Before I start, I just want to let you, dear reader, know that I’m going to be talking about some heavy topics relating to this show.

"13 Reasons Why" just released their anticipated second season on Netflix. Adapted from the novel by Jay Asher; the book and show follow Clay Jensen as he receives a box of tapes from Hannah Baker, every tape listing a reason why she decided to take her own life. When first released in 2017, the show raised a lot of controversy due to its extremely graphic depictions of both Sexual Assault.

If you haven’t watched either season 1 or 2, scroll down to the heading ‘Is This Show Worth It?’

Short Recap of Season 1

Season one is the adaptation of Asher’s novel, Clay Jensen receives the box of tapes and listens to Hannah’s story through its entirety leading up to her death. Clay hopes to seek justice for Hannah, but the others on the tape want this story to stay hidden. At the end of the season, the tapes become less of a secret, there is another suicide and the family of Hannah Baker file a lawsuit against the school.

Season 2 Recap

Again, I can’t recap the entire season while covering all the major plot and sub-plot points. But I will talk about the general plot and controversial topics covered in this season.

The story picks up five months later; Clay is trying to move on from the whole tape situation with his girlfriend Skye, Alex Standall (magically) survives shooting himself in the head, The Bakers decide not to settle with the school due to an NDA agreement offered in the settlement. The lawsuit goes to trial, and that’s where the story takes off.

Through the testimonies of the kids on the tapes and members of Hannah’s family, we see a completely different Hannah from season 1. We see more of the past when Hannah’s alive and we see what some of them would say to keep themselves out of harm. Bryce is still getting off scot-free and he even has a new girlfriend. Through the trial, we come to learn of the negligence of the school administration when it comes to disciplining the members of the baseball team. We see that Liberty High has a dangerous rape culture, using scare tactics to keep people quiet.

In this season, we have the same topics that were dealt with last season; assault, rape, suicide and mental illness. In this season we also see a lot more topics ranging from; drug abuse, drug use, sexuality and recovery.

Season 2 Review

What an actual joke.

There was so much more wrong with this season than the last. First off I want to start by saying I really really hated Clay Jensen this season. His character was whiny and rude and pretty much a jerk to anyone who had any chance of helping in Hannah’s trial. His relationship with Skye I felt was unnecessary and completely rushed. Throughout the season he seemed to put Hannah on a pedestal and make her seem like she was this perfect angel, and anyone who tried to tell him otherwise was seriously wrong. I felt that he tried to protect everyone including people who didn’t deserve it like Tyler Down. Trying to help someone who was going to shoot up the school during the dance isn’t really helpful.

I can’t really decide who’s worse; Clay or Tyler?

Speaking of Tyler the show did an okay job of seeing his descent into madness. The rebelling, the punk friends, the assault by Monty. You can see the gears turning in his head and you pretty much knew this was going to end in Tyler driving to the school with an AR-15 in his trunk. I didn’t like Tyler last season or this season. So, I thought the writers did a good job continuing with that.

But that scene where he’s assaulted and sodomized by a mop handle (Yes, you read that correctly) was way too much for any TV show geared towards teenagers and young adults. The show could’ve done a different assault, minus the mop handle up the butt. That was way too much. I was pretty close to throwing up before that entire scene was over.

Bryce is still Bryce, he really just needs to die. Also, what really pissed me off was that they tried to make him seem like a decent guy during his testimony and to Chloe. But no, Bryce is a fucking monster I don’t want to see that mushy gushy romance crap between him and his latest victim.

Chloe, as clueless as she is, is very unlikeable all around. She dressed like Regina George from Mean Girls and she can’t seem to pick a side and stay on it. A really poor choice to be the girl in the polaroid.

Here are the people I didn’t have a problem with; Alex, Justin, Tony, Ryan, Zach, and Sheri. I still don’t like Chloe or Marcus, and we don’t see as much screen time for the two characters this season besides their respective episodes.

The one amazing thing about this season was Ross Butler as Zach Dempsey. His character was extremely well written, well rounded and had a really good arc through the two seasons. Butler can play to the emotions that Zach feels and it really tugs at the heartstrings. Ross Butler is an amazing actor and I can’t wait to watch more of him.

The entire season, however, was a combination of two things; shock factor and PSA. You have these moments where the dialogue sounds like it’s the old '90s health class tapes you’d use to watch. I found it took away from the story and the idea entirely. There was so much shock factor in this season it really made me lose interest.

This season really changed how I look at the original book and the first season, and I don’t really like that. Once you close out of Hannah’s story there really isn’t much you can do from there. The end of season 2 left a lot open, so I know there is going to be a season 3.

Is this show worth it? (No spoilers here.)

This is not the correct show to start a conversation with people about tough topics such as sexual assault, drug abuse, suicide and mental illness. The book is a piece of fiction, the show is fiction. You need a real word example, bring the topics out of the Netflix screen.

This entire high school is fictionalized to the highest extreme of negligence and misconduct. There isn't a high school like Liberty High where you can skip all the time and coaches go along with the misconduct of athletes.

If there are any parents reading this and you want to talk about some of the topics here but you don’t know how. Don’t watch this show. Instead, check out “Audrie and Daisy” on Netflix. It’s a documentary following the stories of two young survivors of sexual assault. These are real stories that focus on the trial, the trauma and recovery. It’s a much better thing to watch to open up the conversation.