Adolescence ending explained: Is Jamie Miller guilty of murder?

Here’s what happens at the end of the Netflix drama Adolescence, including if the 13-year-old boy accused of murder is guilty.

Adolescence is a new Netflix crime drama from the team behind Boiling Point, taking that “continuous take” approach to the story of a shocking murder that’s inspired by a spate of stabbings in the UK.

Stephen Graham both co-writes (with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child scribe Jack Thorne) and stars as Eddie Miller, a father whose 13-year-old son Jamie is accused of killing a teenage girl at his school.

That story is told across four episodes – each shot via a lengthy single take – and details of how it plays out can be found below. Meaning SPOILERS ahead…

Did Jamie commit murder in Adolescence?

Yes, Jamie is guilty of killing Katie in Adolescence, with CCTV footage at the end of Episode 1 showing his crime. He denies the charge at this point in the show, but eventually changes his plea from ‘Not Guilty’ to ‘Guilty’ at the end of Episode 4.

Adolescence isn’t really concerned with solving the case, but rather about understanding what drove Jamie to kill. As Stephen Graham put it in a post-screening Q&A: “We didn’t want to point the blame at anyone specifically or in particular. We wanted to say we’re all accountable in many ways for this kind of thing, be that parents, teachers, government, society, community.”

Episode 1 revolves around his arrest and the details of the crime coming to light, while Episode 2 focuses on the impact that Katie’s murder has on her classmates at school. It becomes clear that Jamie has been influenced by information he’s found on the web, concerning concepts like “incels” and “the manosphere.”

Trying to make sense of the crime

Jack Thorne researched those issues, and said at the same screening event: “The thing I discovered, which frightened me most, is that I could understand the logic of it.

“If you put yourself inside Jamie’s head, and you think like an isolated boy, and you are told that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men, and you’re in that 20%, and you’re going to be lonely, and the feelings you’re feeling now so self-hatred and everyone hating you, those are just going to stay until you find a way to manipulate your world.”

Episode 3 endeavours to get inside Jamie’s head, with a clinical psychologist visiting him at a Secure Training Centre, and asking questions about masculinity, sex, and death.

Episode 4 is the final episode, and concerns how the crime is affecting Jamie’s family, who are all experiencing grief, feeling guilt, assigning blame, and trying to find a reason for what’s happened.

Jamie’s parents come to accept that maybe they could have better protected their boy. While at the end of the episode, Eddie enters his son’s room, and looks around as the song ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ plays on the show’s soundtrack.

He starts to cry, which turns into a wail as he lies on his boy’s bed, and screams into the sheets. As he kisses a teddy bear that represents Jamie, Eddie says, “I’m sorry son, I should’ve done more.” The series then ends with him leaving the room.

Adolescence in available now on Netflix. Fore more drama, check out our list of the best thrillers on Netflix, and new shows on Netflix this month. While for more Stephen Graham, here’s our preview of A Thousand Blows, which is now streaming on Disney+.