13 Reasons Why Netflix Original Season Two Review

Major-heavy spoilers are inside this season review. Warning! Read with Caution!

A couple weeks ago, I finished season two of 13 Reasons Why. It somehow sparked more controversy than the first season. It appeared to have learned its lesson by giving viewers a warning and a small talk about topics like depression, bullying, suicide, etc. I had hopes this second season would correct a lot of what triggered people in its first run.

I was clearly wrong. Plus the storytelling had a lot of flaws to go along with that.

This tends to happen when shows run out of source material. As the first season essentially captured the novel to its core, it was hard to tell where the show would go beyond the trial and Alex's attempted suicide.

Hannah Baker continued to have a presence in flashbacks and as Clay's hallucination. Katherine Langford is an amazing actress and played Hannah Baker beautifully in the first season, but she could only do so much with her character in this current season. In my opinion, Hannah's story was told and completed in the first season, so her continuation felt off.

Her presence was honestly not needed beyond the flashbacks, and in fact, her hallucination proved more distracting than anything else. I worried for Clay's psyche when he began to see his former love and how he refused to tell anyone about it. 

Clay also proved phenomenal in the season in his interactions with girlfriend Skye and enemy/friend/brother Justin, but the focus rightfully drifted from him and onto the more interesting characters like: Alex, Tyler, Zach, Jessica, and Bryce.

I viewed Alex as the main protagonist of season two and applauded his journey. He went through the most change and suffered a lot for what he did in the last season. He lost his memory and reverted to a pre-season one personality. The guy also changed his hair, a plot device to differentiate between flashback Alex and present Alex.

Zach had a great redemption arc this season. He helped Alex with his physical therapy, finally stood up to Bryce in the end, dealt with his guilt involving Hannah, and led Clay to The Clubhouse using the photographs. He is my favorite character and his unexpected love story with Hannah was so sweet and perfect, it almost made me wish they worked out in the end.

Addison Montgomery - I mean Olivia Baker - played the guilt-ridden mother so well. The way she recounts all the flashbacks with her daughter hit strong emotional beats. If she treated Hannah differently, if she just told her daughter she looked beautiful instead of pointing out the small flaws, maybe things would've turned out differently. All what-if questions that circled inside her head. In the end, she decided to live for her daughter and go to New York in her place.

Tony went through his own problems this season. He revealed the reason he helped Hannah with the tapes: he owed her for what she did for him. She hid him when the police came looking for him, and I found this endearing. This was the moment she used to get him to orchestrate the events of the first season.

We didn't get much of him beyond helping out Clay with Justin's drug problems and his romance with the trainer. He is always assisting Helmet with whatever he needs. He drove a getaway car for Tyler after all per Clay's request. Whatever problem Clay gets himself in, the first thing he usually does is call Tony.

Bromance is too strong.

Jessica was the MVP of the season.

She stood up for herself, learned how to control her story, maintained an interesting dynamic with Bryce's current girlfriend Chloe, and represented Hannah for what Bryce did to them. Her friendship with Nina helped bring to light about the topic of sexual assault and the #MeToo montage with all the female characters was also a good way to start a conversation.

I thought her character development was going great until the last episode of the series. I'm not sure how to feel about Jessica and Justin getting together in the locker rooms right after Alex kissed her.

I'm glad they didn't make Bryce a sympathetic character. He is designed for hatred. Even his own mother hates him for what he did to Hannah. When she slapped him, it felt right. He has no respect for anyone and only cares about himself, knowing what he did was wrong. The twist with him and Chloe was interesting... how he attacked her too and the pregnancy. 

It explained why she backed out of her testimony last minute. Chloe is scared of Bryce and raising a child on her own. We will have to wait and see how this plays out in the next season, if this show gets another season.

They most likely will get another season.

Tyler went through an interesting arc when he made friends with Cyrus and his sister. A friendship that went sour when he dated his sister, and then their pranks against the popular go too far. He also went through a horrible, graphic, sexual assault in the bathroom.

That one scene pushed it too far.

Monty became the true villain when he did that. And how the hell did the school not notice something went wrong? The sink was smashed, the mope had blood, bathroom stall door broke, and water was everywhere. I'm not saying the school should jump to sexual assault, but they should've known something bad happened. 

This course of action made Tyler think he had to pack up his arsenal and attack the school with some violence. I was so relieved he didn't go through with it. After all the recent school shootings lately, it would've been unwise to show one right at the end of the season. 

BUT CLAY SHOULD'VE CALLED THE POLICE. I hated how he talked everyone down from doing the right thing to preserve Tyler's life. He endangered everyone on the off-chance that he could convince Tyler to spare all the innocent people. The season ends with the police coming anyway with Clay holding a shotgun with Jessica and Justin by his side.

Those are the main takeaways I got from season two. I didn't even mention Marcus, Courtney, Ryan, Mr. Porter, the unethical Baseball Coach, and Sheri, but they played minor roles compared to the major players in my opinion.

Comment and share how we're feeling about the controversial season two. Do we want a season three? I'm intrigued but wouldn't get mad if they didn't renew.