Adolescence episode 2 recap: a visit to the school reveals more about the case

Adolescence is a hard-hitting crime Netflix drama following the arrest of a 13-year-old boy on suspicion of murder.

Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot starting from the boy’s arrest and picks up on different points of his and his family’s lives. In just four episodes, the story unfolds in real time as the main characters of the investigation try to seek the truth behind the horrific crime and the reason behind it. A stellar cast list includes Stephen Graham as Jamie’s father, Ashley Walters as the main investigator, Owen Cooper as Jamie, Erin Doherty as a clinical psychologist and more.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in Adolescence episode 2.

The second episode begins on day three following the murder. A memorial has been set up outside Katie’s school. Bascombe stands outside and calls his son, Adam, saying he’ll have to come inside his class today, but he’ll leave him alone. As Bascombe and Frank head into the school, the shot follows Tommy and Ryan, Jamie’s friends. They talk about whether it’s true that Jamie murdered Katie and Tommy thinks it is. Ryan asks him if they came to his house and asked about the knife, but Tommy says his dad said not to talk to him about it.

Adam listens to Bascombe’s voicemail while other kids leave rubbish on his lunch tray. As he gets up, another student throws his rubbish directly at him and starts demanding he gives him money. A teacher breaks it up. Then, two other teachers are seen talking about the impact the murder has had on the school - talk of metal detectors and a grief support room. They’re worried about the students.

Bascombe and Frank follow a teacher into the office with a student called Jade. They sit down to talk to Jade to ask her questions about Katie. He hands her his card and say he’s the lead investigator on Katie’s case. He says they need more on the case - the murder weapon and why the suspect did it. When they ask Jade questions, she starts asking about Adam, Bascombe’s son. She’s angry and says Katie was the best person she knew. When they ask about Jamie, Jade says Katie wouldn’t go anywhere near him and she’s mad because she thinks they are trying to turn it on Katie and walks out.

Next, they head to Jamie’s class. Bascombe asks the students to come to the police if they have any information on the murder weapon or anything about the case. Afterwards, Frank and Bascombe discuss needing to find the murder weapon and Bascombe explains they saw Jamie walk past the school on the CCTV, so they have to check. Plus, he wants a motive. He then talks about why Jade was so angry and that she made it seem like Katie hated Jamie.

As they head to another class, Bascombe asks Frank to keep an eye out for any kids acting funny that they can chase up after school. In Katie’s class, Bascombe's son Adam is there. Another student behind Adam starts snorting like a pig. As Bascombe begins to explain why they’re there, the fire alarm goes off and they’re all sent outside.

Whilst on the playground, Jade begins to shout at Ryan. She starts to punch him in the face and then kicks him on the ground. He shouts that Ryan is a murderer before she’s pulled away by a teacher. Bascombe and Frank say now they want to speak to Ryan. In the medical office, Ryan is interested in how popular Bascombe was at school, including with girls. Bascombe wants to find out why Jamie did it, but Ryan says they didn’t talk about feelings. When he asks Ryan about Katie, Ryan says he didn’t know her or anything about what Jamie was going to do. He asks if Jamie and Katie were friends, he says not really. When asked about the knife, he makes excuses and leaves.

Meanwhile, as Jade waits with a teacher for her mum to come and pick her up, the teacher suggests she goes to Katie’s house, if she wants to, and she’s sure her parents would love to see her. But she says, “Trust me, they wouldn’t.” When asked why she attacked Ryan, she says Katie was her best friend. Upset, she storms out. The shot picks up Adam as he avoids class while his dad is in there talking. When Bascombe comes out Adam says he wants to talk to him in private.

Adam then tells his dad he’s not getting what's happening because he’s not reading what they’re doing. He asks him about Instagram and what Katie was writing on Jamie's posts. Adam says it looks like she’s being nice, but the dynamite emoji she wrote refers to the red pill meaning she sees the truth. He explains it’s a call to action by the 'manisphere', which is where the 100 emoji comes in, the 80/20 rule. Bascombe explains that he doesn’t understand what Adam is talking about.

He begins to explain that the belief by some is that 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men. For women to be attracted to these men, they have to be tricked. By this, Katie is saying that Jamie is an incel (involuntary celibate) and he always will be - that's what all the emojis mean. She's saying that Jamie will be a virgin forever and everyone that put hearts on the message are agreeing with her. Bascombe realises it's bullying. Adam says he could show his dad 15 other messages sent to Jamie all saying the same thing with different emojis. He asks Adam if he’s okay, but he insists he is and he thanks him for telling him what’s really going on.

Bascombe goes out and tells D.S. Frank what’s been really going on. Bascombe’s also worried he’s not a good enough father, but they now need to refocus on the case. With no knife, they plan to head back to the station. But, before they go, D.S. Frank explains how she’s annoyed that to solve this case, they’re following Jamie’s brain around and, like the media, Jamie will be the one who is focused on - not Katie. She says while Bascombe thinks he can find out why Jamie did it, he’ll never know why. To this, Bascombe says he wants to go and speak to Ryan one more time because he feels like there’s something he’s not telling them.

When they go to his classroom, Ryan jumps out the window and starts running. Bascombe chases him until he reaches a dead end. Ryan tells him to talk to Tommy, but Bascombe says Tommy doesn’t know Jamie the same way Ryan does. He asks Ryan if he helped Jamie get the knife and he says no. Only when Bascombe shouts at him does Ryan finally reveal that it was his knife and he thought Jamie would just scare Katie, not kill her. When asked where it is, he say he doesn’t know. Police cars arrive and Frank arrests Ryan for conspiring to murder. Bascombe then tells Frank they’ve got everything that they need to charge Jamie. He sends her off on her own and instead waits for Adam after school.

When Adam gets out, Bascombe asks him he if he wants to go and get some food with him. He says he’s handed over the case so he can spend some time with him. Adam says he’ll come. As they leave, Jade walks out on her own, looks back at the school and wipes a tear away from her face. The shot flies up into the sky and pans over the town before settling on the car park where Katie was murdered. Police have cordoned off the area, but people stand by laying flowers. Zooming in, Eddie Miller is waiting there in his van and goes to lay his own flowers.

All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix now.