Adolescence, the compelling series on Netflix, continues to captivate audiences, with the third installment receiving acclaim as the most intense yet. Stars Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty are earning rave reviews for their portrayals of 13 year old Jamie Miller and his psychologist, Briony Ariston, respectively.

In this particularly gut-wrenching episode, we watch as Briony seeks to delve deeper into Jamie’s perception of masculinity and his attitudes towards women. The dialogue between them escalates, with Jamie’s behavior growing increasingly dark and hostile as time goes on.

The emotional fallout is palpable, leaving Briony in tears by the end of their session as she grapples with understanding Jamie’s troubling conduct. Rachael Leggett, a specialist in forensic psychology at Coventry University, has offered exclusive insights to Reach publications regarding the realism portrayed in this scenario.

Rachael, who has extensive experience conducting pre-treatment and post-program evaluations to assess individuals’ comprehension of their crimes and motivations, critiqued Briony’s non-verbal cues and interaction with Jamie—pointing out certain actions that would “never happen” in reality.

Jamie and Briony built up a rapport
Nonetheless, she acknowledged that much of what we see does accurately reflect the duties of a psychologist. Reflecting on the depicted dynamic, Rachael observed: “We don’t know what kind of rapport she had built with him previously but we can kind of gather that he seemed quite comfortable with her at the start, they had a bit of banter.”

Psychologist Rachael shared insights into Briony’s portrayal of therapy sessions in a recent interview, touching on both accurate aspects and dramatized fiction for the screen.

“Some of it I think is realistic in that they would be in a quiet room and there would usually be a table where she would make notes, but sometimes psychologists prefer to sit to the side so that there’s not that barrier there, which she did do.

“You would definitely build up the rapport, you would definitely ask questions, those big questions in life like ‘Tell me about you and what you understand about men and women’, which she did ask and she obviously had her own agenda in terms of what she needed to find out.

“I think there were times where she was quite clearly uncomfortable and that does happen, sometimes you feel like you are out of your depth, which potentially might have been what was going on for her there.”

Jamie Miller turned hostile
Rachael also pointed out that Briony’s abrupt departure from Jamie’s therapy wouldn’t normally occur in professional practice.

She clarified: “You can see her crying at the end, I think she perhaps had quite a good relationship with him but I do think it ended quite abruptly and you definitely wouldn’t do that with a young person, let alone an adult, in that ‘Well, this is the last session, so I’m going now’.”

Moreover, Rachael debunked a particular scene involving a gesture of kindness as unrealistic.

“It felt very much like ‘I have washed my hands of you, I’m going’, so that was difficult. And you certainly wouldn’t get them a hot chocolate, that’s not very realistic.”

Rachael stated: “There’s a whole debate about what does that mean, could they interpret that in a particular way? I used to work with sex offenders so by nature they can sometimes be a little bit manipulative, not all, but some.

“It’s that boundary isn’t it. It’s difficult because when you work with young people you have to be more delicate than you would with an adult, there’s more rules in terms of their sentencing and how they are treated and their welfare.

“You would potentially share some things with them so they felt comfortable, I know she shared about her mum making sandwiches and that’s where this sandwich thing came from, so you can see a really attempt there to say ‘You can talk to me, I want to help you’.”

Erin Doherty as Briony Ariston, Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence
However, Rachael felt that Briony may not have read the situation well and continued to “provoke” Jamie.

Rachael noted that given the Incel themes, she could understand why Briony was interested in unlocking a misogyny thread, and as Incels is one of her research areas, she was pleased to see it being explored on screen.

Yet she said: “I think at times she did perhaps provoke him even further, you can see that he was getting angry and every psychologist has got their own line.

“There were times I would have to terminate interviews because I was like ‘Look, I can see you’re triggered, I can see you are not doing okay.”

The episode was particularly notable for Jamie’s erratic behavior, including a notably aggressive outburst, illustrating that such reactions are indeed possible in real life.

Rachael delved into the character’s psyche, saying, “There are absolutely people who would react badly. In prison they have so much going on, on the phone call to his dad Jamie was saying he had problems with some of the other prisoners.”

She continued, detailing the character’s struggles: “There were boys that were screaming, he was struggling to sleep, struggling to find joy, so he has got all that going on as well as all of a sudden this psychologist is his friend, now she’s asking all these questions about men and women.”

Highlighting the intensity of the situation, Rachael added, “It’s probably gone from 0-100 for him. Of course there are people that would explode.”

She also commented on the dynamic between the characters: “There was a time, probably for the drama of it, that she kept pushing and pushing and he was seeking validation at times, which she couldn’t give.”

Rachael shared her personal reaction to the scenes: “It was interesting and I felt a little bit uncomfortable at times, I think maybe it was a bit of her body language because she was a little bit closed off, a bit rigid with him.”

Erin Doherty, the actress portraying the therapist, spoke about her preparation for the role: “I knew I needed to go to the source, as it were, if I was going to successfully become Briony and inhabit her mind as a therapist.

“So, yes, my own therapist was my first port of call and it was incredibly helpful. And you realise that it takes years of learning for people to get to that point of sitting in a room and speaking to someone about their life, especially someone in Briony’s job, which is a specific form of therapeutic conversation.”