By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 21, 2020 |
By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 21, 2020 |
The trailer for season four of one of Netflix’s most popular and problematic (and exhausting) series, 13 Reasons Why is out, but before you watch it, let’s briefly get back up to speed. In season one, Hannah Baker killed herself because — among other things — Bryce Walker raped her. In season two, Bryce Walker was mostly able to avoid the legal consequences of his actions, but in that same season, Tyler Down — who stalked Hannah Baker in season one — almost shot up his school because of bullies like Bryce and Monty de la Cruz. In season three, Tyler escapes punishment for almost shooting up the school and is redeemed while Alex Standall — whose father is a cop — killed Bryce, but everyone agreed to pin the murder of Bryce on Monty — who raped Tyler with a broomstick in a bathroom stall and who was killed in prison before the truth could come out.
As it turns out — because we’re still living in 1999 and of course, the toxic homophobe is gay himself — Monty had a lover, who knows that Monty was framed for Bryce’s murder. In season four, Monty’s boyfriend will try to uncover all the secrets, nevermind that, if anyone deserved to die, it was Bryce and Monty.
Guess who is holding on to all those secrets? Our boy Clay Jensen, basically the worst character on the show (not in terms of his actions, but in terms of how he is written). Somehow, season four — like the season in which Hannah was murdered, the season in which Tyler nearly shot up a school, and the season in which Bryce was killed — will be all about Clay, because every season is somehow all about Clay.
The rub here is: How does it end for Clay? In Clay going to prison? For what? For keeping secrets? Or will Clay manage to keep those secrets on lockdown, and will that mean Monty’s boyfriend will have to die, too? Do we really need to redeem Monty? Because he was a horrible human being, and the fact that he was in the closet does not make that less true. Honestly, what is left to explore? More importantly, will Tony escape consequences and will Christian Navarro achieve the career he so richly deserves? Why hasn’t someone rebooted The O.C. and cast Navarro in the lead already?
There’s really no good ending here. Clay shouldn’t get off for keeping all those secrets, but also, he shouldn’t go to jail for basically being a douche.