Adolescence

Matt Roush says...

While River takes its bittersweet time (eight episodes) to play out its story, this gripping British drama delivers its punch in four taut hours, each distinct episode filmed (by director Philip Barantini) in a single continuous take. There’s no opportunity to look away from the raw, wrenching emotion when, in the first hour, police raid a suburban home to arrest 13-year-old Jamie Miller (an astonishing Owen Cooper) for the murder of a female classmate. Co-writer and star Stephen Graham plays his disbelieving father, Jimmy, who in the final hour (set 13 months later) is still coming to grips with the tragedy. The standout episode, which unfolds like a blistering one-act play, involves Jamie’s meeting with a court-appointed psychologist (The Crown‘s Erin Doherty), during which encounter the boy comes off as alternately charming, menacing and broken. This limited series will haunt you.

What's Worth Watching (Mar 13)