I felt that this show really should be evaluated in three parts, as it’s almost as if there were three shows in one. The first season was based on the novel of the same name, so the writers had clearly marked signposts to follow. As the novel was quite compelling, so too was the first season of the show. However, this is where the book ended, and the writers had to take up the slack. The natural progression of events led them to follow the court case surrounding the death of Hannah Baker, as well as the criminal trial of Bryce Walker..
I felt that these two seasons should be evaluated in terms of being different shows. The first season was clearly the best season of the four b/c, that’s the material the book covered, and the writers didn’t have to come up w/ any of their own material. The second season, although panned by some fans and critics, still followed the same themes of the first season, yet it was not up to par in terms of storyline or writing.
The third and fourth seasons should be considered a third show all on their own. While they did stick to similar themes from the first and second seasons, the writers clearly had no plan in place to go beyond the end of the novel. These last two seasons, especially, felt completely disjointed from the first two. The third season was long and drawn out, and the payoff in the end was neither surprising nor all that interesting. If they had maintained more of a mysterious atmosphere over what they were doing, it might have been better.
The fourth season was just a mess. Watching a main character who’s moody, bitter, angry, intense, depressed, and slipping into schizophrenia is not a compelling watch. They began this in season three and continued on in season four. It really added no particular value to the show or the character of Clay.
As for the storyline in the final season, it was absolutely ludicrous. I won’t go into the details, but suffice it to say, the writers really didn’t put much thought into what they were doing. The last two episodes of the show were especially pointless. The prom episode was completely unnecessary, as was the finale, at least the way it was filmed. And, it certainly didn’t require 90 minutes to portray the events of what happened in the finale. Not to mention, the last scene of the show was absolutely awful.
I think that the worst part of this show, however, was the treatment of two characters, Bryce Walker and Montgomery de la Cruz. In the third season, the writers actually spend quite a few resources rehabilitating the image of Bryce, as if there was some redemption to be had for him. He was a serial predator, and his actions would have stemmed from a deep-seated psychological disorder that wouldn’t have simply gone away, b/c he acknowledged his wrongdoing and felt bad about it. They did something similar w/ Monte in the fourth season, and I felt that it was incredibly disingenuous, dangerous, and irresponsible to take this path, b/c it showed that they really hadn’t researched the topics they were writing about. It was really surprising to watch this, and even both of Jessica’s relationships w/ Justin and Diego were quite questionable, especially given her role as head of the women’s rights movement on campus.
if you dont like the show, then stop watching.
a) I did. Ages ago.
b) you have to watch something to know whether or not you like it
c) "if you don't like my comments, then stop reading"
d) it's called criticism and totally valid to say, even if you have issues with criticism of a show you like, because you project that criticism on yourself
e) if you can't see anything wrong with this show, good for you
no one wants a homophobic asshole watching the show, believe me.
a) why should I believe you, you are a stranger starting directly with ad hominems and you are - sorry to say - no authority to say who wants what, or what person to declare an "asshole"
b) educate yourself what "homophobic" actually means and realize, in the context of my criticism here and in several episodes, that it's not applicable towards me. But for that you might need to fully understand what I say instead of getting riled up over a comment you don't like, on a show you enjoy so much that you'd ignore all the issues it has. If you call it equality and not the exact opposite how this show uses male homosexuality to provoke then I can't help you, you are a part of the issue this show has.
c) nice ad hominem, thanks for making another great example why trakt needs moderators to take away the ability to comment for some people.
and peter nowalk writes the show, not shonda. get educated before you speak
I don't care who writes the show on a regular basis, nor did I say here Shonda Rhimes is writing it, didn't I? Shonda Rhimes' company produces it and if you think she has no influence on this show at all you're incredibly naive.
Get educated, hm? I like the irony in that.
Thanks for the chuckle, but go back under the bridge you came from. :D
