To tell you the truth, I wasn’t planning on writing this post. Thirteen Reasons Why isn’t one of my favourite show by far. I think the series started nicely, but towards the end, it got less impressive. Yet, I was interested in watching the second season to see what was going to happen next. I binge watched it in two days (from Friday afternoon to Saturday night), and I wish I hadn’t seen the last episode. I don’t feel this new season is a waste of time since it’s very entertaining and full of drama. Although, it’s not a good source of awareness and a proper portrait of mental health issues.

Somehow they managed to make this season even worse than the first one. There was one particular sarcastic moment, which made me laugh but was inappropriate. On the final two episodes, the story gets more emotional and almost made me cry, although it doesn’t compensate for everything else that happened on the other eleven. Then the worst scene I ever watched in a series/movie appeared. At that moment I knew I had to write this post. I had to pour out everything I have to say about it because this time they took it to far.

The second season starts 5 months after Hannah’s death. Her mother is going to the court of law accusing the school of ignoring all the bullying and cries for help from her daughter, leading to her death. And each episode is the court hearing of the characters that were in the tapes. This time they tell the story each one had with Hannah from their point of view, introducing new information and also including a few lies. Then a polaroid picture is left in Clay’s locker saying Hannah wasn’t the first victim, putting him on a quest to find the truth.

At the start of this new season, my mindset was still at the end of the first season. I was enjoying it but couldn’t binge watch it, because I knew Hannah and Clay would never have a happy ending, and it was heartbreaking. Then Hannah witnessed Jessica’s sexual assault, and that was my turning point. From that moment on, I started seeing the story as it is: fiction. I stopped trying to find the meaning of the scenes, and carry on watching it as if it was any other drama show.

The next section of this post is going to contain spoilers, so read it at your own risk. If you haven’t seen the second season, be aware there are trigger warnings for sexual assault, substance abuse, and gun violence, but also keep in mind a very graphic scene in the last episode. If you don’t want to take the risk, skip from 38:34 to 39:49 (if you want to understand what happens you can read my description here).

Characters and Story Line

In the beginning, it seemed they were going to explore the same type of drama that ended season 1, only then it started to get worse. The show was still entertaining, but the characters were all over the place. In some scenes, I’m still questioning why do they even exist? What does it add to the story? Sometimes it seemed the only purpose was to fill in and make the episodes to the 50 minutes mark. The character that for me was just a mess of brainstorm ideas was Clay. Our sweet and loving protagonist was in one word, inconsistent. I could recognise him from season 1 and on the next scene being completely tired of him. I think this happened with all the characters at some point. Any bit of empathy I might have for each of them started to fade away. And when you get tired of the characters, it’s also easy to get bored with the show.

Another character I didn’t understand was Tony. He was always so mysterious and was also in charge of the tapes without any apparent reason. When the story explores his background with Hannah, it didn’t seem a big deal. And for me, it still didn’t justify why Hannah left him the tapes. Was it all a big favour? It was an important question left open, in the first season, and answering it like that, was disappointing. I think of all the characters, he was the one I was more curious about and the story just felt bland.

One thing I wanted to know was how would Hannah be returning to the story. She was dead, but Netflix ensured us she was still going to have a big part in the story. They did not lie. She showed up as much as in the first season, although the way they did it was confusing. She appeared has, what we can call, a ghost. Clay was the only one that could see her, which can also mean she was Clay’s subconscious talking to him. Although it wasn’t exactly clear. Sometimes the way they were talking about could be all in Clay’s head, yet other times it seems she was confirming details he couldn’t be sure about.

Ghost/subconscious Hannah, at some point, makes a sarcastic joke with Clay that I felt it was stupid. It made me laugh but for the type of series this is, and what the producers want this show to be, that comment was inappropriate. Clay and Sky break up, and by the time he gets to her home, there is an ambulance to take her to the hospital, after she cut herself. In that sad and guilty moment for him, Hannah turns to Clay and says “you have a thing for troubled girls”. If this wasn’t a series raising awareness of mental health issues, it would be a sneaky dark joke that I would enjoy. But in the context of this show, I find it offensive and unnecessary. I enjoy dark humour, but there are time and places to do it and 13 Reasons Why is not the place.

