Adolescence

Rated TV-MA • Netflix

Crime dramas swell the streaming platforms like convicts jostling for space in an overcrowded prison. Adolescence is something different. For good reason, the fictional story of a 13-year-old British schoolboy accused of murder is the most viewed limited series on Netflix. Ever. It’s a stunning technical achievement—actually, four stunning technical achievements: Each of the four hour-long episodes is a single, unbroken shot.

A top-notch cast performed lengthy sets of lines in a single take, and numerous assistant directors managed their intricate on-set movements. The execution is smooth and natural, producing a real-life, real-time tragedy. (I did catch a cameraman’s reflection in a vehicle’s side-view mirror as the door closed.) This degree of coordination may happen all the time on stage, but three episodes cover a substantial amount of territory—through parts of a city, and in and around a large high school. It’s so compelling that even simply following a character as he walks down a long hallway heightens the tension. You are there, about to be interrogated.

Adolescence will plunge fear deep into parents’ hearts—or dredge up painful memories. Little frightens a father and mother like the prospect of the criminal justice system swallowing their child whole. Adolescence traps viewers in this living nightmare: long-term or permanent separation, their child facing violence behind bars, plus the sudden loss of a lifetime of hopes and dreams.

In the first episode, police arrest waifish teen Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper, in his first TV role) for the stabbing death of a female classmate. His incredulous parents (Stephen Graham, Christine Tremarco) and older sister (Amélie Pease) are helpless to prevent detectives from handcuffing Jamie and taking him to the police station for questioning.

Episode 2 takes place on day three. Detectives Luke Bascombe (Ashley Waters, best known for his role as the reluctantly ruthless drug kingpin Dushane in the gritty British series Top Boy) and Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) interview school staff and students in search of a motive for the murder.

The third episode jumps forward seven months as Jamie remains in custody. During a chilling interview, a child psychologist (Erin Doherty) finds her subject remorseless and manipulative—and herself brought to tears.

The final episode picks up with the family a year after the arrest. They rack their brains for mistakes in their parenting that could have pushed Jamie to murder. Do they share in their son’s guilt? How do they go on with life in the same community? Christian parents agonizing over a child who’s walked away from the Lord beat themselves up with similar questions. The ending fuses hope and despair.

You can find good reasons not to watch Adolescence, too. There are as many expletives as—well—crime dramas on streaming platforms, plus casual dialogue about underage sexual activity. Perhaps Adolescence redeems itself as the Scared Straight! for a generation of young people who are all too quick to answer emotional bullying with lethal force.