Review: 13 Reasons Why
Season three of the Netflix high school drama has graduated.
Season three of the Netflix high school drama has graduated.
13 Reasons Why is a heavy show. To date, it’s covered the serious landscape on not just teens, but adults too. If you’ve never seen the show, imagine that John Hughes created a show and it was shot through the lens of Todd Solondz.
Season three focuses on the students, in particular, Clay and new BFF Ani, as they try to find out who killed season one and two rich kid bully Bryce Walker. The rest of the crew at Liberty High is still coming to terms with the season one suicide of Hannah Baker, the season two acquittal of serial rapist Bryce Walker and the mass murder/suicide by Tyler that was thwarted by Clay & company.
I reviewed season two last year and referred to the show as “important.” Season three steps away from the import and focuses on storytelling and the tension inherent in drama. The results are amazing.
13 Reasons Why isn’t a show about teens. I mean, yes, teens are the principle characters but the issues they contend with are very adult issues. And to the shows strength, it once again sidelines adults. In lesser hands and with lesser writers and performers, the show would come across more like a Douglas Sirk or Aaron Spelling melodrama rather than an unyielding murder mystery.
Right after we learn of the death of Bryce Walker, in true 13 Reason fashion, everyone is a suspect. Since this season plays out more as a whodunnit than an angst-ridden drama it turns Clay and Ani into more Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson than an interracial suburban Romeo and Juliet. No stone is left unturned and they place each character, even themselves, under the microscope.
The kids — Clay, Jessica, Justin, Alex, Tyler, Zack, and Tony — are right where we left them last season. Well, Bryce has been murdered but his presence is still heavy as the show relies on flashbacks, as it has before.
The introduction of this new girl, Ani, left me bemused for a couple of episodes. She was shown in flashbacks as having been part of season two. I was so confused about why I couldn’t remember one of the seemingly two black students at Liberty High. I had no memory of her. The truth is that Ani was not in season two. It’s just so well written and told through flashbacks that I am guessing most will be confused.
The acting is as solid as it has been in the previous two seasons. The ensemble cast is just as good as they have been. And since it is an ensemble show, singling out one of the principles for performance seems foolish. Every one of the actors gets at least one moment to show off their acting skills…and they use the moment(s) brilliantly.
However, seeing more of Brenda Strong’s Mrs. Walker, Bryce’s mother, this year added a very welcomed texture to understanding what made her son Bryce Walker such an a**hole. It did help humanize an awful character and helped make the transformation he was attempting more believable.
The only new legal infractions this season are Bryce’s murder and a tertiary ICE storyline around Tony’s family. Outside of that, the characters are still dealing with the detritus from seasons one and two.
It’s the deeper dive into the emotional wreckage that the detritus brought about where the show shines. Whether it’s Tyler’s rape in the bathroom (season two), Justin’s addiction (all three seasons) or Clay’s chronic seeming low-grade depressive disorder (since birth) the writing and the acting backed up my tear ducts more than once.
In particular, in episode 11 when Tyler tells Clay how he was raped in the bathroom by Monty while the other football thugs watched. It’s scenes like that that make 13 Reasons Why a gold standard of television right now. At least for this week.
Everything is written, directed and performed so deftly that as impossible as these kids’ lives are, it’s doesn’t present as melodrama (even if it is).
But this isn’t a show for teens even if it is about them. In particular this season. The first two seemed to me to have a more teen focus, but this season shit gets real.
These high schoolers are getting themselves into some very adult situations. If teens today are finding themselves in these types of situations, our society is fooked. They tackle some weighty subjects and while I am not naive enough to believe these things don’t take place…I think the presentation can be rather graphic. None of it seems gratuitous, and it all works for the narrative, I think it might be a little much for a high school kid.
But then, I don’t have kids and was watching William Friedkin’s Cruisin, with Al Pacino, in high school. So who am I to judge?
13 Reasons Why is just damn good drama…with teens. Consider the first two seasons rated somewhere between PG-13 and R and this season R and NC-17.
The show stumbles a little relying so heavily on flashbacks. It can get a little murky, but if you’re actively engaged and watching you’ll pick up on the visual cue that helps identify what’s a flashback and what isn’t.
Honestly, at this moment there is no better American drama than 13 Reasons Why. But since quality programs are being released almost daily, I don’t suspect they’ll have the title for long.
If you haven’t seen the first two seasons, you may feel a little lost, but season three does work as a straight murder mystery.
The story unfolds like a Dennis Lehane book and will keep you engaged and guessing, and second-guessing. And the ending (no spoilers) has some solid pulp elements and twists that help nudge the show up a level…provided you enjoy that sort of thing (and I do).
13 Reasons Why has been renewed for a fourth season and it’ll be interesting how they move the story forward. It did end with some elements they can explore but it’s the rare show that can maintain, or increase, the quality. The show was always really good but, if I’m honest, I didn’t think the show could be this good.
While we’re being honest, if these kids have another year of high school like the previous three, they’re gonna snap. Being a teen is hard enough without having to deal with rape, murder, school shootings, suicide, drug addiction, abuse, school, sports, etc.
But then, 13 Reasons Why is a television show…and a damn fine one.