13 Reasons Why: Ranking Every Season From Worst To Best

4. Season 2

The finish of 13 Reasons Why's debut season was all about closure as it detailed how Hannah Baker's life came to a tragic end and wrapped up her arc in the process. It all seemed like the show was going to conclude the story much like its source material did, but one open-ended plot thread meant that it had to return for a second season.

This was where things began to fall apart for the show. As problematic as many found the first season, it was gripping television that expertly made viewers feel everything the writers wanted them to feel, but few of those qualities were present in the second.

Moving on with Hannah but still too afraid to let her go, the show had Katherine Langford return as Hannah's ghost (inside Clay's head), but all she did was serve as a plot device so that Clay could exposit information to the viewers. Worse than that, the real Hannah's return - if you will - through various flashbacks was accomplished at the expense of the first season's tightly-constructed narrative as the writers wrote around the events of it, changing things just to suit the new story.

In addition, the attempt to recreate the first season's tape format through the trial didn't work at all and only made the 13-episode season feel like it dragged on much longer than necessary.

There were some silver linings in there, such as Alex's road to recovery/his friendship with Zach and the beginnings of Justin and Clay's brotherly bond, while the cast's authentic performances elevated everything it tackled. That said, bringing the series back still felt like a complete misfire.