This is a masterpiece in storytelling, and I don’t mean the one-shot setup (that’s another master-of-craft aspect though) but how my understanding got built up during the episodes. First the police’s actions seem unrealistically harsh, I couldn’t quite figure out the investigators’ take (are they angry, do they have a personal angle, should they have those things), but then as the backstory develops and more shades of colors get added things fall more in place. By the end it’s just the shock and the question marks remain.
My overall take is that it’s not one person to be blamed for all that happened. It’s not the boy had issues or the parents were shitty. It’s the amalgamation of all those parts: the boy being somewhat troubled, the parents being distanced, communication in the family not happening, social media putting petty mocking under a magnifying glass, children being mean and cruel to each other, education on the use and handling of internet being non-existent, consequences of actions not being understood, and a lot more.
It’s gotta be tough like rock to be a parent these days, that’s for sure.