A thread for Adolescence (Netflix, 2025)

It's the big show everyone's talking about that isn't Severance, so I thought I'd start a thread as no doubt a fair few of youse have watched it.

Watched the whole thing in one go the other night. For terminally online folk like ourselves I think it might be infuriatingly surface-level. But for other, especially mainstream audiences, I can imagine it might be their first encounters with this kind of media depiction of adolescence and incel culture.

Some striking performances in here of course. And I was especially impressed with Owen Cooper, who plays the main subject of the show, a 13 year old boy called Jamie who is arrested on suspicion of violent murder.

In its four-epsiode run, the show skims a range of topics that could happily have been explored further. But for now it sounds like it's making headlines and grabbing the attentions of casual watchers who might not be so tuned-into discourses around civic culture, young people and young masculinity

Heard the current PM watched it with his kids and had feelings about it.

you did, or he did?

feels like everyone i've spoken to has watched this now.

The cold open was brilliant and the ending is as devastating a finale as I've ever seen, probably. I'm not as online-savvy as I thought (had to pause at one point to look up what "nonce" meant) and by the last episode I broke down and turned on the subtitles (Steven Graham's accent was increasingly hard for these yank ears to follow) but the real-time concept was brilliant, the way it gradually fed pieces of the story to the disoriented viewer (I really felt like I was in a police station or school during those episodes.)

Whenever they mention the online stuff it breaks the mood a little for me (feels a little heavy-handed or expository for the viewer's benefit), but they really pull off the filming and performances. That third episode was something (haven't watched the last one yet).

That bit in ep3 where the kid is coughing and mentions something about his throat felt unscripted, imagine getting 40min into a 1 hour take and worrying that you're going to mess it up because of a throat tickle.

"Nonce" is well-worn UK slang that even very vulgar people know not to throw around casually

Haha, I dreamt in Liverpudlian the night after watching this

Yeah e1 and e3 (especially e3) were extremely good. Jamie's adlibs, as you say Jordan, felt extremely real.

And I agree, the but with the son trying to explain what emojis mean to his dad in e2 didn't work especially well for me, dunno why.

TW:

It struck me today that there is a connection between the psychology of incel culture and another similar online culture I haven't heard spoken about much since maybe the early 2000s: the "pro-ana" movement where young women and girls encouraged each other towards active eating disorders.

Body dysmorphia plays a part in both of these, as does online coercion and a self-destructive, cult-like fatalism.

But while the ana movement turned its victims' problems in on themselves, incel culture blames the outside world.

I took a look online and there only seem to be a few places this is being discussed. But to me it feels like a very strong parallel, and makes me wonder if the thought processes, forces and feelings behind these two things are largely the same - that incel culture might have less to do with maleness and masculinity, and more to do with the state of being adolescent

Couldn't believe that sad sandwich was what she brought him as an enticement from the outside world, it looked very institutional.

xp (unfortunate)

That bit in ep3 where the kid is coughing and mentions something about his throat felt unscripted, imagine getting 40min into a 1 hour take and worrying that you're going to mess it up because of a throat tickle.

The part in that episode where the psychologist says Facebook instead of Instagram was a mistake that the kid ad libbed away apparently.

As was the bit where he yawned and she asked "am I boring you?". It's just an astonishing performance.

Supposedly his sore throat *was* unscripted, but it was the best take and they thought his hoarse voice worked.

As i understand it, Stephen Graham does have a Liverpool accent and rarely acts with it but plays it up here.

I hope not but I wonder if there'll be pressure to do a second season because of its success?

Apparently, here in the UK, it's the first time ever a streaming show has been the most watched weekly programme

Stephen Graham acts with his Scouse accent a lot of the time, though I suspect a lot of his domestic work doesn't make it across the pond.

xpost

My world fell apart after reading this thread.

Shocked and stunned yesterday and today

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/28/stephen-graham-working-class-mixed-race-kid-cares-deeply-about-work

#stephenGrahamWatch

I was only aware of him as some bit part actor till this week.

He is generally pretty terrific imo and def a pretty interesting actor in terms of projects.

yeah he's approaching national treasure territory these days. first saw him in This Is England, and much later Boiling Point (which this show is largely modeled on)

Yes, Boiling Point is also a one-shot job. Terrific movie.

He was great in The Virtues too.

In terms of the choreography of excellent performances and excellent cinematography, I really loved the final episode, and in particular the scene in the van while they listen (and sing along with) A-Ha. It was just so effortlessly natural, and to think it came sandwiched in the middle of an episode which I’m sure was a challenge to film just right. Really incredible all around.

As someone already well aware of this shit online this frankly did not grab me and I bailed in the middle of the second episode. Like, it’s quite clear what happened, why watch?

Also while the one take thing is impressive I’m not sure why it was done. Does it really add anything to the story? Of anything it was distracting and somewhat annoying to me

First, they make it clear in the first episode what happened, so this show is clearly not a mystery.

