Adolescence: A review and Analysis.
*SPOILERS**, Of course.
In an oversaturated sea of fantasy, sci-fi, and action series, this might be one of the few reminding us of where ‘Art imitates life’, particularly in our current day-to-day.
For those of you who haven’t had a chance to watch Adolescence on Netflix, allow me to introduce this latest mini-series, host to a number of video essays and written analyses over the past couple of weeks.
The British crime drama follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller, arrested for the brutal murder of his classmate, Katie Leonard. In addition to following the criminal proceedings of the case, the series explores Jamie's life, as well as the impact of cyberbullying, hegemonic sexism as it takes place in schools, and most crucially, incel culture online.
Judging by what seems like a crowd of mixed opinions online ranging from critiques of the show for being ‘boring’ to other users singing its praises, it’s clear that what you thought of the series was almost entirely dependent on your expectations here. If you’re looking to be thrown into suspense towards the end of every episode, engaging with and uncovering a mystery progressively onward, then Adolescence likely isn’t for you. Contrary to the complaints from IMDB 1 star-ers, the series didn’t market itself as a whodunnit-style drama. We know from the onset that Jaime is guilty, from when he is the main suspect in Episode 1, to the footage of him committing the crime and then finally we receive final confirmation in the last episode when he changes his plea. Whilst it’s clear a lot of viewers would have preferred an alternative form of storytelling, this was one aspect of the show I found most compelling and unique. This almost instant revelation helps to separate this show; being centred around understanding and explanation from others; focused on theatrics with the occasional plot twist. Though we have yet to see this in action, reports of Adolescence finding its way into British schools serves as evidence that societally, we can benefit from a redirection towards a more educational focus, where we’re engaging with the story as if it were a case study.
As director for the series, Philip Barantini’s commitment to the ‘one-take’ really helped to contribute to the overall realism of the TV series - one of my main acclamations. Through the utilization of continuous takes throughout the show, we were provided a kind of endless display of grief, and frustration felt by a community in the wake of such unsettling news to where it almost felt like you were experiencing the days as they progressed alongside the main characters. Supplementing the air of realism were the acting performances across the board. The series used largely unknown and unfamiliar faces, with Owen Cooper’s performance as Jaime Miller (the main character) constituting nothing short of award winning delivery. For me, one other notable performance came from actor Ashley Walters as DI Luke Bascombe, where Walters is no stranger to the British drama genre now, having been featured in 50 Cents’ biopic ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’, and having starred in Netflix’s own Top Boy.
As with a lot of critically acclaimed television shows, Adolescence does a great job of ‘showing rather than telling’ most of the time. Where our understanding of and relationship to gender informs a lot of our biases, the show did a good job at emphasising the prevalence of certain stereotypes in a way that depicted rather than upheld them. Specifically, the portrayal of Jade’s character, (played by Fatima Bojang) as a young black woman, helped to exemplify where racial stereotypes inform the treatment of even the youngest in our society, where in Episode 2, authorities were shown dismissing her as being agitated rather than having a proportionate response to grief. The adults present were also shown to adultify her, compared with the level of understanding afforded to the young boys in the series, some of whom had helped to enable Jaime. Interestingly, DI Luke Bascombe's character seemed to subvert these standards, with how he spoke to or rather yelled at Ryan (played by Kaine Davis), offering him little sympathy.
Here, the necessary intersections of race and gender aren’t ignored by the series, where the black characters in the show seem to hold less sympathy for the pervasive culture. This is further exemplified by the response of Adam Bascombe, (Luke’s son), played by Amari Bacchus, where he is shown to be aware of the language circulating online, but appears distressed and confused, rather than indoctrinated by it. I appreciated this detail, where the varying responses adjusted for race reflect where varying cultural values and a comparative absence of entitlement might typically mitigate susceptibility to incel ideology in young black men, though of course there are other determining factors when we apply this to reality as I’m sure many of you like me, have observed.
But returning to where the show aptly portrays gender bias in a conversation around incel culture, the writing allows for realistic portrayals of how biases appear in conversation.
In Episode 3, when Jaime is being interviewed by the female psychologist Briony Ariston played by Erin Doherty, they exhibit the full extent of Jaime’s gender bias without rendering the script unnatural. Throughout their conversation, Jaime is shown to hold more respect for male authority. He is shown to hold a preference for his dad over his mum, whilst making several attempts to establish to Briony that his dad isn’t responsible for the murder he has committed, aiming to protect him. Later, he refuses to be instructed by the therapist upon getting irritated because she’s a woman, and despite there being clear boundaries between the pair, he remains concerned with whether or not he likes her at the end of their discussion, emphasising how he’s learned to view women as tools to validate his masculinity, rather than as equal counterparts.
