Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why is difficult to review. The first season of the Netflix hit drama told a complete, tragic story about a troubled teen named Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) who ends her life after months of bullying, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. She leaves behind 13 audio cassette tapes, each addressed to someone whom she blames for her death. There were 13 episodes for 13 tapes. That was the season. So Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why is faced with an uphill battle to find a reason to continue the story. Thankfully, Season 2 somehow manages to find a purpose — a message of catharsis, even. 13 Reasons Why manages to pull off an exquisite narrative turn, but then, at the very end of the season, all this delicate work is thrown away with one awful, doomed-to-be-controversial scene…but we’ll get to that later.

The first season of 13 Reasons Why was defined by the sorrow of Hannah Baker. Katherine Langford’s incandescent performance rooted the drama in real, true, honest-to-goodness emotion. The Aussie actress has a glittering charisma that ripples on the screen, and when she played Hannah’s darker moments, she did so without camp or self-indulgence. It was an understated, mature turn that sold you the conceit of the show. Since Hannah Baker is technically gone, the show has to come up with some creative devices to bring Langford’s magic back. These set ups don’t always work, but then, Season 2 is no longer defined by Langford as much as it is by the show’s ensemble.

Season 2 tries to be about how Hannah’s life and death affected the community around her, which means 13 Reasons Why runs into a little bit of a problem. Even though the show’s ensemble gets the chance to tear into some meaty material, the overarching story lacks a cohesive narrator or a singular protagonist. It’s unclear whose journey is the focus of the show, or what the overall focus is. Plus, Season 2 of the series continues to be as tonally uneven as the first season: the highs that this show reaches towards the end are immediately undone by the most exploitive moment the show has presented to us.

Because the focus is off Langford’s Hannah, other stars get to dazzle. Once more, Dylan Minette injects a winsome, almost Jimmy Stewart-esque wholesomeness to the proceedings. He plays Clay as the last good boy in a bad town. Sure, he curses and lusts and rages, but his heart is still true. It’s the North Star the narrative needs to find its way through the darkness. Devin Druid disappears into the role of Tyler, the troubled school photographer who is tired of the injustice he sees around him. It’s a good thing Druid is so good because he has the rockiest arc to travel. The real stand out this season, though, is Alisha Boe. Jessica gets the story arc that Hannah never did. Over the course of Season 2, Jessica goes through a metamorphosis. She confronts her trauma, pain, and bullies, and comes out stronger. This evolution is earned through careful plotting and Boe’s beautiful performance.

The most interesting theme this season is the question of how complicit we are for what goes on in other people’s heads. There’s a subplot in the beginning that explains that mental illness isn’t always about outside stimulus, and that you don’t have to blame yourself for your loved one’s illnesses. But 13 Reasons Why eventually arrives at the conclusion that we are as healthy as our community is. We need friends in our corner to champion us when we are down. The characters who make the biggest strides forward do so hand-in-hand, sticking together in the face of adversity. 13 Reasons Why finds a way to say profound things about the systemic damage of sexual assault and the need for better checks and balances on those in need. It’s an almost elegant conclusion, until…well…

Sadly, it is my solemn duty as an empathetic human being to warn most of you to stop watching this show midway through the final episode. You’ll figure out just when. It will be the moment where you feel something akin to closure to the Hannah Baker saga. Unless you’re a glutton for sorrow and stress and cruelty, turn it off then. I say this because something happens that is so traumatizing, upsetting, and deeply disturbing that I still honestly can’t believe it actually happens in 13 Reasons Why and not Game of Thrones.

Netflix tries its best to prepare the viewer for the horror ahead. There’s a trigger warning at the top of the episode, but frankly I was still not prepared for the visceral visual nightmare that finds itself captured on film. Sadly, what happens towards the end of Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why will likely dominate the cultural conversation in a way that will overshadow all the good the show tries to do this season. It’s that abrupt a sea change, that shocking of a choice… It’s not even where the show leaves us, but how it gets to its cliffhanger conclusion that will have people upset. And it might make you forget all about poor Hannah Baker.

For better or worse, 13 Reasons Why is a show that wants to tackle teen trauma, but it keeps choosing to do so in a way that courts controversy, almost shamelessly.

If you, or someone you know is in crisis, help is available. You can text REASON to 741741, or call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-TALK. More info is available at Netflix’s dedicated site: 13ReasonsWhy.Info

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