To think Adolescence was a little overblown with sketchy acting?

[Radish81]

I was interested in it and “enjoyed it”

but I thought it was a bit overblown and some of the acting…. Well, a bit shit really.

i feel like the only person on the planet to think this!

I think your view point is so valuable. You wonder how much they consulted any professionals?
I suppose there is artistic licence at play.
I was around Liverpool when Jamie Bulger was so brutally murdered (at Uni there) and I can remember the huge emphasis on the violent video games that the two killers watched. Their family backgrounds were revealed over time.
The tapes of them talking are still so chilling and even with all of the background it’s still hard to fathom why they did what they did. It did seem to go from them ‘just’ taking James to the most senseless violence.

First episode was good, the actor playing James was great but the later episodes were disappointing, especially the one in the school.

The 'one take' thing is a gimmick which didn't suit this story. And Stephen Graham always plays the same character in everything he does.

Yes, ridiculously overhyped. It’s amazing how easily manipulated people are. So many utterly shit films, TV shows, books, comedians, etc, are promoted, not because they’re any good but because the media think they deserve promotion. And people fall in line. Never underestimate how herd-like most people are. They have to be reading or watching what the herd are reading or watching.

That is only one piece of the puzzle. It was a precipitating factor but actually, the predisposing factors all came from his home. From the make up of his family and the behaviour not just of his father, but also his mum and his sister.Their interactions in episode 4 demonstrated the predisposing pieces that made him vulnerable to the incel stuff.

She was experienced. The point was she knew he was a victim himself of radicalisation…but he’d become a murderer… two lives ruined and 13. She also knew that he was in denial. All tragic…if that doesn’t make you cry, what does?

No, I am not about to start writing it all out for you, especially as there are already pieces written about it. There is a good thread here about the psychologists report which explains lots. There are plenty of resources for you to employ rather than to expect essays from others. I could write a thesis on that programme without issue.

It's OK I wasn't really expecting you to write a response as I am fairly confident I didn't miss anything. I didn't feel it was an in depth piece and others did. I have read some of the other threads and I haven't read anything to change my opinion or add anything I hadn't spotted already.

I've just tried to watch this

first five mins fine

looks like a chunk of irrelevance till another 40 mins in

half way through second episode

does it get better? Or can I mentally write it off as "misogynist murders girl"?

edit - I'm still stuck with the horrible trial that MN have inflicted on people who did not volunteer so it's extremely difficult, basically impossible, for me to read the thread - apologies

Thought it was excellent with great acting tbh! I thought while the online stuff kids r dealing with was done well, the bit that hit me harder was the parents abandonment of this 13 year old to living in his room, always being online, including through the night, with no involvement by the parents at all in this aspect of his life. I thought that was truly shocking. Also tho i thought the effects of bullying, low self esteem etc were demonstrated very well.

Funny how people have different views. I thought that the last episode was the best one!

The cinematography was clever, and I thought it added to the sense of drama. And I thought that the acting was uniformly brilliant.

But the hype around it was such that it was bound to disappoint. I’ve read it called ‘perfect TV’ and the best show of the year etc. And it was very good, but with that level of OHMYGODIT’SAMAZING around it there’s no way it could live up to expectations.

People have said it’s an episode too long. I actually thought it was an episode or two too short! I’d have loved to understand more about the actual incel element of the crime, as opposed to everyone talking around it but never going into the detail. And I’d have liked to see a post-conviction episode. But that’s probably why I don’t work in TV production!

I haven’t watched it yet but feel I could tell you all about it with the amount of advertising I’ve seen- it’s being promoted everywhere constantly!

I’ve heard the young lad is an amazing actor with lots of articles and quotes about how incredible it is that he’s never acted before and had no training. He’s actually had 2 years training at a well known respectable drama school set up by Sarah Lou from corrie. So, although he is amazing and it’s his first professional role, he has definitely had training in the arts. I’m looking forward to watching it but I get bored easily so might not be good at sticking at it!

Agreed

@jewelcase "And I’d have liked to see a post-conviction episode."

hopefully someone is brave enough to make it, because it consists of him being released early and murdering a few more women. That point really needs to be made.

i've googled for an episode summary and it does look as if three and four are worth watching.

Interesting that a character which was based on black on black knife crime was portrayed by a white actor - no great shock I suppose as it is better to focus on "male misogyny" than actual cultural issues driving knife crime which is far higher in the black community than any other. The MSM normally has a meltdown screaming about racism if it is ever mentioned backed by actual crime stats showing it to be the case.

Imagine the fallout if a white killer was played by a black actor the other way around.

I tried to watch it and thought it was soap operaesque, very cartoonishly acted, and not remotely reflecting reality.

Ended up rewatching Squid Game which is 100000% better at the social commentary and 100000000% better acted.

Totally agree. I liked the programme at first,but then became more and more concerned by the fact that a 13 yr old with no background of violence, radicalisation or mh issues, from a loving relatively stable home, would stab a female classmate 7 times. I started researching these types of scenario and quickly realised that as stated, they are vanishingly rare, well I couldn’t find any. I think the ‘it might happen in any family’ theme is very misleading . I wondered whether the American influence in this program maybe hasn’t helped, and that somehow the incidents of incel radicalised violent young men in the US have been superimposed into a British scenario with a young teen, which isn’t really so credible.

I wonder if a drama with a less negative outcome about what boys can end up being exposed to could have been made and still have sparked debate.

Or was the message, if we don’t do something now, this will be happening more and we can’t be naive and think it won’t

It was entertaining but it really wasn't some huge new concept. I watch a lot of british police dramas and whodunnit, murder, phychological thriller type shows and I dont think it was too different to other stuff.
They could have gone deeper into the incel theme, the middle episode could have got deeper into his character, the last episode was a bit boring.
It was entertaining enough though but didnt move me qnd get me really thinking deeply about the issues. I think it would have been better as a longer series.

Yes, but highly emotive and a very negative to boys plot

Episode 1 was good. Episode 3 was really compelling - and very disturbing - with exceptional acting by the psychologist and Jamie. But the last episode had me longing for it to be over - the mother seemed a bit dense and the sister was sort of blanked off. It was difficult to believe the boy came from this family.

Our local secondary schools have a huge issue with misogny at the moment. Our demographic is very much white. Isn’t the whole point of the programme to look at the impact on boys behaviour in current society, and it is not limited to race or dysfunctional families.

Lol at posters saying it’s a ‘bit basic’ or ‘boring’. Yes, it’s all subjective, you’re entitled to your views etc etc, but also maybe you should stick to Death In Paradise.

@Newmumhere40 thirty years m8

I liked the "point" but think you needed a magnifying glass to find it. I would have liked or to be more obvious and less drawn out