Upamanyu Biswas
Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ centers on the lives of the Miller family, whose existence changes overnight when 13-year-old Jamie Miller wakes up one morning to be arrested by the authorities for the murder of a school classmate, Katie Leonard. Over the course of each episode, the show tries to provide answers for every facet of the crime, delving into the murder’s impact on the family and community. While the emphasis falls on the Miller family’s plight following the dark event, an ambiguous tone is adopted when discussing details of the case and providing concrete answers to every question. It adds to the drama’s tension as the true extent of the crime is explored from an emotional and psychological angle while also capturing how and why Jamie may have committed it in the first place. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Jamie’s Attack on Katie Was Captured on CCTV
The first biggest piece of evidence the authorities have in their book is CCTV footage capturing Jamie’s movement throughout the evening of Katie’s death. DI Luke Bascombe brings up the fact while interrogating the boy in the police station. However, despite the many accusations leveled at him as the primary suspect, Jamie continues to refute those claims, pleading his innocence in front of the cops and also his father. This changes the moment Bascombe plays the CCTV recording of the car park, which shows Jamie getting into a confrontation with Katie. As the footage plays, Eddie’s worst nightmare comes to life as he watches his son jump on top of the girl and seemingly stab her with a knife multiple times. The only saving grace from an audience point of view is that the camera footage is grainy enough to suggest that maybe he didn’t do it.
For Eddie and Jamie, the CCTV footage changes the entire atmosphere of their relationship. Thus far, Eddie convinces himself that his son is far too innocent to have been part of anything dangerous or extreme. However, once the recording plays out in front of the father, son, and lawyer, it becomes evident that the authorities did not organize Jamie’s arrest out of some misguided whim. It results in a shocking and emotional moment as the interview is stopped in its tracks, and Eddie breaks down in tears, unable to process what he has just witnessed. Father and son are unable to look at each other as the devastation of the crime hits them full force without a soft landing. A distraught Jamie even asks Eddie for some sort of reassurance as he realizes the game is up and he may be in a heap of trouble.
The Knife Used in the Crime Belonged to Jamie’s Friend
Despite having Jamie on surveillance footage, the case still remains slightly open as DI Luke Bascombe and DS Misha Frank embark on a trip to Jamie and Katie’s school, Bruntwood Academy, to find out more about Jamie’s motives and the whereabouts of the murder weapon. While the first is harder to ascertain, Bascombe makes headway into their mission’s second part. He manages to collate information from a variety of sources within the school’s premises, albeit to varying degrees of success. However, a significant breakthrough occurs when Bascombe realizes that Jamie’s friend Ryan is actively holding something back from the authorities in a bid to protect himself. As such, the inspector hunts him down, leading to a foot chase out of the school grounds.
Eventually, Bascombe is able to corner Ryan and ask him questions about Jamie with greater intensity. He reminds the boy that a girl’s life has been lost and he should help in any way he can. At this point, Ryan reveals that the knife Jamie used to kill Katie belongs to him. Bascombe asks him where the knife might be now, which the boy states he has no idea about. Still, the inspector has part of the answers he needed in the first place. He places Ryan under arrest for charges of conspiracy to murder and sends him off to the station with the likely motivation of questioning him further until he pinpoints the exact location of the knife. While we do not witness this next part, Bascombe states that there is enough to charge Jamie with the murder of Katie.
Jamie Had a Motive to Kill Katie
Seven months after Katie’s murder, psychologist Briony Ariston sits down with Jamie at the Standling Secure Training Center to get a better understanding of him. Although the task proves to be challenging, Briony asks Jamie a series of complex questions that dig deeper into the issues in his life and what led to him murdering Katie. However, the young boy still remains adamant that somehow he is innocent. Could it be that he is unable to process what he has done on a psychological level due to the trauma involved, somehow convincing himself of his own innocence?
After a series of layered queries and responses, Briony learns two things: first, Jamie has anger management issues, and second, there are reasons why Jamie went after Katie. The boy had a complex relationship with Katie, one that may have even bordered on a crush. When he tried asking her out, she flat-out rejected him, allegedly insinuating that he was too beneath her. This bothered Jamie to an extent and only got worse when Katie left comments on his social media posts, attaching him to “truth groups” surrounding masculine ideologies and basically accusing him of being an incel. The combination of factors got too much for Jamie to handle, and he decided to confront her about it. One thing led to another at the car park, and eventually, Katie was killed. Briony makes it clear to Jamie that his actions, regardless of the reasons fueling them, have led to the tragic loss of his schoolmate’s life.
Jamie Decides to Plead Guilty to the Crime
For most of the series, the external evidence is stacked against Jamie. However, the young boy himself never admits to the crime. This leaves the door open to the possibility that maybe not everything is as it seems. This avenue of hope is crushed in the show’s final episode when Jamie calls his father on the latter’s birthday. During the conversation, Jamie brings up the case, stating that he has reflected on his actions. As a result, he tells his father that he plans to change his plea. Eddie is stunned to hear the news and remains unresponsive as his son keeps prattling on. Jamie states in clear terms that he will plead guilty. While the news is devastating for the family and Eddie to hear, it has clearly had a soothing effect on Jamie, who has finally accepted his part in Katie’s murder.
Unlike other thriller shows, ‘Adolescence’ dives into its subject matter with a wholly different intention. It tries to showcase the consequences of a tragic murder on the life of a family and community as a whole without delving too deeply into the exact parameters of the case itself. Although the latter is integral to that discussion, it is not the sole determining factor of the show’s attention. The criminal proceedings are deliberately shown in a murky fashion to keep the audience invested in the family’s plight rather than the crime itself. To that end, whether Jamie committed the crime or not is incidental to the actual focus of the series and the tragic reality left behind for the Miller family to deal with. However, based on the disparate pieces of evidence littered throughout the series, it is evident that Jamie is, in fact, Katie’s murderer.
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