Why everyone is talking about ‘Adolescence,’ the Netflix limited series that’s every parent’s nightmare

If you thought living through adolescence was hard, Netflix is here to remind you with a new limited series about a horrible murder that kids today have it even harder.

If you thought living through adolescence was hard, Netflix is here to remind you with a new limited series about a horrible murder that kids today have it even harder. The four episodes of the British miniseries “Adolescence” that premiered on Netflix last Thursday have taken the cultural conversation by storm – sitting at the top of the streamer’s show rankings, with a reported 24.3 million views in its first four days, and spinning up new interest in its stellar, somewhat unknown cast. “Adolescence” stars Owen Cooper, who has no prior acting credits, as Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old who is arrested on suspicion of murder after one of his classmates is found fatally stabbed. His parents are played by Stephen Graham, who is also an executive producer, and Christine Tremarco. What unfolds is more akin to a stage play, which makes sense since one of its executive producers, Jack Thorne, wrote “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the play that takes place in the same world as the popular film series. If other projects in the prestige thriller space hinge their watchability on crazy twists and moments that literally or figuratively go ‘boom,’ “Adolescence” builds tension in the white space of its narrative. One entire episode is a conversation between Jamie and a child psychologist who is tasked with answering what detectives and his parents have been unable to – why? The result is a 52-minute episode of television that’s the equivalent of holding a 20-pound brick over your head for an hour – your muscles shake, you sweat and you’re so exhausted by the end.