Review: There Are No Top-Down Solutions to the Problems Depicted in Adolescence

The limited-run Netflix series is fueling a real-life push for the British government to protect kids from online dangers.

Adolescence, a British TV series streaming on Netflix, depicts the arrest of 13-year-old Jamie for the brutal murder of his classmate, Katie, and the subsequent fallout in an imaginary English town. Shot in a continuous single-camera style, each episode explores the perspectives of Jamie's family, law enforcement, and an evaluating psychologist.

The limited-series format mimics the unsatisfying endings of real-life criminal justice cases. We see a legally defined conclusion, but many questions are left unanswered, as in life, leaving the characters—and viewers—to make sense of the chaos and what should come next after such a shocking act. Jamie's parents ask what, if anything, they could have done differently, and face the uncomfortable reality that many circumstances lie outside of their control.

The series clearly wants to condemn the toxic and misogynistic communities that had infiltrated Jamie's life. Given the recent villainization of social media, it is unsurprising the drama has fueled a real-life push for the British government to protect kids from online dangers. But even with the series creators pushing for "radical action" following the show's success, the storytelling's realism helps keep the agenda in check. This story does not compel viewers to conclude that top-down social control is a sure solution to human failures and crimes.