March 27, 2025 • 31 mins
It's an extra episode this week, as we discuss the Netflix' series, 'Adolescence,' a show that's been being lauded by many.
After a short welcome and a method for our audience to help the podcast if they would like (0:01), we briefly discuss some TV of late (2:15). Then we break down some of the buzz surrounding 'Adolescence' in the non-spoiler section (3:03).
After the break, we discuss what makes 'Adolescence' get so much praise.
For more from us and our family of podcasts, visit The Alabama Take.
If you'd like to help the podcast, visit our link to Buy Me a Coffee where you can donate any amount you would like.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, y'all.
If you're keen on whenpodcasts are released, you may be
asking yourself, what in thename of the Lord is taking it down
doing in my podcast feed on aThursday, we went overboard in our
last session and decided tosplit a little of the discussion
up into two separate episodes,hence this one.
But with all of our podcastreleases, we'll talk generally about
(00:22):
the TV in question in thefirst half so as not to ruin anything.
And in the back half, we'lluse examples and specifics from the
show.
Today, it's me and Donovan.
He and I were immediatelydrawn to this new Netflix series,
Adolescence, due to itsundisputed high praise.
I mean, look anywhere you'llsee someone saying, it's good.
(00:43):
We wanted to see if it wasworth what they say.
We'll talk about that one.
And that's about it in ourepisode today.
Before I get Donovan in here,I'm also the editor in chief of the
website the Alabama Take,which is our website, our production
company, our family, a podcasthome, and what we do here across
(01:03):
the site and with each podcast.
That takes time and effort andsome money for hosting websites and
the podcast episodes andthings like that.
If you have it in you, whereyou can spare any money at all, it's
an incredibly generous way tosay that you support what we do,
you enjoy what we do, or youjust want to thank us.
(01:23):
You can click on the link onthe site for donations.
It's easy to find.
You can also click in thepodcast show notes.
You got your choice there ofusing either stripe or Buy me a coffee,
either one.
If you choose to giveanything, we thank you very, very
much.
And who knows, maybe at somepoint we could even start doing memberships
(01:47):
monthly kind of things.
Just bonus stuff.
We'll see what we can do.
Ideas are welcome there.
Let me get Donovan in here sowe can talk about the Netflix show
Adolescence Alabama Take projection.
And here he is.
He's joining me now, as promised.
(02:07):
It's Donovan.
I'm not saying anything.
Yeah, well, hello, I'm.
I'm live.
I'm here.
Yeah, y'all are.
We'll do the same.
Even though this is an extra episode.
Same thing this week becausewe like to do non spoilers.
If you have an interest in ashow or movie but you're not sure,
(02:27):
this is where you listen andthen you come back and you listen
to the spoilers later.
Non spoilers.
Donovan.
Yeah.
What you.
What you been watching of latethat we haven't gotten around to
really talk about anything?
I Don't think so.
Not really.
I mentioned Dope Thief inTuesday's episode.
That might be about it,probably for me.
(02:49):
No, I've watched Celtic Cityon hbo.
Oh, did you like that?
Mm.
I'm still watching the Pit,which is phenomenal.
That's been getting good reviews.
It's good stuff.
You surprised me this week.
And why is that?
You set the White Lotus asideand instead watched two episodes
of a new show, which.
Which is what we're gonna betalking about in a little bit, right?
(03:11):
Yes.
Adolescence.
Why is that?
Did you just find something inadolescence you love to continue?
Kind of two parts to this.
You mentioned it, and I'mlike, oh, I don't think I've heard
of that.
And I looked it up and thereviews from every single outlet
were just falling over themselves.
So I'm like, okay, I'm curious.
(03:31):
Is this actually that good?
And then secondly.
And this kind of goes for my.
Do I recommend it?
It's very short.
It's only four episodes.
I've seen two.
But watching the first one, Iwatched the second one later the
same day because I wanted tosee more.
That's a thumbs up, right?
Like, you're like, wait, Iwant to know what happens.
Yeah.
There are only four episodesof Adolescence on Netflix.
(03:53):
It came out of nowhere as faras I'm concerned.
I can kind of sort of keep myfinger on the pulse of new releases.
This one, I did not know aboutits upcoming release, and then suddenly
it's just rave review everywhere.
Yeah.
I also not heard or seen it atall, you know, in that way that Netflix
has of.
Of snapping up somethingreally great and just kind of putting
(04:16):
it.
It was like, well, more content.
You know, they don't always doa very good job of advertising what
they have because they don'treally care what you watch as long
as you're watching Netflix.
Yeah.
And they have so much.
How could they devote.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that was another thingwith this show.
I saw a couple of goodheadlines to begin a review, and
(04:37):
I always wonder, I mean, is itgood or is it just Netflix good?
Yes.
I think this one being not anin house production because I, I
think a lot of the.
I think when you have an inhouse Netflix production, you're,
you're, you're looking atNetflix good right there.
I think this being somethingthat Netflix, like, acquired means
(05:01):
that they, they didn't havetheir little fingers in this too
early, which I.
Which I think is to its benefit.
Yeah.
This might be for the spoiler section.
But I, but it isn't a spoiler, right?
I don't think it's a spoiler.
It's the way that it's shot.
No, I think that's a prettybig thing going in most people.
I thought so.
(05:21):
So I was afraid.
I was like, is this just goingto be a gimmick show?
And the gimmick, Me too.
The gimmick being at least thetwo episodes that I have seen.
It's all a single shot.
And I think that's the casefor every episode, all four.
My wife has a tendency to kindof like watch everything with a phone
in her face.
So when we were in the middleof, like the second episode, we got
(05:43):
into a passionate argumentabout whether the first episode had
all been one shot.
She's like, they went in the car.
Well, yeah, yeah, theyfollowed him in.
But they went to the police station.
Like, yes, they followed him there.
Yes, yes.
I've watched the first episode.
You've watched two.
I will say that alone is impressive.
(06:04):
But the good news is I thinkthere is more to it than just that.
And what do you think you'veseen two.
I agree.
I think especially like asingle shot thing, I mean, it's so
cool when it's done well, butto do a whole episode like that,
it's like, is this just a flex?
You know, is this just a weird stunt?
You know, it has to exhaustthe actors.
(06:25):
Geez, I can't imagine being this.
Can you imagine being like thecinematographer, the DP for this,
anyone, or the people workingon the set, just.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Just to have everything be sofinely tuned so that it makes an
episode of tv when you'resaying wow instead of like, that
was really annoying, I think.
(06:47):
Yeah.
Like, if you.
If you come up with a gimmicklike this and it's going to be more
than a gimmick, you need to betaking a pretty big swing on the
rest of your stuff too.
Otherwise it's going to belike, you know, like Microsoft Flight
Simulator, which I think theyused to use to like, push the graphics
card where you have it as ashowcase for, like, oh, well, that
Boeing looks great, butthere's not a lot here.
(07:08):
You know, it's like thatcamera work is good, but what else.
