To ask if it’s worth watching Adolescence ?

I thought it was a great watch. The acting was brilliant. The one shot filming was “different” I suppose, but I’m not as excited about it as some people appear to be. I found the programme interesting, and watched it in a single sitting, and learned a few new things (emojis mostly) from it. I think it could be a useful tool for parents and schools, both to educate themselves and to discuss with teenagers.
Would I get a Netflix subscription just to watch it? Not a chance.

My daugher is 16. Transition year, is a year, based on work experience, personal development, project work and school trips. It is really fun, it is optional in most schools.

Except in Ireland (ROI) the exams are Junior Cert and Leaving Cert. They do a lot of work experience, projects etc in Transition year. It’s great.

In Ireland, it's a year between middle exams and final exams. So a "fun" year between GCSEs and A Level.

The simpering teacher at the school was bloody awful as well.

I thought she played it very well, personally. I thought she showed her shock at the situation, nervousness at having to show police around, and embarrassment at the teacher who was absent and the kids behaviour.

It's slow but honestly the best thing I've seen in years. Stick with it .
When you watch it again the second or 3rd time you appreciate for a whole host of other reasons the cinegraphy, the exploring of mysigony. The way the women are portrayed at every level incredible acting ... absolute genius

I responded to one of@Abstracts's posts earlier, and I also don't understand how they broke the talk guidelines. I mean, they didn't come across too well, but no worse than lots of other people on these boards.

Maybe a previously banned poster or something?

i really struggle to get into series or find any decent series. I think it was outstanding. One of the best series I've seen in a long long time and they are finally speaking out about issues that people have been so unaware off. Brilliant acting in it.

How does @Abstracts first post on this thread break the talk guidelines?

Today 07:31
If you enjoy slightly overblown stage-school type acting.
episode 1 absorbing
2 boring
3 mildly interesting but like watching GCSE drama students
4 dull as dishwasher

I didn't see the subsequent deleted posts, but the first post, what's so bad about that @MNHQ??

For me I was expecting exactly that - a look at how social media influences teens.

But we didn’t see any of that. I was expecting to see him being radicalised online, I would have been interested to see the process - what sort of websites was he visiting initially to get drawn into the incel world

Im not sure id come away with much more to tell my sons (if I had them) than ‘be careful what you watch online’.

I agree with this. I didn’t know what those
emojis meant

PP is correct in that most of us (on MN at least) are pretty aware of the issues surrounding misogyny and online brainwashing. But MN is not representative of the wider society. I think there are a lot of parents out there like the parents on the show that are thinking “well all my boy does is go on his computer in his room, what harm could he come to?” when they’re just sleepwalking through parenting. The show is an extreme example of what could happen if you let your children have free rein on the internet.

My son is only 7. I already am (and have been) worried about negotiating his tween/teen years. This show has made me worry more. Even if I don’t allow him a smart phone or unsupervised internet access, it’ll only take one of his peer group to show him something I don’t want him to see. How do you protect them against that?!

Just to add - it felt very public service announcement to me - I can imagine it being used in schools/ parenting classes etc which isn't a bad thing but it's not the pinnacle of good drama.

I think as a drama it was very watchable - some decent acting, some truly awful acting, a reasonable but flawed attempt to address online radicalization /vawg/ misogyny/ toxic masculinity etc but there's always this tendency with British media to over hype/gush about British made TV/film beyond the actual merits of the production and then no one can criticize it and it's a bafta shoe-in etc. I actually found the one shot thing pretty limiting and gimmicky. It forced some really cringey ad-libbing (especially in part 2) to maintain the continuous shot which just took me out of it.

So yeah, style definitely impacted substance for me.

To me that would be year 6. The year that they go up to high school.

I was bored to tears. Had to fast forward several parts. The premise of it is very good. The young boys acting was very good and parts of it were excellent. The school episode and the car scene were absolutely mind numbing. I'm not sure I fully get the hype.

What does school transition year mean? It’s a 15, is she going into 6th form?

A must watch if you have kids.
People are missing the point.

Absolutely agree. I have a tween boy so it really opened my eyes. Also finely nuanced as a PP said.

I don’t think the hype is necessarily about how good a drama it is (though I did think it was good!), but about the messaging

Yes, that's exactly it, and people who can't see that have completely missed the point.

We already knew about youth knife crime, Andrew Tate, misogyny, bullying and teenage boys killing teenage girls.

Yes, we all know it happens, but not exactly how. A drama like this really does drive the message home - much more than just being told or reading about it. It illustrates how events can escalate and get out of control.

Interesting to see so many people say that they didn’t like episode four; I actually think in lots of ways it was my favourite. Watching the family struggle to cope and flit between devastated at what had happened (and how life changing it was for the whole family, not just Jamie) and laughter, humour and even horniness was weirdly life-affirming.

And the “small talk” story the parents told Lisa during the playing of ‘Take On Me’ was very touching and told of a different kind of teenagehood… but then two minutes later the Dad had lost it again and was terrifyingly angry and the mum and daughter were cowed into silence. I also enjoyed how the parents kept talking about (and trying to) “save the day” because they’d taken on what the therapist said, but were clearly struggling to implement any other useful therapeutic techniques. Lisa also seemed lonely without her brother in that episode, I thought that was well observed.

I really disliked episode two however, for reasons I’ve expressed on other threads. Husband and I are both secondary teachers (in inner London) and it didn’t ring true at all.

This - I think those who have children or work with children should watch it to be educated and have their eyes open to a serious issue. I don’t think the hype is necessarily about how good a drama it is (though I did think it was good!), but about the messaging

Not new to everyone. That is the point!

It was brilliant. I was riveted. The confession in episode 3 to the psychiatrist was a particularly strong moment for me.

I would watch it, especially if you have kids. Those who found it boring and confusing were clearly not paying attention or just aren’t that deep.

I wasn’t impressed and not sure what the hype was about. The only thing I took from it was if secondary schools are genuinely like that now, I’m worried for my kids.

TBH I don't know what the disappointed posters were expecting from this drama. Everything I have read about it was that it portrayed how social media and peer groups influence teenagers and that it would be a hard watch.

It was never meant to be a fast moving, action packed drama.

I thought it was brilliantly and intelligently done and that all parents of teenagers and teenagers should watch it.