Second, I think the one-shot approach is extremely additive. There are so many moments where the extended in-between time—getting up to go to a vending machine, or driving to the hardware store—forces you to sit with the characters and all their feelings. You don’t get the emotional rollercoaster of episode 4 without the one-shot real-time effect.

I'd never go back to drama with more than one shot tbh.

time somebody took it to the next level and went no shot

u miss 100% of the shots u don’t take iirc

I thought the one shot was most effective in episodes 3 and 4.

it's strange how little the one-shot technique has been discussed, given this is prob the first film to ever be made in this way.

Until this show they didn't have the tech. Imagine how hard it would have been with heavy cameras, film reels, etc.

Yes, this is a bit like Phantom Menace, they waited a long while to get the right tech for making it.

Graham was brilliant as the big rabbit in that one

and 20 years later he is still battling the "phantom menace" of the internet

the han solo community has been radicalised by phones

Until this show they didn't have the tech. Imagine how hard it would have been with heavy cameras, film reels, etc.

Crazy how they attached a drone rig to the camera *whilst filming* in order to get that closing sequence at the end of the second episode

In my day, they used cranes.

I wonder if they did "cheat" a bit in smoothing some of the transitions with CG. Would you be able to tell?
Also it would be weird to find out they did a ton of effort making it a real one-take but ended up VFXing most of the buildings and extras.

i think the one-shot lends itself to the dramatic storytelling, in that it forces the viewer to spend more time w characters in moments or situations we wouldnt normally be privvy to, or for longer than you might in an edited show

kind of a televisual version of “sitting with discomfort”
to coin a therapy-speak word

like episode 3 was like watching a one-act play on a stage, and you really get the benefit of the actors both building up the emotion throughout the scene & using that in their confrontations

it heightens the drama in a way but simultaneously keeps it much more grounded & human

anyway i love this show - havent finished yet- will watch ep4 in the next day or so

stephen graham is one of my favorite working actors, he’s always so fkn good.

also i dont think you can watch this to scratch a true crime itch or whatever

it’s not that kind of show

ok finished ep4

man that final scene w Graham was so good.

i liked how the episode naturally ranged through a lot of different emotions & exchanges, felt v real in many moments.

the AHA scene was great, i yelled at the tv in time with the wife that Päl was the bassplayer lol! loved the daughter cringing over her dad snogging her mum v cut

oops PAUL not Pal

I've got a 14 year old son so that final scene hit hard

when I was growing up you'd get drama and movies on our statist broadcasting corporation that were critical of the UK state and governments and directly attacked them for the social decay their policies were causing. Some of the people involved were put on MI6 watchlists and there was a paranoid commie witchhunt operation against the bbc.

Now we get this fucking lame shit, which is so fucking lame and toothless that the UK PM (who is actually against some pretty stiff competition, one of the most superficial and moronic PMs in UK history) is talking about how thought provoking and great this is in parliament. Jesus fucking wept ppl!

Alan Clarke is spinning in his grave rn

A very important show.

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will host an ‘Adolescene’ roundtable today with the creators of the Netflix drama, a group of charities and young people pic.twitter.com/gNDo3DEJ23

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 31, 2025

can he do love is blind next

"can we bring our phones"

a roundtable? Imagine how fucking clueless you have to be to consider Starmer a serious person.

as soon as I found out Morgan McSweeney wanted to roundtable us with Starmer for some govt PR, that's when I realised we'd really done some great work this time!

certainly smacks of "i'm getting major intel i should already know about from a TV show"

In the A-ha scene I kept thinking about Greg Davies' bit from his Netflix special, about the cockney cab driver claiming that he used to be the bassist for A-ha (and he was!).

This was quite good on the politics surrounding the show:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/april/not-based-on-a-true-story

Keir Starmer, who has twice referred to Adolescence as a ‘documentary’ in a slip of the tongue, invited a writer and a producer from the series to Downing Street to discuss child protection.

Fools and clueless dickheads flock together like crows to carrion!

I want the next Netflix production to be a one-take production of the verbatim transcript of that incredible meeting of minds.

An artist's rendering:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51AP7iMuXJL._SY522_.jpg

if they had done a drama based on some of the real life killings mentioned in LRB piece, they might have needed to examine issues that wouldn't have got these talentless morons invited to Downing St

I shouldn't really get so angry about this garbage, but that piece made me relive hating this crap a few weeks ago in a more pointed way and I was literally shuddering with rage!

Ya wanna talk stupid?

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/04/tv-series-adolescence-becomes-part-of-dutch-school-lessons/#:~:text=The%20British%20Netflix%20hit%20series,available%20for%20free%20by%20Netflix.

Eh, the show does have an element of after school special/PSA to it, and I'm pretty sure they used to show those to us in school, so why not? Starts a conversation.