What else is here?
Well, I'm of the.
I liked it first one enough towatch the second one.
I'm of the opinion thatthere's something here.
I do think.
I do think that just based onsome of the themes that are coming
up and seeing some stuffmentioned in the reviews that this
is going to be one.
(07:28):
Because it is so short.
This is going to be one toreview as a whole too.
To kind of.
Yes.
I think the next time we bringit up will be after we've watched
all four, which will probablybe soon.
Very short.
It's also a question of theself inflicted Netflix folly of did
they spend enough time andmoney and effort in all components
(07:53):
getting a good director, agood writer, the good actors, you
know, did they write the checkfor all those or just like they tend
to do, which is one or twothings and then they don't give a
shit about the other?
Yeah, once, once Netflixrealized it could just write Kevin
Spacey a check and cheap outon everything else.
Uh huh.
They've never looked back.
Never.
Not once.
(08:14):
And why should they still?
They have become synonymouswith tv.
Yeah, it's true.
What we're going to do iswe're going to take a break and in
a second you can hear moreabout episode one of Adolescence
if you've watched it.
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platform form.
Okay, we're back.
Yeah.
I've got things to say aboutjust one episode that's usually good.
We will of course bring upagain that it's all shot with no
(09:24):
cuts.
Yeah, don't hire an editor.
Maybe that's where they save money.
That's what.
Yeah, yeah, they had a.
They were able to afford astaff luncheon.
Yeah.
Let's start.
Well, I.
I'll just go kind of in order.
No sense.
Sure.
Yeah.
The arresting officer, one ofthe ladies who did the arrest, is
(09:46):
from Game of Thrones.
You recognize her?
Yeah, no, I didn't.
Oh, you didn't?
No, I did not.
She was one of the more lessappealing Game of Thrones characters
in the back end of its run.
Kind of one of the mean.
She.
She did a lot of the battleswith Arya as the faceless.
(10:07):
Oh, okay.
No, I didn't rec.
Is that that's detective Sergeant.
The Detective Sergeant.
The lady there who.
No, I didn't recognize her at all.
Well, you, you know, I guessI'm jump.
Maybe even a step ahead of myself.
The concepts here is the.
There's a 13 year old boy whogets arrested for murder.
That's exactly what.
(10:27):
Where it picks up.
You find that out in twominutes time.
Jump, Jump right in.
You find out as he's being arrested.
Yep.
And you know, that probablysaid crime.
Yeah, we probably could havesaid that in the non spoiler part.
I think most people would.
Would know about that.
It's in all the reviews and Ithink it's in even like the, the
show description on Netflix.
Yeah, it is, I think.
So the opening shot, you know,you get very attentive when you find
(10:51):
out that it's shot a certainway or you're.
I don't have to pay attention.
You're like, I'm looking for mistakes.
Yeah.
Or just, you know, how do theydo it?
Kind of thing.
And the opening frame is oneof the arresting officers.
His back's to the screen.
And I thought that, okay, whatare we doing here?
What's happening here?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(11:11):
And then he listens to amessage from his son who doesn't
want to go to school that day.
Relatable.
And all the other thing Iliked about this and I felt worked
is like, this is a.
I'm going to mispronounce the Latin.
So I apologize.
But this is an episode thatreally embraced in media res.
Right?
That's right.
(11:31):
Just drop you in there.
You know, you made such a goodpoint, Blaine.
When you're like, you know,anytime something's kind of special,
you are kind of watching it.
Like, why are they doing thatin the space of two minutes?
Just kind of throwing in fromlike, okay, this guy's a cop, okay.
He has a kid.
Okay.
They're going to the house.
Okay.
He's in charge of the raid.
Okay.
Like, they did such a good jobof just like in two or three minutes
(11:56):
dropping you in the middle ofit, but in a way where you're not
like, I'm utterly disorientedand I have no idea what's going on.
Oh, that's right.
What I think that itunderscored to me at least is the
emotional impact of it.
You know, these cops are kindof just doing a job.
There's an emotional component.
They don't like it.
They're doing their job.
But it's something for thefamily that happens.
(12:16):
And I think that this is myoverall review of the one shot technique.
It does such a good job of itbeing like, you know how life.
The thing about life is itjust keeps happening.
It does such for me by notgiving a break.
It hammers in like, this issomething that is gonna just keep
happening to these folks.
(12:37):
It's not, it's.
It doesn't have a tidy cut.
You know, that does seem likeone of the major intentions of using
it as a one shot.
If that is the case, I thinkthat they succeeded.
Yeah.
If they meant for somethingelse and I didn't pick it up, that's
probably me.
But I don't think it.
I don't think it detracted.
I think it added.
(12:58):
In my opinion, you're right.
In those opening 45 or 50seconds, you like great shows.
Should do you get a lot ofwhat you need.
Yeah.
He here's a cop, he has a kid.
We know that this is going todeal with.
I mean, if the title didn'ttell you we're going to be dealing
with kids of a certain age andthose changes and what that means,
(13:21):
that's what I got out of it.
Now you're an episode ahead ofme, so you may negate some of what
I'm thinking, but I don't know.
We'll see.
No, I think that's.
I think that's exactly it.
So again, it's really short.
I've only seen two, butthere's not a lot of fat on these
bones.
I think it really.
I think what you said, I thinkthey did a.
(13:42):
Have done a good enough job inthe setup that what, you know, like
what you said, Blaine, holdstrue, at least for the episode I've
seen.
Right.
Where they're like, they're.
They're just communicating.
Not that they're not going toplay with expectations or whatever,
but they're giving you areally solid, like, grounding for
like.
Okay, what's going on here?
Oh, this guy who is a cop hasan adolescent child as well.
(14:03):
And now he's.
He's coming as a father.
Yeah.
Other guys coming as a father.
You know, like they're allapproaching this in their different
roles as parents and, and whathave you.
It fits.
The one shot has to do a fewthings in order to work.
One of those is you have tohave characters sneaking in exposition
(14:28):
without being too expository.
Yes.
And that.
So that first frame, that.
Excuse me, that first bit of ascene gives you some.
And then the other thing is you.
This can be dizzying and it'sthat you have to have somebody walking
through in order to pick upand change the scene.
(14:49):
You can't just have the cameraadded to another room.
Right.
You can't just jump.
Yeah.
I think they smartly chose the procedural.
At least the first episode ismore police procedural for that,
to sneak in that expositionbecause they are explaining to the
kid in the family what'shappening as it's happening.
(15:11):
So you're really able tofollow along.
That's right, too.
They're dumb.
Very clever.
That's right.
They're dumbfounded as you are.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The.
So the invasion of home isdizzying, but I also found it to
manage to be harrowing, you know.
Absolutely.
A father dealing with afrightened son and he pees on himself.
(15:32):
It's just scary and sad.
I.
I think, too, like,unfortunately, we've lived it long
enough in this world too, that just.
That any.
