The first season of Thirteen (original title Thirteen Reasons Why) had definitely let herself be talked about, thanks to the courage with which she had managed to deal with difficult topics such as bullying, suicide and sexual violence without any hair on the tongue. Last May it appeared on Netflix there second season, which expands the universe of characters we had already learned to love and despise: will he have convinced us?
It goes without saying that the parent series was taken from a self-contained book, therefore the risk of going to ruin the good that was originally done was quite high, requiring a considerable level of attention from the writers. The pretext that starts these new thirteen episodes is the lawsuit from Hannah's mother at the school, accused of not having adequately defended the student from the bullying suffered, which led her to the extreme gesture.
To testify will be the boys protagonists of the tapes, who will offer their version of the facts, going to modify some of the events narrated during the first season, in ways that are sometimes too far-fetched and that clash with each other, creating confusion in the viewer towards the timeline. The character of Hannah, due to some circumstances that will emerge, comes out definitely destroyed, doing away with that empathy that was possible to feel in the first episodes of last season, and consequently ruining part of that work that - beyond some imperfections - it was certainly noticeable. What's worse is that the young teenager will appear as a ghost to Clay, who without too many problems will turn to her in public places, despite the fact that the journey by car at the end of the first season wanted to suggest a desire to move forward, thanks also to the love affair established with Skye.
In general you get the feeling that the characters do not evolve, except in sporadic exceptions: first of all Jessica, true protagonist of these thirteen episodes, thanks to the strength with which she is able to face and overcome the rape suffered; at the same time Tyler receives more space, who finds a way to get revenge thanks to a group of punk friends (who appear without the slightest introduction), only to find himself in an even more gloomy and distressing situation. Justin also takes numerous steps forward, and it cannot be excluded that in the third season - already confirmed - he does not open the doors to the theme of drug addiction, still poorly analyzed. A great pity that a character like Courtney disappears from the scene just when he has the opportunity to move forward and develop more. The bloody scenes, even in these episodes, are not lacking, and it is clear that what the authors want to highlight is that somehow bullying is rampant, that there are more victims and that it is important to talk about it without closing in on oneself. Overall, moreover, acting and directing remain on quite high levels, thanks to the presence of brilliant actors capable of highlighting the emotions that their character is feeling.
As for the dialogue with your family or friends, however, the series almost completely fails, because if on the one hand at the end of each episode it encourages us to open up, on the other we see teenagers who continue to keep everything inside, and who want to solve their problems by themselves. The intention to bring serious social problems to the screen in an unsweetened way remains in essence admirable, but at the same time it is clear that we must not take an example from the actions of these young people. As mentioned, a third season has already been confirmed, but we can't help but ask ourselves a question following the final cliffhanger: was it really necessary to go beyond the first season? Much of that work has already been ruined, and seeing Thirteen morph into a more sensationalist series does not honor the story of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen.
