Summary: Alex and Jessica return to school after extended absences and discover things aren't like they would have wanted due to rumours and new rules. Tyler testifies for the Hannah Baker case in court and reveals his history with Hannah. Clay and Skye are dating now but Clay is haunted by memories of Hannah. Mr. Porter puts his foot down to ensure Bryce doesn't do anything else.
The Good: Alex and Jessica got some pretty good stories here. I like that they have reconciled due to the both have them having to deal with being outside of school due to unfortunate circumstances. Their discoveries of things that trouble them (the rumours about Jessica and the suicide note) set up the season with intriguing storylines. I was happy to get more backstory on Tyler and Hannah's relationship. We got some good reasons for Tyler wanting to be closer with Hannah and he seems like much more of a real character instead of just some creepy guy who wouldn't exist in the real world. He also got some much-needed motivations for why he would stalk Hannah which made him more relatable in my eyes. This stuff would have also been welcomed in the last season and would have likely improved my opinion on it, as I often complained that the characters weren't getting the focus they needed. I really love how Olivia is still clueless about what she did wrong and that she thinks that calling Hannah pretty would have helped, when in reality Hannah just needed somebody to talk to. I love this idea because of how realistic it feels, because usually when we make mistakes we often don't realize what we were supposed to do to prevent them until being told by somebody else. The Bad: This was a very flawed episode though and it continues to reaffirm my suspicions that a second season won't add much for this show. First of all, the time-skip was a ridiculous decision. It adds some mystery based off of what we haven't seen in the time-skip, but it completely robs us of payoff from storylines which were set up last season. We don't get to see the tapes become common knowledge or the effects it had on the characters, making literal hours of set-up from the last season entirely meaningless. Furthermore, plotlines like Tyler and his guns, and Alex shooting himself become practically meaningless too as they aren't properly followed up on. Clay and Skye's relationship is very bad. I don't know enough about Skye to buy into this relationship and I have no clue what Clay would see in her to want to get over Hannah. It's hard to care at all about this relationship which seems destined to result in cheap melodrama with a will-they-won't-they story arc. I also thought that Skye was an idiot for not figuring out that Clay was being bothered by the Hannah trial at the end of the episode. And to add salt to wounds, her acting was intolerably bad during that scene. This show never had great acting to begin with, but that scene was particularly poor. Mr. Porter seems like an awkward character now that we have skipped his reaction to listening to Hannah's tapes. I don't know how he feels or how he reacted, so that makes his decisions to threaten Bryce and watch him perplexing to me, since I don't know how many other things Mr. Porter has already dealt with. The time-skip has essentially killed all of my interest in his character by skipping his interesting transformation into who he is now. The courtroom scenes were poorly done and felt very forced with the questions Tyler was being asked. I hope this doesn't become a trend moving forwards. I thought that comparing pictures of Hannah happy to her sadness was an idiotic idea. Anybody could realize that the situations were different and any lawyer would call out the school lawyer on bringing that up. It felt like a forced way to instill drama to the episode and to cut to Tyler's history with Hannah. Additionally I thought the school did a terrible job of recovering from the accusations. Last season the bathroom walls were supposed to be painted, yet in this episode there is once more a ton of writing on the stalls. Is the school seriously too inept to check the bathrooms for more writing? Additionally, the new rule that suicide can't be discussed is ridiculous. Talking is the best way to prevent anybody from committing suicide, so why outlaw that? A ridiculous idea. The season already feels repetitive. Once more Clay is dealing with being unable to deal with Hannah's guilt. Once more there is a mysterious plan between all of the side characters and secrets being kept. Once more we get scenes of Olivia being sad about Hannah. Once more there are accusations about Hannah lying. We need to tread some new ground here. The Unknown: Why wasn't Clay called to testify? Was Hannah really sexting or did Tyler misinterpret something? What was the meaning behind Alex's suicide note? Was there something else bothering him? Could it have to do with why he called Zach last season? How does Bryce learn about what happens in court? Does he have a spy of sorts? Where did the polaroid come from? Who put it in Clay's locker? Who else was raped by Bryce? Was it Chloe, his current girlfriend? What was the note Ryan gave to Tony? What is the darkroom? How is Clay talking to Hannah? Best Moment: Olivia not being able to comprehend what she did wrong was the most powerful moment for me. Character of the Episode: Tyler. Conclusion: This episode had some nice developments but it was overall disappointing with poor and repetitive storytelling. This season looks like it's going to be everything that I wished it wouldn't be. Score: 54
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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