Adolescence (Netflix) Series Review

Adolescence is a gripping, engrossing cautionary tale that explores the confusion of adolescence and the mental states people go through after a traumatic event.

Starring powerhouse actor Stephen Graham, of Peaky Blinders, who also co-wrote the series, Adolescence is the story of how one family’s normal world is completely obliterated when their 13-year-old son is accused of and arrested for the murder of a teenage girl from his school. It’s a devastating scenario that leaves everyone involved shell-shocked and unnerved.

Adolescence’s creators waste no time in hooking viewers with its compelling narrative, but its intense, methodical filming techniques are what root us in the experience. The series wastes no time with a setup and instead drops us right into the action as it’s happening and unfolding in real time. It’s 6 a.m. in Yorkshire, North England, and the modest, honest, hard-working Miller family are still half asleep when a S.W.A.T. team kicks in their front door and infiltrates their home, guns raised and leading the way as they search for Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper).

Jamie’s sister Lisa (Amelie Pease) is crying on the bathroom floor after being shoved down by S.W.A.T., his mother Amanda (Christine Tremarco, of The Window) is outside arguing with police, and his dad Eddie (Graham) is busy trying to navigate his shock while following the lead detective around, calmly trying to convince him his son didn’t do anything—a proclamation Jamie frequently asserts. 

It’s quite a harrowing opening to say the least, not just because of what’s happening but because of how it’s happening. Everything is filmed in a real-time, one-shot process, which keeps us in the heart of the story instead of leading us back and forth between the past and the present, jumping between subplots and the main plot. That’s something you’ll appreciate about Adolescence: It’s like you’re right there along for the ride, following this entire process as it’s happening, in the manner that it’s happening.

Episode 1 focuses on Day 1. Jamie is arrested, processed, strip searched, medically assessed, consults with his solicitor, and is questioned by police. It really hones in on the disbelief emanating from Jamie’s family as well as the fear consuming Jamie. Episode 2 picks up on Day 3 and features bombshell explorations and revelations, following Det. Sgt. Frank (Faye Marsay, of Game of Thrones) and Det. Inspector Bascombe (Ashley Walters, of Missing You) as they question kids at Jamie’s school for information, mostly hoping to locate the knife used to stab Katie Leonard to death. 

Episode 3 picks up three months later with a focus that is as engrossing as it is intimidating and shocking. It revolves around Jamie and how he’s doing after having been detained at a mental hospital. The entire episode takes us into his last session with clinical psychologist Dr. Briony (Erin Doherty, of The Crown).

While each episode of Adolescence is riveting in its own slow-burn kind of way, episode 3 totally grabs you by the throat and backs you up against the wall. Cooper’s portrayal of the mental and emotional states of anguish, anger, confusion, and pain are remarkably unnerving. In fact, his performance skills remind me of Edward Norton’s portrayal of Aaron Stamper in Primal Fear—not that I’m saying we have a similar scenario; we do not. There’s no big twist with Adolescence. It’s just a pure, raw, engrossing look at the effects of adolescence combined with real-world epidemics. 

Lastly, episode 4 is set 13 months later and focuses entirely on the Miller family and how they’re adjusting. Moreover, it really gets up close and personal with what Eddie is going through as a father trying to stay strong for his family while maintaining his masculinity. He isn’t an emotional being, so he’s not sure how to handle this shock. A human can only keep it together for so long before their final straw snaps and unleashes the kraken. 

And here’s where I’ll shift to Stephen Graham’s outstanding, explosive performance. He’s hot right now, with new releases all over the place—most recently, 2024’s Venom: The Last Dance and Hulu’s righteously gritty, powerful boxing drama A Thousand Blows, which is a must-watch. To see him go from portraying a roughneck boxing prodigy in the East End of London to portraying a wholesome father at a total loss over the brutally horrific reality he now finds himself in, as well as seeing him navigate the effects of trauma that come with that, are indicative of his range and versatility as an actor. His performance is an anticipatory slow burn that explodes into something so visceral, it leaves you with all the feels, covered head to toe in chills. 

Adolescence chillingly explores the ugly aftermath of trauma on everyone involved and really zeroes in not just on the topics of bullying, social media influence, and the effects of adolescence and trauma but also on the extent to which a bully can get under a victim’s skin and turn them into someone unrecognizable. The rub here is that it’s not just bullying combined with the influence of social media and trauma that causes emotions too strong and complex for a young person to even begin to understand. Adolescence causes this too.

This period in life is a time of extreme growth and change, and Adolescence does a powerfully emotional job of enforcing that. Jamie repeatedly says that he didn’t do it, that “It wasn’t me.” As viewers, we’re forced to examine what he means by that, because this narrative goes far beyond a literal meaning and immerses us in the psychological complexities of navigating adolescence while trying to understand and process the loss of identity that comes with growing up. 

While there are some plot holes, they aren’t a big deal and are overshadowed by things like the eerie, haunting ambiance and settings, and the musical choices throughout the series that help drive the narrative’s pace and atmosphere. And the camerawork is just divine in the way it operates to bring us into the story and the complex emotions involved. 

The microcosm of Adolescence is that these are all regular people—good people—faced with impossible odds on top of the effects of real-life epidemics. They’re all faced with having to come to terms with life today, which means understanding and accepting the major roles that adolescence, the internet and social media, and trauma have on our development as human beings. Adolescence is a hauntingly engrossing cautionary tale that sticks with you long after it ends.

Adolescence will be available to stream globally on Netflix from March 13, 2025.