Written by Samuel Niles
13 Reasons Why’s final season opens with narration delivered by Clay (Dylan Minnette, Goosebumps):
“It comes down to one question: Will you survive high school? Will I survive? Cause I know too many people who didn’t.”
This narration is followed by a priest speaking at a funeral, with this being followed by a flashback that establishes the timeline of the majority of the series.
The obvious reading of these scenes is that they exist to have us wonder who will die this season. A charitable reading is that this set up exists so that every red herring can be looked at from a moral perspective, as a means of bringing to light the danger of certain behaviors. Someone does drugs, we think “Oh man, I hope it’s not them,” and thus the dangers of drug use are brought to light. It’s a show that seems to be well intended, so this charitable reading is probably not without merit.
My critical reading is that none of this matters.
13 Reasons Why is the ultimate example of the key problem with cautionary tales: they relish in the very thing they’re cautioning us from, and then just slap on punishment at the end so we can be “cautioned.” The show relishes in the (supposedly) juicy drama derived from the very things about which we are being cautioned. This is particularly problematic in its final season, where the character arcs feel as recycled as ever. Clay is unstable and upset. Jess (Alisha Boe, Poms) loves Justin (Brandon Flynn, True Detective) but doesn’t know why he’s holding back and can’t deal with the back and forth. Tyler (Devin Druid, Louder Than Bombs) is artistically and quietly dealing with his pain. Tony (Christian Navarro, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) is trying to support his family. They throw on some new important subjects or try genre bending in an attempt to freshen it up, and yet it remains stale as ever.
These subjects and genre bending included but are not limited to: Covering up for a murderer. Trying to stop someone from unveiling that murderer, while the someone who is trying to unveil the murderer unknowingly falls for that murderer. An actual school shooting (kind of?). The show’s attempt at an 80’s slasher movie. And some kind of political revolution at the school complete with riots, police, etc.
These recycled character arcs make this “cautionary tale” problem stand out because it seems as though the series’ creative brain trust is relying on new important subjects not as a means of properly exploring these subjects, but instead as a gimmick so we can sit on the edge of our seats. And that’s not even getting into the final subject, which I will not say or even generically summarize. But it’s revealed in the series finale, and it is not a coincidence that the series finale is where the show reaches new uncomfortable lows.
This new “important” topic that is brought up is handled with the finesse you’d expect from a show that previously used a school shooting as a season finale cliffhanger. And while I’m sure there are charitable readings that could be made for the handling of this, that’s more than a little irrelevant when the first thing that came to mind during the reveal was a scene from Team America: World Police. The show nose dives into self-parody with this final reveal, taking an incredibly important issue and pawning it off as a mind-blowing plot twist.
And here’s the thing: all of the important issues? They actually are important. I would love for this show to have appropriately tackled the issues it chose to highlight. Sadly, it gets so many things wrong, and I maintain that it being a “cautionary tale” when it seems to relish in its own drama is…misguided.
But the cast seems to care. They certainly act the hell out of their material. And it seems like there are people genuinely getting something out of the messages the show reached for during its four season run, and I’m glad they did. Recognition in art is one of the most important things and if anyone who relates to any of the subjects in the show found catharsis in watching it, that is something that should be cherished.
Unfortunately, we’re still talking about a show that intentionally showed a suicide despite specifically being told not to (and no, I’m not giving them brownie points for taking it out years later), thought an almost school shooting was a good idea for a season finale cliffhanger, justified covering up a murder, and sinks to those previously (un)mentioned lows in the series finale.
13 Reasons Why died the way it lived: schlocky, utterly misguided, and above all, tragic. And not tragic through its genre, but tragic through its very existence.
