Yet the narrative leads to a series of anti-climaxes. If you are going to subject viewers to scenes like the above, you really should be thinking about the end game. To trivialise assault in this way, particularly with the homophobic overtones, is more than just lazy or careless writing: it’s dangerous. The main perpetrator received little screen time, and his victim was pretty inconsequential to most of the season.
The scene is there to shock, and it achieves that, but there is no insight into the victim’s mind, nor any real, believable established motive for the attack. A physical assault is followed by a drawn-out shot of a teenage boy being sodomised with a broom, while being called a “faggot”. Once again a deeply disturbing incident looks like a handy plot device.įor all the criticism of the first season, the rape scenes and suicide were not as needlessly graphic as that found in the second season’s finale. But the narrative focuses on a court case, rather than her trauma. Alisha Boe, who plays Jessica Davis, in particular does a good job of expressing this turmoil. The actors do their best to embody the impossibility of their situation in wanting to seek justice but knowing they won’t be believed. Meanwhile, the two most prominent assaulted girls (who are still alive) don’t remember their attacks well, if at all, due to their being drunk or drugged. The baseball coach character reveals he is aware of what the boys do, but maintains it’s all a witch-hunt, and besides, they’ve got a big game to win. The first season included two rape scenes, which are repeated in this one. The show certainly attempts to portray rape culture, albeit clumsily. Season One focused on the circumstances in which a young girl died by suicide, whereas this season instead looks at how one of the main characters raped multiple girls in the school. Season Two repeats this mistake with rape Suicide is, once again, reduced to a plot device.Ī note to the producers: including a disclaimer at the start of the new season and pointing viewers towards help at the end of each episode doesn’t make up for the show itself.Ģ. The second season follows on from a second suicide, albeit a failed attempt, and while it stops short from showing us every detail, there’s never really any effort to truly probe what is going on, as the character conveniently develops amnesia. The method wasn’t relevant to the plot, and neither was the camera lingering over it. We know from Season One, episode one, that Hannah took her own life. Suicide is once again reduced to a plot device Instead, they suggested anyone who struggled with the issues the shows portrays should seek help by calling 116123, or emailing THANK YOUġ. They stated that much of the show’s content might well be triggering, especially for those who have experience dealing with self-harm, but stopped short of advising against watching it. In a very measured statement, the Samaritans offered guidance for viewers the day before Season Two premiered. Yet the show also received generally favourable reviews for its portrayal of contemporary teenage struggles through a diverse cast, and, as a viewer, I found the storyline compelling enough to keep me hooked even when I found myself disapproving of it.
In The New Statesman, Neha Shah criticised it for being both sensationalist and reductive. Through cassette tapes, Hannah told her story, including the key situations which, the show implies, led to her decision to die by suicide.ġ3 Reasons Why was controversial from the start.
In 2017, 13 Reasons Why, a teen drama concerning the suicide of a young woman called Hannah Baker debuted on Netflix.