You know, like anytimesomeone's in a house pointing guns
at someone else, you know, inreal life, this has gotten horrible
so many times.
You know, you're just like,it's a scary situation.
What's gonna happen?
Could they get hurt?
(15:53):
Yeah.
I feel like they did a goodjob of.
Of that.
You know, they've alreadybroken the door.
Who knows what else they'regonna, you know, they're tearing
through stuff.
What else is going to happen?
Yeah.
The Apple TV plus showDefending Jacob, which starred Chris
Evans as a lawyer whose songets accused of something like this.
(16:13):
It covers the same ground, butin a more dramatic fashion.
This seems like it wants to bea little more grounded.
It shows for those of us whodon't know what each step looks like
in such a event, especially inthe uk, you forget you brought this
up.
You forget that policing's a job.
(16:35):
Once the arresting officershave him, the job's done.
They just leave the room.
You know, it's like, here he is.
They turn him into the guy atthe desk and then they.
They're gone to do whatever next.
The.
The mechanism, once, you know,the mechanism of the legal system.
Yeah.
Has taken over at that point.
You know, it's not.
(16:55):
I don't know if this was anintent or not, but I think they did
a really good job of makingthe system really impersonal.
Yeah.
While having, like, flashes ofpeople who are like, this is just
a kid.
I can't believe that this ismy job today.
Absolutely.
It's so reminiscent of the piton Max, which is currently so reminiscent.
(17:18):
I mean, it's almost.
They're almost doing the same thing.
As far as how they want to layout what's going on.
Of course, the pit is.
It's not one shot, but I mean,it goes for long stretches that are.
That have to be one shot orfinally edited.
Even the police logging him inat the desk says, that's not my part.
(17:39):
When Jamie asks a question, hesays, well, Jamie actually doesn't
ask a question.
He says, I didn't do anything.
And the officer there says,well, that's not my part.
I'm just doing his part.
There are sections of this.
He.
He's not cruel.
He's actually seems like he'strying to be kind to this very scared
young man.
(18:00):
But yeah, at the same time,there's like, I'm sorry, bud, can't
help you there.
That's.
That's not my job.
I.
This is my job.
You know, we got to do.
We got to do things in the.
Yeah.
At worst, they're polite to him.
I'm curious if this.
How different this would havebeen had this been a United States
(18:22):
setting.
Yeah, I don't know.
I just don't.
I just don't know enoughabout, like, the reality of that
kind of like, pro.
Like actual processing to.
To know me either, luckily.
And you say, hopefully I won't.
Yeah.
Ever have that knowledge.
I'm pretty anti reboot forshows and movies, but if this one
(18:45):
was done with us cast, youknow, little.
Little difference here orthere, it might be interesting.
Yeah.
Couldn't be with the one shot.
You.
You do need the excuse forsomeone to.
To walk by every now and again.
I caught the show dropping alittle of the reality, like, would
someone really walk by right here?
(19:06):
But it wasn't often well staged.
It works for me.
Bustling police station.
You've got lots of people to follow.
Yeah.
Don't know about 3 and 4, butnext episode mostly takes place in
a school.
So lots of action that.
You know, lots of action there.
Right.
Kids, you know, it's a lot of movement.
So it feels like.
(19:26):
I mean, kind of like you said,Blaine, like, there's a couple points
where you're like, yeah, youneeded to change the scene here,
but it does.
It doesn't.
It's really not too bad.
No, it's.
It's not.
And I don't know that I wouldhave that thought if I didn't know
about the.
If that wasn't such a heavilyheavy part of every headline.
Yes, exactly.
If you went in blind, youmight eventually notice, but you
(19:51):
may not care.
We've definitely been primedby the reviews to be looking for
certain things.
Yeah.
It's not until 20 minutes inthat you hear that it's a murder
with a kitchen knife.
And I gotta be honest, for asplit second, I thought they said
butter knife.
(20:11):
I don't know why that's adifferent show.
You know, it's.
It's such a big choice not toadd that until 20 minutes in.
As well as who has been murdered.
It's a choice.
It seems like something thatpeople would ask or say pretty early,
earlier than that.
I don't know.
That felt odd.
(20:32):
It feels to me like it justratchets up the tension and uncertainty.
I've kind of assumed thatthere's a lot of, like, you know,
they're kind of like, hey, wecan't talk about this now.
We got to talk about this downat the station.
There's, like, for the cops at least.
Like, we can't say anythingright now because we don't want to
jeopardize our case.
Like, we're going to sayeverything to you at the proper time
in the proper order, and youcan just wait.
(20:54):
Yeah.
For someone who kicked in adoor and stormed a house, like, they're
not, like, necessarily, like,cruel to the family.
There's probably even somesympathy there.
But, like, you're not gettinga jump in line.
You know, you're going to bedoing this exactly the way we say
you're going to do it.
Yeah.
So that worked.
It worked.
It worked for me.
Just the uncertainty, the tension.
(21:16):
I did find it convincing thatJamie hasn't done anything.
I found that very convincingfor the longest.
In the first episode, the.
This kid whose name I lookedup, Owen Cooper playing James.
Oh, okay.
Does a very good job.
I think all the actors aregood, but I do think that younger
folks acting kind of deserve it.
(21:38):
A special kudos when they'rereally good.
Yeah.
They can make or break.
Yeah.
I think he is great as a kid.
Just like a scared kid who'scaught up in it.
And.
And.
And his performance can beread or maybe even want to read into
it.
Like, he's.
He didn't do it.
He's innocent.
Yeah.
And, you know, turns out.
(21:58):
Yeah.
It's so funny that you goagainst what you're thinking in that
he looks so innocent and actsso innocent.
So you're thinking, well, hedid it.
And then you watch the tapelater and he is shown murdering her.
So somehow or another you'rethinking, oh, wait, this is.
This is state.
Something's wrong.
He didn't do it.
(22:20):
Where's the twist.
Sometimes I like to thinkabout like, what does like one medium
do versus another?
Usually I think about it whenI'm reading a book because I'll think
about like how this is doingsomething that you couldn't capture.
But I think, you know,something that you don't necessarily
get with a book except maybe apicture or a comic book, is that
emotional response we have toseeing another human being's face,
(22:43):
that kind of natural empathythat we all have.
Just because, you know, we aresocial animals.
You know, we're, we'relooking, we look at each other's
faces, we look for emotionsand stuff.
Yeah.
And I, and I think, I thinkthat this did a really good job of
doing what only film can dowith Jamie, where you have the, you
know, instead of being toldjust through his.
(23:04):
Just the natural empathy ofone human being looking at another,
you have the emotional.
You have a feeling one way orthe other about what, what you want
to have happened.
And I thought they did that.
I thought they did a good jobof that.
Yeah.
As well at taking advantage ofwhat only say film can do.
It's probably good.
They just go ahead and get tothe answer to that around the 50
(23:25):
minute mark of episode one,just get rid of that particular mystery.
I thought it was bold to go from.
