Pat Henman

I wonder how accurate the story is in terms of Hitler and the Bible being replaced. I couldn't find that in historical reference replacing it with Hitler Mein Kempt but maybe so. Anyway, the acting was good. The lead is very talented as was the German soldier who ended up befriending him in the end. It is the whole story that is important to listen to, the power a man is given and humans forget he is just a man, like anyone else. We give them power, not a god. why would any good god give power to a human who is no sane and has no empathy, who is a narcissist and selfish being, who only thinks of himself and his treasures and those to idolize him. No god of any kind would do that. So I thought that part of the storyline was well represented. The casting director could have found an actor that was closer to the physical of Hitler, he was unbelievable as the character, even in the short scene he was in.

Adolescence is one of the best series I have ever seen. And I am 67 and have seen a lot. I have watched my children go through the beginnings of social media - Snapchat being one that was very damaging. But Instagram and twitter were as distraughtful as any. My daughter went through the whole send a picture which then went all over the school from one boy and caused so much pain and depression for my child, and for others. A nightmare. Social Media is only good for one person - the owner to make money. I so felt for this family. They 'thought' they were there with their son, in the house, but Jamie was with his computer, not with them. A lot of us are guilty and leaving our teens with screens. A complete generation and the next have fallen victim, and parents, we will see the fallout with out depressed and mentally ill children, some turning to drugs to help them feel better. We have created a monster. This is an important series, one that everyone has to see. Teens and parents, together in the room. And my school, even in 1975, was unruly like this show portrays. Many kids were rude to teachers, teachers having no ability to keep a class engaged, showing films and leaving the room all the time. It was rare to have a teacher who gained out respect and taught us every day with a smile. Rare indeed. This series is a bit of reality, hitting us in the face, digging at out souls, begging us to wake up. Wake up. I also find it interesting 'critics' (us) on this site write about what they don't like, like, too much space between lines, the real time issue of not enough action, how the theme is not relevant to todays kids, the gov't supporting this so it is deep state crap, and all the other stuff that this series is actually about!! And to say that this is some woke version because a middle class white kid is being used and really in the UK it is third world immigrants doing this!!?? How ignorant. These things are happening in our world. They truly are and the best thing about this is the fact that a middle class white family is involved and the real time aspect slows us down to take it in, to get to know them. That is what it is supposed to do - slow us down, listen, get engaged, get to know the family, the community, the kids, the friends, the law enforcements. It is only 4 hours long and I feel I know that community pretty well. If I had one criticism I would say episode 3 needed more fleshing out when it comes to the build fo Jamie's character being so messed up and the 'doc's reactions. She wasn't believable to me. Something was missing, I have to rewatch that episode.

I like it. Jeff B and John L are great, as well as others. But the Zoe character is out of no where; no consistency in her character. Where is her kid suddenly? What happened to her house? The character is flawed on paper, in development. Emily- excellent work.

I loved the lead actor, playing Marley. He worked hard. But the script falls so short. Who was Bob? Where did his beliefs come from? What shaped him into the leader of peace and freedom and equality? Where did he come from? Did his mother help shape him? Why is the fact that he had many children with other women, and lived with other women almost ignored for one line from Rita? This to me, is Rita’s story about Bob, not Bob’s story . I would like to see another film about Bob, the man.

Although I have enjoyed performances by most of these actors before, especially relative newcomer Barry K., I found the script slow, the direction beleaguered, and the 'cleverness' just a bit too clever. It took forever to get anywhere. I can see the amount of thought and production value that went into the film but I am not so sure the script was up for the task. Glorifying some of the acts in the film were just that, glorifying - extraneous for shock, nah. I would have done another rewrite, questioned the events and the backstory to make sure we, the audience, were not being cheated out of a better storyline.

The producer and director tried to create a film noir style picture but it falls flat. The narration is too boring, even if they were going for a bland style. The lead does have a nice George Clooney look. The story is a bit convoluted. The protagonist has not clearly chosen his emotional path which in this case, even with the 'accident' I felt he then needed to make a clear choice for the audience to accept his future acceptance of 'work'. And whose dog was that?