Netflix's 4-Part Thriller Masterpiece Is Hard To Watch But Deserves To Be Binged

Published Nov 8, 2026, 6:15 PM EST

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

There’s so much great TV out there now, and so much to choose from, that the shorter the run, and the shorter the commitment, the better. Anyone attempting to binge-watch a show that ran for 10 or more seasons, like Smallville or The Walking Dead or the still-ongoing Grey’s Anatomy, is setting themselves up for months and months of TV watching, but a nice, short series like the 18-episode coming-of-age masterpiece Freaks and Geeks or the 14-episode space western classic Firefly or the 10-episode World War II epic Band of Brothers or Craig Mazin’s horrifying five-part chronicle of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Netflix has mastered the art of the weekend binge. The Haunting of Hill House unraveled its supernatural family saga across 10 episodes. Baby Reindeer told a harrowing tale of the horrors of stalking, and took a haunting odyssey through the fractured mind of a self-blaming victim, in just seven episodes. The Queen’s Gambit managed to make chess riveting for seven hours straight.

One of Netflix’s most-watched limited series is also one of the hardest to get through. When it premiered in 2025, Adolescence wasn’t just a big hit; it racked up viewing figures to rival Squid Game and Wednesday, and it beat Monster, Bridgerton, and all seasons of Stranger Things. Adolescence turned out to be a bona fide blockbuster, but it was a surprise. It’s a great miniseries, but nothing about it screams “crowd-pleaser.”

The first episode of Adolescence begins with an armed police squad swarming a typical suburban house on the outskirts of Liverpool. A terrified family’s otherwise mundane morning is interrupted by police officers waving guns in their faces and barking orders at them. These officers promptly arrest 13-year-old Jamie Miller on suspicion of murder, a crime he insists he didn’t commit. For the next four hours, Adolescence maintains that level of white-knuckle intensity. It’s not an easy watch, but everyone should brave it at least once.

Adolescence Is A Tough Watch, But It'll Keep You Hooked To The End

On paper, the story of a teenage murder suspect getting processed by a slow and bloated legal system doesn’t sound as commercial as a salacious sensationalization of the Jeffrey Dahmer killings, or a Y.A. drama about Wednesday Addams going to a Hogwarts-style school for gifted youngsters. But in execution, it’s easy to see why Adolescence racked up so many millions of views, because it’s undeniably riveting. It’s a tough watch, but it’ll keep you hooked to the end.

From the moment Jamie gets arrested, you can’t wait to see how this whole horrific ordeal will shake out. At first, you’re hoping that Jamie is telling the truth and this will all get sorted out, but it soon becomes clear that the police have unequivocal evidence that, just a few hours ago, this seemingly normal, harmless, sweet kid murdered one of his classmates. Adolescence isn’t really a murder mystery, because there’s not much mystery around the murder; it’s more interested in the human fallout in the aftermath of such a heinous crime.

We see how the juvenile prison system has changed Jamie through the eyes of a frightened child criminal psychologist. We see the toxic influences on social media that drove Jamie into this dark incel community that encouraged him to act out violently. We see how the murder has affected the rest of Jamie’s family and the way the world interacts with them as they try to celebrate a birthday as usual, and quickly find that that’s no longer an option.

Every episode of Adolescence is shot and edited as one long, continuous take, with no cuts or time jumps, and they each play out in real time. So, no matter how painful it gets, you stay engaged with what’s happening, because it feels like it’s really happening to real people in real time. Adolescence is a brutal viewing experience — those four hours feel like 40 — but the story is so powerful and timely that everyone should watch it.

Adolescence