It almost felt shocking to gofrom who done it to hey, we've got
you on, we've got you on videodoing this.
And the second episode movesmore into the.
Instead of who done it, thewhy done it.
(23:46):
Yeah.
They're looking for, as youprobably guessed from the first episode,
they're looking for a motive.
And it only takes you a briefsecond to think about the title again.
And the why of it is, is aboutthat, you know, the, that stage of
life.
Yeah.
We get the revelation to thelawyer that the murder happens at
(24:06):
10:15 and they arrest the kidat 6:30 in the morning.
You know, that's prettyconceivable that the parents had
no idea what did or didn't happen.
Absolutely.
Mom's, you know, busy at home.
Dad says he was on a shift.
You know, he's a plumber.
Yep.
Played by Stephen Jones, who'svery good.
(24:28):
He had a good job of justseeing like a normal, overwhelmed
guy trying to hold it together.
Yes.
And then it's kind of almostlike kind of viewer, one of the viewer
entry characters, you know,where you're thinking like, oh my
God, how would I react?
Uh huh.
That's so true.
Thought he had a great bit atthe end where after he Sees the camera
(24:49):
and he has to take a momentfor him.
He can't look at or touch his son.
That's right.
For a minute.
Doesn't he kind of push him away?
And then he does push himaway, but then he goes back to embracing
him and just the kind of painand confusion and sorrow he plays
out.
Very.
Something that could be astage for dramatics leading up to
(25:13):
like histrionics.
Feels very, very raw and real.
He is a noted actor from Peaky Blinders.
Yeah, I think he's been inlots of.
He's been in lots of stuff.
He's always pretty good.
He had a great role as a veryyoung Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire.
Oh, was that him?
Yeah.
(25:34):
He's also the dad in the mostrecent iteration of Matilda.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
It's kind of funny that he's.
That the bad dad.
Yeah, yeah.
The horrible.
Yeah, so horrible.
It's laughable.
Right?
The one that was the.
The Danny DeVito character inthe whole.
Yeah.
Even before that, one of thosefinal scenes there.
(25:55):
He has to convey with hisface, facial expressions alone how
upsetting and disturbing itcould be to see your.
Your son or your kid to gothrough such thing when they had
to strip search him.
You know, we don't see any ofthat, which is very wise, of course,
but.
Yes, but then instead to focusonly on his face, not anyone else's.
(26:19):
A nice move, especially whenyou got the acting of his caliber.
Yeah, that was.
That was a good upsetting anduncomfortable scene, but handled
well, I thought.
And.
And just, you know,underscoring the.
Like this dad can remember hisson who's getting strip searched
in front of him.
You can think about.
He remembers him as a baby.
It probably seems like notthat long ago.
(26:41):
And here he is in a policestation being treated like an adult,
really.
And not in a good way.
And I thought just having himstand there and have to watch it,
you know, he's appropriatelywatching it to make sure that nothing
inappropriate happens.
But I just thought he did agood job there and kind of stuff
(27:01):
like that rolls through yourhead and they give you the time because
what's happening is just avery methodical.
You have kind of the policeperson's kind of walking them through.
It's very methodical.
Not.
And it gives you the time tojust look at them.
And it goes hand in hand withthe real gut punch moment for me,
which was when he says he's agood kid.
(27:25):
And then there's a beat and hesays, and I'm a Good dad.
Yeah.
That's such a sad.
He's like, I'm a good dad, you know?
And like.
Yeah, that's.
That's tough.
You see some emotionaldistance between father and son that
not necessarily leads to thiskind of thing, but can give a little
(27:45):
bit of a why.
Mm.
The intent of this episode,this is just a troubling age.
Horrible for both parents andkids at times, and it certainly achieves
that.
And what's it just.
It's worth it because of thestory and the camera, you know, trick.
Of course, I call it a trick.
(28:06):
It's really not a trick.
It's the.
The deft camera work.
Yeah.
That questioning scene at theend is just subtly tense.
It builds to him slappingKatie, I think, is what he does.
Jamie the kid and Katie's the victim.
And I even questioned for asecond, wait, is that stabbing or
(28:27):
is he just punching her?
I question that for a minutetoo, because, like, it's kind of.
They don't give you like agruesome close up because.
Yeah, it's a street camera.
Right.
You know, the first touch wesee between father and son happens
after the vid.
The video, and I think thatmight be one of the first times that
they blatantly touched.
(28:49):
Yeah.
And then, you know, of course,that we talked about how the father
pulls away and then initially,excuse me, finally hugs him and Jamie
ends with mumbling, was it me?
I haven't done anything.
Again, after the video.
Which is, you know, you wonder.
Yeah.
What else are you gonna say?
Right.
And you said it really helpsgive you that sense of sudden, traumatic
(29:12):
change, being back to backwith other things in life.
Yeah.
It's just a succession ofmoments after which nothing will
be the same.
That's life.
And that makes it very muchworth it.
Episode one in the books for me.
Yeah, I'm definitely gonnawatch it.
I found both episodes compelling.
Good.
(29:32):
Not necessarily like a lightwatch, but not.
Not overly grim or darkeither, surprisingly, for the subject
matter.
And, yeah, there's no comedy here.
Compelling watch.
No, not really.
This is hard to say andsenseless to ask, maybe, but is the
second episode better?
Different.
One of the things that Iappreciated with this is.
(29:55):
And this is part of me beinglike, I think I'm gonna have to see
the whole.
Judge it as a whole to see the themes.
But one of the things that Idid think that they continued to
do very well was it focuses ondci, the detective constable, inspector,
whatever that is, thedetective and the sergeant, and they're
(30:16):
going to the school that Bothof the students attended looking
for information.
They did a great job of, like,because we don't like, this is such
a short bit.
We don't have a lot of timewith these characters.
And there's a bit with theinspector where just, like, concerns
seem to rise in him sonaturally and naturalistically that
you're like, you're learningwhat you need to know about him as
(30:38):
a character and a person inthe just the course of events happening,
which I think is really hardfor a show to do.
I mean, and there's a coupleof moments where they pause, but
I felt like they did it really deftly.
And I think that's somethingthat this show has done very well.
It's so hard to do.
So it's no wonder that I'veeven seen a headline that it could
be the best show of the year.
So, yeah, I was impressed atthe character work, frankly.
(31:02):
I was like, there's some goodwriting in here.
Good writing, good acting,good directing.
Yeah, it's got it.
That's the end of our podcast,little bonus episode this week.
Or if you listen to us onThursday, you probably realize that
if you're a regular listener,we would love for you to go to thealabamatate.com
and leave a comment.
You could say whatever you'dlike concerning this episode.
(31:24):
You know what, what you liked,what you didn't like, favorite moments
of our episode.
And even.
And more.
So if you, if you can, you cango to thealabamatake.com and click
donation.
You can donate to help thesite offset hosting hosting costs
and podcast hosting costs.
(31:45):
Thanks so much.
Talk to you again Tuesday.
