Adolescence
Not even 5 minutes in and I’m gripped by this new Netflix psychological thriller, oh my god it’s so intense! My first thought – I’m so glad I’m not a parent! Because this is probably every parent’s greatest nightmare.
British police break into a working class home in the suburbs in a dawn raid to arrest a 13-year old boy, Jamie, for killing his female classmate, Katie. You don’t know this at first, you only see a terrified boy who peed in his pants from fear. And the way the police does the arrest is quite forceful and yet very lawfully so you know that the crime committed is truly very serious.
And it is. Created by Stephen Graham, who also plays Eddie, Jamie’s loving and doting father in the 4-part mini series, is a shocking and searing new crime drama that zooms in on the corrosive impact of social media, particularly to young boys – how social media is used for bullying and how a boy like this could react through the eyes of male rage.
Can you imagine what you would do as a parent if your 13-year old son is accused of murder? I cannot! It would destroy me.
And yes, little by little, you feel more and more destroyed for Jamie, his father Eddie, his Mom and his older sister, a seemingly normal family, as the investigation begins. It’s so shocking it shakes you to your core. And then you notice that they way this show is shot is by handheld cameras making you feel truly fully immersed in the scenes, almost as if like you’re part of it, eavesdropping and witnessing it all unfold before your very eyes. It’s more than just a neat camera trick, it’s a storytelling breakthrough. I also noticed that the camera never cuts, it is one long shot from the beginning to the end of each episode – one take lang lahat! Grabe! Imagine the preparation, sequencing, choreography and precision that came into filming this series? Hindi ka pwede magkamali! Take one lang! (I read after that Director Philip Barrantini intended 10 takes for each episode meaning all the actors needed to do the show 10 times in terms of acting and then he chose the best one.) As a writer, I became conscious of cutting points pero wala ako makita, even in the drone shot. (I also read that the handheld camera was attached to a drone in Episode 2 – so imagine, bitbit ng cameraman pati yung drone the entire episode!)
I’m getting a bit technical because it’s no small feat, and the camera style adds to the audience experience which is unnerving, harrowing and disheartening all at the same time.
Owen Cooper, the young actor that plays Jamie, looks so innocent, angelic and effective that you want him to be innocent even when there is undeniable evidence against him. YOU WANT TO SAVE HIM. And I think what this show does is it holds up a mirror to society and show us adults who we’ve become and how this modern age has completely altered the psychology of children growing up. And of course we feel responsible, we’re the adults. And so as a reaction, we want to save Jamie. We want to overlook the gravity of the crime because it is us who failed these children. We fail to protect them everyday from exposure and the bullying that still goes on in school and how social media has now amplified it.
Sure we all went through bullying, and we all know that kids can be the meanest people. But it has now come to a point where a child will murder another for bullying. (The show is inspired by real cases.)
Because what brings a 13-year old boy to murder a girl he actually likes? And how, as a working parent, can a father truly protect his son from a rapidly changing world? That is why this series made me feel glad that I’m not a parent. Because you can be a good person with all the best intentions, like Eddie, and still fail as a parent. Because no matter how you look at it, and no matter how much we understand and empathize with Jamie’s parents, a 13-year old boy will not commit murder if he is parented well.
And that’s why the punctuation in the last episode is a reckoning for the parents, a realization that they are responsible. “I didn’t see it,” the Mom says. And then the father says sorry to Jamie in his now empty room as if mourning a dead child.
Adolescence is hard enough. We’ve all gone through it so we know how it feels – the confusion that comes with our changing minds and bodies. And in a cruel world like ours, now even heightened by the ills of social media. How much more diligent parents should be in parenting is the debate here. Because being a parent is definitely the hardest job of all. It’s not for the faint hearted. Just like this show. It will hit your heart.
