Here's My Full Review For 13 REASONS WHY Season Two
The second season of 13 Reasons Why has returned and with it comes some amazingly emotional moments, however, the second season proves to be lacking in terms of story!
Going into the second season, a lot of people believed that a second season was not needed for this show as it pretty much wrapped up Hannah's story. I was not one of those people, I believed season 1 left the door open for more than enough stories to be told in the second season. Hannah's story with the tapes may have been over but we still had stuff like the lawsuit which revolved obviously around Hannah and why she committed suicide. Season 1 left the lawsuit open because the writers didn't want to rush through it and that's a good idea because a lawsuit this serious requires time and attention. However, the story does fall short at times, having felt rather tangled and a little disorientated at times as the writers try to do too much all at once. This season delivers some great moments between characters, an okay story at times but most importantly, the character development is perhaps the most satisfying aspect of season 2.
The season had some amazing moments between characters that we've never seen interact or we've seen them interact in a different way than what we saw in season 2. Season 1 done really well in developing each character and honestly the second season only continued that trend. In this season, Clay Jensen is a lot more confident in the way he talks, acts or even dresses and that's perfectly normal considering all that he went through in the first season, obviously there are moments when we see still shy Clay or see him struggling to get a sentence out but for the most part, Clay understands that things aren't as simple as he used to believe. The second season also sees the return of Justin Foley, however, he is a very different Justin to the one in the first season. The writers put Justin in certain situations where he was truly vulnerable and he was afraid as he is basically still just a kid trying to make it out in the world and the issues he faces makes him all the more relatable and you really feel sorry for him. We've gotten some great character development all throughout the season, whether it was Zach, Alex Standall or Jessica Davis. What's great about season 2 is that all these characters are no longer the same, they've all experienced something that has changed them forever and it just makes their characters so much more interesting.
Let's talk about the lawsuit which was the primary story going into this season. The lawsuit was done quite well due to being pretty intense especially as we had so many different characters having to testify and share their side of the story in terms of Hannah Baker committing suicide. The lawsuit made for some seriously emotional moments and some other moments when you felt like you wanted to punch the person testifying (Bryce Walker). I really enjoyed that the lawsuit took more than just an episode or two to conclude as this is an issue that required a lot of time and attention, making the lawsuit felt more realistic. A lot of shows nowadays try to implement lawsuits onto their show just to add more drama but more often than not, they tend to fail as the lawsuits end up lasting an episode or two at most. One of my personal favourite scenes from the entire lawsuit was when Mr Porter had to testify, Derek Luke, who plays Mr Porter was exceptional as he was explaining to the court that he hadn't done enough to help Hannah Baker and you could just see the immeasurable guilt his put on himself. The lawsuit gave us a new light to Hannah's suicide and at times even gave us some additions to the story. Overall, the lawsuit helped the entire season as it provided us with some really emotional moments and allowed for tension to rise between a lot of characters. More importantly, the lawsuit gave you a more in-depth look at how characters have been affected by Hannah's suicide, characters that we hadn't focused much on in season 1 and that just allowed for these characters to expand in terms of who they are.
The second season also gave us some really satisfying relationships between characters that I least expected. The relationship that struck the most though in season 2 was the sparked friendship between Clay and Justin, it was such a pleasant addition to this season and it made me love Justin so much more. In a way Clay and Justin are much alike but to see how far those two have come from season 1 and now being friends was just so good. The friendship felt extremely genuine and it helps that both Dylan Minnette and Brandon Flynn are great actors that put so much effort into their characters. We also had the rising friendship between Alex and Zach which I thought was really sweet, Zach took it upon himself to help a crippled Alex throughout the entire season and although Alex was hard to deal with at times, Zach never gave up. Season 2 focused on the tremendous power of friendship and while that may sound cliche, it's also very true. Alex had said something back in season 1, stating that he believes if anyone had been friends with Hannah, maybe things would've turned out differently and she wouldn't have given up on life. Season 2 follows that belief strictly as we see some amazing friendships forming between characters that I hadn't expected. Even a relationship between Tony and Ms Baker was delightful because it shows that it's not just the kids that need friends. The relationships never felt forced or unnatural and again it helps that all of these actors do so well in making their characters feel believable.
