The first season of "13 Reasons Why" followed the book that was written by Jay Asher. It followed the story of a girl, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide but left behind 13 reasons why she did it. These reasons were recorded by her in a series of tapes and each tape was addressed to a specific person. The tapes started with the person on the first one and kept going until they reached Clay Jensen. Clay was in love with Hannah but too awkward to admit it to her without saying something wrong or offensive first. At the end of the first season, Clay makes his own tape that has Bryce Walker confessing to raping Hannah and Jessica and presents all of them to the last person on the tapes, Mr.
Porter. Tony, the guy in charge of making sure the tapes get to the right people, makes a copy of the other set of tapes he had for insurance purposes, and puts them on a flash drive to give to Hannah's parents.
Season two
When we end season one, the only thing we know is that everything is a mess. People are finally starting to tell the truth and see the errors in their ways, and others are keeping to what they always do, and lying. The first episode of season two shows us that Alex is still alive after his attempt to take his own life, Clay now has a girlfriend in Skye the barista, Justin has run away from home because Jessica doesn't want to see him anymore, and Mr. and Mrs. Baker have since split up.
This season follows the Baker's lawsuit against the school and each episode is about the person who testifies that day. Throughout the season we see Clay and Tony bring Justin home to help with the trial and Justin becomes a part of Clay's family. Bryce Walker now has a girlfriend who is determined to stay by his side -- despite admitting that he raped her as well when she sees photos that Bryce took.
Clay starts getting polaroid pictures in his locker from an unknown person and it is discovered that it was Zach giving them to Clay because he was too scared to do anything about them. Clay uncovers an entire box filled with polaroid pictures like the ones that Zach was giving to him and he takes it to use as evidence that the school is unaware of what is going on in their school.
Because Tyler was the only person to tell the truth on the stand about everything that happened in the school as it pertains to bullies and how people are treated, the baseball season is canceled. This sets off one of the jocks that is known as Monty -- he assaults Tyler and sodomizes him in the bathroom. This ends up bringing up the topic of school shootings, as we see Tyler retrieve the guns we saw him keeping in season one, with the intent to shoot his classmates at a school dance. Lastly, we learn that the school is not found guilty in their negligence with Hannah, and Bryce is off the hook for rape and transferring schools.
Why it's important
Many have said that the show glorifies suicide and it shows kids that it is okay to do if you have a reason to.
This show not only does not glorify suicide, it depicts Clay talking to the ghost of Hannah that is in his mind, and telling her that she's selfish for what she did. This season has tackled topics such as slut-shaming, rape, and a school shooting. All of these things are very relevant to today's society but many don't want to talk about them because it could be upsetting. Others say that if the show needs to have warnings on episodes, maybe it shouldn't be a show anymore. Whatever opinion you have, there is no denying that this show is a great way to start conversations with children about topics that may be hard to discuss. It also shows the audience that bullying and constantly torturing someone may lead to them doing potentially harmful acts -- either to themselves or others. The message is not to be nice to everyone because that doesn't happen, but you don't have to bully others either.
