13 Reasons Why Review: 10 Ups & 9 Downs From ALL 4 Seasons

6. The Post-Season 1 Decline

The high standard of storytelling that presented itself to audiences in the show's first season was always going to be second-to-none simply because of how gripping the central narrative was. That was always a trophy it was going to hold, but the sad thing is that the subsequent seasons didn't even challenge it.

We could go all in and use the term 'in hindsight' since we're reflecting here, but the reason for its sudden decline was pretty obvious back then too: Hannah's story was over.

Hannah Baker was an incredibly rich character whose arc had been explored throughout the first season. However, the attempts to rewrite that arc in Season 2 (and the pivot to Clay and co. following that) diluted what was once a watertight story and resulted in a change that the show never really came back from.

There were plenty of good moments after Season 1. There were even some great moments. But nothing compares to that gripping freshman offering. And it's easy to see why that is still, in many people's minds, where the story of 13 Reasons Why starts and ends.