*The post contains spoilers*
13 Reasons Why Season 2 is just the ending that the show's fans wanted. The sequel to one of Netflix's most promising dramas of 2017, the show takes forward the story of Hannah Baker after the tapes and sheds more light on her character and others, even as her mother fights the case against the school board. Like last season, this one too is sensitive, talking about the culture of bullying and brings forward the issue of depression, alienation and teenage suicide.
Beginning with the trial, the show is about each character telling his or her side of the story from the tape and the culture of the school, Liberty High. As expected, the show once again engages viewers with its telling, but this time it's the actors who do the job more than the writers. Despite the fact that the story is centred around the trial, it's the chemistry between Dylan Minnette and Katherine Langford keeps the Clay-Hannah ship alive.
The trial of all the people on Hannah's tapes, and few others was the perfect way for makers to move forward with her story. It's the closure 13 Reasons Why fans deserve. Though not completely sound in numerous ways, it's the sentiment of ending the Bakers' case in the most realistic way possible, which feels satisfying and complete. One may argue that there was, in fact, no need to renew the series which got the unsaid nod of being a cult show, but the fact that season two touched upon more recent socio-political ongoings than just mental health proves that makers only had good intentions in their mind.
Apart from dealing with depression, the season was also a nod to the widespread Me Too campaign where women came out to share their story of sexual assault, pinning 'one popular kid' against the wall. Though justice might not have been served as expected, the experience of telling the story and being heard by many was empowering enough. The last episode of the season was goosebump-ish in many ways and this particular segment was one of them.
Selena Gomez, who serves as an executive producer in the series, has made the show from a very personal place. While she has always been an advocate of mental health and even got the 'semi-colon' tattoo with her cast last year, she also made sure to include one of the biggest American school problems in recent times. The show ends with what looks like a school mass-shooting, a problem every student going to school in America fears. Gun problems in the US are real and look like the makers want to expand on it in the next season.
However, all being said and done, we, the fans, do not want another season from Liberty High. While the characters have grown over us in a short span of a year, it's time to bid them goodbye along with Hannah. It'll be good to see Justin Prentice play a submissive character or Brandon Flynn in a different complicated situation.
Starting up the talk about gun-control in the state and the goings inside the mind of a teenage shooter is an interesting concept, but tying it up with Hannah's chapter isn't. 13 Reasons Why Season 2 is the ending we needed and let's pray that Netflix keeps it that way.
As Skye says in the season, "I can love you but still let you go...", and it's time to follow the footsteps of two of our favourite characters in the show.
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