Since the second season happens 5 months after Hannah’s death, suicide stopped being the number one topic in the show and changed to sexual assault. We do know Hannah and Jessica were both raped by Bryce and now we follow Jessica dealing with that night. We learn that she doesn’t sleep in her bed anymore, she started sleeping on the floor (to remind the more forgetful that bed was where she was raped). So far, nothing wrong to point out, actually, I think that was a great detail to add. Also, we even see her struggling with kissing and touching other people. Although in the last episode she has a passionate sex scene with, none other than, Justin. And it happens one month after she couldn’t sleep in her own bed. For me, that scene exists to give more drama to the season finally, while she is starting to date Alex again.

Nudity, Sex and Swearing

Most of us are already used to see sex scenes on TV. It seems Hollywood can’t produce movies anymore without some steamy moments and loads of skin. As this is a series about teenagers obviously one topic as to be sex. So far nothing new here. There are a few sex scenes between some characters that I think it makes part of the show and keeps it more real. The producers could have cut short them a little bit and be more PG about them. But then you get two full-on plans of explicit erections. I’ve seen scenes like this in American Pie and other comedy movies but never as explicit as this ones, and I don’t understand why. There are other ways to let the audience know what is happening without showing it. Which I think exists to try and grab the audience attention.

Another thing I couldn’t understand and started to bother me was the amount of swearing. I say those words, my friends say them also, and it’s very common to hear them out of teenagers’ mouths. Although I wouldn’t dare to swear in front of my parents, that’s wishing to get punished. So how are these character swearing in front of their parents and not a single one of them thought about calling them out? If a son of mine would ever say a bad word in front of me, I would say something even if it was just a “hey” and move on. I wouldn’t stay quiet.

The guns problem

We have all heard the news and know gun control in the US is a problem. And it feels more and more common each year (sadly) to hear about school shootings. 13 Reasons Why being a show that also deals with the importance of the school in teaching correct behaviour to teenagers, they addressed the guns subjects very poorly. First of all, they show and teach you how to load and use a gun. Which can also help you to understand how to be careful around one. I’m not saying to scratch those scenes from the season because they are part of the story and still portrait some reality. Just don’t talk throw it. How about some music over those scenes?

As if teaching how to use guns wasn’t enough to address the problem, they also do an almost school shooting. It started to get obvious it would be a way to end the season. I think it would be too soon and too much to show scenes with murdered teenagers, but how they avoid it was rubbish. They started to prepare it along the season, they even found the perfect character for it, and in the last minute they backed out. That last scene could be great to teach everyone what to do in a situation like that. Instead, they thought it would be better to have Clay play as a hero and going stand in front of the gun to try and stop Tyler. All of it to avoid letting him go to prison. After everything that happened to Tyler, there wouldn’t be any words that Clay could say that would stop him.

Which brings me to the primary reason why I decided to write this review. The most repulsive, unnecessary, violent and extremely graphic rape scene. The moment it started with Bryce’s friends throwing Tyler against the mirror, I thought now this aggression is going to take Tyler back to the mental state he was before the program. Then his head was banged twice in the sink really hard. Maybe it was too brutal. Next was dragging him and put his head on the toilet bowl. Back to the bullying “usual stuff”. But when one of them gets up to grab a mop, I’m clueless about what is coming next. Shove it in Tyler’s face or attack him with it? But when they change back the plan to Tyler’s face and you see them covering his mouth and see him in the back with the mop… I can’t say the rest, I felt a punch in my stomach, I felt sick, anxious, uncomfortable. I couldn’t look at Tyler’s face anymore, I started looking away when he appeared. And I don’t get like this. I can handle a lot of bloody and violent scenes, my only weakness is cutting skin and closing stitches because I get a little sick as I do in real life. And I was fine with the season one finale. Other than that I can see anything. So when I felt affected by that scene I knew they have gone too far. I’m not going to say they should cross it off, which they actually could, but if they still wanted to make a big mark on Tyler’s life they could have suggested it or cut the scene short. It happened for a few seconds before walk away, is that time all necessary to give a point?

Bottom line, I think this season was just inappropriate. Half of the scenes could have been done differently or cut off for good. It seems they were attached so much to the book in the first season that now when they got more freedom to take the story where they want, they throw everything done out of the window. For me, I hope this series doesn’t get renewed for a third season. If it gets, I won’t watch it for sure. I was watching this series for entertainment, but it stopped being enjoyable. Now I just want to forget about it.