Warning: SPOILERS ahead forAdolescence, and emotionally distressing themesNetflix’s smash drama miniseriesAdolescenceis full of painfully profound, heartbreaking moments. But the show perhaps saves the most painful of all until last, as Stephen Graham’s character Eddie ventures into his son Jamie’s empty room at the end of the series finale. By this point in the show, we know that Jamie has just decided to change his plea for a murder charge to guilty, meaning that Eddie won’t see his son outside of a prison setting for many years, and will have to live with what Jamie has done for the rest of his life.
Incredibly, theend ofAdolescence’s fourth episode was entirely unscripted, with Graham simply given the instruction to walk into Jamie’s bedroom. What he did next was totally improvised, as he noticed a teddy bear placed on Jamie’s bed by the show’s director Philip Barantini. Eddie understandably breaks down in the scene, sobbing into Jamie’s pillow, before he picks up the teddy bear that belongs to his son. This act of affection serves to underscore the devastating loss inflicted by the crime Jamie has committed, not only to the family of its victim, Katie Leonard, but to his own family too.
Stephen Graham Improvised Eddie Picking Up Jamie’s Teddy Bear
This Off-Script Moment Occurred Spontaneously In The Final Take Of Adolescence
In an interview with Netflix’sTudum, Stephen Graham has explained that the final moments of Adolescence were sketched out quite vaguely on the page, before he went off-script. “We knew that we wanted to end it in that room,” Graham said. “We wanted the journey to finish where it began.”
The original idea that Graham and Philip Barantini had was that Eddie would lie down in Jamie’s bedand wrap himself in his son’s blanket, to illustrate the father-son bond they share, and the primary role that Jamie’s father has played in shaping the teenager he’s become (also viaTudum). Graham spontaneously changed things up, however, for the finalone-shot take ofAdolescence’s filmingschedule. Barantini’s decision to place a teddy bear on Jamie’s bed for this take, along with the pictures and messages that Graham’s real-life family had stuck on Jamie’s wardrobe, took things in an unexpected direction.
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Graham’s emotions completely overtook him after he saw his family’s messages, shaking him to his “core”, as he puts it. As he lay crying on Jamie’s bed, he instinctively picked up the teddy bear and tucked it under the covers. In the final seconds ofAdolescence, to the sound of AURORA’s moving ballad “Through the Eyes of a Child”,Eddie cradles the bear and kisses it on the forehead, whispering, “I’m sorry, son.I should have done better.” This spontaneous act on Stephen Graham’s part is perhaps the most heartbreaking moment of the entire series.
Why Eddie’s Teddy Bear Scene Is One Of Adolescence’s Most Devastating
The Scene Reflects The True Extent Of Eddie’s Grief For His Son
Adolescence’s show-ending sceneis so devastating because it’s the only time in the series that Eddie really opens up to Jamie and shows him how he feels about him, and his own role in what Jamie’s done. The trouble is,Jamie isn’t really there, and Eddie is showing love and affection to a teddy bear that his son would have played with at a much younger age. The scene deals with the profound sense of both loss and regret that Jamie’s parents feel in relation to their son, now that he’s a soon-to-be-convicted murderer.
As Philip Barantini has explained, Jamie’s teddy bear “is the only thing that Eddie’s got that he can touch – that’s malleable, that Jamie’s cuddled, and Jamie’s been with.” It’s a physical object through whichEddie can demonstrate in visual terms what he can’t fully put into words, and what he apparently can’t say at all except in this private moment of grief.
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The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is never truer than in cinema and television,The image of Eddie holding and kissing his son’s teddy bear speaks volumesabout the powerful emotions he’s kept buried for so long, as his idea of masculinity dictates that he should remain stoic about the situation.
Adolescence’s Improv Made The Show As A Whole Better
Its Moments Of Spontaneity Make It Even More Authentic
While the final scene ofAdolescencemay be the show’s most powerful example of improvisation, it’s far from the only one. In fact, Owen Cooper, who plays Jamie in the series, has told theBBCthat much of what we see inAdolescenceepisode 3hasn’t followed the script, as he and Erin Doherty “just bounced off each other”.
For instance, ina shocking moment that reveals Jamie’s dark side, he yawns while he’s being spoken to by the clinical psychologist that Doherty plays. This was a genuine expression of Cooper’s own tiredness after a long day of shooting, and Doherty immediately interrupted her scripted dialogue to quip, “Am I boring you?” Jamie’s smile in response adds a disturbing layer to his character that we couldn’t have seen without the improvisational aspect of the show’s production.
“Every episode being filmed in one continuous shot works to the show’s benefit because of the constant tension, forcing us to watch a real-time rollercoaster as new aspects of the case are unearthed. It adds weight to the story by making the events feel more real, giving its one-shot approach an important purpose."- Nick Bythrow -ScreenRant’s review of Adolescence
Viewers have speculated that several other moments acrossall episodes ofAdolescencewere improvised, including a scene in episode 2 that sees a school teacher realize he’s forgotten to introduce the female colleague of Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe. This moment emphasizes the latent misogyny in the social environment that’s shaped Jamie’s personality, and is all the more powerful for the fact that it appears to be a mistake.
The elements of improvisation that naturally occur duringAdolescence’s one-shot shooting process make the series even more authentic and compelling. They’ve helped to engender the emotional response in its audience that’s made it Netflix’s most talked-about show of the year so far.
Adolescence
Cast
InAdolescence, a four-part Netflix drama, the Miller family’s life is upended when 13-year-old Jamie is accused of murdering a classmate. Filmed in a continuous shot, the series delves into the ensuing investigation, exploring themes of family, truth, and justice.
