so 13 reasons why season 2 is out I was
kind of hoping it would fly under the
radar just so I wouldn't have to watch
it like it would just be passively bad
and not try to do anything too huge or
generate a lot of buzz but nothing is
sacred in this world so this show's
second season double down on some of its
more unsavory elements from season one
it got a lot of people talking some
people praising the fact that it went
there and some people criticizing the
irresponsible handling of heavy topics
so what's this new season's deal does it
rectify some of the show's earlier
problems with sensationalism and deliver
responsible nuanced takes about serious
social issues or yeah we already know
that's not gonna happen let's just dive
right in
I didn't want to spend too long talking
about the show's bad message because I
think the general idea has been pretty
much covered and I didn't want to spend
too much time repeating myself from my
first video yes framing someone killing
themselves as a calculated decision that
will successfully accomplish their goal
of getting revenge on the people who
hurt them is a pretty garbage way to
portray suicide that's been covered and
if the show left it at that
this section probably wouldn't exist at
all unfortunately the showrunners looked
at the reception that they've got from
both critics and suicide experts saw
that the way they portrayed suicide was
ultimately harmful and chose to double
down on everything they done wrong
initially in a way that shows that they
really didn't understand any of the
criticism that they were receiving in
episode 9 there's this conversation
where after our protagonist clay
releases Hanna's tapes his principal
warns him that this is a bad idea
because of the possibility of suicide
contagion Clay's response here is how to
silence protect us this isn't just a
throwaway line throughout this season
the central theme of needing to start a
conversation about suicide and mental
health is ever-present
there's an entire subplot where the
school rule is that no one is allowed to
talk about suicide not even just Hanna's
suicide like any suicide at all as a
result nothing changes and the bullying
and harassment that is rampant at their
school continues the show is making a
pretty strong case for talking about
suicide good silence bad and pleased
conversation with the principal is just
an extension of that it's important to
note here that this scene effectively
performs two functions first of all
there's what happens on a surface level
the fictitious clay is talking to his
fictitious principal about how to
respond to the fictitious suicide but
the writers are also using this moment
to construct a meta-narrative as a way
to respond to how their show is
perceived they're not just talking about
the importance of clay releasing Hanna's
tapes they're talking about the
importance of 13 reasons why as a show
now things like this aren't exclusive to
13 reasons why mediocre shows use in
universe conversations to assert their
own importance all the time and it's
rarely done well another such example is
the Simpsons no good Reid goes
unpunished where they try and fail to
respond to discussions about the
character aku being a racist caricature
it involves characters Marge and Lisa
reading an old children's book only to
discover that it's pretty racist they
try to edit out the
racism only to discover that they've
lost the spirit of the book we then get
a pan over to a framed picture of Abu as
the characters effectively state that
there's no one right way to respond to
this of course opinions are mixed
regarding the Aqua character and whether
or not he is or isn't a racist
caricature but either way the
implication that to make any changes to
somewhat problematic aspects of a show
is to take away its spirit is a little
tone deaf especially when these
conversations refer to a side character
it's not really a fair comparison to
make really now these things aren't
inherently bad even if they are often a
little heavy-handed the conversation
that is present throughout 13 reasons
why second season isn't solely bad by
virtue of being defensive on a meta
level the problem is that framing the
discussions that are happening with
regards to the show is conversation
versus silence often completely misses
the point of these conversations no one
who is criticizing thirteen reasons why
is mad that it talks about suicide and
no one is suggesting silence about
suicide is a viable alternative what
they're saying is that these
conversations should be done better and
be less sensationalist what thirteen
reasons why does to respond to this is
an incredibly dishonest and
self-righteous way to respond to
criticisms of their show
if the strongest defense you can
scrounge up for your show is there's
suicide in it that doesn't make you look
awesome
before I get into this just to quickly
reiterate a point from my last video
it's okay if shows aren't completely
realistic all the time I even did a
video about why surrealism can be great
but when a show is trying to make
commentary on a real-world issue and yet
its portrayal of that issue is
completely divorced from reality the
commentary can be pretty weak at best
and actively harmful at worst this is
how 13 reasons why treated suicide in
its first season and how it treats
school shootings in its second this was
initially hinted at in season 1 when
Tyler was shown stockpiling firearms
throughout season two we get a number of
fake outs that foreshadow of future
shooting charmagne
what shoot me in the locker that won't
open his plot reaches its climax in the
final episode when Tyler is sexually
assaulted on screen and an incredibly
brutal and graphic scene in an attempt
to get revenge he then brings his
arsenal to the school dance in an
attempt to conduct a mass shooting but
is ultimately talked down by clay
judging by the creator's comments on the
situation me intend here wasn't simply
to make art with no relation to the real
world
rather this was supposed to be
commentary on the real-life issue of
school shootings which is what makes it
all the more egregious that it's so
profoundly divorced from reality it
seems like they were trying to provide
simultaneous commentary on two issues
sexual assault committed against men and
