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13 Reasons Why: Season 4 - Review

The finale of Netflix’s Teen Drama hits its conclusion

By Ted RyanPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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The fourth and final season of Thirteen Reasons Why was released on Netflix this June, but is it worth the hype? The basis of this show was adapted from the debut novel by Jay Asher - the original novel was told strictly through the duo perspectives of Clay and the recently deceased Hannah, giving a bias and somewhat narrow portrayal of the story. This was limiting as a reader and presented the cast and the serious topics being tackled through a one-dimensional lens It also didn't help that the book's narrative took place over one night.

So one would hope that a television series would give viewers a complex narrative with characters that were fleshed out more than their book counterparts. And yes, the series did attempt this - but after they adapted the thirteen chapters of the book for Season One, the series took a massive decline. Instead of tackling issues with grace and authenticity, the following seasons seemed to glamorise trauma, mental health issues and abuse with no character depth - the over-dramatised and hysterical storylines made the series more campy than compelling, but moreover the writers refused to delve into the emotional complications of what they were writing about.

Season Four was not only written to a shallow extent, but the series had no arc whatsoever, the characters were shockingly inconsistent and this lead to the actors' performances becoming incredibly underwhelming because of this. Worse than that. after ten episodes. I genuinely have no idea what the purpose of this season was about. The episodes themselves were a jumbled mess and came across like the writers wrote their episodes separately, came back and attempted to tie than together with the odd line of dialogue. That's how inconsistent this season felt.

The arc of this season sees Clay Jensen having a mental breakdown while the group attempt to hide the truth of Bryce's death and Monty's arrest (and subsequent murder) from authorities, parents and Monty's friend with benefits - yes, Winston became Sherlock Holmes over one night with Monty. In writing, this is a trope I am tired of seeing/reading where the aggressive closeted gay guy abuses his partner emotionally/physically but them this is almost justified because he's sad/misunderstood and he's still portrayed in a romantic light.

Both Winston and Clay have something ironically in common: both characters idealise what it means to love and be loved - loving the idea or fantasy of a person rather than the actual person. Neither of them really come to this conclusion or learn from it, instead this highlights flaws in their obsession with this illusion with no real consequences.

Now we get to my real frustration with this series. Consequences. There are none. One of Clay's lines sums up this issue perfectly "So if nothing fucking matters, what's the point?"

Every single event, character moment, dialogue or action throughout this season was essentially irrelevant. This was mainly seen through the protagonist Clay - who as well as being a terrible representation of a person suffering with mental health issues, every hurtful, dangerous and manipulative thing he said or did was brushed under the carpet or had no repercussions on the plot, characters or himself. With all of the characters, Clay was the person I least expected to have a breakdown or I would have chosen to conttinue as the main narrator - however, none of that should justify what he does. In reality, Clay would've been expelled, arrested and/or moved into a mental hospital for his actions in this series.

Mental health was another aspect of this series I found problematic, which was mainly shown through Justin Prentice (Bryce) and Timothy Granaderos (Monty) reprising their roles of the antagonistic jocks in ghost form. Instead of using this to write and explore the characters' psychic, the creative team decided to fall back on horror tropes (and even science-fiction) for visuals which added nothing of substance to the plot.

Now the LGBT representation - as someone who frequently writes same-sex relationships in their own scripts, I am all for having a show that has actual diversity. The saving grace of this series and what has kept me watching was the relationship between Tony and Caleb. This was undoubtedly the true love story of the series - they had brilliant chemistry and this romance blossomed from a friendship in Season Two and has grown from strength to strength. Just a look spoke a thousand words and there was a genuine intimacy between them, which made every scene with them in it a standout. Honestly these two as characters and actors deserved more screen time as it was a beautiful relationship and one of the shows redeeming factors.

Alas, we instead had to take focus away from these two and instead focused on a rather hastily put together love square - Alex, Winston, Charlie and Monty - which was incredibly forced and honestly quite confusing. When you look at how Caleb and Tony's evolution as a couple, this love square unfortunately lacked that level of intimacy. As well as Alex showing no remorse or guilt (aside from the odd scene here and there with no repercussions) over his actions in the third season's finale, it was unusual he was the focus of two boys who barely knew him pining for his affections. Because this was so abrupt, it felt more like lazy writing and was wasted screen time. Alex's confusion over his sexuality seemed more important plot wise - which in theory is a great story to write because many can relate and there were some nice scenes for Alex, I just don't think it was right for this character - than his actions that have had heavier impacts on the totally innocent parties.

On a smaller note, it was refreshing to see a teen drama where a gay couple weren't on the receiving end of homophobic abuse from jocks, family and friends - the supporting cast of characters in particular had some standout performances, particularly from newcomers Jan Luis Castellanos (Diego) and Inde Navarrette (Estela) who as they were more naturally linked with Monty's character, they should've been the driving force of the narrative given to Winston.

As for the relationships, aside from Tony and Caleb - all of the relationships we see are remarkably poorly developed. There were even main characters who had little to no impact on the plot whatsoever. Even the family members of our main group of teens didn't come across as individuals, they were stereotypes of their respective roles. Dialogue between parents and their children was uncomfortable to sit through, nor were they believable. A more worrying factor were the sexual themes: moreover, the disturbing scenes where two male protagonists uncharacteristically contemplate assaulting unconscious female characters - neither of them are reprimanded and this is actually forgotten about later on.

Despite this show wanting to give survivors a voice, seen through Jessica's student group "HO" for survivors of sexual assault and yet the group lacks any inclusion of male survivors - something that would've given this story some much needed layers. Jessica also came across as a faux feminist at times, saying one thing and doing another. Which is perfectly fine that a character is flawed, but she is never really called out on her behaviour or really reflects on her mistakes.

The themes that are portrayed in this are shocking to watch - police brutality, racism, school shootings, mental health, sexual abuse and HIV - but not for the intended reasons. These topics are important and should definitely be written for screen to incite discussions, but not like this. The writing in these episodes suggests they want to tackle these, but they avoid writing any real buildup and skim over the emotional aftermaths, instead moving onto the next traumatic event.

A prime example of this is when a main character is revealed to have HIV in the series finale, which rapidly progresses to AIDS and he dies within a matter of weeks. As well as this being incredibly insensitive and a bad representation of the disease - this looked like it was genuinely decided last minute, as there was no foundation for this plot and nor was it explained properly. It felt more like a plot device to evoke emotion and sadly despite me liking that character, didn't have the intended effect.

Still, by the end of graduation, everyone gets their own happy ending - most of whom were undeserving - and any obstacle or challenge they were facing has been moved without any work from them. This ending not only made no sense from a storytelling perspective, it's weak writing to just hand your character everything he/she wants without work, struggle, loss, sacrifice or growth.

Again, amidst the chaos of this show's melodramatic writing, there was no real message and I believe that with such a large platform at their feet, the opportunity to tell difficult stories was no where near what they could have achieved across these four seasons.

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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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