A Worthy Question –
September 1, 2019 – 13 Reasons Why has entered its third and penultimate season with an Agatha Christie-inspired plotline set over a Days of Our Lives tone. In other words, murder meets melodrama, as teens face addiction, body image issues, suicide, rape, and more. The series is not for the faint of heart, as it shows teens struggling with trauma, bearing multiple painstaking internal conflicts, all while trying to discover who murdered Bryce Walker. While 13 Reasons Why brings several issues — that teenagers often face in isolation — forward, many believe the show does more harm than good, frequently arguing that the approach glamorizes malice, deceit, trauma, and more. So, let’s see what fans and critics have to say — on both sides —to determine whether the series helps or hinders the community, or should we say the student body, it’s attempting to reach. When dealing with difficult matters, you must be sensitive in your depiction. However, without Asher’s guiding voice behind the material, the showrunners have lost their grip on balancing drama with reality — purpose with titillation. And, as a result, many fans and critics feel that the show has created a suspenseful spectacle, a murder mystery, out of topics that elicit no further dramatic heightening.
