Gripping Apple TV+ Drama From 5 Years Ago Is Your Next Perfect Watch After Netflix’s Adolescence

Released roughly three weeks ago, Netflix ’s crime drama miniseries Adolescence has been reaching new heights ever since, quickly jumping to the first spot in the streamer’s global charts in multiple countries and now getting closer to a position on the list of most watched English-language shows in Netflix’s history.

Starring Stephen Graham in one of the leading roles, Adolescence draws a psychological portrait of a 13-year-old accused of murdering his classmate, trying to delve into the real reasons that have driven the former towards committing a crime.

The show has so far received numerous accolades and a possibility to become an anthology series that will continue exploring the same issue in the following seasons.

However, the whole theme isn’t quite new on modern TV, and fans of Adolescence may find lots of similarities in one of Apple TV+ ’s hits from previous years.

Apple TV+’s Defending Jacob Is Adolescence’s Predecessor From 5 Years Ago

In the same manner as Netflix’s current most successful series, Defending Jacob centres on the story of a couple whose life is thrown upside down once their son becomes a suspect of a murder.

Released back in 2020 and based on William Landay's 2012 bestselling novel of the same name, the series stars Marvel’s Chris Evans and Downton Abbey ’s Michelle Dockery as Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber and his wife Laurie as they navigate through the public pressure and personal breakdowns while their 14-year-old son Jacob (portrayed by It’s star Jaeden Martell), accused of a murder, awaits a trial.

However, both shows have even more than that to share, sharing their interest in the parents rather than their convicted children.

Just like Eddie and Manda Miller in Adolescence, Defending Jacob’s Andy and Laurie have to go through several harsh stages of tragedy, starting with a denial and eventually coming to a conclusion that their son may in fact be guilty.

Both Adolescence and Defending Jacob Are a Clear Statement That Sometimes Parents Aren’t to Blame

Netflix’s Adolescence finds something deep and truly shocking to delve into in each of its four episodes, but the tragedy reaches its climax in the finale.

There, Jamie Miller’s father Eddie goes through a breakdown, trying to find out what went wrong in his system of upbringing his children. Having previously made it clear that Jamie did have an outer influence which ultimately drove him to committing an impulsive crime, the series makes an attempt to withdraw all the guilt Jamie’s parents felt, proving that they had nothing to do with such an outcome.

Pretty much the same does Defending Jacob, giving a vast space to an exploration of the family’s bonds and demonstrating that both Andy and Laurie had never caused their kid any trouble which could later on result in Jacob becoming a murderer.