Liberty

I will write until I’m free.

Member-only story

Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Has Been Hailed “Perfect” by Critics — but It Made One Big Mistake

Y.L. Wolfe
Liberty
Published in
9 min readMar 23, 2025

--

Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels

In just six days, it took the internet by storm. Netflix’s miniseries, Adolescence, premiered on March 13th, and in less than a week, I’d seen so many rave reviews that I decided to watch it.

They weren’t wrong — it’s about as close to perfect as a series can get. The artistry that went behind filming each episode in one, long, unbroken shot was incredible on its own. I cannot even imagine the level of choreography that must have gone into that or the amount of rehearsing they had to do to make that possible. That alone is a standout achievement of the series.

But let’s not forget the most important aspect of the show — its subject matter.

This series (spoiler alerts ahead!), which takes place in northern England, opens with police raiding a suburban home in pursuit of a murder suspect…a suspect who turns out to be a skinny, shy 13-year-old boy.

It’s hard to reconcile the severity and force of the search and arrest with this meek little boy, and it makes perfect sense that his parents assume a mistake must have been made…

--

--

Y.L. Wolfe
Y.L. Wolfe

Written by Y.L. Wolfe

Adventuring, nesting, and raising hell in middle age. Welcome to my second act. | Substack: https://ylwolfe.substack.com | Email: hello@ylwolfe.com