Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is the main character of the Netflix series "Adolescence"

By: Maria Eduarda Macieira (Grade 5)

“Adolescence” is the name of the new Netflix series that has been shocking people all around the world. The psychological drama was written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne and directed by Philip Barantini. The plot is about a 13 years old boy called Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) who was accused of murdering his classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday). But the interesting part is that the storyline doesn’t focus on what he did, but why he did it So the psychologist Briony (Erin Doherty), the officer Luke (Ashley Walters) investigate Jamie, his surroundings, like school and social media to understand the crime.

The production was divided into 4 episodes, each one focusing on a topic. The first one showed the boy being arrested and his adaptation in the prison. The second focuses on the investigation of Jamie’s school and friends, who could be involved in the crime. The third one is when Jamie has a conversation with the psychologist Briony, in a process to, gradually, discover the purpose of him killing Katie. The last episode brings more the view of his family, who were shocked with the recent happenings in their life. 

Each episode of “Adolescence” was filmed in a one shot model, without “cuts”. So the cast needed to rehearse a lot, because if they got something wrong, they would have to do the take all over again. 

What really touched me and all families in this series is how Jamie created a monster inside him that anyone saw that was growing. Jamie was an insecure boy who just had a computer and a closed-door bedroom, without parents controlling him or the content he saw, like many teenagers nowadays. So, topics like inappropriate content, cyberbullying and low self-esteem started attacking him. Something really important is that the Netflix series brings some terms, words, emojis and symbols that could mean something else than the obvious in social media, which was one of the challenges faced by the police officer Luke during the investigations.

In my opinion, inside the story, Jamie’s case touched a lot the police officer, who had a son (in the same school as Jamie) and, as a father, he realized that he should be nearer him and needed to protect him from all types of danger inside a cell phone screen.

For me, this production shocked all families and parents, because it’s a message for them to take care of what teenagers are accessing and how to educate boys nowadays, creating respect for women and girls especially. 

Nowadays, if teenagers are in their rooms, on a cell phone, it can be worse than  being in danger outside. It’s a message for parents that like Jamie’s parents, Eddie (Stephen Graham) and Manda (Christine Tremarco) Miller, didn’t realize how their son was suffering because of bullying, a situation that ended in a murder.

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