Another commendable aspect of the show was the way that the episodes focused on illustrating how crimes like this affect different parties equally, with each episode focusing on a different aspect of this crime. Personally, I found this helped to avoid Jaime being centred as the main character, evoking sympathy from those in the audience who might identify with his character in the wider context of a society primed to sympathise with young boys. This vision comes as a contrast to other shows that depict violent young men. Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, despite starting off strongly, spent the entirety of their last season humanizing Bryce Walker, Liberty High’s serial rapist. However, in Adolescence, Jaime isn’t sympathetic despite his age, and it’s arguable that characters like inspector Bascombe, or more importantly, the members of his family have just as much of a central role.
The show completes the story in just a few short episodes; a common issue I take with the increasing popularity of miniseries. But with Adolescence, I found that the number of episodes suited the storyline, preventing it from cascading into the realm of absurdity. Perhaps there might have been one more episode to ‘wrap it up’ as I’ve seen people note, which admittedly I agree with for specific reasons, though I'll touch on these in my critique. For the most part, the limited episodes helped to convey the message with little room for argument surrounding incel culture. This is particularly important, where culturally we have a tendency to victim blame. Whilst the show touches on victim blaming, with discussions surrounding whether or not Katie ‘bullied’ Jaime, the lack of scope provided for this idea, facilitated by the fact there were few episodes removes room for her character assassination, where in no doubt there would have been more critics claiming that there was more than one side to this if perhaps there were more episodes.
Out of the four episodes, my favourite was certainly the third featuring the dialogue between Jaime and the therapist. Not only do we gain further insight into ‘the world according to Jaime’ as previously mentioned, but we also get some of the best acting of the show. IMDB rated the third episode the highest at a 9.2/10.
Nevertheless, even the best shows have their faults. Here are a few things I would have seen done differently…
As I alluded to earlier on, I do wish they had included an extra episode though not to further the plot. I personally would have enjoyed an entire episode dedicated to Jade who was Kaite’s close friend prior to her death. Of course, we saw the way Kaite’s death impacted Jade, but more so as a plot device. For me her character deserved more fleshing out in the same way that Jaime’s family were where despite the fact she wasn’t as significant as his own family, this could have provided more insight into how young girls are impacted by the prevalence of these crimes occurring around them.
My second critique comes with what can be considered somewhat limited detail of what actually occurs in the online spaces that facilitate incel culture. Whilst we get a couple of scenes with Jaime exploring the impact of incel culture, there is little surrounding what it actually looks and sounds like. There is a scene where Adam is talking to DI Bascombe about some of the technical terms like the ‘80/20 rule’, but this is one of the only scenes where this kind of exposition takes place, and it’s arguable that if the show was going to venture down the educational route, it could have done so more sufficiently, as to provide parents and students alike with warning signs, (preventative measures).
My final critique isn’t so much of a criticism of the show as it is an issue I take with the fanbase, where of course there was an onslaught of those who found themselves opposed to the main messaging and character depictions after seeing the show’s initial and well-deserved praise. Claims implying or blatantly stating that there needed to be a race swap were disappointing even if they were unsurprising. In reality, depicting the main character as a young black boy when sociological explanations don’t even call for this kind of amendment would have served no educational purpose whatsoever, partially rendering one of the show's main attributes less impactful.
But outside of the direction, writing and casting choices for the show, the overall value of a show like this is related to whether or not it holds a place in the current discourse surrounding incel culture.
Primarily, the show is timely at a moment where we’re in danger of incel culture becoming normalised in the same way that hegemonic patriarchy is. Previously, incel culture began emerging from the darkest corners of the web as a largely inaccessible space for the average young boy, though has now made its way into mainstream discussions, calling for a show just like this.
Additionally, when we acknowledge that western society is becoming increasingly sensitivity averse, a show like this is needed to combat conservative narratives trivializing and at times condemning ‘wokeness’, helping to facilitate alt-right spaces online.
What’s more is the show does a great job at tackling typical gender biases within legal proceedings with the way it is written where it takes the focus off explaining how the victim became a victim, and instead emphasised the environment that facilitates perpetrators. With regard to its educational capacity, I’d like to note finally that the show is important for parents to see. Subtly but surely, the family environment is shown as partially responsible throughout the show even if only displayed through depictions of Jaime’s father for having violent outbursts, even when not directed at any person or channeled through physical aggression.
Overall I enjoyed the series. What for others seemed like slow pacing only appealed to me for the feel of realism throughout the entire show. It felt informative without being too explicit for the consumption of its core demographic whilst making sure to portray the various aspects of devastation that occur with gender-based violent crimes…
8.5/10
Asisa
IMDB
Great analysis of the show. Jade should have had more narrative development. Perhaps a scene with Katie’s family.
Very interesting and thorough. Great thoughts. Thank you for sharing!