Hey, y'all.
If you're keen on whenpodcasts are released, you may be
asking yourself, what in thename of the Lord is taking it down
doing in my podcast feed on aThursday, we went overboard in our
last session and decided tosplit a little of the discussion
up into two separate episodes,hence this one.
But with all of our podcastreleases, we'll talk generally about
(00:22):
the TV in question in thefirst half so as not to ruin anything.
And in the back half, we'lluse examples and specifics from the
show.
Today, it's me and Donovan.
He and I were immediatelydrawn to this new Netflix series,
Adolescence, due to itsundisputed high praise.
I mean, look anywhere you'llsee someone saying, it's good.
(00:43):
We wanted to see if it wasworth what they say.
We'll talk about that one.
And that's about it in ourepisode today.
Before I get Donovan in here,I'm also the editor in chief of the
website the Alabama Take,which is our website, our production
company, our family, a podcasthome, and what we do here across
(01:03):
the site and with each podcast.
That takes time and effort andsome money for hosting websites and
the podcast episodes andthings like that.
If you have it in you, whereyou can spare any money at all, it's
an incredibly generous way tosay that you support what we do,
you enjoy what we do, or youjust want to thank us.
(01:23):
You can click on the link onthe site for donations.
It's easy to find.
You can also click in thepodcast show notes.
You got your choice there ofusing either stripe or Buy me a coffee,
either one.
If you choose to giveanything, we thank you very, very
much.
And who knows, maybe at somepoint we could even start doing memberships
(01:47):
monthly kind of things.
Just bonus stuff.
We'll see what we can do.
Ideas are welcome there.
Let me get Donovan in here sowe can talk about the Netflix show
Adolescence Alabama Take projection.
And here he is.
He's joining me now, as promised.
(02:07):
It's Donovan.
I'm not saying anything.
Yeah, well, hello, I'm.
I'm live.
I'm here.
Yeah, y'all are.
We'll do the same.
Even though this is an extra episode.
Same thing this week becausewe like to do non spoilers.
If you have an interest in ashow or movie but you're not sure,
(02:27):
this is where you listen andthen you come back and you listen
to the spoilers later.
Non spoilers.
Donovan.
Yeah.
What you.
What you been watching of latethat we haven't gotten around to
really talk about anything?
I Don't think so.
Not really.
I mentioned Dope Thief inTuesday's episode.
That might be about it,probably for me.
(02:49):
No, I've watched Celtic Cityon hbo.
Oh, did you like that?
Mm.
I'm still watching the Pit,which is phenomenal.
That's been getting good reviews.
It's good stuff.
You surprised me this week.
And why is that?
You set the White Lotus asideand instead watched two episodes
of a new show, which.
Which is what we're gonna betalking about in a little bit, right?
(03:11):
Yes.
Adolescence.
Why is that?
Did you just find something inadolescence you love to continue?
Kind of two parts to this.
You mentioned it, and I'mlike, oh, I don't think I've heard
of that.
And I looked it up and thereviews from every single outlet
were just falling over themselves.
So I'm like, okay, I'm curious.
(03:31):
Is this actually that good?
And then secondly.
And this kind of goes for my.
Do I recommend it?
It's very short.
It's only four episodes.
I've seen two.
But watching the first one, Iwatched the second one later the
same day because I wanted tosee more.
That's a thumbs up, right?
Like, you're like, wait, Iwant to know what happens.
Yeah.
There are only four episodesof Adolescence on Netflix.
(03:53):
It came out of nowhere as faras I'm concerned.
I can kind of sort of keep myfinger on the pulse of new releases.
This one, I did not know aboutits upcoming release, and then suddenly
it's just rave review everywhere.
Yeah.
I also not heard or seen it atall, you know, in that way that Netflix
has of.
Of snapping up somethingreally great and just kind of putting
(04:16):
it.
It was like, well, more content.
You know, they don't always doa very good job of advertising what
they have because they don'treally care what you watch as long
as you're watching Netflix.
Yeah.
And they have so much.
How could they devote.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that was another thingwith this show.
I saw a couple of goodheadlines to begin a review, and
(04:37):
I always wonder, I mean, is itgood or is it just Netflix good?
Yes.
I think this one being not anin house production because I, I
think a lot of the.
I think when you have an inhouse Netflix production, you're,
you're, you're looking atNetflix good right there.
I think this being somethingthat Netflix, like, acquired means
(05:01):
that they, they didn't havetheir little fingers in this too
early, which I.
Which I think is to its benefit.
Yeah.
This might be for the spoiler section.
But I, but it isn't a spoiler, right?
I don't think it's a spoiler.
It's the way that it's shot.
No, I think that's a prettybig thing going in most people.
I thought so.
(05:21):
So I was afraid.
I was like, is this just goingto be a gimmick show?
And the gimmick, Me too.
The gimmick being at least thetwo episodes that I have seen.
It's all a single shot.
And I think that's the casefor every episode, all four.
My wife has a tendency to kindof like watch everything with a phone
in her face.
So when we were in the middleof, like the second episode, we got
(05:43):
into a passionate argumentabout whether the first episode had
all been one shot.
She's like, they went in the car.
Well, yeah, yeah, theyfollowed him in.
But they went to the police station.
Like, yes, they followed him there.
Yes, yes.
I've watched the first episode.
You've watched two.
I will say that alone is impressive.
(06:04):
But the good news is I thinkthere is more to it than just that.
And what do you think you'veseen two.
I agree.
I think especially like asingle shot thing, I mean, it's so
cool when it's done well, butto do a whole episode like that,
it's like, is this just a flex?
You know, is this just a weird stunt?
You know, it has to exhaustthe actors.
(06:25):
Geez, I can't imagine being this.
Can you imagine being like thecinematographer, the DP for this,
anyone, or the people workingon the set, just.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Just to have everything be sofinely tuned so that it makes an
episode of tv when you'resaying wow instead of like, that
was really annoying, I think.
(06:47):
Yeah.
Like, if you.
If you come up with a gimmicklike this and it's going to be more
than a gimmick, you need to betaking a pretty big swing on the
rest of your stuff too.
Otherwise it's going to belike, you know, like Microsoft Flight
Simulator, which I think theyused to use to like, push the graphics
card where you have it as ashowcase for, like, oh, well, that
Boeing looks great, butthere's not a lot here.
(07:08):
You know, it's like thatcamera work is good, but what else.
What else is here?
Well, I'm of the.
I liked it first one enough towatch the second one.
I'm of the opinion thatthere's something here.
I do think.
I do think that just based onsome of the themes that are coming
up and seeing some stuffmentioned in the reviews that this
is going to be one.
(07:28):
Because it is so short.
This is going to be one toreview as a whole too.
To kind of.
Yes.
I think the next time we bringit up will be after we've watched
all four, which will probablybe soon.
Very short.
