Let’s unpack the bleak ending of Netflix’s powerful new series about online radicalization and violence.
Courtesy of Netflix
Warning: This article contains spoilers forAdolescence.
Netflix’sAdolescenceis one of the year’s most powerful new series.
Owen Cooper as Jamie in ‘Adolescence’.Credit:Courtesy of Netflix
Read on forAdolescence’s ending explained, including major takeaways for parents everywhere.
What isAdolescenceabout?
Did Jamie really kill Katie?
Owen Cooper as Jamie in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Netflix
After the slip, he jumps up from his chair in agitation.
“I didn’t f–ing say that!
You’re f–ing putting words in my mouth!
Owen Cooper as Jamie in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Netflix
It’s a f–ing trap in here!”
Why does Jamie decide to change his plea?
It’s unclear what exactly prompted the change, though he mentions the trial date was looming closer.
‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Ben Blackall/Netflix
Jamie now knows what hes done and what his future might be.
That allows him to put his feelings in a box and exit the lid on himself in some way.
“Youve been hoping and praying that they stay alive.
Mark Stanley as Paulie Hunter, Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller and Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Netflix© 2024
Thats what Jamie pleading guilty is for the Millers.
When Jamie calls Eddie with the news, he repeatedly says he’s sorry.
How did the manosphere cause Jamie to kill Katie?
Amelie Pease as Lisa in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Netflix
Katie, however, dismisses Jamie, saying, “I’m not that desperate.”
How does the fallout of Jamies crime affect his family?
Eddie, a plumber, is also rapidly losing business, leading to financial problems for the family.
Christine Tremarco as Manda and Amelie Pease as Lisa in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Ben Blackall/Netflix
This is uncomfortable for Eddie, who still struggles to grasp the online communities his son frequented.
What happens at the end ofAdolescence?
Parenting often entails breaking generational cycles of abuse and trauma.
Stephen Graham as Eddie in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Netflix
You were a good dad, a great dad, but we made him, Manda says.
Eddie replies, So if my dad made me, how did I make that?”
Eddie, while confiding in his wife, interrogates his past behavior.
Owen Cooper as Jamie and Erin Doherty as Briony in ‘Adolescence’.Courtesy of Ben Blackall/Netflix
“I couldn’t look at him, Mand,” he says.
“I couldn’t look at my own boy.”
That said,Adolescencedoesn’t blame Jamie’s parents for his crime, at least not fully.
In the final scene, Eddie goes to Jamie’s room and sobs.
“I’m sorry, son,” he says.
“I should have done better.”
What does the end ofAdolescencemean?
Adolescenceends in Jamie’s room because, for Eddie, the room itself is a kind of mystery.
It’s the place where Jamie was molded into a person capable of murdering one of his classmates.
In many ways, Jamie is now a stranger to his family.
So its having a look at that and seeing that were all accountable.
Where can I watchAdolescence?
All four episodes ofAdolescenceare currentlystreaming on Netflix.
