I'm really liking the fact that each episode of this crime drama has a different setting and shows the different people involved in this story. While episode 2 lost me just a bit because it felt a little too long and slow, Adolescence episode 3 brings the intensity and that heavy feeling that we felt in the first episode, back. Here's our review of the episode on Netflix. SPOILERS BELOW.
Adolescence episode 3 review on Netflix
So far we've gotten Jamie's family, police and investigators, and Jamie's school and friends. Another important piece in all of this is a psychologist who will provide a report and an understanding of who Jamie is in court. We're at the seven month mark now, and Jamie is being held at a mental health facility instead of a juvenile center since there wasn't enough space. And he is definitely not happy about it.
You know, episode 1 did a really good job of making us wonder, did Jamie really do it for most of the episode. It's not until the video evidence is right there that we, and Eddie, can believe it. His actions initially didn't seem to hint that he could. And then we didn't see Jamie at all in episode 2, so we were left with that. Though this one, and in speaking with Briony, we can definitely see a darker side of Jamie and the anger he perhaps has towards women. Even at a young age.
At first it starts off pretty typical and normal, and Jamie was endearing with his quick wit. But oh my goodness, those times where he'd snap and get all up in Briony's face? That girl held it together much better than I would have. The one-shot technique comes into play here effectively once again, where in the second I don't think it completely worked, because we needed to amp up the intensity. There's not much action happening, it's mostly dialogue for the hour. And really, hands down to the actors for rooting the story with their talent!
Briony tries to get a better understanding of Jamie in terms of what he thinks being masculine is, his experience with girls, or lack thereof as we learn, and even his views on asking Katie out when she was most vulnerable because that's when he thought he had his best chance of being with her. Though her cold rejection clearly was sort of the last straw for him. This seems to have been at least one of, or the main, reason that lead to the incident. There's also the fact Jamie was bullied at school.
The one-on-one conversation is a great way to get into Jamie's psyche
We definitely get into Jamie's psyche in an intriguing way in the third episode. After all the back and forth, Jamie finally asks if Briony likes him as a person and she doesn't answer. She even tells him that this is their final meeting and bids him farewell like they are in a meeting, which angers Jamie.
Again, it's probably the fact that he's getting rejected in a way by a beautiful woman. Clearly he's a bit too much for her to handle as we see all the emotion after he leaves on her face, and she needs a moment to collect herself before leaving. Poor thing has had to handle a lot.
Now are all of these intense, but also scary, outbursts from Jamie a result of a combination of being a young teen, bullied, and basically locked up for the past seven months? Or is this just who he really is? A troubled boy whose view of himself as ugly and getting rejected is messing with his psyche? Because even up until to this point, I'm waiting for a sort of plot twist that Jamie didn't do it. Even though we know he did.
That all comes down to the massive talent of young actor, Owen Cooper, who brings a scary vulnerability to the character. And I say scary because he did do it, but you don't want to believe that he did. It's amazing to see him go from calm, to throwing hurtful words, having an outburst, and then collecting himself again all within like a minute. And these types of one-shot and one-on-one conversations have been done before in television, but this is really one of the best TV episodes ever. Adolescence episode 3 grade level: A+.
Make sure you come back to Show Snob tomorrow as we review the final episode of the series, episode 4. Adolescence is streaming on Netflix.