by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Ambition is a great attribute to have in a television series. It signals a level of risk in telling a. Of course, ambition can only take you so far without the proper support. You need a studio equally willing to make something as ambitious, with everyone else creatively onboard. In this risk-averse era of Hollywood, something so audacious can often capture audiences’ attention in a new way. And in early 2025, TV continues to showcase why it can be a significant place for some of the year’s best art.
In this vein, Adolescence, which is about the shocking murder of Katie Leonard (Emilia Holliday),might be the most ambitious show I’ve seen in the 21st century.
One day, the Miller household’s world is turned upside down when the police come knocking on their door, arresting 13-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper) on suspicion of murder. The fallout of this case haunts everyone involved long after the arrest is made.
The ambition of this show starts with the cinematography, a technical marvel. Cinematographer Matthew Lewis crafted a gorgeous series, will all four episodes being shot in oners, with no cuts or assistance from CGI. The ways some of these were achieved is astonishing, as the camera had to move quickly through tricky turns and positions to keep up with the action. This technique makes the series feel claustrophobic, ratcheting the tension to 11. It was a bold choice to film these episodes like this, considering that everything has to work in your favor to make it happen. I’ve never seen a show do this, and it was an absolute home run of a decision.
While Adolescence‘s premise might imply it’s a murder mystery, it’s instead far more concerned about the consequences and fallout of Jamie’s arrest and Katie’s murder. Focusing on the fallout separates Adolescence from other crime shows, solidifying its place as a difference-maker.
There are several themes that the show touches on as well, the first being how men operate in modern society. A large part of this series deals with the manosphere, explicitly targeting the incel movement. Toxic masculinity is complex at work with Adolescence, and it manifests itself with Katie’s murder. The show isn’t trying to beat us over the head by saying the incel movement is terrible. Instead, it creates awareness about the dangers young men face in developing into the well-adjusted members of society they will — or should — become.
In turn, Adolescents takes some time to ensure that the internet is as big of a culprit as the murderer for failing young men. Between social media and easy access to explicit photos and movies, Adolescence balances how the internet can harm young minds, while also showing just how ill-equipped authority figures are to deal with the fallout. The second episode, where the detectives are interviewing people from Jamie’s school, shows how painfully out-of-touch these officers are regarding how to get to the bottom of this case. As a parent, I find the internet far more worrisome than the stranger danger I grew up with. Adolescence does a fantastic job of telling the boomers they have no idea what they’re looking for in a vast ocean of text messages and DMs.
In that episode, school is a significant factor in isolating young men. The detectives find teachers with out-of-control students with a lack of discipline. The teachers play videos instead of doing more hands-on instruction. Both detectives encounter numerous obstacles when interviewing students. The girls are all scared and extremely upset about what someone could have done with Katie, while all the boys struggle to cope with how far someone went because they were mad at Katie, while still blaming her for the pain she caused her killer. Bullying runs rampant, and without proper influences at school, these kids are left to find comfort in more sinister places like the internet.
Parenting is the other theme that is effectively explored. The effect that Jamie’s arrest has on his family is examined in the final episode, where they have to deal with a new normal of people harassing, staring, and in some cases, supporting the possibility of what Jamie has done. Everything they experience also causes Jamie’s parents, Eddie (Stephen Graham) and Manda (Christine Tremarco), to question whether they’re responsible for what happened. Every parent has to wrestle with the possibility that they might be failing their children. When an incident like this comes up, and their child is in such a considerable predicament, Eddie and Manda can’t help but blame themselves for what happened. Questions like, “What could we have done differently?” and, “Did we do a good enough job?” creep into their heads. They’re important questions, but it’s a frivolous act, because it doesn’t matter. Jamie is in this custody, accused of a heinous crime, and blaming themselves doesn’t help matters.
I can only knock the show for the absence of Katie’s perspective. In Episode Two, one of the detectives says no one will remember Katie. They’ll only remember who killed her. I’m inclined to agree with this analysis, and Adolescence could have done a better job of showing the effect that Katie’s death has on her family and women in general. As a father of two girls, the show hit me hard, and it does a slight disservice by not showing the effects of Katie’s death. Episode Two slightly shows it with one of Katie’s friends, who is deeply affected by the situation, yet I would’ve liked a bit more.
The performances are all outstanding, but there are three standouts. Graham is pulling double duty as creator and performer. Eddie is a working-class man who is drowning in his situation. Two of his scenes stand out. First, when he is sitting with Jamie during his interview after he gets arrested, Graham shows so much poise and confidence that his son couldn’t have done anything wrong. Fast forward to Episode Four, and Eddie breaks down about how he failed his son. It’s a heartbreaking moment, because although he isn’t directly responsible for the situation that Jamie is in, Eddie still feels a deep sense of regret about his role. It’s a moment of introspection about how we can be our hardest critics.
Another role worth shouting out is Briony (Erin Doherty), the person performing a psychological evaluation on Jamie in Episode Three. For only being in one episode, Doherty makes her impact known, mainly with body language. As someone who needs to be composed during the entire interview, Briony is visibly shaken about her interaction with Jamie. It’s hard to determine who’s in charge of the assessment, because the chess match between the two is riveting. Doherty knows how to push and when to hang back, and she’s outstanding.
The standout for Adolescence, though, is Cooper. Did you know this is Cooper’s first role??? Not his first starring or more prominent role, but his first credited role ever? It definitely doesn’t feel like it, because he’s is outstanding as Jamie. At first, Jamie appears to be a scared boy who maintains he’s done nothing wrong. In the third episode, Jamie’s behavior shifts rapidly during his interview with Briony. He goes from charming to sarcastic to threatening in a very short span. Also, the scene is incredibly tense and unpredictable, without any cuts or breaks. In lesser hands, it might have come off as cliché, but with Copper, it feels like a boy in a bit of an identity crisis. Like so many kids during adolescence, it’s difficult to sort out who you are, when there are many conflicting sources of truth.
Last year, Baby Reindeer caught a lot of people off guard with how captivating it was. It was a word-of-mouth juggernaut that stayed in the national conversation. Adolescence is in a similar camp, but this time it feels different. Between the technical marvel of cinematography and the breathtaking performances, Adolescence’s biggest strength is how it makes you feel. As a parent, it is DEFCON 1 in terms of how frightened it made me, but it also made me think, made me sad, and made me angry. Any show that can give someone that range of emotions is doing something right. Adolescence is a must-watch for anyone who loves television. It’s easily the best show of 2025 so far, and, to borrow a Heath Lynch-ism, it’s not even close.
Rating: Loved It
Adolescence is currently streaming on Netflix
You can read more from Mike Hilty and follow him on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Serializd