school shootings it fails on both those
issues for one the shooting was
deliberately designed to parallel the
real-world Columbine shooting it even
takes place on April 20th the same day
as Columbine because of this deliberate
conflation the viewer is most likely
going to equate the two in their mind
this must be what was going through the
mind of the shooters the myth that
people who commit mass shootings are by
and large just innocent bullied kids who
experienced a lot of trauma from their
classmates and just snapped is both
incredibly incorrect and incredibly
harmful especially as it pertains to the
Columbine shootings as it turns out
those shooters weren't meek timid
bullied kids they were bullies more
specifically they were huge racists too
frequently terrorized their fellow
students equated someone who committed a
shooting because they were a racist
bully to someone who attempted to commit
a shooting because they were sexually
violated is a pretty big slap in the
face to the victims of the real-life
shooting to which they're deliberately
drawing a parallel and this isn't just
exclusive to Columbine as it turns
a [ __ ] ton of mass shooters either
belong to hate groups or were bullied
themselves not only does this miss
characterization of what makes a mass
shooter not effectively target where the
problem is coming from
it also unfairly places the onus on the
victims of a shooting Oh a bunch of kids
were killed at school today
guess they shouldn't have been doing all
that bullying they were probably
definitely doing the obfuscation of the
bigoted ideologies that if not cause at
the very least exacerbate these
shootings is more harmful than helpful
it's also pretty shitty representation
for men who have been sexually assaulted
the implication that the natural
conclusion of experiencing a traumatic
event like that is to become a violent
shooter is not awesome
look I'm not expecting the show to solve
school shootings in an hour-long Netflix
format but given how poorly they
represent these issues the least they
could do is not be so self-righteous
about it
we've already been over how a lot of
elements in the show's first season
we're completely ridiculous and hard to
buy which makes it harder to really
absorb the show's anti-bullying message
unfortunately this show hasn't learned
from its early mistakes and it's taken
the gimmicky plot elements up to eleven
much like the greatest cinematic
masterpiece of all time thoughts not
dead too much of the second season of
this show is centered around a court
battle between Hanna's family and the
school also clay keeps imagining Hannah
everywhere and she talks to him and [ __ ]
there isn't much to say about this it's
pretty out of place and contrived each
episode is focused on a different
character and their testimony and what
the show is going forward is this deeply
intertwined felis clay tries to unravel
the truth and bring justice to the
school unfortunately because the show is
more concerned with shock value than
with telling a good story it stops
making sense pretty early on for one we
find out about this secret building
called the clubhouse where Bryce and the
other members of the baseball team would
party and lure girls to be sexually
assaulted it was conveniently never
mentioned or alluded to before but okay
fine whatever but there are quite a few
signs that this was added last-minute
for shock value with no consideration
for how this would actually fit into the
plot or for good storytelling for one
thing Justin who I guess is an addict in
Oakland now who in season one was
confirmed to be best friends with Bryce
and also a super popular athlete seems
to have no knowledge of this which is
interesting given that the most popular
people at the school all seemed to hang
out there including people who weren't
on the baseball team like Marcus I guess
the intention here was to make Justin
more sympathetic since him sitting on
the fact that there was a secret rave
cabin would make him pretty indefensible
but if you can't organically include
something like that in your plot without
creating a major plot hole you maybe
shouldn't we also get the introduction
of certain characters and elements that
don't really add anything to the show
and really only feel like they're there
to fill screen time this is especially
noticeable with the character of Jackie
who is Jackie well a better question
might be why is Jackie she's had his
mom's lawyer who moves in with the
Baker's for some reason and then leaves
and has never mentioned again as soon as
they lose the case the fact that she
shows up out of nowhere and then leaves
town when the plot doesn't need her
anymore just draws attention to the fact
that a lot of these characters are super
underdeveloped or there's this whole
reveal that
and that had a secret relationship the
summer before Hanna's suicide I'm not
sure if the writers like actually
watched season one but given all the bad
stuff acted that made Hanna make a
suicide tape for him happened before the
summer Hanna's decision suddenly makes
even less sense than it did before
doesn't seem like Hanna was that
devastated over Zach stealing her notes
if she dated him all summer afterwards
and never made any mention of the event
again so putting that on a tape of
reason she killed herself to guilt-trip
him is both reprehensible and
nonsensical in short the writers were
more interested in what was shocking and
full of drama in the moment that they
never stopped to consider what made a
good coherent show as a whole as a
result the plot made little sense and
suffered heavily
the first season of 13 reasons live was
bad not irredeemably terrible but pretty
bad the show's second season is equally
bad in terms of shitty plot and
promoting the harmful message but laced
with a certain level of indignant
self-righteousness that makes it even
more frustrating to watch the show's
loud Mehta insistence that it's
important and culturally significant
makes it seem less so and the broad
straw brush with which they paid all
their critics just makes it more
apparent that they don't understand
these criticisms and don't care tale
well let's stay tuned for a possible
season 3 where they presumably try to
solve Isis or something
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