Adolescence and The White Lotus

[smokingboot]

Adolescence is phenomenal. Harrowing though. One thing I find interesting is what reviewers leave out as well as what they emphasise. Social media and misogynistic influences on the perp get a lot of necessary attention, but the victim's relationship with social media is barely touched upon. The victim is a cyberbully; in real life, sooner or later she'd face a turning worm. Hopefully the results would be as far from this as possible, but they would never have been pleasant. Some detractors have complained that episode 4 does not move in the most dramatic direction, i.e the trial, but I think they're missing the point. Episode 4 has a weakness in so much as Jamie Miller (well portrayed by Owen Cooper) is not seen, but that adds to the power of what he says and the way he says it. As to Stephen Graham's performance as Eddie Miller, it's probably a lifetime best.

Oh, and schools? Never easy. My mind goes to all my friends who became teachers; I can't think of one still in that profession.

Then there was The White Lotus. Hmm.

Season 1 was just brilliant, a mini anthology all woven in together, shrewdly absurd, funny, sometimes uncomfortable. I was caught up in it. The feud between Armond and Shane, the break out performance of Susan Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid, the conclusion of Quinn's arc, it all worked.

Season 2 was very pretty, but leaned a lot harder on the character of Tanya. It was funny in places but nothing like as sharp.

Season 3? I guess I should wait til the end to be sure, but right now, it's a slow burn. Not dull, but far from the spark of the first season. Satire loses its edge when it repeats itself. There's word that two more seasons are planned. I think they're milking it.

Comments

[summersgate]

I watched Adolescence yesterday and agree - it was riveting. I see that each episode was shot in just one take - even the one with the drone view traveling over the city. The camera was taken aloft and then brought back down so smoothly to be put into hand again. Which is amazing. I didn't mean to watch it in just one day - couldn't stop watching.

[smokingboot]

I just do not know how they managed one take per episode. Extraordinary.