In early 2024, the miniseries Baby Reindeer gained traction on social media, which turned the miniseries into a global phenomenon. The same is happening with Adolescence. The Netflix production was written by Stephen Graham, who also stars as the father surprised when his 13-year-old son is accused of murder. In four intense episodes, we travel through the uncomfortable global reality of Generation X parents dealing with Millennials. The mystery of the 21st century.

Here, Graham once again partners with Philip Barantini, co-author of the series, after the two won several awards and critical acclaim with the film Boiling Point, with continuous shots explored with even greater precision in Adolescence and a sensitive, even uncomfortable, text about emotional isolation and the dangers of the Internet and Social Networks in the lives of young people.

The intelligence of the narrative begins with a few explanations, and the spiral starts at six in the morning, with the police invading the Millers’ house to arrest Jamie (Owen Cooper, in his debut and already a star). The 13-year-old boy, terrified and claiming innocence, is arrested for the murder of a teenager who studies at his school. Eddie (Graham), his father, accompanies him and defends him, but the evidence is irrefutable, being only the beginning of many surprises.

There are several uncomfortable questions in the story that have no twists and turns but that surprise us with their realism and current questioning. Each episode is filmed entirely in one take for an hour, in a technical and acting show where one by one, we focus on a different point in the story, until we weave it all together, when the arrest affects the teenager and his family irreparably. Everything is perfect: the soundtrack, the relationships, the explanations and the breathtaking ending.

The plot is so realistic that many have already thrown themselves into researching “the real story that inspired the series”, but the saddest thing is that yes, the script was born from a story that impressed the actor Stephen Graham, but as he says, a crime that would be commonplace in today’s life. Graham was shocked to see a 13-year-old boy arrested for stabbing a classmate and found himself asking about his parents and how he, Graham, only thought he knew his own children well, but in fact, knows little about their online lives. “One of our goals was to ask, ‘What’s going on with our young people today, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, the internet, and social media?’” Graham told Netflix. “And the pressures that come from all of these things are just as difficult for kids here as they are all over the world.”

Adolescence accurately portrays contemporary police officers, teachers, psychologists, teenagers, and parents, inviting the audience to reflect and recognize the dangers of the unbridled use of phones and social media, with their codes, pressures, and threats, in a context where not even love and affection are enough to protect young people. Although the opening minutes create suspense about whether Jamie is really a killer, when the truth is revealed, we are already scared and trapped. We say to ourselves, “But he’s a kid!” And yet, he is a killer.

The mystery is not the crime but the reason for the violence, and it is not something far from many families around the world. Jamie is a good and loved boy, but he has low self-esteem, suffers online bullying, and is also publicly humiliated: he is a ticking time bomb without his parents even suspecting the danger. Not even the detectives investigating the case are exempt from experiencing something similar with their own children.

It is difficult to choose the best episode, but the most striking is the third, when we meet the real Jamie in a session with psychologist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty). She is in charge of assessing the teenager’s mental state for the trial, and in the chess game that lasts the entire episode, we see all sides of a tragedy that seems possible to be avoided (but it is not).

Stephen Graham is one of the most acclaimed and beloved actors in the United Kingdom at the moment, and the series proves why. But, above all, it is Owen Cooper‘s performance that touches our souls. In his first work, he is already one of the most remarkable, navigating emotions of fear, anger, and vulnerability like few others.

Adolescence is a believable and disturbing portrait of the complex realities that young people face in the digital age, with external pressures that make them vulnerable to extreme consequences. An intense emotional experience that leaves the audience reflecting on the limits of protection and the complexity of youth behavior in the 21st century. Unmissable.

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