Show flounders without tapes

Review

When Hannah Baker killed herself, she left behind a box of cassette tapes explaining why she’d done it. That was the first series of 13 Reasons Why.

The show did attempt to explore important issues — not only suicide but rape, self-harm, bullying, high-school sexism — sensibly and seriously, even if any messages to emerge came across as simplistic and a bit preachy: be nice to people, be a real friend, otherwise bad stuff happens. It meandered, but the cassettes and the 13 reasons in 13 episodes gave it a structure of sorts. The performances, especially from Katherine Langford and Dylan Minnette as Hannah and her friend Clay, were good. Ross Butler, Justin Prentice, Miles Heizer and Alisha Boe on the show.

The second series continues to explore the same big issues sensitively, as well as taking on board some of the criticism and controversy the first generated (it now comes with a public service announcement and links to relevant resources). And that’s about all that’s good about series two.

It’s a few months later, and there’s a civil lawsuit going on against the school for failing to protect Hannah. There’s a lot of dragging through the same stuff all over again. But this time without the framework of the tapes and the reasons. The trial, of which there isn’t much, perhaps provides the crumbliest of structures.

Some of the acting remains decent, though Langford, the stand-out in the first season, now has to do hers as a ghost. The ghost of Hannah. The ghost of a lame device past.

I’ve only watched three episodes. But that was enough. It’s like being locked in a room with a bunch of self-obsessed teens, occasionally saying things like “the truth can free you if you let it” or “sometimes it seems that no matter what you do people see you the way they want to”.

I know teenagers are only concerned with what others think of them. I know if I was one I might connect better with this. I know the issues are very real, very important and, in fact, deadly serious. But they deserve a better vehicle. As drama this is pointless, cumbersome, baggy, badly written, ponderous and boring. That’s less than half of the 13 reasons why you shouldn’t bother.

Media Ltd