True story. A few years ago we were in (pretty macho not-America country redacted, just in case). There was a big group of us, adults and kids, most adults friends or at least friendly, kids as usual thrown together by happenstance. Toward the end of the evening one of my kids came to us, to the adults, to complain that one of the other kids she didn't really know, a barely-teen (maybe 14?), was praising Andrew Tate (this might have been the day he was arrested), and saying shitty stuff to my daughter about selling her off as a slave. The kid's parents got really defensive then dismissive, in a "boys will be boys" sort of way, and the next day our friend implored our daughter not to rock the boat or to say anything about it, and especially not to post anything about it on social media, because they didn't want the boy to get in trouble. I'm not sure our friends knew anything about Andrew Tate and his ilk, but I had to explain to them that at least in America (or America then, sigh), not only would that shit not fly (at the time), but that the kid's behavior would possibly get him flagged as a threat. They just had no idea how serious this Tate/incel situation had gotten. Our friends were kinda shocked.

In Adolescence, Jamie’s parents are oblivious to his radicalisation and taken aback by his crimes. Had they known, had Jamie already exhibited violent behaviour, perhaps abusing his sister and repeating far-right talking points aloud, what help could they have accessed? Is Prevent fit for purpose for tackling radicalisation? Are local council multi-agency services adequate? A mother in Northumberland says she ‘begged for help’ with her son’s violent behaviour and struggled to receive targeted support for his complex needs. Will she be invited to Downing Street to discuss how families with violent children can be supported in interventions?

this is bang otm, and partly the reason why cynical garbage politicians in the UK and Holland have warmed so much to this utter fucking dross.

One of the crimes mentioned in the article was tried a day or two before the show came out, which rankled with me at the time as clearly the show has made specific choices that don't really reflect the reality of the problems it is credited with explaining or highlighting.

Not sure TV drama is ever "realistic" in any meaningful way, but boy do people love to claim that something they're watching is deeply true to life. Very strange as there's no rule that says something can't be abstract or unreal and help you to consider real events or things in your life or the world.

yeah nothing needs to be realistic, drama can do what the hell it likes. but imo if you are going to do this social issue of the week type shite - then this "blame it all on phones" shit is not cutting it. But of course the proponents of UK austerity (el Kieth the child starver) will say yes .. this made me think... it made me have a very important conversation with my spoilt little shit of a kid. We need more of this kind of thing because it is not only very polite and uncritical of us, it doesn't even take one pop at us.

It just makes want to vomit that these inept cunts are going after ruining a cult UK tv drama favourite from my childhood next.

Waiting for the Brianna Ghey docudrama where Wes Streeting comes out in favour of the murderers.

So much that is simply crazy wrong about the discourse. Brianna found support online -- far more support than reading the fucking Guardian or from listening to Wes Streeting be a cunt everyday about trans rights -- so ofc they want to throttle that avenue.

yes, that is extremely otm.

The Threads remake is almost certainly going to be some kind of allegory for things that happen online and our current interpersonal ways of communicating rather than nuclear war

fuck me, there would be a mass suicide epidemic without unfettered internet access for all in this shithole fascist country. I mean, when democracy has proven to be absolutely worthless for many, at least we can talk about how shit it is and how mental health and social care services are already bad to destroyed in this country. But yeah let's all celebrate this stupid little fake scouse cunt looking anguished and overwrought in a viz vest, and not fucking getting anything about what is actually wrong with the UK.

sorry, this thread just makes me rant and lose it. lol soz lads, I'm doing this for the memory of Alan Clarke!

No apologies needed, I'm loving it!

Eh, the show does have an element of after school special/PSA to it, and I'm pretty sure they used to show those to us in school, so why not? Starts a conversation.

Yes but it is an after school special for adults - as your anecdote illustrates, kids are already more than well aware, it's the parents need informing.

Fair.

A lot of people that either can't cope with online content, or are straight up radicalised by it, are adults.

So what do we do then about phones, internet and parenting skills?

A ban on phones fort anyone over 40 sounds good to me.

I can post crazy twitter links on ilx from my laptop

(xp) Yes, those are invariably the fuckers to be found on buses listening to stuff on their phones without headphones.

Re talk upthread about one-shot movies, Victoria (2015) uses the technique quite brilliantly. It's available on several UK streaming services. https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/victoria-2015

I was vaguely trolling above saying this has never been done and that film definitely came to mind. Well worth a watch for sure.

"Russian Ark" remains a/the gold standard.

I think that was the very first time "one-shot" was used.

Bit of a gimmick...

Russian Ark? I think it works in that movie, thematically, but it's been a while since I saw it.

I assume dangerous influencers tend to use one shot in their YouTube videos

xp yeah. Found the one-shot didn't do much to the film but maybe I should give it a re-watch.

Gimmicks are good!

Hitchcock knew this, that’s why he did it for rope (or would have if it’d been possible)

Victoria is good yeah

One of the crazier things I think I recall from the "Russian Ark" commentary is that because there is one sequence when the POV camera leaves the museum and briefly passes through the Russian winter outside, they had to find a way to keep the camera from fogging up and/or breaking.

This show of course benefits from significantly smaller and lighter equipment, which makes earlier unbroken stunt shot efforts (from "M" to "I am Cuba" to "Boogie Nights") all the more impressive.

Guess the reception of the gimmick is what's annoying rather than the gimmick itself