One of those annoying instances where the hype is absolutely correct. Four breathless hours of television, each with their own highlights, but I think the common consensus of episodes 2 and 3 being the stand outs holds up. Obviously it’s all subjective, and I would never claim that you couldn’t dislike Adolescence on its own terms, but I think it’s telling that a lot of the criticism comes from a place that the show itself is trying to depict - the idea that all this stuff is out there in the manosphere, that teenage kids are consuming it, and that you - someone older, an adult, a parent - might not even know it, that we’ve stumbled unaware into the abyss. Incredible performances all around, not least from Owen Cooper in the lead as his debut role. The final episode, arguably a coda of aftermath, is somewhat anticlimactic, but even in that performs as a moment of reflection, a depiction of life going on.