It's also a question of theself inflicted Netflix folly of did
they spend enough time andmoney and effort in all components
(07:53):
getting a good director, agood writer, the good actors, you
know, did they write the checkfor all those or just like they tend
to do, which is one or twothings and then they don't give a
shit about the other?
Yeah, once, once Netflixrealized it could just write Kevin
Spacey a check and cheap outon everything else.
Uh huh.
They've never looked back.
Never.
Not once.
(08:14):
And why should they still?
They have become synonymouswith tv.
Yeah, it's true.
What we're going to do iswe're going to take a break and in
a second you can hear moreabout episode one of Adolescence
if you've watched it.
Do you love music?
Do you want to explore classic albums?
If you answered yes, thencheck out Polyphonic Press.
(08:36):
I'm Jeremy and along with myco host John.
We rely on the patented RandomAlbum generator to pick an album
for us to review at the top ofeach show.
We have no idea what albumwe're going to be listening to.
That's what keeps it really exciting.
We dig real deep into these albums.
So if this sounds interesting,come along with us on this journey
(08:59):
because you never know whatyou might find.
We release a new episode everyTuesday morning.
That's Polyphonic Press andwe're available on every podcast
platform form.
Okay, we're back.
Yeah.
I've got things to say aboutjust one episode that's usually good.
We will of course bring upagain that it's all shot with no
(09:24):
cuts.
Yeah, don't hire an editor.
Maybe that's where they save money.
That's what.
Yeah, yeah, they had a.
They were able to afford astaff luncheon.
Yeah.
Let's start.
Well, I.
I'll just go kind of in order.
No sense.
Sure.
Yeah.
The arresting officer, one ofthe ladies who did the arrest, is
(09:46):
from Game of Thrones.
You recognize her?
Yeah, no, I didn't.
Oh, you didn't?
No, I did not.
She was one of the more lessappealing Game of Thrones characters
in the back end of its run.
Kind of one of the mean.
She.
She did a lot of the battleswith Arya as the faceless.
(10:07):
Oh, okay.
No, I didn't rec.
Is that that's detective Sergeant.
The Detective Sergeant.
The lady there who.
No, I didn't recognize her at all.
Well, you, you know, I guessI'm jump.
Maybe even a step ahead of myself.
The concepts here is the.
There's a 13 year old boy whogets arrested for murder.
That's exactly what.
(10:27):
Where it picks up.
You find that out in twominutes time.
Jump, Jump right in.
You find out as he's being arrested.
Yep.
And you know, that probablysaid crime.
Yeah, we probably could havesaid that in the non spoiler part.
I think most people would.
Would know about that.
It's in all the reviews and Ithink it's in even like the, the
show description on Netflix.
Yeah, it is, I think.
So the opening shot, you know,you get very attentive when you find
(10:51):
out that it's shot a certainway or you're.
I don't have to pay attention.
You're like, I'm looking for mistakes.
Yeah.
Or just, you know, how do theydo it?
Kind of thing.
And the opening frame is oneof the arresting officers.
His back's to the screen.
And I thought that, okay, whatare we doing here?
What's happening here?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(11:11):
And then he listens to amessage from his son who doesn't
want to go to school that day.
Relatable.
And all the other thing Iliked about this and I felt worked
is like, this is a.
I'm going to mispronounce the Latin.
So I apologize.
But this is an episode thatreally embraced in media res.
Right?
That's right.
(11:31):
Just drop you in there.
You know, you made such a goodpoint, Blaine.
When you're like, you know,anytime something's kind of special,
you are kind of watching it.
Like, why are they doing thatin the space of two minutes?
Just kind of throwing in fromlike, okay, this guy's a cop, okay.
He has a kid.
Okay.
They're going to the house.
Okay.
He's in charge of the raid.
Okay.
Like, they did such a good jobof just like in two or three minutes
(11:56):
dropping you in the middle ofit, but in a way where you're not
like, I'm utterly disorientedand I have no idea what's going on.
Oh, that's right.
What I think that itunderscored to me at least is the
emotional impact of it.
You know, these cops are kindof just doing a job.
There's an emotional component.
They don't like it.
They're doing their job.
But it's something for thefamily that happens.
(12:16):
And I think that this is myoverall review of the one shot technique.
It does such a good job of itbeing like, you know how life.
The thing about life is itjust keeps happening.
It does such for me by notgiving a break.
It hammers in like, this issomething that is gonna just keep
happening to these folks.
(12:37):
It's not, it's.
It doesn't have a tidy cut.
You know, that does seem likeone of the major intentions of using
it as a one shot.
If that is the case, I thinkthat they succeeded.
Yeah.
If they meant for somethingelse and I didn't pick it up, that's
probably me.
But I don't think it.
I don't think it detracted.
I think it added.
(12:58):
In my opinion, you're right.
In those opening 45 or 50seconds, you like great shows.
Should do you get a lot ofwhat you need.
Yeah.
He here's a cop, he has a kid.
We know that this is going todeal with.
I mean, if the title didn'ttell you we're going to be dealing
with kids of a certain age andthose changes and what that means,
(13:21):
that's what I got out of it.
Now you're an episode ahead ofme, so you may negate some of what
I'm thinking, but I don't know.
We'll see.
No, I think that's.
I think that's exactly it.
So again, it's really short.
I've only seen two, butthere's not a lot of fat on these
bones.
I think it really.
I think what you said, I thinkthey did a.
(13:42):
Have done a good enough job inthe setup that what, you know, like
what you said, Blaine, holdstrue, at least for the episode I've
seen.
Right.
Where they're like, they're.
They're just communicating.
Not that they're not going toplay with expectations or whatever,
but they're giving you areally solid, like, grounding for
like.
Okay, what's going on here?
Oh, this guy who is a cop hasan adolescent child as well.
(14:03):
And now he's.
He's coming as a father.
Yeah.
Other guys coming as a father.
You know, like they're allapproaching this in their different
roles as parents and, and whathave you.
It fits.
The one shot has to do a fewthings in order to work.
One of those is you have tohave characters sneaking in exposition
(14:28):
without being too expository.
Yes.
And that.
So that first frame, that.
Excuse me, that first bit of ascene gives you some.
And then the other thing is you.
This can be dizzying and it'sthat you have to have somebody walking
through in order to pick upand change the scene.
(14:49):
You can't just have the cameraadded to another room.
Right.
You can't just jump.
Yeah.
I think they smartly chose the procedural.
At least the first episode ismore police procedural for that,
to sneak in that expositionbecause they are explaining to the
kid in the family what'shappening as it's happening.
(15:11):
So you're really able tofollow along.
That's right, too.
They're dumb.
Very clever.
That's right.
They're dumbfounded as you are.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The.
So the invasion of home isdizzying, but I also found it to
manage to be harrowing, you know.
Absolutely.
A father dealing with afrightened son and he pees on himself.
(15:32):
It's just scary and sad.
I.
I think, too, like,unfortunately, we've lived it long
enough in this world too, that just.
That any.