The emotional scope of this season was not reduced at all, in fact this season gave us some outstanding scenes that had me tearing up pretty hard. This season focused quite a bit on Jessica's character and all that she has gone through due to her encounter by Bryce Walker. All through the season we got moments with Jessica struggling to move forward but the scene that struck me most was when Jessica had went over to Ms Baker's home and spoke to her. In episode 8 "The Little Girl", Jessica Davis and Ms Baker have a conversation revolving Hannah Baker but eventually it leads to Jessica's own experience and how badly it's been affecting her. The conversation leads to Jessica breaking down completely and Ms Baker comforts her with a hug. Alisha Boe and Kate Walsh portray their characters so damn well. Alisha makes it really believable that her character has been bottling up all these emotions and she finally lets them out and it serves as one of the most emotional moments of the season. However, the scene that truly made me emotional was the scene with Clay at the dance in the last episode. The moment the song 'Night We Met' came on, I immediately got goosebumps and the fact that Clay looked so utterly lost as he moved towards the crowd, hoping to find Hannah in the crowd somewhere made this scene just so much harder to see. When Tony realised this song was playing, he immediately got up to find Clay only to comfort him which eventually leads to Clay's group of friends coming over to comfort him and they all group up to a hug with Clay in the middle as he breaks down. This scene honestly crushed me, Dylan Minnette and every actor on screen in that scene were amazing, everyone played their role so well and the friendships that have developed all through the season is represented perfectly in this scene.
Unfortunately, the way the story is structured didn't really help either as a lot of the time, it felt rather tangled. One moment we were focusing on Clay's relationship with Skye and then the next we focused on Alex recovering and then we'd move on to Justin having drug issues. Season 1 had one primary story and that was Hannah's tapes which were created due to her suicide obviously. Season 2 kind of just jumped between stories continuously and even though the lawsuit was meant to be the primary story, it only felt that way at about 8. Now, one of my biggest issues with the lawsuit was that it retraces its steps back to season 1 when Hannah killed herself and essentially adds bits and pieces to the story. The issue is that these bits and pieces were never mentioned in season 1 and so anytime the writers added some small addition to the story through a flashback or so, it never really felt natural as it felt like the writers were just throwing in bits of story wherever they could. It made the story feel less natural and if anything, the story suffered badly because at times it felt disorientated. Another issue I had with the lawsuit is the punishment that Bryce Walker received. The Judge essentially gives Bryce Walker 3 month's probation regardless of the evidence shown in court and the fact that Justin backed up Jessica's story as well. The Judge decides with 3 month's probation only because Bryce is a first-time offender and he was obligated to give him a lenient punishment. However, realistically, a lenient sentencing is at least 5 or 6 years in prison for the sexual assault of not only one but two girls. The whole lawsuit was leading up to that one moment and for it to conclude that way just felt unrealistic and made the whole process seem meaningless.
My last point about the story is the way it ends. Clay is basically left carrying an assault-rifle by the end of the season as he has just convinced Tyler not to shoot up the school and this is all good except for the fact that the police were approaching really quickly. So what happened? Was Clay arrested or did he somehow hide the gun? Were the police informed of what happened? I mean these are all questions that were needing to be answered. I guess they ended it as a cliffhanger to keep some kind of door open for a third season but the way they done it didn't really make sense here. They've pretty much closed all the doors in season 2 except for this one and I don't think this is enough to have an entire season. It just felt very weird that they ended it this way and it didn't help the fact that the story wasn't very good either.
Overall, this was a hard season to review honestly, there was a lot of good in it but the story seriously let down the season. While there was amazing character development, great emotional moments and an okay story at times, overall the story is the most important aspect of a TV Show or movie and unfortunately, that's where 13 Reasons Why season 2 struggled most. A lot of the time the story felt tangled and just wasn't always clear and because of that I ended up giving this season a 6.5/10 and honestly that's probably generous. However, in saying that, anyone who enjoyed season 1 will also enjoy this season.
What did you think though? Do you agree with what I've said? If not, be sure to let us know down in the comments and as always please be respectful!