This story accommodates mentions of gender-based violence and spoilers for the Netflix sequence Adolescence.
If you happen to’re a trustworthy scholar of what’s trending on Netflix, you may not want any introduction to Adolescence: The British restricted sequence, following the arrest of a 13-year-old boy for a feminine classmate’s homicide, delves deep into thorny territory of how our society has socialized younger males and boys to deal with the ladies of their lives as inferior (more and more with deadly outcomes).
Whereas it could be tempting to dismiss the actions of males who enact violence towards ladies as monstrous, Adolescence connects the dots between the worldwide domination of social media and the rising normalization of cultural misogyny to exhibit simply how straightforward it’s for kids like Jamie, the present’s protagonist (performed by Owen Cooper), to get harmful and even lethal messages about their roles in society. If you happen to haven’t watched the present but, or need a primer on its admittedly tough content material earlier than diving in, we’ve obtained you coated; under, discover every part you want to find out about Adolescence.
What’s Adolescence about?
Adolescence might be understood, very broadly, as a darkish warning concerning the potential ramifications of incel tradition and the radicalization of younger males on-line. Within the Netflix sequence, a 13-year-old boy named Jamie Miller is arrested on the suspicion of homicide and introduced with CCTV footage of himself fatally stabbing a feminine classmate named Katie Leonard. The present follows Jamie and his household from the police interrogation room to the college that he and Katie attended and the youth psychiatric facility the place he later awaits trial, leaping ahead a yr in its remaining episode to search out Jamie making ready to plead responsible whereas his household makes an attempt to return to some model of normalcy.
Who stars in Adolescence, and what else do I do know them from?
Owen Cooper, who portrays Jamie, is a newcomer to the trade—as one may anticipate, provided that he is solely 15. Nonetheless, he has a number of upcoming tasks listed on IMDb, together with a job as younger Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
Adolescence’s co-creator Stephen Graham, who performs Jamie’s father, Eddie, has been nominated for a whopping eight BAFTA Awards. He’s maybe finest identified for his roles in Peaky Blinders, Boiling Level, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Lifeless Males Inform No Tales.
Christine Tremarco, who performs Owen’s mom, Manda, has starred on British sequence together with Secure Home, Little Boy Blue, Tin Star, and Wolfe.
Is Adolescence primarily based on a real story?
Whereas Adolescence’s story wasn’t ripped immediately from the headlines, the continuing scourge of gender-based violence within the UK and elsewhere undoubtedly served as an inspiration to Graham and his co-creator Jack Thorne. “There was an incident the place a younger boy (allegedly) stabbed a woman,” Graham informed Tudum not too long ago, including: “It shocked me. I used to be considering, ‘What’s occurring? What’s occurring in society the place a boy stabs a woman to dying? What’s the inciting incident right here?’ After which it occurred once more, and it occurred once more, and it occurred once more. I actually simply wished to shine a light-weight on it, and ask, ‘Why is that this occurring at this time? What’s occurring? How have we come to this?’”
What number of episodes of Adolescence are there?
Sadly, there are solely 4 episodes of Adolescence within the Netflix sequence’s first (and sure solely) season. “We knew that we wished to finish it in that room. We wished the journey to complete the place it started,” creator Stephen Graham informed Tudum. “That is the place the one that Jamie turned was created.”