Adolescence actress Amélie Pease, who plays Jamie Miller's sister Lisa, has opened up about the meaning behind the sandwich, which plays a pivotal role in her brother's session with psychologist Briony (played by Erin Doherty).
The four-part series follows Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy who is accused of murdering a girl at his school. Miller is played by newcomer Owen Cooper, who made his TV debut with the Netflix show.
Since its arrival on the streaming site, viewers have been analysing each detail of the show, including a moment in episode three, where Jamie's psychologist Briony (Erin Doherty) gives him half of her cheese and pickle sandwich.
In this scene, Jamie takes a bite of the sandwich, despite previously admitting that he doesn't like pickle. According to psychologist Dannielle Haig, Jamie was given the half sandwich as way of “testing” his response–while actress Amelie has an idea of her own.
Speaking exclusively to Cosmopolitan UK, she said, “I've seen so much. I've seen so many different theories. And I'll read that and I'll think, ‘You know what? That actually makes so much sense.’ But I never even thought of it like that. Some of them are ridiculous, but some of them are like, ‘That's logical.’”
She continued, “I got a comment sent to me by one of my friends not that long ago and it was someone saying something about how it's like, he bites the sandwich and he leaves it, but it's like he doesn't even care what's in the sandwich. He just bites it because it's there and he can. And that's why he does it. And that's kind of links to his approach to everything else going on in his life, like he just does it because he can.”
Speaking of the show's director Philip Barantini, she said: “I read that and I was like, ‘I'm going to have to talk to Phil’ because I had no idea if that's why that happened.”
Like Cooper, this was Pease's first TV role, which she says was made “easy” by the lead star.
“I think we really clicked. I think it was like the end of the first week or maybe kind of during the second week of episode one, I remember messaging him just to say, ‘You've made this so easy for me. And I think we've really clicked and I really appreciate that,’” she said.
“Obviously you never know who you'll get along with and who you'll like. There's every chance that you might work with someone that you don't really get along with, but I met Owen and we just clicked, and that was a really special thing that made me feel so comfortable with filming.”
Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix.
