SPOILER WARNING! Adolescence, Netflix's gripping four-part series about the online radicalisation of teenage boys and the influence of Andrew Tate, has been met with instant critical acclaim. It explores the events following the arrest of 13-year-old Jamie Miller who is charged with the murder of his female classmate, Katie Leonard.
With each of the four hour-long episodes shot in one continuous take – Boiling Point director Philip Barantini's signature style – it's difficult not to feel entirely subsumed by the story and to binge them all at once. But if you've managed to save the final episode and want to know what happens anyway, then you've come to the right place.
Did Jamie do it?
In the very first episode when Jamie is called into the police station and is interviewed with his dad Eddie (Stephen Graham) by his side, we are shown that there is CCTV footage of Jamie stabbing Katie with a kitchen knife. The police officer's (Ashley Walters) mission is not to prove that Jamie did it, but rather to find the missing murder weapon and work out his motivation.
In that sense, there is never really a question about whether Jamie did it or not. The show is instead preoccupied with the toxic cultural climate that pushed him towards that mindset and the decision that changed the course of his life.
What did Jamie plead in court?
The final episode of Adolescence takes place 13 months after Jamie's arrest, on Eddie's 50th birthday, shortly before Jamie's trial is due to take place. While Eddie is on his way home from Wainwright's, a fictional garden centre, with his daughter Lisa (Amelie Pease) and wife Manda (Christine Tremarco) in the van, he receives a call from Jamie from prison to say he is going to change his plea to guilty.
What happens in the final scene?
We later see Manda and Eddie coming to terms with their son's decision during an emotional conversation in their bedroom at home, with Manda reminding Eddie that it is a sensible decision given the evidence stacked against him. Pleading guilty can lead to a lighter sentence or reduced charges for anyone facing charges with strong evidence.
Earlier that morning, the family awoke to find local teenagers had sprayed 'nonse' [sic] on Eddie's van in graffiti. Their trip to the garden centre to buy paint to cover it up ended in disaster when Eddie discovered the teenagers had followed them there. After threatening the boys, Eddie angrily dashed the whole tin of paint across the side of his van in the Wainwright's carpark and was cautioned by security.
It is during their tense journey home that Jamie breaks the news that he is going to plead guilty. The series ends shortly after Manda and Eddie's conversation as Lisa joins them in their room wearing a nice top in an attempt to mark her dad's birthday, and together they decide to spend the day at home renting a film and getting a takeaway, instead of going out as planned.
Lisa then goes downstairs to lay the table for breakfast and Eddie asks how they managed to make a child like her and Manda replies 'the same way we made him'. Eddie then opens the door to Jamie's bedroom, which appears to have remained untouched, lies on his bed and breaks down in hysterical tears. 'Sorry son,' he says, and the credits roll.
Is Adolescence based on a true story?
No, Jamie's murder case is not based on a true story, but it is inspired by a very real epidemic of knife crime and the growing threat of online radicalisation amongst teenagers around the world.
Graham crafted the story with Jack Thorne to pose profound and urgent questions about modern masculinity and the influence of the alt right on teenage boys. 'One of our aims was to ask, "What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet, and from social media?"' Graham told Netflix. 'And the pressures that come from all of those things are as difficult for kids here as they are the world over.'
'We could have made a drama about gangs and knife crime, or about a kid whose mother is an alcoholic or whose father is a violent abuser,' said Graham. 'Instead, we wanted you to look at this family and think, "My God. This could be happening to us!" And what’s happening here is an ordinary family’s worst nightmare.'
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).