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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Adolescence' on Netflix, a gripping drama about a 13-year-old being arrested for the murder of a classmate
Each episode of the series, written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, plays out in one continuous shot.
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Where to Stream:AdolescencePowered by Reelgood
When we heard that the episodes of the new British drama Adolescence would be made in one continuous shot, we were intrigued. Shows and films shot this way can often make their viewers feel like theyāre dropped into a storm of tension and danger, but other times it feels like a gimmick. Letās just say this about Adolescence: The shooting style of the series definitely doesnāt feel like a gimmick.
Opening Shot: A police detective stands in the early morning light, eating an apple and listening to a voicemail from his son.
The Gist: DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and his partner, DS Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) are parked close to the house of the Miller family, waiting with a SWAT team. When given the go ahead, they bust into the house, and tell Eddie Miller (Stephen Graham) his wife Manda (Christine Tremarco) and teenage daughter Lisa (Amelie Pease) to get down on the floor. Bascombe and the team are after 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is suspected of murder. Heās in his bed, as would be expected at 6:30 in the morning.
Jamie is so scared he wets himself, and Bascombe allows him to change before taking him into the police station. On the ride in, Bascombe advises Jamie, who continues to say heās done nothing wrong, to ask for a solicitor. Also, because heās a juvenile, he needs to choose an āappropriate adultā to sit in with him during all interactions with police personnel and his solicitor.
When he gets to the station and is booked, Jamie selects his dad as the appropriate adult. A nurse arrives to assess his mental health. Eventually, Paul Barlow (Mark Stanley), a solicitor whom the police call to represent people under arrest, arrives to help Jamie and Eddie figure out how to get through the interrogation by Bascombe and Frank. Barlowās main advice is to say āno commentā when asked anything about the night before, when his classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday) was stabbed to death.
Photo: Courtesy of NetflixWhat Shows Will It Remind You Of? Content-wise, Adolescence reminds us of When They See Us.
Our Take: Written by Graham and Jack Thorne (with Brad Pitt on board as an EP) and directed by Philip Barantini, each of the four episodes of Adolescence use one continuous shot to tell its story. As you would expect, executing an hour-long continuous shot is a technical achievement for both the director and actors, who have to shuffle in and out of scenes, as well as not flub their lines, as the camera follows one person or another in and out of rooms.
But what the shooting style also conveys is the atmosphere of confusion and bewilderment that comes along with the situation Jamie Miller finds himself in. Just like the Miller family, itās hard to believe that youāre seeing this 13-year-old, who truly still looks like a kid, being pulled out of bed by a SWAT team and put in a police van. Then it feels even more bewildering to see him tearfully saying he didnāt do anything wrong as heās transported to the station, booked, and put in a holding cell.
Owen Cooper brilliantly conveys Jamieās bewilderment; when heās first brought in, he gives one-word answers in low tones, partially defiant but mostly just scared and flabbergasted heās in this situation. At first we believe that he had nothing to do with whatever heās accused of ā heās a kid! ā but what Graham and Thorne put in the back of our minds is why would Bascombe need a SWAT team to take down a kid sleeping in his bedroom?
Each episode takes place during different phases of the case, including Jamie meeting with Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty), a psychologist assigned to him. Because of the shooting style, each promises to have the same intensity as the first episode, and weāre looking forward to seeing just how the case ā which at first blush, looks like itās a pretty strong one against Jamie ā tests everyone involved, and their perceptions of just who is capable of horrific acts like Katieās murder.
Photo: ourtesy of NetflixSex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Confronted with some compelling evidence, Eddie asks Jamie why he did what he saw. The two of them tear up and embrace each other.
Sleeper Star: Graham has his usual intensity as Eddie Miller, but we are also fascinated by Ashley Walters as DI Bascombe, who seems to be approaching this case with a degree of sensitivity because of the age of the suspect.
Most Pilot-y Line: At the start of the episode, Bascombe tells Frank that heās eating apples to keep him from smoking, but it makes him gassy.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Adolescence is a powerful story about what happens when a juvenile is accused of a serious crime like murder. It not only tells its story in a compelling way, but it shifts the viewerās perspective often, from thinking Jamie is innocent, to thinking heās guilty and back again.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesnāt kid himself: heās a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
