Netflix sounds an alarm with painful 'Adolescence'



Let’s get this out of the way first. The new Netflix limited series “Adolescence” is utterly astonishing.

Astonishing in a good way, as you may never see a more amazingly crafted piece of television.

The four episodes explore Jamie’s initial denial of guilt and his father’s horror at seeing the CCTV footage of his son stabbing the girl over and over again.

The writing, acting, and production are top notch. However, the reason “Adolescence” stands out from other top-tier shows is that each of the four hour-or-so-long episodes is done in one take.

That means the whole one-hour episode is one very long camera shot. It also means the actors — including the young teen playing the lead role — cannot make any mistakes. All of the actors, for a whole hour, are basically performing live theater. No retakes, no catching their breath to refocus on the scene. Just one long camera shot.

And there are four episodes. They did this four times! So yeah, that’s astonishing. They deserve to win all the awards at those insufferable awards shows.

But it’s also an astonishing gut punch, particularly for parents of teens.

Telling it how it is, probably at your kids' school

I understand the story was based on real-life events, but the script seems to have veered off on its own, and this storyline is indeed all too realistic, not to mention incredibly painful to watch.

“Adolescence” tells the story of a 13-year-old boy named Jamie, who is attracted to an older girl at school who is bullied by someone sharing topless photos she apparently had taken. After Jamie tries to be kind to her, in a self-professed attempt to date her, she rejects him and then mocks him on social media as an “incel” — involuntary celibate.

The mocking escalates, and he responds, one night while he and his friends are out roaming the town, by stabbing her to death.

The four episodes explore Jamie’s initial denial of guilt and his father’s horror at seeing the CCTV footage of his son stabbing the girl over and over again. The second episode has the police interviewing kids at Jamie’s school, where it becomes obvious that these kids are living in a world that the adults are not bothering with; the disrespect shown to the teachers seems to underscore the fact that the teachers are not connecting in any meaningful way with their students.

The third episode aims to reveal what’s in Jamie’s head — it’s a long interview with a psychologist — and we get a pretty clear picture of a 13-year-old who is dealing with adult issues, over-sexualized behaviors, and social media bullying — all without the benefit of any adult intervention.

The most painful television I've ever watched

The fourth episode — quite possibly the most painful I have ever watched — concerns the parents struggling with the guilt that their neighbors and community have already assigned to them. The parents and their 18-year-old daughter endure a highly unpleasant family outing where the father is recognized as the killer’s dad. After the older sister shows love and compassion for her parents despite having just endured said outing, her father asks her mother, “How did we make her?” To which mom replies, “The same way we made him.”

The point being that they did the same things, and one child seems to be coping and well-adjusted and loving ... while the other stabbed a girl multiple times, in uncontrollable rage.

But let’s go back and talk about what is depicted.

  1. A hardworking father running his own plumbing business, who often leaves by 6 a.m., not to return till 8 p.m.
  1. A child trapped, spending all day in an institution where adult order and control has broken down, with rampant disrespectful behavior toward whatever authority does exist but especially among the teens toward each other. Young teens at the school engaging in adult sexualized behavior (nude photos, mocking a 13-year-old for being a virgin), and no adults caring enough to see or intervene.
  1. A 13-year-old who regularly comes home, marches upstairs, and spends the rest of the night on his computer by himself — except when he is out with his friends, fairly late at night with no adult supervision.

We find out about the dad’s long hours and the son’s computer time during the parents’ painful self-examination in episode 4. They rightly surmise that they could have done better, but regarding the computer time, the father points out that all the kids are that way these days.

'All kids are like that' — no excuse

Yes, they are. But they don’t have to be. And “kids being that way” — as well as tired parents working long hours — cannot be an excuse for no communication. Parents have to talk to their kids. A lot. There has to be a relationship.

The unsupervised roaming around at night goes hand in hand with the complete lack of communication. Obviously, parents should know where a 13-year-old is, especially at 10 p.m. That issue is never addressed, nor is the fact that the child’s school is a cesspool of toxic, inappropriate behaviors. Schools bear far too much resemblance to prisons — architecturally and procedurally — and the inmates can be feral in both.

I know. That’s pretty much every middle school, junior high, or high school, right? But if you’re thinking that — why are your kids there, again? Because there are alternatives. The point here is that the older your child gets, they continue to need plenty of time with you. And you have to be the one who makes sure that happens, because they won’t.

