‘Adolescence’ Just Won a Golden Globe After 555.1M Hours Watched — but It’s Still Asking a Messy Question

The cultural relevance of Netflix’s Adolescence continues as the streaming series impressed at the Golden Globes. Stephen Graham’s brainchild already swept during the 77th Emmy Awards and continues to be a source of fascination. The English show developed by Graham centers around the brutal murder of a 13-year-old girl. Each episode takes place in real time, filmed in one shot in the four-part miniseries. Adolescence doesn’t waste time on an investigation. Instead, it immediately starts with the arrest of young Jamie (Owen Cooper).

Adolescence also doesn’t waste time on questioning if Jamie is guilty or not. Quite quickly, the police provide a video of Jamie stabbing an innocent girl, Katie. The rest of the investigation involves trying to find the murder weapon and meditating on what could have driven Jamie to commit the crime. Adolescence isn’t a by-the-numbers procedural series, but instead considers the difficulties of young boys growing up during the internet age. Katie is one of the many casualties of incel culture that is rarely discussed in such detail. In four episodes, Adolescence considers Jamie’s exposure to the involuntarily celibate culture and how it weaponized him in this terrifying story.

‘Adolescence’ Provides No Easy Answers

Adolescence is not easy viewing for anyone, and that’s by design. The series was less about finding a definitive reason why this crime happened and more about pointing to the issues of society in general. Analyzing these examples of teen violence is often about trying to find a cut-and-dry reason why it happened. In the modern world, that is all but impossible. Adolescence points this out and also posits that looking for a concise reason is only another way people involved can avoid blame. The Netflix series shows that Jamie’s case is common and there is no sole party responsibility. Incel internet culture, parents, and school systems can all come together to create an insidious monster. Each episode investigates how these blind spots can create a vicious culture.

Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) has to acknowledge that he is woefully underprepared to deal with this kind of crime. When speaking to his son, he realizes that he is out of touch with what kids are actually going through. Adam (Amari Bacchus) has to point out that Instagram can be a hotbed of terror. Kids communicate through emojis, which can breed unhealthy thoughts.

The best episode of the show, Episode 3, takes place in one therapy session where a female psychologist, Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty) tries to determine if Jamie understands what he is being accused of and is fit for trial. In this session, Jamie’s psychology unravels in a horror of disconcerting reveals. Jamie has become twisted with neuroses stemming from his belief that he has shortcomings due to masculinity and the way his peers perceive him. There is no question whether he did it or not, but there is no easy answer either. Jamie became radicalized not from just one aspect of society, but many. Adolescence considers that other kids like Adam may be okay because his father strives to create a good relationship between them, despite his setbacks. This isn't the case for Jamie, whose life has been decided. Bascombe can go on with his life, relieved that his own son is okay without taking any responsibility for how young boys are molded.

The school system will also take no responsibility, even though Jamie’s actions have hurt many. Katie’s best friend, Jade (Fatima Bojang), will forever be changed by this violent act. She has her own struggles, especially as a young girl of color. She has no support system at home, and Katie was the only person who cared about her. Her rage is justified, but just as Jamie is swept under the rug, so is Jade. The school doesn’t take a real interest in her, and she is just another kid who can fall through the cracks. Society needs to do better, but as it stands now, that doesn’t seem possible.

‘Adolescence’ Is a Modern Tragedy

When Adolescence picks up in Episode 1, it is already too late. Jamie has already killed a girl, and no one noticed the signs. The entire opening sequence is powerful, particularly because the parents had no idea what was going on with their child. They are in disbelief that this could have happened, but quickly have to come to terms with this reality.

Jamie’s story came to pass because of many failures that didn’t just have to do with how his parents raised him. This was the idea that Stephen Graham ran with when conceiving the series. In an interview that came out during the run of Adolescence, the star and writer of the show gave some context to the themes behind the series.

“I thought to myself, ‘What if it’s not the parents?’" Graham considered in the interview. "I wanted the dad to be a hardworking man, the kind of man that I was brought up with, like my uncles and my dad, who used to go to work at, like, 6 in the morning and not get home till 8 o’clock at night, Monday to Friday."

Graham’s character is a father who has good intentions in the masterful series. He was a loving partner, and his issues with toxic masculinity were minimal in retrospect. He could be faulted for showing rage and perhaps believing too much in masculine traits like boys being good at sports, but that doesn’t necessarily create a monster. After all, the family has a daughter as well, who did not go down the same path as Jamie. This family couldn’t have known these minimal acts would be compounded by Jamie’s experience in school and online activity.

The real issue is that all these elements can come together, making it even harder to dissuade these misogynistic tendencies. Jamie, in his heart, had come to believe that women were to blame for the things he felt were wrong in his life. The real tragedy is that in his case, it was only discovered when it was too late. The success Adolescence has had on the awards circuit suggests that this is an issue everyone needs to pay more attention to, and it did so in a stylistic way that grabbed viewers' attention.

Release Date March 13, 2025

Network Netflix

Directors Philip Barantini