‘13 Reasons Why’ brings dark plot to second season

Netflix has released the trailer for season two of “13 Reasons Why,” its controversial teen drama that raised ethical questions about graphically depicting a girl’s suicide on television.

And it finally starts to answer the question: What story is left to tell?

A quick, spoilerfilled recap of season one: Seventeen-yearold Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), a student at the fictional Liberty High School, has committed suicide. A few later, her friend Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) finds a box of 13 cassette tapes on his front porch, which Hannah recorded before taking her own life. The tapes outline the 13 reasons that supposedly led to her death, and each focuses on one of 13 people.

Per Hannah’s instructions, those 13 are supposed to pass the tapes to each other.

Season one was told partially in the present and via flashbacks revealing that Hannah witnessed the captain of Liberty’s football team, Bryce Walker (Justin Prentice), raping fellow student Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe).

Bryce later raped Hannah, who told the school counselor, only to be dismissed. She then went home, got into the bathtub and slit her wrists in an excruciatingly gory three-minute scene.

The show left some loose ends about what was happening in the present (including a lawsuit against the school and a hint at a potential school shooting). But for all intents and purposes, the story seemed to be finished.

But the series was a hit, the mosttweeted-about show of 2017. And hits spawn sequels. So now there’s a second season, set for release Friday on Netflix.

The new season seems to fit in as much melodrama and unrelenting darkness as its predecessor. The story will follow the characters’ attempts to return to a normal life while the high school prepares to go on trial.

Any normalcy won’t last long because someone is trying to obscure the truth about Hannah’s death.

Another part of the story will focus on Bryce’s rape of Jessica.

“Jessica is just beginning the process of recovering from her rape, and we have a rapist who has not in any way been brought to justice,” showrunner Brian Yorkey told Entertainment Weekly.

The framing device for this go-round seems to be a series of ominous Polaroids that Clay receives. The trailer reveals a few of them, with one showing a guy and a girl holding red Solo cups, presumably at a party.

Scrawled in blue marker on the back, “Hannah wasn’t the only one.”

Another is blurry, but the back says, “He won’t stop.”

Hannah also appears in the trailer, speaking to Clay — presumably a figment of his imagination.

Speaking of Clay, the boy seems different. Last season, he rode his bike and bickered with his parents. Now, he’s stone-faced in the woods, holding a pistol and shooting at bottles.

“There’s a time jump — season two is a couple of months after season one, and there’s a lot that has happened to Clay in between,” Minnette told Yahoo Entertainment. “You’re playing catch-up when you start, and you see where Clay’s at. Clay’s trying to live his life ... but I think Hannah, his life with her, and everything with the tapes, is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to him, and I don’t think he’ll ever be able to escape it.”