I've been wanting to have an open discussion on this season with like 5 different people so i thought I should just blog all my thoughts after finishing the season and tag everyone who watches.
If you haven't finished 13 reasons why SEASON 2, PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER DOWN
**These are just MY OPINIONS, i want to hear what others think so please don't be afraid to disagree with things i said
My Thoughts:
1. I was extremely disappointed in the ending of the season. They had been building up the suspence of the school shooting since the last episode of season 1. I feel like they went with the lazy, yet safe way to end the season due to all the shootins going on irl. However, I think they could have written it better. I read on reddit that maybe they had originally filmed him shooting the school but had to reshoot to make it more appropriate hence the delayed release date.
2. I was very off and on with how i felt about Chloe, Bryce's girlfriend. I loved how she crossed off the mean comments about Jessica on the stall and that she had the courage to testify, even though she went back on what she said. Also did you know she's like 30 irl???
3. Marcus is the most selfish character and honestly my lease favorite, other than Bryce. I genuinely haven't liked him since season 1 and he was just terrible, however I did like how he stepped down from his position and called Bryce a rapist to the crowd.
4. I saw myself disliking many characters in season 1 but growing to like them a lot in season 2. They are:
~ Mr. Porter literally losing his job in order to help Hannah and her parents. Also him taking the effort to mark off the "people to watch/help" even after he knew he was getting fired melted my heart.
~ Courtney Crimson - So impressed she came out on the stand to defend Hannah. Such bravery, we love a lesbian legend.
~ Jessica Davis: I was off and on with her last season but I really loved how she shined this season. She was arguably the most troubled "survivor" as they called it and her journey of coming to terms with talking about her rape was inspiring and gave me goose bumps.
5. Did anyone else like hate Clay in this season? LOL IDK it was annoying to see him get pissy with Hannah. Like I understand his love for her was the most genuine and he was going through a lot, but him about to shoot Bryce in his own house was very frustrating and sad to watch.
6. Speaking of Clay, literally WTF WAS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SKYE? It was relevant for the first like 2 episodes then she disappeared. I hated them as a couple and i feel like the season wouldn't be any different if they never dated.
7. Zach Dempsy was the MVP of the season hands down. If we're being honest, I don't even think he deserved to have a tape in season 1. I loved seeing him help Alex with his PT and just helping Clay and the group so much. I was a bit SHOOK when he talked about his summer with Hannah, but I do think he was the best match for her other than maybe Clay.
8. Justin Foley's character is so interesting to me. I kinda liked him a lot this season after learning more about his struggles at home and how he did a lot to help testify for Jessica. IDK i have a lot of pity for him, but seeing him return to heroion would upset me since I was hoping his character would develop more away from that. When he was arrested and forced to stay until he was 18 (and he was totally ok with it) i was really sad for him.
9. I was very confused by the jessica/Justin making out at the end. I understand that they've had a history and he's done so much for her, but the season showed Jess and Alex together so much. I was hoping Justin would tell her to stay with Alex to show more growth in him but i guess not!
10. Bryce is literally satan. I LOVE his mom though and how she knows he's full of himself and knows he is a rapist. We love a mom not afraid to defend other women rather than her own terrible son.
11. I felt terrible for Tyler at the end but overall I really disliked how his character was written this season. His obsession with guns/shooting/going against the system was clearly based on his friendship with Cyrus but posting the pics on facebook was so dumb. I'm biased though based on knowing he was gonna shoot up the school so it automatically made me hate him. this brings me to the fact that the foreshadowing of him shooting up the school WAS SO EVIDENT IN EVERY EPISODE but he didn't even do it
12. I hated the lawyer who was defending the school. However, I must say the lawyer for the Bakers was honestly pretty bad and presented the witnesses ineffectively. The tapes shouldv'e been moved into evidence, he should have focused on all the shit the kids go through at school and then end it with Mr. Porter literally admitting the school did jack shit to help them.
I was mad at the verdict but the worst part of the season was when Bryce literally only got 3 month probation. They said it was for first offenders but Hannah AND Jess both said they were raped by him, shouldn't that count as 2 times and not 1?
I know a lot of this is negative, but i really did love the season. The show is about a ton of dark and depressing, yet real topics so I didn't expect everything to go perfectly in favor of the Bakers. I loved seeing how they would include how to get help for those who suffer from issues discussed in the show at the end.
My biggest complaint though is Bryce not getting punished more. 13RW has been under fire for romanticizing suicide rather than showing how it is not the right option. I thought this season would build up and show the bravery of women who open up about their own sexual assault since it's common in the media. We saw how hard it was vor Jessica and how some girls still struggled to discuss it out loud. I really thought that giving Bryce a harder sentence/punishment would show girls/guys watching who have been victims of sexual assault that telling others about it will help you get justice for those who harmed you. I feel like Bryce not getting sentenced was very hypocritical of the show's message.
