Crime
The Stolen Girl
The Stolen Girl is a Hulu miniseries about a child kidnapping—and beyond that initial subject, there are some other content issues, too.
It’s just another morning in the Miller household. Eddie’s getting ready to go to work. His wife, Manda, is in the living room. And his daughter and son, Lisa and Jamie, are upstairs.
“Police! Get down on the floor! Hands where I can see them!”
The Millers’ calm morning turns into a whirlwind when detectives Luke Bascombe and Misha Frank—and their team of armed police officers—come to arrest 13-year-old Jamie.
His alleged crime: The violent stabbing of his classmate Katie Leonard.
“I haven’t done anything!” Jamie insists.
But Bascombe and the officers arrest Jamie and take him to the police station for questioning. Worried, angry and confused, Eddie and Manda follow Jamie to the station. Convinced their boy did nothing wrong, the Millers sit at the station in shock, waiting for someone to tell them there’s been a massive mistake.
Unfortunately, no such news arrives.
Instead, when Jamie and Eddie finally sit down with the investigators, they’re faced with condemning evidence: Jamie was caught on camera attacking and stabbing Katie Leonard.
With such a clear answer at the series’ start, you might wonder how Adolescence spans four 60-minute episodes. After all, the first episode leaves no question that Jamie committed the crime. However, the series explores a much more nuanced question than if Jamie did it.
Instead, it asks, “Why?”
According to series creator Stephen Graham, “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?’”
Based on the show’s content, the creators of Adolescence are particularly interested in exploring a subculture known as the incel movement. Catalyzed by dialogue primarily taking place online, the incel community is comprised of “involuntarily celibate” men who blame their romantic and sexual failures on women. According to CNN, this ideology has been linked to violence against women, and some members of the community seem to condone rape. Some studies suggest that “incel ideology” has an alarming amount of resonance with young men with low self-esteem.
What does all of this have to do with Jamie Miller?
Based on evidence throughout the series, Jamie was exposed to these radical ideas during his vast amount of unsupervised time on the internet. Bullying, both at school and online, reinforced Jamie’s radicalization, leading to his violent decision. The series suggests that while Jamie is certainly Katie’s killer, he’s also a victim—someone who fell prey to these harmful cultural conversations.
Netflix’s Adolescence is, certainly, a strong aesthetic and narrative work. Each episode is captured in one continuous, real-time shot. The story expertly explores the nuance in juvenile criminal cases. And from a Plugged In perspective, Adolescence highlights the importance of media awareness, especially for young people. What we see and hear on the internet can impact us—and the younger and more impressionable we are, the more susceptible we may be to its messages.
Despite these merits, Adolescence relies heavily on mature content. Harsh language including the f-word, the s-word and misuses of God’s name are uttered by adults and children. For the purpose of the investigation, people discuss the sexual activity of children, including a discussion about sharing a teenager’s nude pictures. Teenagers participate in verbal and physical bullying, and in the second episode, a boy gets a bloody nose from a physical attack. There is also a brief moment in which a classroom with prominently displayed pride flags can be seen.
So although Adolescence offers a well-articulated warning for mature audiences, young viewers are warned to find their entertainment elsewhere.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After authorities arrest 13-year-old Jamie Miller for his alleged involvement in a violent murder, the Miller family experiences a tense day at the police station as investigators process Jamie’s case.
Throughout the episode, viewers see the complexity of a juvenile criminal case. Jamie screams for his dad to help him and sobs when he feels pressured. When Jamie is arrested, police officers point guns at him and yell harsh language. Because of the tension of this scene, Jamie wets his pants. Later, we see him get put in a jail cell alone. Additionally, due to the severity of Jamie’s alleged offense, the police explain that they need to perform a strip search. While this is not shown, viewers can hear a police officer instructing Jamie during the search—which involves a discussion of male anatomy (though this discussion is not sexual in any way). A nurse also performs blood work on Jamie, which includes a brief scene in which the boy has a needle in his arm.
Elsewhere in the episode, characters view blurry security camera footage of a boy fighting and stabbing a young girl. The footage is shown from a distance, so blood and wounds cannot be distinguished. There is an allusion to child abuse.
We hear discussion about a boy’s sexual history. In this discussion, pictures of women in revealing underwear are shown. There is also evidence that Jamie made aggressive comments about the unclothed women in these pictures.
Characters liberally use harsh profanity including 12 uses of the f-word, a single use of the s-word and misuses of God’s name.
Characters allude to smoking, and a few characters discuss their desire to have a cigarette.
The Stolen Girl is a Hulu miniseries about a child kidnapping—and beyond that initial subject, there are some other content issues, too.
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