REVIEW
The eight-time 2025 Emmy Award-winning limited series “Adolescence” has proven to be a phenomenal way to raise awareness of toxic masculinity in teenagers and the disturbing realities of the “manosphere.”
When the house of 13-year-old Jamie Miller has its door kicked down and searched for evidence, Jamie is accused and arrested for the murder of his classmate Katie Leonard. Throughout the police investigation, troubling details come to light that reflect realistic issues of toxic masculinity being facilitated by the internet and social media.
According to UN Women, the “manosphere” is a collection of forums, websites, and communities where men may connect with masculinity influencers and share their misogynistic, anti-feminist, and male supremacist views on society.
These discussions also tend to become increasingly radical as some men may misrepresent themselves as victims of society, expressing their justification of their extremist beliefs and violence against women.
What might appear to be ordinary comments left on Jamie’s Instagram posts turns out to be comments meant to insult him and tear down his self-esteem, feeding into the concept of the manosphere.
The comments included repetitive emojis such as the red 100 which dives into the pseudoscientific “80-20 Rule.” With no solid scientific basis, the 80-20 Rule refers to the idea that 80 percent of women are only attracted to 20 percent of men.
This idea suggests that women are only attracted to a small fraction of men who they think are physically attractive and financially well off. But this is also a way for men to mainly blame their lack of romantic success on women, sharing their resentment against them and feminist ideals while declaring that women are extremely shallow and materialistic.
Another common emoji which made its way into the comments section of Jamie’s posts would be kidney beans, which refer to him being an “incel.” According to CNN, the term “incel” means “involuntary celibate,” or someone who wants to engage in sexual activities, but is deemed undesirable because of their lack of sexual experience.
UN Women also describes this group of people as men who believe that they are entitled to sexual activity and that women are intentionally depriving them of it. These beliefs also continue to promote rape, assault, and mass violence.
Instead of focusing on the fast-paced moments of being convicted of murder, they slow things down—thoroughly showing the way he thinks and interprets his environment and how those aspects affect his behavior.
The school he attended is an incredibly unhealthy place where teachers barely teach material, and students are verbally and physically violent with one another—yelled at by their teachers, but never properly disciplined.
This portrayal of such a school really emphasized to me how this situation could have happened to anyone. Any student could have been the murderer and the victim. Each student is existing in an insanely toxic environment which fosters incessant bullying with insults infused with manosphere ideals.
Seven months after his arrest, during Jamie’s meeting with his court-issued psychologist, Briony, he exhibits fluctuating and inconsistent behavioral patterns.
This is something Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie, portrays with extraordinary depth and realism. His acting adds another dimension to his character as one who seems to understand the consequences of his actions, but doesn’t want to acknowledge them.
One moment he’s making ordinary conversation, the next he grows increasingly defensive, starts mocking her, restlessly fidgets, and eventually lashes out.
When she asks him more questions about Katie and what happened between them, something Jamie said really struck a nerve with me.
He tells Briony that explicit images of Katie had been sent around the school, but this instance only made Jamie feel like Katie might find him more desirable as she was also hitting a low point in her life.
As he described his meeting with Katie to Briony, Jamie convinced himself that because he hadn’t touched her, something he claimed other boys would have done, he was already much better than any other boy—but that isn’t an achievement, but rather being a decent human being.
It was at this point that Briony shifted and promptly concluded their meeting, leaving Jamie confused and upset as it seems he’s finally expressed thoughts he’s never shared with anyone else before.
This abrupt loss of his confidant makes me think that he has more to share. Being at such an impressionable young age, he still could have learned and grown as a person with the right help and resources.
Another thought I’ve considered would be that this story could’ve ended in the death of a child in either scenario.
One version could’ve simply been how the events played out in the series with Jamie murdering Katie. But I also wondered if Katie wasn’t killed, if her bullying against Jamie could have resulted in his suicide?
There are also minor details scattered all throughout the series hinting toward Jamie’s thoughts on masculinity and how manosphere beliefs consumed him.
He chose his father to be his appropriate adult when he was being held in detention after his arrest. His room is painted a dark blue, possibly hinting toward the melancholy outlook he held on life, with an outer space and astronaut theme—a more stereotypically male dominated field.
But there were also hints that there were remnants of the old Jamie that remained, such as the drawings he hung up in his room, but didn’t take up that much space on his walls. And from one of the most powerful scenes in the series, when his father finally ventured into his room and kissed Jamie’s teddy bear, tucking him under the covers.
This really stood out to me symbolically as it seemed to portray how his family still saw Jamie: as an innocent little teddy bear. A teddy bear they eventually lost in his outer space bedspread, similar to how toxic masculinity poisoned his very being.