You know, like anytimesomeone's in a house pointing guns
at someone else, you know, inreal life, this has gotten horrible
so many times.
You know, you're just like,it's a scary situation.
What's gonna happen?
Could they get hurt?
(15:53):
Yeah.
I feel like they did a goodjob of.
Of that.
You know, they've alreadybroken the door.
Who knows what else they'regonna, you know, they're tearing
through stuff.
What else is going to happen?
Yeah.
The Apple TV plus showDefending Jacob, which starred Chris
Evans as a lawyer whose songets accused of something like this.
(16:13):
It covers the same ground, butin a more dramatic fashion.
This seems like it wants to bea little more grounded.
It shows for those of us whodon't know what each step looks like
in such a event, especially inthe uk, you forget you brought this
up.
You forget that policing's a job.
(16:35):
Once the arresting officershave him, the job's done.
They just leave the room.
You know, it's like, here he is.
They turn him into the guy atthe desk and then they.
They're gone to do whatever next.
The.
The mechanism, once, you know,the mechanism of the legal system.
Yeah.
Has taken over at that point.
You know, it's not.
(16:55):
I don't know if this was anintent or not, but I think they did
a really good job of makingthe system really impersonal.
Yeah.
While having, like, flashes ofpeople who are like, this is just
a kid.
I can't believe that this ismy job today.
Absolutely.
It's so reminiscent of the piton Max, which is currently so reminiscent.
(17:18):
I mean, it's almost.
They're almost doing the same thing.
As far as how they want to layout what's going on.
Of course, the pit is.
It's not one shot, but I mean,it goes for long stretches that are.
That have to be one shot orfinally edited.
Even the police logging him inat the desk says, that's not my part.
(17:39):
When Jamie asks a question, hesays, well, Jamie actually doesn't
ask a question.
He says, I didn't do anything.
And the officer there says,well, that's not my part.
I'm just doing his part.
There are sections of this.
He.
He's not cruel.
He's actually seems like he'strying to be kind to this very scared
young man.
(18:00):
But yeah, at the same time,there's like, I'm sorry, bud, can't
help you there.
That's.
That's not my job.
I.
This is my job.
You know, we got to do.
We got to do things in the.
Yeah.
At worst, they're polite to him.
I'm curious if this.
How different this would havebeen had this been a United States
(18:22):
setting.
Yeah, I don't know.
I just don't.
I just don't know enoughabout, like, the reality of that
kind of like, pro.
Like actual processing to.
To know me either, luckily.
And you say, hopefully I won't.
Yeah.
Ever have that knowledge.
I'm pretty anti reboot forshows and movies, but if this one
(18:45):
was done with us cast, youknow, little.
Little difference here orthere, it might be interesting.
Yeah.
Couldn't be with the one shot.
You.
You do need the excuse forsomeone to.
To walk by every now and again.
I caught the show dropping alittle of the reality, like, would
someone really walk by right here?
(19:06):
But it wasn't often well staged.
It works for me.
Bustling police station.
You've got lots of people to follow.
Yeah.
Don't know about 3 and 4, butnext episode mostly takes place in
a school.
So lots of action that.
You know, lots of action there.
Right.
Kids, you know, it's a lot of movement.
So it feels like.
(19:26):
I mean, kind of like you said,Blaine, like, there's a couple points
where you're like, yeah, youneeded to change the scene here,
but it does.
It doesn't.
It's really not too bad.
No, it's.
It's not.
And I don't know that I wouldhave that thought if I didn't know
about the.
If that wasn't such a heavilyheavy part of every headline.
Yes, exactly.
If you went in blind, youmight eventually notice, but you
(19:51):
may not care.
We've definitely been primedby the reviews to be looking for
certain things.
Yeah.
It's not until 20 minutes inthat you hear that it's a murder
with a kitchen knife.
And I gotta be honest, for asplit second, I thought they said
butter knife.
(20:11):
I don't know why that's adifferent show.
You know, it's.
It's such a big choice not toadd that until 20 minutes in.
As well as who has been murdered.
It's a choice.
It seems like something thatpeople would ask or say pretty early,
earlier than that.
I don't know.
That felt odd.
(20:32):
It feels to me like it justratchets up the tension and uncertainty.
I've kind of assumed thatthere's a lot of, like, you know,
they're kind of like, hey, wecan't talk about this now.
We got to talk about this downat the station.
There's, like, for the cops at least.
Like, we can't say anythingright now because we don't want to
jeopardize our case.
Like, we're going to sayeverything to you at the proper time
in the proper order, and youcan just wait.
(20:54):
Yeah.
For someone who kicked in adoor and stormed a house, like, they're
not, like, necessarily, like,cruel to the family.
There's probably even somesympathy there.
But, like, you're not gettinga jump in line.
You know, you're going to bedoing this exactly the way we say
you're going to do it.
Yeah.
So that worked.
It worked.
It worked for me.
Just the uncertainty, the tension.
(21:16):
I did find it convincing thatJamie hasn't done anything.
I found that very convincingfor the longest.
In the first episode, the.
This kid whose name I lookedup, Owen Cooper playing James.
Oh, okay.
Does a very good job.
I think all the actors aregood, but I do think that younger
folks acting kind of deserve it.
(21:38):
A special kudos when they'rereally good.
Yeah.
They can make or break.
Yeah.
I think he is great as a kid.
Just like a scared kid who'scaught up in it.
And.
And.
And his performance can beread or maybe even want to read into
it.
Like, he's.
He didn't do it.
He's innocent.
Yeah.
And, you know, turns out.
(21:58):
Yeah.
It's so funny that you goagainst what you're thinking in that
he looks so innocent and actsso innocent.
So you're thinking, well, hedid it.
And then you watch the tapelater and he is shown murdering her.
So somehow or another you'rethinking, oh, wait, this is.
This is state.
Something's wrong.
He didn't do it.
(22:20):
Where's the twist.
Sometimes I like to thinkabout like, what does like one medium
do versus another?
Usually I think about it whenI'm reading a book because I'll think
about like how this is doingsomething that you couldn't capture.
But I think, you know,something that you don't necessarily
get with a book except maybe apicture or a comic book, is that
emotional response we have toseeing another human being's face,
(22:43):
that kind of natural empathythat we all have.
Just because, you know, we aresocial animals.
You know, we're, we'relooking, we look at each other's
faces, we look for emotionsand stuff.
Yeah.
And I, and I think, I thinkthat this did a really good job of
doing what only film can dowith Jamie, where you have the, you
know, instead of being toldjust through his.
(23:04):
Just the natural empathy ofone human being looking at another,
you have the emotional.
You have a feeling one way orthe other about what, what you want
to have happened.
And I thought they did that.
I thought they did a good jobof that.
Yeah.
As well at taking advantage ofwhat only say film can do.
It's probably good.
They just go ahead and get tothe answer to that around the 50
(23:25):
minute mark of episode one,just get rid of that particular mystery.
I thought it was bold to go from.
