Adolescence Proves The One-Take Series Can Work
A crime story with a devastating twist is presented in a brand-new way.
It takes a lot to stand out nowadays. Television viewers are no longer limited by what’s on the schedule for that night — instead, you can pick anything from any time and any channel. Because of that, there’s a veritable arms race to try to innovate and push the envelope of what’s possible in a TV series. For that, Netflix has always been at the forefront, from interactive TV to episodes that would appear in a different order for everyone (allegedly.)
The latest series to show Netflix’s ambitions takes a filmmaking gimmick and stretches it to its limits. The result is a tense real-time thriller that you can’t bear to look away from if only to figure out how everything is possible.
Adolescence has a simple premise: the fallout of a 13-year-old boy charged with the murder of a classmate. But it doesn’t show it simply: instead, the four-episode series is shown in four unbroken takes, limiting the action to what can be shown in real-time. These aren’t takes that look unbroken, like in Birdman: these are actual single takes, a technique honed by director Philip Baranti for his previous feature film (and sequel series) Boiling Point.
Like Boiling Point, Adolescence stars Stephen Graham as Eddie, the father of 13-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper), the murder suspect. The series focuses on Eddie’s reaction to Jamie’s arrest, but it also finds room to dwell on Adam himself and DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters.)
Adolescence focuses mainly on the relationship between murder suspect Jamie and his father Eddie.
The first episode follows the immediate fallout of Jamie’s arrest and the initial processing, while the second episode follows DI Bascombe as he investigates the crime at Jamie’s school, the third episode stays in a single room as an independent investigator interviews Jamie, and the fourth episode flashes forward as we learn how his family deals with the fallout of the arrest.
The one-take format requires a ton of prep work that wouldn’t be an issue in a traditional series. For example, because the first episode follows Jamie as he’s ripped from his bed and taken to the police station, the location of the house and station had to be in close proximity so half the episode wasn’t spent watching Jamie in the car. On first watch, I assumed some post-production trickery was afoot because the end of Episode 2 goes from a handheld camera shot to drone footage seamlessly. But sure enough, the shot was achieved by carefully attaching the camera to a drone without interrupting the shot at all.
Beyond the gimmick, the story itself is nuanced enough to warrant such a close-quarters approach. Jamie’s accusation isn’t as clear-cut as anyone thinks, and his innocence remains hazy throughout every episode, so you’re scrutinizing his behavior just as much as the investigators. What’s more, the themes pick up on some impressively topical elements like incel culture and the alienation of Gen Z: the phrase “manosphere” is mentioned more than once.
None of this effort would be worth it without great performances at the center, and Adolescence has it in spades. Stephen Graham, a screen veteran who has popped up in everything from Venom: Let There Be Carnage to Peaky Blinders, proves himself to be one of the greatest TV actors working today, and Owen Cooper’s Jamie holds his own with every adult he’s surrounded by. Watching this series is like watching a play: it’s a great story, but it’s made even greater knowing you are following one single performance, with nary a flubbed line or break.
Netflix may be full of gimmicks, but this feels like more than just a flashy hook. The one-take thriller may go on to become a subgenre in and of itself, and Adolescence is the perfect proof of concept: the small-scale, high-stakes story that proves the medium can showcase what traditional television simply doesn’t have room for.
