Netflix’s Adolescence is the kind of series you shouldn’t miss out on. Through their mature writing, Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne illustrate how the toxic culture, the misogyny, and the flawed notions of masculinity can have an impact on a tender mind. The pace might seem a bit too slow to some, but I believe that you need to be patient and give it time because I am quite sure that in the end you will be impacted in a way you wouldn’t have imagined. So, let’s find out what happened in the series and analyze the point the makers want to make.
Spoiler Alert
Why Did Jamie kill his classmate Katie?
Adolescence begins with DI Bascombe, together with his team, barging into Eddie Miller’s house and arresting their 13-year-old son for murdering one of his classmates named Katie. Initially the family was in shock, and they thought that it was some kind of misunderstanding. I mean, for a parent who was oblivious to reality, it was hard to imagine that their little boy could kill somebody. Jamie was taken to the police station, and the boy broke down instantly, and he was barely able to speak. In the first episode, we saw how excruciatingly painful it was for the victim and the family to answer all those questions, go through the entire process step by step, be patient, hold their nerve, and not lose their calm or have a mental breakdown. Even though the police officers were cordial in their approach, it was a harrowing experience for Jamie and his entire family. Jamie was provided a lawyer by the state, who told him that he shouldn’t answer any questions pertaining to the night when the crime was committed. Jamie acted very diligently, and he didn’t give out any details to the DI and his colleague.
But then, at the end of the first episode, the DI showed Eddie a video, after which he became numb, and he didn’t know how to react. It was the CCTV footage of that fateful night when Katie got killed. In the video, Eddie saw that his son had stabbed Katie multiple times with a knife and then escaped from the scene like a criminal. Eddie broke down, and he didn’t know what to say to his son. His son, during that entire time, had been telling him that he had not committed the crime. Eddie believed him; I mean, how could a father believe that his teenage son was capable of murdering somebody? But that video changed everything. Eddie knew that he couldn’t shy away from reality, though Jamie still kept on saying that he didn’t commit the act. He was in a state of denial. Jamie knew what he had done, but he was not naive enough to implicate himself. After the video was shown to Eddie and Jamie, the lawyer and the police officers left the room so that they could have a moment alone. Though it was clear that Jamie had murdered Katie, it was important for the DI to find out why he did so and also figure out where he had hidden the murder weapon. The DI knew that he needed substantial evidence, as otherwise, Jamie would get the advantage and turn the odds in his favor. So, DI Bascombe went on a quest to find out what could have motivated Jamie to murder somebody.
How did Jamie change after the counselor’s visit?
Briony Ariston was the second child psychology expert who came to have a chat with Jamie and understand why he committed the crime. Briony started with some small talk, but the way the conversation went changed the entire game. Briony dug into the kind of perspective Jamie had, what he thought about women, what his views were about masculinity, and what he felt about society in general. Before Jamie was shifted to the secured training center, where juveniles were generally held for evaluation, DI Bascombe had figured out certain things that affected the young man by talking to his classmates and friends. Bascombe’s son came up to him and showed him the kind of interactions Katie and Jamie had on Instagram. Bascombe’s son, who was a senior of Jamie, told him that Katie, in a way, bullied Jamie and called him an incel. So basically, Jamie was looked down upon and mocked for not being able to have romantic partners and was pushed to become an involuntary celibate. Bascombe realized that the boy, somewhere, was heavily inspired by the so-called words of wisdom of misogynists like Andrew Tate on the internet, to the point where he believed that 80 percent of women tended to like just 20 percent of boys.
