakfast with black pudding, postcards, and a warm embrace from his wife, Manda. Perfect start to a special day until Eddie finds his van sprayed with the word “Nonce,” in British lingo denoting a convicted sex offender. The theme of this episode explores how the Millers find themselves trying to cope with the situation following Jamie’s arrest, where normalcy seems unachievable. This episode shows how the action of one person creates a domino effect, affecting the lives of people around him. Now the Millers have just one identity to carry on their shoulders: the family of the murderer.
An array of emotions is expressed throughout the scene: feelings of sadness, loss, anger, guilt, and hurt. The episode ends with a conversation between Eddie and Manda reflecting on what they could’ve done, questioning where they went wrong. The crux of this final episode is to show a glaring gap between parents’ blissfully ignorant image of their children’s lives and the truth of what they consume online.
Adolescence is a word of caution, a reminder to keep the door open for conversations that need to be addressed instead of brushing them under the carpet or being aloof from the realities of the modern-day world. Adolescence urges a call to action to understand adolescents and avoid the mishap of letting them disappear down the digital rabbit hole, a place far beyond saving.
Keeping the plot aside, The Adolescence delivers an intricately woven short series - the nuanced writing, the delivery and craftsmanship of the dialogues, the cinematography of every scene, the attention to detail, the direction and subtle cues in every shot, the acting and impact created by the actors involved, and the key takeaways of the series. All of these create an astounding output, leaving the audience thinking and hopefully taking action to do better.
Adolescence is a reminder for everyone. It answers the frequently raised discussions of the importance of nature vs. nurture, showing the relevance of both and how the interaction of both plays a crucial role in influencing an adolescent's development and behavior. Adolescence does a brilliant job in showcasing how genetic traits and environmental factors do contribute significantly to the development of Jamie’s mental health, where we as an audience come to terms with how Eddie could’ve done better and how institutions like the school could’ve done better because it indeed takes a village to nurture a child.
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