Adolescence · United Kingdom (2024)
Many series about young people rely on shock or sentimentality. Adolescence does neither. It looks calmly and uncomfortably at how violence, masculinity and responsibility take shape long before adulthood.
The story follows a teenage boy accused of killing a classmate, but the real focus is wider, encompassing family, school, social pressure, and the silences that allow things to escalate. It is not an easy watch, and it is not meant to be. Its strength lies precisely in its restraint.
Rather than offering answers, the series forces the viewer to sit with the consequences. It feels distinctly European in its refusal to simplify a complex social failure into a single villain.