I honestly agree with everything you said, especially disliking Clay. This season he was just so anal about Hannah and he thought he was the only person Hannah cared about like NO BITCH. And yeah, Bryce’s 3-month probation was some bullshit
1)I always had a gut feeling they weren't going to go through with it. I mean if you thought the assault scene had backlash, a school shooting scene would have driven everyone bananas. I mean everyone right now says that it was unsuspenseful because there wasn't a school shooting, but they probably figured it would be too controversial(not that they haven't shied away from that stuff before), there's only so much you can show before people start to decide that its too much.
5) I cant blame him that much, I mean Gun Violence is never the answer. But at this point, Jessica wasn't willing to come forward about Bryce, and it was just Hannah's word Vs Bryce and Hannah is dead. Justin couldve testified but Jessica didnt want to(even though that scene revealed that he could) and at that point the only evidence that they had was missing. Clay wanted vengeance for Hannah so bad and the fact that Bryce was going to get away seemingly free was probably tearing him apart.
10)I dont get why his mom slapped him? I mean yes I do, but let me try to word it right. It made me think that she'd be more involved or it would cause a ripple with his dad and her? I dont know maybe it was just there for a feel good moment, or a scene in which the viewers could live through her and just slap the shit outta him idk but I was expecting something to come from that scene. It felt random
I totally agree with your biggest complaint, in the fact that giving him a bigger sentence couldve been a way to reach out to victims and show them that they can get justice on their attackers.
I definitely agree with a lot of this. Looking back, I understand why Justin goes back to doing heroin and that is because he's heavily addicted. Leaving an addiction is so hard and the show wanted to show that it isn't easy leaving an addiction behind.
While Bryce's sentence was bullshit, it shows how it is so easy to get away with shit when you have the money. That's just how it is in the real world and they didn't want to shine away from that. Does it suck? Without a doubt. Is it prevalent? Yep. It's one of the sad realities of life.
That being said, when you feel emotions toward these characters that is a testament of their acting. I fucking HATE Bryce and the school's lawyer Sonya but they are PHENOMENAL actors to make you feel so much hate. Props to them for doing such an excellent job.
My complain was how irrelevant Sheri was, they put her in the most random scenes and it pissed me off hos she wasn't even in the last scenes of the season.
EM002 i 100% agree about the actors, they have to force themselves to play characters who are in such suffering and poor mental states and they do it so well! That's one of the reasons i loved it so much
Do you think they will actually pull the trigger on a Season 3?
I know there's controversy about the assault scene but that didn't stop them from making another season after Hannah's suicide was shown and people got pissed about that.
I honestly dont want them to, not because I dont like it I LOVE the show, but there isnt much of a story there to tell. The whole point of the book was about Hannah and Suicide awareness, Season 3 wont be about Hannah if there is one. Unless there's some crazy revelation but even then it would be just grasping at straws at that point.
However, they did leave a few holes in the plot.
-Justin's Stepdad coming back.
-What will happen to Monty
-What will happen to Tyler
-Justin's Stepdad coming back
But there will also be a few key departures.
Hannah, her mom, Bryce(Honestly nobody cares tho), Mr.Porter.
There are Pros and Cons, but I dont think they should stray too much from the original material, unless they really think they can make a difference on a few other topics but Hananh's story is already told, and thats what this show was about, to tell her Story.
flamergamer8 i am honestly clueless about what they'll do for season 3. I know there won't be a a school shooting since Tyler is away from the scene while Clay was stuck with the gun. I feel the season will move away from Hannah a bit and focus more on Clay/Tyler dealing with the police.
