SPOILER WARNING: The next article comprises main spoilers for the Adolescence ending. For those who’ve but to take a look at the 2025 Netflix present, please train excessive warning.
Like plenty of people with a Netflix subscription, I just lately watched Adolescence, a brand new four-part restricted sequence a couple of 13-year-old boy being accused of viciously murdering one in every of his classmates and the way the heinous crime impacts his life in addition to that of his household. Earlier than watching the present after it hit the 2025 TV schedule, all I knew in regards to the sequence was that it was a tricky watch and that every episode was a one-shot. Little did I do know, 4 hours later, I’d be in tears occupied with my very own son and the mad, mad world wherein we reside.
Let me let you know, the Adolescence ending broke me in a manner that hasn’t been performed in a really very long time. And whereas I’ll admit I’ve at all times had a delicate spot for riveting father/son tales in motion pictures and TV reveals, few, if any come near how a lot this crime sequence chewed me up and spit me out earlier than the credit rolled. Let me clarify…
So, What Occurs Throughout The Adolescence Ending?
Once more, spoilers beneath…
To get to the Adolescence ending, we first have to start out manner again within the first episode when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) is accused of brutally murdering a feminine classmate. Although there’s a video of Jamie stabbing the sufferer seven occasions, her blood is discovered on his footwear, and a buddy admits that he helped him get the knife, Jamie denies having any involvement within the crime. That’s, till the sequence finale when he calls his dad, Eddie Miller (Stephen Graham), to tell him that he’s pleading responsible.
Clearly distraught after listening to his son is lastly accepting accountability for the homicide, Eddie goes to Jamie’s bed room and at last cracks and has an extremely highly effective psychological breakdown. And within the ultimate moments of the episode, Eddie tucks in his son’s teddy bear, apologizes, and says he “ought to have performed higher.” The digicam pans out as Eddie leaves the room and the display screen cuts to black.
Eddie Miller Tucking His Son’s Teddy Bear And Saying ‘I Ought to Have Completed Higher’ Broke My Coronary heart Into A Million Items
Adolescence was filled with so many emotional scenes, however the ending with Eddie Miller primarily saying goodbye to his son and apologizing for not stopping him from taking that path broke my coronary heart into one million little items. The bed room, as soon as a spot the place his younger and harmless son laid his head every evening, turned nothing however a memorial of a life that after was and a future that can by no means be. The room is simply seen a few occasions within the sequence – first when Jamie is arrested after which when Eddie has his breakdown – which actually made the entire ordeal with the tearful apology of “I ought to have performed higher’ much more heartbreaking.
I can’t think about the anguish, anger, and feeling of failure that will need to have overtaken Eddie in that second, and I hope I by no means should undergo one thing like that.
All through The Whole Sequence, I Stored Considering About My Son, And Now I Type Of Dread Him Rising Up
I watched Adolescence not lengthy after revisiting Father of the Bride, an expertise that helped me come to a realization about parenthood, however this highly effective Netflix unique sequence put me in a very completely different mindset. Although each experiences led to me occupied with not taking my youngsters’s youthful years as a right, this stirring crime drama left me with quite a lot of dread, particularly when it got here to my son.
On the time of this writing, my son is seven years outdated. He’s not fairly the identical age as Jamie Miller, however that day will quickly come and I’m terrified in regards to the world wherein he’ll should navigate and determine proper from improper. Social media and its agency grasp on the adolescent thoughts wasn’t actually a priority after I was a teen, however after watching Adolescence I had a little bit of a wake-up name.
I’m not calling Jamie a sufferer who needs to be absolved of his crimes as a result of his worldview was tainted by issues like poisonous masculinity and the “Manosphere,” however the world is a daunting, maddening, and complicated place. That is very true for a formative teenage thoughts.
Adolescence Tackles So A lot, However The Bond Between Father And Son Is One Of Its Greatest Points
Regardless of consisting of 4 episodes roughly an hour apiece, Adolescence tackles a large number of completely different subjects in a manner that by no means feels overstuffed or undercooked. Poisonous masculinity, bullying in a digital age, crime, punishment, loss of life (and a teen’s incapacity to correctly perceive it), and so many different points are dissected all through the sequence. Nevertheless, it’s the present’s concentrate on the bond shared by father and son that actually obtained to me.
And it isn’t simply Eddie and Jamie Miller’s story that was so impactful. DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters), a significant participant within the first two episodes, can also be coming to phrases with the altering relationship along with his personal son, Adam (Amari Bacchus), within the wake of the homicide. There’s a second close to the tip of the second episode the place Bascombe, a devoted and decided detective, stops being a cop and begins being a dad for his son, and it’s splendidly impactful.
This Story Would not Have A Completely satisfied Ending, However It Does Supply Closure
Although Adolescence is a present with an awesome ending, it doesn’t conclude on a contented word. A younger woman remains to be useless, a teenage boy is in jail, households are endlessly ruined, and a group is left attempting to make sense of all of it. Nevertheless, the present does supply closure and does a improbable job of tying up all of the free ends earlier than the credit roll. Yeah, it’s heartbreaking and grueling in these ultimate moments, however I wasn’t left guessing.
Going again to Eddie Miller in his son’s bed room crying whereas he tucks in a stuffed animal instead of his youngest baby, I simply can’t get that picture out of my head. I used to be up late the evening I watched the present and went to my son’s room to test on him earlier than going to mattress. Adjusting his blanket and ensuring his “Doggy” was tucked in tight, I quietly prayed that I’d by no means should undergo one thing like that.