I declare an interest immediately. I worked in Social Services in the UK for many years with "problem" children. Pert of why I gave up is exemplified here in this series. Children who are hurting, many for reasons to do with childhood abuse, need to feel safe. They cannot feel safe without boundaries and consequences. As shown in this series, and was happening in the UK, there are few consequences and fewer boundaries. Misbehave and be fined tuppence. Hit a social worker and be let off. This was on show in these episodes. Yet a cop who restrains a violent kid during an arrest gets put on supervision.
The plot was driven by this ethos with misplaced leniency leading to further damaging events. We even saw kids laughing up their sleeves at the "stupidity" of the judge and social worker.
This was overdone at times in this series especially in the final episode. And I don't believe for one second that any Western European social services department would send a delinquent teenager to live with an ex-con Dad without proper investigation.
Was it worth watching? Yes. I wanted to know what would happen in the next episode. And I wanted to have my guess at the murderer confirmed or otherwise. So this is a definite recommendation despite how angry the series made me feel at times.
