Adolescence Review (Netflix)
The opening minutes Adolescence, an ambitious, audacious and spellbinding series are perhaps some of the most intense you’ll probably ever see from a Netflix series. Told over 4-hour real-time episodes, each is filmed entirely in one continuous shot. The “oner” can be one of the most thrilling aspects of a film or TV series: E.R. and The West Wing made them the norm in the United States, but in the U.K., they’re not that common. The Bill was most known for them at the time, even Casualty created an entire one-shot episode the other year, but for a whole series, to be in one continuous shot? It’s something director Philip Barantini has done on film, but on TV? Let’s just hand them the Emmys now.
From writer Jack Thorn (Help), actor Stephan Graham (This is England), and producer Brad Pitt, Adolescence can be best described as a parent’s worst nightmare: when a thirteen-year-old boy, Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper in his debut role), is arrested for the murder of his schoolmate, Katie, the nightmare begins to unravel more than anyone could imagine. You’ll change your mind on Jamie’s guilt, find yourself somewhat sympathising with him and end up eagerly anticipating the next episode to begin to find out the truth.
For Barantini (Boiling Point), the one-shot technique isn’t a gimmick but becomes almost a character in itself. You can’t help but be drawn in by not only the story and acting, but the whole one take. Matt Lewis is the genius behind the cinematography of the series, his work in-tandem with Barantini adds to this being not just a spectacular show, but also a visual masterpiece. Writer Thorn drip feeds the information slowly and masterfully throughout the first episode: it’s almsot fifty-five minute in until we fully become aware of the full extent of the horrific crime Jamie has been accused of. Stabbing a thirteen-year-old girl, seven times.
As we follow the case throughout the span of a year, we’re given snapshots of what the family are going through, whether it’s the immediate aftermath of arrest, the days that followed as a school community tries and returns to normality, an insight into a young offender’s institute or a family just learning to regain control of their lives.
The first two episodes of Adolescence might be the ones to pull you in, but it’s the third that’s the true standout: essentially a two-hander between Erin Doherty’s child psychologist Briony and Cooper’s Jamie set inside the aforementioned young offender’s institute, the story and performances are so engrossing, you completely forget you’re in one continuous take. It’s an uncomfortable watch, especially when the questions of sex begin to be broached, you almost feel like you shouldn’t be listening to their conversations but you can’t tear yourself away.
Doherty has always been a standout performer – as her her turn as Princess Anne in The Crown showed – but this hour of television solidifies her as perhaps one of the greatest actors of her generation. Come the next awards season, she should in for some consideration. The same goes for Owen Cooper, if this is the level of his acting in his debut role, then he’s nothing short of a future star. Ashley Walters, plays the arresting Detective Inspector Bascombe, and with Graham, Doherty, Cooper, and Fey Marsey and Christie Tremarco, the anger, shock and suspense that is explored over these four hours, is nothing short of palpable, and they all excel.
Episode three will perhaps go down as one of the best episodes of television ever produced, but it’s a shame that episode four couldn’t reach the same heights. But that’s life, and, at the heart of this series, that’s what it’s about – and Adolescence soars because of it.
Just exactly how do you move on from this? The Miller family certainly tries, and hope we see them again.
★★★★★
On Netflix from March 13th / Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters, Owen Cooper, Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco, Mark Stanley, Jo Hartley, Amélie Pease / Dir: Philip Barantini / Netflix
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