Born Under an Angry Star

There's an odd sensation when you're watching Adolescence. It's the feeling of having your heart ripped out and kept outside your body while you bleed, scream­ing silently. What happens to the parents of a 13-year-old who is accused of a heinous crime, of kill­ing a classmate, for seemingly no reason? Is the child a criminal or just one of many walking wounded, trau­matised by growing up in an unre­lenting world of online trolling and physical abuse? How do the parents face up to it? Do they look the other way, blame themselves, crumple up, or take it on the chin? A killing in a nameless northern England town sears the school, exposes how rotten the system is, and tears a happy family apart. The smell of school—of vomit, cabbage and mas­turbation. The idea of masculinity. The premise that what all children need is one thing that makes them feel okay. As the song 'Fragile' says, "Tomorrow's rain will wash the stain away/But something in our minds will always stay." And that is hurt, regret, and pain. With each episode shot in one long take, with devastat­ing close-ups and with heart-break­ing performances, Adolescence is a four-part series that is for everyone born under an angry star. Love and forgiveness are the only way to redemption. For parents who have to live with their mis­takes and children who do not know better, Adolescence reminds us how fragile we all are.