Failure of authority

Other reviewers are saying this miniseries is a referendum on “toxic masculinity.”

I guess it is a male child who stabs a female child, and that’s about as toxic as it gets. But it isn't because of his masculinity. It is a lack of masculinity.

We see teachers with no authority to provide a safe and effective learning environment; a father with no time to build trust so that Jamie can bring him his problems; parents caught up in their own problems and pursuits, who have a niggling feeling that all that computer time is not great, but they are willing to tell themselves “all kids are like that” while their son is alone in his room being torn to shreds, his confidence destroyed, his moral compass irretrievably broken.

Should you watch it?

I can’t recommend it, really. It’s peppered with profanity, but that pales in comparison to the emotional pain of watching it unfold. (The acting is exemplary, particularly Owen Cooper as Jamie and "Adolescence" co-creator Stephen Graham as his dad.)

However. If you have a teen in school ... or a teen who spends a lot of time alone in his/her room or on his/her phone or computer ... or a teen who’s out at night, you know not where ... then YES. You should watch all four episodes. In fact, you should go get that teen and have them watch with you. And then you should talk about it. All of it.

What could be a more important use of your time than that?

Another perspective

Dr. Justin Coulson raises some excellent points with his thoughtful review of “Adolescence” that I think are also worth consideration.

Court docs say DNA of Idaho murder suspect found on knife sheath. College roommate frozen in shock coming face-to-face with killer. Expert profiler believes Bryan Kohberger is an incel.



Bryan Kohberger made his first court appearance on Thursday after being charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students.

Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, on Nov. 13 at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho.

Kohberger drove his 2015 white Hyundai Elantra from Washington to Pennsylvania in mid-December. During the cross-country trip with his father, Kohberger was pulled over twice in Indiana for tailgating, but was not ticketed. A report claimed that the FBI instructed police to pull over Kohberger to help build a case against the suspected killer.

Kohberger was extradited to Idaho after being arrested at his parents' home in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 30. Kohberger appeared before Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall on Thursday.

College roommate comes face-to-face with killer

Court documents released on Thursday claimed that a roommate came face-to-face with the man who stabbed four college students to death in the house.

Around 4 a.m., Dylan Mortensen, 21, said she heard Kaylee Goncalves say something to the effect of, "There's someone here." She opened her bedroom door but did not see anyone.

Then, Mortensen told investigators that she opened her door a second time when she thought she heard Xana Kernodle crying in her room. The woman said that she heard a male voice say, "It's OK, I'm going to help you."

The roommate opened her door a third time when she heard crying, and that's when she allegedly saw the killer lurking in the house.

Mortensen said she saw a man standing about 5'10" walking toward her. He was wearing a face mask, but she noticed that he had bushy eyebrows. He was not very muscular, but athletically built.

Mortensen said she was standing in a "frozen shock phase" as the man walked past her and exited through the back sliding glass door. She locked herself in her room after the chilling encounter.

Phone records and Hyundai Elantra sightings tip off police

The affidavit stated that the suspect's vehicle was sighted near the crime scene "multiple" times by neighborhood surveillance cameras between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. However, the car did not have a front license plate. Investigators believed the suspect's vehicle was a Hyundai Elantra model between 2011 and 2016.

Five days after the slayings, Kohberger switched his license plates on his 2015 Hyundai Elantra.

Based on wireless data records, Kohberger's phone was turned off at approximately 2:47 a.m. on the day of the murders. The phone started communicating with the wireless network at 4:48 a.m., according to court docs. The phone was traveling on a highway south of Moscow, Idaho. The phone returned to Kohberger's residence in Pullman, Washington.

Kohberger — a doctoral student studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State — lives about 15 minutes from the house where four students were stabbed to death.

Authorities say the phone's movements mirror the movements of a white Hyundai Elantra.

The morning after the murders, Kohberger's phone was reportedly detected near the house of the grisly slayings between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m.

Court documents say that Kohberger's phone was near the crime scene at least 12 times before the murders and as far back as August.

Expert criminal profiler believes Bryan Kohberger is an incel

Expert criminal profiler and psychotherapist John Kelly said of Kohberger, "I think he was an incel and really just hated women."

Kelly declared that Kohberger isn't the mastermind that some have painted him as.

"What’s interesting is how people are talking about how smart he is," Kelly told Fox News. "Looking at it from an investigative standpoint and looking at the mistakes he made: Criminology 101. He looks like a moron to me."

