Adolescence Review: How Netflix’s Adolescence Exposes the Truth Behind the Dark Reality of Youth Violence

How Netflix’s Adolescence Exposes the Truth Behind the Dark Reality of Youth Violence

By Dylan Barbee










Courtesy of IMDb

Release Date: March 13th, 2025

In recent years, violence amongst the youth in the UK has become a daily occurrence with eight in ten teen homicide victims being killed with a blade and 50,500 offenses involving a sharp instrument in the year ending in March 2024. These viciously deranged attacks traumatize victim’s families despite often being the passing headlines within the larger presentation of international news coverage.


Netflix’s new critically acclaimed British streaming series Adolescence puts a scope on this growing issue, with show director Philip Barantini and writer Jack Thorne peeling back the layers of how social media is hijacking the youth in the UK - and potentially worldwide. 


The show follows the Miller family, whose 13-year-old son Jamie (Owen Cooper) is arrested and interrogated for the killing of his classmate, Katie (Emilia Holliday). Told over four episodes - each filmed in one impressive continuous shot - Adolescence includes intense scenes uncovering the despair released into a community that's youth has succumbed to online radicalization. 


Although Adolescence’s plot revolves around just one murder case, it reflects a lot about British culture when it comes to the youth’s in-depth relationship with social media and connecting with others online. Barantini makes a point to warn parents of what their children may be consuming on the internet without adult supervision.


The show effectively addresses how the manosphere influenced Jamie to commit such a heinous act at a young age. Misogynistic British influencers online like Andrew Tate are part of this large network that is corrupting the youth, uploading sexist content on the internet capable of radicalizing young boys and instilling toxic masculinity traits within them to commit harm against women. Tate is even name dropped in episode 2.


In Adolescence, it's clear that Jamie has gotten his hands on this type of content, and we can see his descent into male rage in episode 3 where Jamie aggressively shouts at his psychologist (Briony Ariston) and finally admits he killed his classmate. The audience already knew this in episode 1 where harrowing CCTV footage clearly shows Jamie committing this crime on his classmate while the teen is sitting in an interrogation room beside his father (Stephan Graham), across from two detectives (Faye Marsaye and Ashley Walters). However, the show is not a whodunnit but rather a close character examination of Jamie to reflect the rise of this dangerous culture in the UK and what is cultivating it.


Adolescence does a fantastic job at wiping away Jamie’s innocence during this psychological autopsy of a young boy, giving subtle hints to the behavior that have been instilled within him whether it be through his close attachment to his father throughout the show or the belittlement of the victim when he is talking to his psychologist.


Ultimately, the British Netflix series Adolescence uses its startling performances and emotionally charged writing style to answer the many questions behind the growing issues around youth violence in the UK. The socially conscious series serves as a call to action to society urging viewers and parents to teach the younger generation how to safely navigate the internet, especially guiding young men into rethinking what they are learning online in silence.


Rating: 9.5/10



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