Should Netflix Make Another Season of ’13 Reasons Why’?

The extremely poplar Netflix show will be filming a second season. After you read this, is another season really needed, or something else?

I watched the entire first season of 13 Reason Why with my 11-year-old daughter. I asked my friends who'd watched it already if there was anything I should be aware of protecting my daughter from prior to watching, and with the information they gave, we began watching all the episodes. There were parts that I either covered my daughter's eyes or we fast-forwarded through. I'm so thankful we watched because it started conversations that would be hard to just begin 'out of the blue' and this show was a catalyst for much learning for my daughter. I also appreciated the thirty-minute documentary after all the episodes.

What will season two cover? Will there be any punishment for Bryce? Not everyone is interested in getting answers to those questions. In fact, many don't plan to watch either season, because suicide has already affected their lives and they can't fathom the idea of this being entertainment for anyone.

My close friend Kerri lost someone she loved very much to suicide and has serious issues with this show. Please take a moment to read why she doesn't want to see another season of 13 Reasons Why.

I am an only child. There is a different bond when you are an only – you’re like the three amigos. Those are YOUR parents and no one else’s.  You’ve got their back, and they have yours. Or so you were lead to believe. I’ve learned this is also a lie. 

Almost 7 years ago, on June 15, 2010 I received a phone call that changed me forever. I was crossing the Florida state line into Georgia after a wonderful 10 day family trip to Disney World with my husband and two children. The unknown number on my cell phone was an Illinois State Trooper who informed me that my father had passed away from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still hear his voice. I can still feel my heart break when I think of it. 

I had been trying to reach my dad since the night before when my mother texted me that she no longer could get ahold of him and had I heard from him, as she was also out of town. This is not what I expected to hear, and in the 7 years since, the repercussions of his decision have irreparably changed my life. 

At the time I worked for the family business and had worked side by side with my father for 20 years. Technically he was my step father, but he had raised me since I was 6 and I was more like him than anyone else in my family. We shared the same sense of humor, love of techy gadgets, and a certain Sci-Fi franchise that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. He adored my children and loved being their grandfather. 

But with all that, I couldn’t get away from the pain, the memories, whether at home or at work, reminders were everywhere. Healing was hard and painful. It’s not even really healing, it’s learning to live with it. As I look back, I have lost my father, my mother, I left my job, and lost my entire work family I grew up with. I don’t recognize me anymore. So much that defined me is gone. My inner bubbliness comes and goes at whim, it mostly goes. To this day I am still dealing with the effects of this action as others are still attempting to take advantage of the situation. The depression, self-doubt, second guessing never end. I often wonder, did he think of me in those last moments? And if he did, why wasn’t I enough to say “no, this isn’t the answer.” And if he didn’t think of me, WHY NOT? Since then I feel that no matter what I do, I must be falling short of all expectations. How can I ever be good enough for my husband, my children, my friends, and my job? There have been other fallout actions by my mother, which I will not delve into here as they are not the issue at hand, but they do all stem from this initial incident by my father. 

When I first heard about the TV show “13 Reasons Why” I was curious, then ambivalent. I admit I did not watch it, as I have lived it, I don’t need to see it. This was meant to be a one season show based on a book that did not have a sequel. But, of course in Hollywood style, there’s more cash to be made so a second season is apparently in discussion, or maybe even production for all I know. 

I hear it is to focus on the aftermath of those left behind. I refer you back to the beginning of this post, I’m not sure what about my life has been ‘entertainment.’  There’s nothing glamorous or romantic about someone dying needlessly for your binging pleasure. If the producers intentions were truly to shine a light on this and inform young people or troubled adults that this is not the answer, then why not do a documentary of real life people who have real life pain. Because that doesn’t sell, it doesn’t have a spiffy soundtrack and beautiful people crying without their makeup running. When did suicide become entertainment? If this season becomes a reality, I know I won’t be watching it. I will still be living it. 

My message to anyone contemplating suicide:

Suicide does not get rid of your pain, it only transfers it to the ones who love you the most. That pain never goes away.

Whether you love or hate 13 Reasons Why, it has gotten people to open up about a very difficult subject.