Kelly explained that murdering someone indoors is the "worst place" because there's a "good chance" of leaving evidence behind.

Suspect's DNA found at crime scene

Law enforcement found a tan leather knife sheath lying on the bed next to stabbing victim Madison Mogen. Investigators allegedly found DNA on the knife sheath.

Moscow Police Department officer Brett Payne wrote, "The sheath was later processed and had 'Ka-Bar' 'USMC' and the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia stamped on the outside of it. The Idaho state lab later located a single source of male DNA (suspect Profile) left on the button snap of the knife sheath."

The affidavit noted that investigators collected trash from Kohberger's family residence. DNA obtained from the trash matched the knife sheath, according to court documents released on Thursday.

"On December 28, 2022, the Idaho State Lab reported that a DNA profile obtained from the trash and the DNA profile obtained from the sheath, identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father of the suspect," the affidavit declared. "At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect's biological father."

Kohberger applied at the local police department

In the fall of 2022, Kohberger reportedly applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department, according to court documents. In his applicant essay, Kohberger wrote that he had "interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations."

The affidavit added, "Kohberger also posted a Reddit survey which can be found by an open-source internet search. The survey asked for participants to provide information to "understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime."

Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

In his first court appearance, Kohberger was denied bail on Thursday.

Investigators used Bryan Kohberger's DNA at scene, cellphone records to link him to case youtu.be

Jordan Peterson tears up after Olivia Wilde mocks him as hero of 'incel community': 'I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice'



Canadian psychologist and best-selling author Jordan Peterson became emotional in an interview when asked to respond to Hollywood director Olivia Wilde using him as the inspiration for the villain in her new film.

Peterson was being interviewed by Piers Morgan on Wednesday on the Fox Nation show "Piers Morgan Uncensored" when he was asked about comments Wilde made earlier this month while promoting her film "Don't Worry Darling."

Wilde said that a sinister character played by Chris Pine was based on the popular and controversial psychologist.

“We based that character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community,” Wilde told Interview Magazine.

"They’re basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women," she continued. "And they believe that society has now robbed them—that the idea of feminism is working against nature, and that we must be put back into the correct place."

"Jordan Peterson is someone that legitimizes certain aspects of their movement because he’s a former professor, he’s an author, he wears a suit, so they feel like this is a real philosophy that should be taken seriously," she added.

Morgan asked the "12 Rules for Life" author to respond to Wilde's comments, and he began to tear up.

“Is that you? Are you the intellectual hero to these people?” Morgan asked.

“Sure. Why not?” Peterson replied, voice cracking. “You know, people have been after me for a long time because I’ve been speaking to disaffected young men. You know, what a terrible thing to do, that is.”

“I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice?” Peterson asked.

"It's making you emotional to talk about," Morgan observed.

"Well, God!" Peterson exclaimed. “It’s very difficult to understand how demoralized people are, and certainly many young men are in that category.

"You get these casual insults, these incels — what do they mean? Is it like, well, these men, they don’t know how to make themselves attractive to women who are very picky, and good for them. Women, like, be picky. That’s your gift, man. Demand high standards from your men. Fair enough. But all these men who are alienated, it’s like they’re lonesome and they don’t know what to do, and everyone piles abuse on them,” he said.

Peterson went on to brush off Wilde's specific critique as "low-level," observing that Marvel Comics had already "painted" him as the Red Skull, a "magical super-Nazi."

\u201cWhat the hell?\u201d
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@Dr Jordan B Peterson) 1617680703

"That was kind of the end of the insult. There's no place past that," he said. He said her comments didn't bother him and that he thought her movie looked interesting.

But Morgan was interested in why Peterson got emotional.

“I mean, you’ve been so controlled today, and yet in that brief moment, you got very emotional. Why?” he asked.

Tearing up again, Peterson said, "It’s really something to see — constantly how many people are dying for lack of an encouraging word."

"And how easy it is to provide that. If you’re careful, you know, give credit where credit is due and to say you’re a net force for good if you wanna be,” he added.

“Do you believe you’re a net force for good?” Morgan followed up.

“Net? Yes. In all the details? Probably not. You know, no one’s perfect. So, people make their mistakes as they stumble uphill,” Peterson answered.

Watch:


(ht/: Mediaite)