Don’t watch “Adolescence”…

It’s possible that I may be a couple of weeks too late with this warning…

By now everyone has watched or at least heard about the hugely successful British series on Netflix. It feels like this is being discussed on every chat group. Even I have written a quick review after watching it and being blown away by its brilliance. On thinking through, I realized that it is not for everyone. It definitely is not a date night show! Take it from me – someone who took his wife to “Schindler’s list” on our wedding anniversary! 🤦🏽

I wanted to essentially redo my review with this disclaimer:

Don’t watch “Adolescence” expecting…

  • to be entertained
  • flashy fight sequences or police chases
  • melodramatic cliffhangers at the end of every episode – thereby making you want to binge watch episode after episode.
  • any kind of comedy
  • no religion or politics or sex
  • to see the good guys and bad guys put into clearly demarcated boxes
  • a closure in the form of a neatly tied up story

“Adolescence” covers the “why” aspect of crime that we routinely see in our news these days.  It’s presented from the point of view of the accused and his family as opposed to that of the victim. The writing is super brilliant. Acting is mind-blowing, and so is the cinematography – which is surprising, considering that it’s not a story or theme that naturally lends itself to such! I predict it will sweep the awards in all 3 of these categories. Every single actor, whether it’s for the main characters or for bit roles, has lived in their characters so well that it felt like we were actually peeking in on real life happening in front of us.

Masterful performance by Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham

I am not usually a fan of heavy stuff. Those that know me well know that I am more of an “Airplane”, “Naked Gun” or “History of the World” type guy! But I was totally blown away by this serious themed short series (only 4 episodes).

The single-take approach they used for the series was fascinating and gave us a feel of actually being right there observing real-life drama! By the end of the series, I was feeling like an amateur cinematographer, who figured out where the camera was placed for a particular scene and when and how it transitioned to the drone etc. However, as tempting as it was, I had to watch myself from being the amateur psychologist who has it all figured out – the kids’ minds, how the parents, teachers and the psychologist should’ve handled the situations differently or better. Clearly the complex interplay of various factors influencing a child’s behavior defy simple and straightforward explanations.

I strongly recommend it! As I mentioned before, it is not entertaining but it is definitely thought-provoking. Watch it to understand the impact of social media, bullying and parenting on kids. I especially recommend it to parents of kids in schools (from elementary to high school). It exposes us to the kind of pressures that kids endure routinely these days. Since social media is all-pervasive, no country’s people are immune from its ill-effects. I am happy to see this series (and topics like peer pressure, bullying and parenting) being discussed in chatrooms worldwide.

But, it is definitely not for everyone!

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Author: Yash

I immigrated to the US in 1983 from India. I feel that I have been here long enough to not be called FOB (Fresh-off-the-Boat) by my kids. But I guess they seem to have some other standards which involve pronouncing words like "Vote" ,"Vending" and "Video" properly - which I guess I will never achieve (because of my 21 years in India) - so, I am going to pass myself as that Indian with an "exotic" accent!! My interests : WRITING - Just realized that most of my work so far has been Nostalgia-centric. I enjoy this genre and feel it's an un-ending well that I can draw from. As a matter of fact, this right here is fresh nostalgia for 10 years down the road!! (-: GOLF - I am terrible at it and it's a damn frustrating game, but I still love it ("painful pleasure"). One of these days I will actually take lessons so that I won't embarrass myself too much on the golf course. As long as there are golf courses around here (with low standards) that would allow me to play - I will play and enjoy golf!! STAND-UP - I have started dabbling (performing) in stand-up comedy recently and am loving the feedback I have been getting! I am going to attribute this newfound hobby to mid-life crisis! :-) (as an alternative to a toupee or a red sports car or a girlfriend-on-the-side!!). Here's clip of my very first performance on April 14th 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScMLgRAGyNs&feature=youtu.be MUSIC - I am a huge fan of Shakti (John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vinayakram, L.Shankar) as well as their later avatar - "Remember Shakti" (John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Selva Ganesh, Mandolin Sreenivas, Shankar Mahadevan). Thoroughly enjoyed the two live concerts that I attended of this fusion group. I enjoy Hindustani and Carnatic classical instrumental music. YOUTUBE - YouTube has an unbelievable amount of entertainment from which you can draw your specific narrow niche!! In my case - these areas happen to be - street foods from various parts of the world, Indian classical music, debates about religion & belief, Indian Classical Music played by non Indian (e.g. Ukrainians doing wonderful Bharatanatyam, a French lady performing amazingly in a Carnatic Concert, a Chinese lady teaching Bharatanatyam in China etc.)

2 thoughts on “Don’t watch “Adolescence”…”

  1. You have given a very good overview of the content covered by the episodes and indeed inspires me to watch it. Everyday,
    i have seen CNN and BBC covering it. …..what i could guage from the glimpses….is that it deals with a very crucial turbulent phase of an adolescent of self discovery and growth. It focuses on the physical, emotional, and social transformations,( brought out beautifully by the actors), marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. ( the boy acts superbly) The key challenges it tackles, such as identity formation, peer influence, emotional turbulence, and the quest for independence are imp.to understand . You are absolutely right everyone must watch.

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