It almost felt shocking to gofrom who done it to hey, we've got
you on, we've got you on videodoing this.
And the second episode movesmore into the.
Instead of who done it, thewhy done it.
(23:46):
Yeah.
They're looking for, as youprobably guessed from the first episode,
they're looking for a motive.
And it only takes you a briefsecond to think about the title again.
And the why of it is, is aboutthat, you know, the, that stage of
life.
Yeah.
We get the revelation to thelawyer that the murder happens at
(24:06):
10:15 and they arrest the kidat 6:30 in the morning.
You know, that's prettyconceivable that the parents had
no idea what did or didn't happen.
Absolutely.
Mom's, you know, busy at home.
Dad says he was on a shift.
You know, he's a plumber.
Yep.
Played by Stephen Jones, who'svery good.
(24:28):
He had a good job of justseeing like a normal, overwhelmed
guy trying to hold it together.
Yes.
And then it's kind of almostlike kind of viewer, one of the viewer
entry characters, you know,where you're thinking like, oh my
God, how would I react?
Uh huh.
That's so true.
Thought he had a great bit atthe end where after he Sees the camera
(24:49):
and he has to take a momentfor him.
He can't look at or touch his son.
That's right.
For a minute.
Doesn't he kind of push him away?
And then he does push himaway, but then he goes back to embracing
him and just the kind of painand confusion and sorrow he plays
out.
Very.
Something that could be astage for dramatics leading up to
(25:13):
like histrionics.
Feels very, very raw and real.
He is a noted actor from Peaky Blinders.
Yeah, I think he's been inlots of.
He's been in lots of stuff.
He's always pretty good.
He had a great role as a veryyoung Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire.
Oh, was that him?
Yeah.
(25:34):
He's also the dad in the mostrecent iteration of Matilda.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
It's kind of funny that he's.
That the bad dad.
Yeah, yeah.
The horrible.
Yeah, so horrible.
It's laughable.
Right?
The one that was the.
The Danny DeVito character inthe whole.
Yeah.
Even before that, one of thosefinal scenes there.
(25:55):
He has to convey with hisface, facial expressions alone how
upsetting and disturbing itcould be to see your.
Your son or your kid to gothrough such thing when they had
to strip search him.
You know, we don't see any ofthat, which is very wise, of course,
but.
Yes, but then instead to focusonly on his face, not anyone else's.
(26:19):
A nice move, especially whenyou got the acting of his caliber.
Yeah, that was.
That was a good upsetting anduncomfortable scene, but handled
well, I thought.
And.
And just, you know,underscoring the.
Like this dad can remember hisson who's getting strip searched
in front of him.
You can think about.
He remembers him as a baby.
It probably seems like notthat long ago.
(26:41):
And here he is in a policestation being treated like an adult,
really.
And not in a good way.
And I thought just having himstand there and have to watch it,
you know, he's appropriatelywatching it to make sure that nothing
inappropriate happens.
But I just thought he did agood job there and kind of stuff
(27:01):
like that rolls through yourhead and they give you the time because
what's happening is just avery methodical.
You have kind of the policeperson's kind of walking them through.
It's very methodical.
Not.
And it gives you the time tojust look at them.
And it goes hand in hand withthe real gut punch moment for me,
which was when he says he's agood kid.
(27:25):
And then there's a beat and hesays, and I'm a Good dad.
Yeah.
That's such a sad.
He's like, I'm a good dad, you know?
And like.
Yeah, that's.
That's tough.
You see some emotionaldistance between father and son that
not necessarily leads to thiskind of thing, but can give a little
(27:45):
bit of a why.
Mm.
The intent of this episode,this is just a troubling age.
Horrible for both parents andkids at times, and it certainly achieves
that.
And what's it just.
It's worth it because of thestory and the camera, you know, trick.
Of course, I call it a trick.
(28:06):
It's really not a trick.
It's the.
The deft camera work.
Yeah.
That questioning scene at theend is just subtly tense.
It builds to him slappingKatie, I think, is what he does.
Jamie the kid and Katie's the victim.
And I even questioned for asecond, wait, is that stabbing or
(28:27):
is he just punching her?
I question that for a minutetoo, because, like, it's kind of.
They don't give you like agruesome close up because.
Yeah, it's a street camera.
Right.
You know, the first touch wesee between father and son happens
after the vid.
The video, and I think thatmight be one of the first times that
they blatantly touched.
(28:49):
Yeah.
And then, you know, of course,that we talked about how the father
pulls away and then initially,excuse me, finally hugs him and Jamie
ends with mumbling, was it me?
I haven't done anything.
Again, after the video.
Which is, you know, you wonder.
Yeah.
What else are you gonna say?
Right.
And you said it really helpsgive you that sense of sudden, traumatic
(29:12):
change, being back to backwith other things in life.
Yeah.
It's just a succession ofmoments after which nothing will
be the same.
That's life.
And that makes it very muchworth it.
Episode one in the books for me.
Yeah, I'm definitely gonnawatch it.
I found both episodes compelling.
Good.
(29:32):
Not necessarily like a lightwatch, but not.
Not overly grim or darkeither, surprisingly, for the subject
matter.
And, yeah, there's no comedy here.
Compelling watch.
No, not really.
This is hard to say andsenseless to ask, maybe, but is the
second episode better?
Different.
One of the things that Iappreciated with this is.
(29:55):
And this is part of me beinglike, I think I'm gonna have to see
the whole.
Judge it as a whole to see the themes.
But one of the things that Idid think that they continued to
do very well was it focuses ondci, the detective constable, inspector,
whatever that is, thedetective and the sergeant, and they're
(30:16):
going to the school that Bothof the students attended looking
for information.
They did a great job of, like,because we don't like, this is such
a short bit.
We don't have a lot of timewith these characters.
And there's a bit with theinspector where just, like, concerns
seem to rise in him sonaturally and naturalistically that
you're like, you're learningwhat you need to know about him as
(30:38):
a character and a person inthe just the course of events happening,
which I think is really hardfor a show to do.
I mean, and there's a coupleof moments where they pause, but
I felt like they did it really deftly.
And I think that's somethingthat this show has done very well.
It's so hard to do.
So it's no wonder that I'veeven seen a headline that it could
be the best show of the year.
So, yeah, I was impressed atthe character work, frankly.
(31:02):
I was like, there's some goodwriting in here.
Good writing, good acting,good directing.
Yeah, it's got it.
That's the end of our podcast,little bonus episode this week.
Or if you listen to us onThursday, you probably realize that
if you're a regular listener,we would love for you to go to thealabamatate.com
and leave a comment.
You could say whatever you'dlike concerning this episode.
(31:24):
You know what, what you liked,what you didn't like, favorite moments
of our episode.
And even.
And more.
So if you, if you can, you cango to thealabamatake.com and click
donation.
You can donate to help thesite offset hosting hosting costs
and podcast hosting costs.
(31:45):
Thanks so much.
Talk to you again Tuesday.
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