If i am being honest, I think the writers should have ended the season while they were all dancing together at the dance and possibly ended the series too right there. Hannah's story got told, season 3 would be telling someone else's
1. chloe/anne winters is 23 in real life
2. i disagree with your description of jessica and i liked her a lot more in season 1 because throughout season 2, she was very stubborn and a little egotistical as she would never take the blame for anything and would end up blaming everything on anyone over what they said or did. i get that she's recovering, but she was very oversensitive and started to think the world revolved around her because she would take everything so personally
1. SAME i fucking hated how they made it suspenseful then stopped it, not saying i support school shootings, however i expected it to happen and was disappointed it didn't
2. i was pissed when she went back on what she said tbh
3. eh idc much for him because he isn't too relevant
4. i still hate jessica a lot, the first few eps i was like "oh wow she's improving from s1 (i hated her s1 too)" then i started hating her again and when she yelled at alex at his "party" sort thing that's when i was really pissed
5. tbh i hated hannah more than clay because it was hannah making him do that shit
6. TEA skye was annoying as shit, glad they sent her off
7. i mean alex is my fave but he's followed by zach and i ship zach and alex HEAVILY
8. tbh i liked him a lot more this season mostly because i felt sympathy for him
9. i want jess and alex to break up so alex can fuck zach so like the justin and jessica making out was no issue by me
10. he's hot though, but ANYWAY besides that, his mom is a legend i stanned her in that one scene
11. tbh i liked tyler because you could just see how pure and innocent he was (ignoring the fact he's a stalker) and i feel like he didn't deserve that treatment he just needed a friend (not one who makes him do destructive shit, just like a nice genuine friend) and it hurt so much when he seemed happy to come back then montgomery attacked him because i really wanted tyler to be treated better (also side note: i ship him and cyrus not gonna lie)
12. the lawyer defending the school made me want to go deaf so i didn't have to hear her nonsensical bullshit she was one of the worst characters, i kinda liked the baker's lawyer though i felt like he was really trying to help
these are some quick replies i have to your points!!:
1. i thought it was just obvious since the ending of season 1… idk but i get it
2. SAME i was so happy for her when she crossed off the comments about jess and was ready to testify but then she probably felt an immense amount of pressure, which sucks. i still wish she testified but rip. she’s only 23 irl SLSKL the actor for zach is older, he’s 10 years older than me
3. marcus and montgomery are both trash
4. i agree, but i also liked justin and zach way more this season LOL
5. i feel like the actress for hannah was just really forced into the season and which is why clay became more annoying bc for clay it’s just a constant back and forth about hannah for him and i feel like they could’ve shown it better, but i still adore him
6. yeah IDK what the relevance was, only good thing that came out of it was his speech at hannah’s funeral thing
7. AGREEDDDDD I LOVE HIM. i think the tape was necessary to show hannah’s POV in season 1 bc it did upset her in some way. i hate the fact that he was still friends with bryce though and that was his only like nasty attribute but i also think of survival in that high school and i feel like being friends with bryce was how zach thought he could survive at the time - glad he came around though at the end
8. i love justin nnn i think him going back to heroin shows how hard recovery is from addiction. i really enjoyed his redemption this season with wanting to do everything he could for jessica
9. i wasn’t really confused only because it kind of felt like jessica/justin had a deeper relationship than alex/jessica because the latter felt like a really strong friendship rather than a relationship while the former… they seem to have a flame IDK It makes sense to me?
10. yeah fuck bryce but his mom >>>> her slapping bryce and being suspicious of him all season was great
11. i didn’t like hate tyler… i felt a lot of sadness for him. you can tell that he was going to go into a downward spiral from season 1. it hurt my heart watching him do all that and knowing that he was in a lot of pain and that no one really did anything until the very end to stop him
12. both lawyers were trash : - )
& i feel like bryce getting 3 months probation was AWFUL but i also thought it was very reminiscent of how Brock Turner (stanford rapist) only got 3 months incarceration (i believe). it's super shitty, but at the same time, like Jade said, it's sadly very common in our society today for rapists to get shorter sentences
They've messed up by not going through with the shooting, that is not a realistic outcome, if a kid is going to shoot up a school there will not be a Clay to stop them, irl clay would have been shot in an instant and Tyler would have gone on to shoot down most the people at the dance, but yet again, dancing around the real issue and not showing people the true horror and reality that many students are now going through, just pop on the news and wait, you'll see more student accounts of shootings soon enough...
I have no idea what there is a season 3 for though? Literally none, Justin doing heroine lol? idgi
i didnt watch s2 bc i knew it'd be dumb but I think the point of Bryce getting such a low sentencing was to show how often this happens in real life. Like you're supposed to think "how the FUCK did he get such a short sentencing how is that fair he's a rapist" & that happens to rapists like every day in court
And if Tyler had shot up the school there'd be a bunch of "well you have to be nice to the bullied kid or they'll shoot up the school!!" sympathizers, just like after Parkland. You're not supposed to feel bad for shooters bc they're psychopaths and I feel like if Tyler had gone through with it then the reaction would be "bullied kids do school shootings & the only way to prevent them is to be nicer to kids" when in reality the problem is how easily underage school shooters can access a gun. Idk just my thoughts
I was LIVID at bryce getting such a subtle sentence too. However I understood why. It’s the reality of most rich white frat boys who have good lawyers. Rapists get let off the hook more times than they should in today’s society and it’s disgusting.
This is from an interview:
"Bryce is a privileged white male who’s great at sports and [is] based on the standard that society has sort of set [that] he gets off scot-free. It sucks and it’s going to anger a lot of people," Prentice says of Bryce's sentencing. "But they should be angered. That’s one of the faults in society at this current moment in time, and people are right to be angry." Especially since out of a thousand reported rapes, 994 perpetrators will walk free, according to RAINN.
I honestly thought that Tyler was the best/most interesting character in the whole season. He is literally turning into Hannah and the characters still don’t yet realize it.
I love that they gave him 3 months, it was meant to represent a majority of rape cases and i think it showed an adequate description of that hence why so many people are afraid to come forward
Up to episode 10