Bascombe realized that Jamie had accepted the fact that he was ugly and not worthy of being with a woman who was considered to be beautiful by societal standards. There was a lot of suppressed anger inside the little boy, which came out while he was talking to the counselor in the secured training center. We saw how he lost his calm time and again and just shouted at the lady who was literally thrice his age. There were many things that Jamie unintentionally revealed during that conversation with the counselor. He told her that he’d seen compromising pictures of Katie after they were circulated in the entire school. Jamie believed that she was going through a rough patch in her life, and he wanted to take advantage of that weak moment. He asked her out on a date, but that backfired on him. Katie insulted him and belittled him, asking how he could assume that she would go out with a guy like him. It was after that night that she started bullying him on social media, and Jamie got so triggered that he was unable to handle his impulses. Also, Jamie told Briony that he could have taken advantage of Katie at one point in time, but he didn’t. The way he spoke about it made it feel like he considered himself to be better than his peers just because he didn’t violate the privacy of a girl. It was an extremely distasteful observation on his part, and that’s when Briony realized how messed up he was in his head.
Jamie lost his temper once again during the meeting when he learned that it was the last time he was meeting Briony. Jamie was basically scared, as deep down, he knew that he had given her enough reason to turn in a report that would go against him. He didn’t want to make a bad impression on her, but he couldn’t control his impulses for long. There was a moment during the meeting when it felt like Jamie derived some kind of sadistic pleasure from seeing a woman older than him get scared by his aggression. He knew it was a bad thing for his case overall, but there was something about the way he looked at or spoke to Briony that made me feel that he enjoyed it. It was clear Jamie wanted to be in a position of power. He wanted to dominate, as he felt that was what being a man was all about. He had a very flawed concept of masculinity, probably because all his learning came from listening to misogynists, who glorified toxic masculinity and looked down upon women. One could’ve never imagined the kind of impact the words of a nonsensical person could have on a tender mind. The problem was quite deep-rooted, and it was difficult for the entire system to decipher what corrective measures they should take to bring Jamie onto the right path. It had been almost a year since the crime was committed, but still, the juvenile justice system wasn’t able to figure out what should be done.
Why Did Jamie Confess To His Crimes?
Whatever had happened had taken a serious toll on Jamie, and I believe that even after all the correctional measures, his life would never be the same again. Jamie’s parents and his sister were living through the trauma with him, and their condition was even worse, as they hadn’t done anything to deserve such a fate. Eddie and Manda couldn’t understand what they could have done better to avoid such a vicious outcome, and somewhere, they blamed themselves for not being able to raise their child in the right way. Well, it was a difficult spot to be in, and it became clear at the end of Adolescence that going through the entire ordeal had taken a toll on Eddie. Often, he felt that it would have been better if Jamie had asked for his mother to be present during the primary investigations and not him. Eddie felt that Manda would have handled everything in a much better manner. But the damage had been done, and Eddie could never forget what he saw in that CCTV camera footage. It was Eddie’s birthday, and a few kids from the neighborhood had sprayed the word “nonce” on Eddie’s car. The man lost his temper as he knew what that word meant. He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs that he was not a sex offender and that his child was not a criminal, but he knew that no matter what he did, in the end, he would have to accept the reality. He knew what his son had done and that he and his family would have to deal with that trauma their entire lives. He and Manda had a very mature conversation at the end, and they realized that they would have to accept that they probably went wrong somewhere or that they could have done things better. Jamie gave his father a call to wish him a happy birthday, and he told him that he was going to change his stance and plead guilty. Eddie didn’t know how to respond. But the word “guilty” made him lose control over his emotions. Lisa told her parents that moving out of the city was not an option for them and that they would have to face whatever had happened and move on. Eddie and Manda both knew it was the right call, as they couldn’t keep escaping what had happened their entire lives.
What will happen to Jamie and his family?
I believe that since Jamie has made up his mind that he was going to plead guilty, he will be sent to a juvenile correctional center after his trial concludes. I believe that the authorities will make sure that before his release, Jamie is given the proper assistance and care, and he is able to find a new outlook towards life. It won’t be easy for Jamie, and he will have to work really hard to understand that his sensibilities were flawed. As for Jamie’s parents, they too have their own battle to fight. The society had ostracized them, and Eddie especially found it hard to deal with whatever had happened. I believe that whatever Eddie’s daughter told them at the end of the series was absolutely right: they didn’t have a way out of the mess, and they would have to face the people and accept whatever had happened. It was hard for Eddie and Manda to accept that their kid could do something like that, and henceforth they would have to take each and every step very carefully.
