Too Far? Not Too Far? Thoughts On Thirteen Reasons Why Season 2
by Christine Marie Attardo
I want to start off by saying, I think shows like Thirteen Reasons Why are important. I remember the feeling I had when I walked away from watching the first season. The Netflix show adapted from Jay Asher‘s novel brought a harsh reality to screen about teens dealing with very serious issues. The second season of the show has been out for a few weeks now, and it took me just that long to finish it, except this time, I’m struggling with my overall feelings on the direction in which the show has moved.
[**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THIRTEEN REASONS WHY SEASON 2 BELOW!]
People need to know the whole story. Season 2 is now streaming, only on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/eINmDG3Nyt
— 13 Reasons Why (@13ReasonsWhy) May 26, 2018
I love how this show talks about difficult issues. They put it out there, right in your face, and I suppose the overall purpose is to entertain, and possibly help people who are suffering with the same issues to deal with them. This season tackled a few different issues, including sexual assault, gun violence, and of course, suicide. The students at Liberty High School focus on Hannah Baker’s trial and attempt to resume their normal lives, but things don’t go quite as planned.
In the first season, the show focused very much on Hannah and Clay. Just like the book, we mostly alternated between those two perspectives. I think that’s one of the things I missed most about this season. Even though we had a version of “ghost Hannah” or Clay suffering from psychosis (it depends where you land on the argument), it wasn’t the same feeling. Besides that, each episode took on a new perspective.
I have contemplated how to feel about what transpires at the end of the season and have turned to social media to see what others are saying. Many fans are bothered by the brutal nature of certain scenes that take place. These are the top ten tweets on Twitter regarding the show right now:
you know what portrayed teen sexual assault & depression WELL & didn’t trigger their target audience for shock factor? perks of being a wallflower.
you know what did the exact opposite of that? thirteen reasons why.
— mina (@actualminapaige) May 20, 2018
Y'all want to bitch about #ThirteenReasonsWhy being too graphic.. But they've already stated they want it to be hard to watch. They want you to know it's not an easy thing that these kids go through EVERY DAY.
— ✨brittanybitch✨ (@shesabarbiee) May 20, 2018
https://twitter.com/itsmekamiil/status/998141122412142592
https://twitter.com/Hannawilliams08/status/998664636663828480
https://twitter.com/Jordan_Hailey3/status/999463055732957189
https://twitter.com/Lahvibes/status/998363471354978306
https://twitter.com/libbitmb/status/998125834048278528
https://twitter.com/lottie_collin/status/999410868445175809
https://twitter.com/EllenaTamsons/status/998885624517144581
Man….Thirteen Reasons Why Season 2 really messed me up
— Kim Cruz (@kimcrooz) May 24, 2018
As you can see, the opinion varies. I think that’s where I’m at, too. There were certain scenes where I felt it was appropriate to reach that level of intensity and others that made me feel like they went too far. All in all, I think the show is a good one to keep around. I’ll be interested to see if it gets renewed for a third season.
Thirteen Reasons Why Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix.
