To have this reaction to Netflix’s Adolescence

[Marigoldsold]

This show has really got me and I can’t stop thinking about it.

A show about a murder of a young girl by a young boy.

I have cried over it , I have a little boy myself - I have gone and cuddled him tight after it. The scene at the end , the very last one … I cried like a baby.

What shocked me is that those tears and sadness was for the boy. The murderer.

I don’t think that he didn’t do it , or that the victim deserved it ( obviously ! ) . I don’t think he shouldn’t be in prison etc .

I feel desperately sad that a little boy , who slept with a Teddy , liked drawing and had child’s wallpaper on his walls ended up doing that. That after he did it and his dad knew .. he still reached out to him for comfort. That he was a child .

I think it’s really opened my eyes . We always hear of horrible crimes and pray our child will never be that poor victim and do whatever we can to prevent that. But we never sit and think that actually it could be our child who does that and that is also something we could prevent and should be trying to .

i think it’s the fact the show focused on the murderer rather than the victim and that it wasn’t a child who had been abused and neglected , it wasn’t a child that had had a bad life , it wasn’t a child that was so called “ born evil , it wasn’t a child that had psychotic tendencies or was a ‘ psychopath ‘ .. he was a normal child.

Not saying it never happens, but it's not usually the nice kids from good, stable, loving families, warm homes and 3 square meals that generally go down this route. It's no less sad because of this fact, but Adolescence didn't ring true to me. Powerful still, and a really great way to instigate a necessary conversation with your teenagers. But if you always speak to them about important issues and take the time to continue to connect with them as they grow, then most people don't have too much to worry about.

I wonder if it would have been better, and more realistically impactful, had it not gone for the extreme case of murder?

Yeah I think maybe , if he had harmed himself or something - or not killed her - , then people could have seen the problems and not been torn . I think as it’s a murder for some they can’t see past it.

But I think the way it’s got people talking is good. Thankfully it’s not real and no one was hurt. But if it was and we had all the same facts that we saw on the show I don’t think anyone would react how they have . I don’t think I would as I wouldn’t be able to see past the death of a child. But as it isn’t real , then I can because I know deep down that no one has been hurt and I’m not ‘defending’ a real killer …