The hit Netflix series, '13 Reasons Why,' which originally premiered in March 2017, was announced to be returning for a third season on Wednesday, June 6th.

The series, which focuses on the suicide of high school student Hannah Baker and the thirteen tapes she left behind as an audible suicide note, has been the subject of both praise and criticism since it's premiere. Although the show seemed to do well with teen audiences on social media, there has also been a large outcry against the series and the way it handles mental illness.

The main complaint between the show's critics is that it glamorizes serious issues within our society today, such as teen suicide.

The series, which also contains scenes of sexual assault and substance abuse, does take the necessary precautionary measures to warn viewers that this show should be watched by mature audiences. Episodes with sensitive content are marked accordingly with a warning that plays before the start of the episode. Also, each episode ends with a link to 13ReasonsWhy.info, a website which links people to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, as well as the Crisis Text Line. Netflix also provides a content warning, along with a TV-MA rating. Despite all of this, the Netflix reviews are still divided, with pro-series people arguing that these are topics that traditional media tends to shy away from when they need to be talked about, and anti-series people arguing that the show uses sensitive topics for shock value without discussing them properly.

Personally, having just finished season two recently, I can understand both sides of the argument.

I have never dealt with depression or suicidal thoughts the way Hannah does in the show, so when season one came out last year, it seemed like any other 'Pretty Little Liars' type teen show to me. There was a mystery, a high school setting, and new, young actors. To top it off, it was being produced by Selena Gomez, which I think was a big draw for the first season of the show. Having never dealt with the mental health issues Hannah was dealing with, I was looking at the show like an outsider looking in.

It didn't trigger me in any way, so I didn't even think of it as being harmful until I began seeing all the criticism and complaints.

I thought that people were being too sensitive at first; that they were saying any show covering a serious topic was glamorizing it. I mean, do people think 'Breaking Bad' glamorizes cooking meth in a New Mexican desert? Now, though, I understand that aiming a show with such mature content could be harmful to young people who have dealt with mental health problems, and maybe Netflix taking it so lightly at first wasn't the best move. On the other hand, maybe this is important content that isn't being talked about enough, and wrapping all these messages up inside of an addictive, twisty show might be the best way to get people to listen.

Season two also went more into depth with the sexual assault storyline.

This is obviously something that has been prevalent in the media for the past few months, and it's an important topic that's finally being talked about. The show deals with a rapist within the high school, who rapes multiple female students. The second season focuses largely on the repercussions of this character's actions on one of the girls. I thought that this storyline was handled well because they let the character who was raped go through her own grieving process and showed each part of her journey. I haven't seen another show that went into depth the way this one did, while still maintaining a developed character who has her own personality and interests.

Another storyline the show went fully into towards the end of the second season was gun violence.

I did think this storyline was played up for shock value because there were so many random guns the characters got their hands on throughout the season. Maybe it was supposed to be foreshadowing to the *SPOILER* attempted school shooting in the season finale, but it came across as a little much once the third gun was pulled out. I get that the writers are probably trying to hit as many social issues as they can, but it came across like they were just using the guns to shock the audience. Hopefully, season three will handle this issue a little more sensitively considering what's going on in the real world right now.

Overall, my hope for a season three would be a season that handles all these social issues in a way that's deemed more appropriate by the show's critics.

Because, at the end of the day, '13 Reasons Why' is one of the only shows that I've seen which covers topics traditional media is still too scared to talk about. Season three will premiere sometime in 2019.