“13 Reasons Why”: Forgiveness, religion and letting go

Forgiveness is an underlying theme in the second and latest season of the controversial Netflix teen drama series, “13 Reasons Why.”

In the closing monologue by the show’s main character, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minette), Clay eulogizes the girl he fell in love with—Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford)—who committed suicide after a series of traumatic life events.

“I can love you and still let you go,” Clay says, standing beside a bare altar in what appears to be a Catholic church, as the posthumous spirit of Hannah watches him from the back pew.

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What ’13 Reasons Why’ gets wrong about suicide

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“13 Reasons Why”—based on the 2007 young adult fiction book by Jay Asher, who was not involved in the new season—tells the story of a small town shaken by Hannah’s suicide and the tragic events leading up to it. The series has the potential to open the door to important conversations among families, the binge-watching Netflix generation and the church.

Parents and some Christian groups, however, have claimed the show “glorifies suicide,” promotes suicide as a path to martyrdom and uses death as a “valid” way to get revenge and attention.

But Season 2 offers a more complex portrayal that merits reflection. In this season, released in May, Hannah’s tragic death is revisited through the eyes of her classmates, who each testify in court—Hannah’s parents are suing the high school for neglecting their daughter’s cries for help. Season 2 also handles timely issues, including school shootings and the #MeToo movement, and emphasizes the importance of having supportive, trusted relationships.

“Our hope was that people’s feelings about who was responsible would evolve over the course of the season,” said series creator Brian Yorkey, adding that the show’s writers and producers were also divided over who deserves blame for Hannah’s suicide: her classmates or her school.

Still, the show fails to help the audience understand who made the decision to end her life: Hannah. Instead, she is remembered one-dimensionally, as a sort of “heroine,” especially by Clay, who throughout both seasons blames himself for being unable to save her.

In the final episode the show makes a slight but significant reference to faith and spirituality, when Andrew and Olivia Baker meet with a Catholic priest to make arrangements for their daughter’s funeral.

It is an important moment of hope in a series that seems to pile on trauma after trauma.

“Before we start, I am distrustful of religion,” Olivia says immediately, admitting she regrets never including religion in their daughter’s life. “We were ashamed to have a funeral—but after everything that happened, if there is a God, I want him to see that my little girl deserves his care.”

The priest (Anthony Rapp) imparts the message throughout the episode and later in the funeral service that God is a just, forgiving God; he does not judge “Hannah’s decision or the circumstances that led her there.” After the service, the priest also comforts a grieving Clay Jensen, after Clay asks him about the afterlife.

It is an important moment of hope in a series that seems to pile on trauma after trauma.

“The God that I believe in, a just God, would have mercy on a soul like Hannah’s,” he responds.

But Season 2 does not end on this note of hopeful forgiveness. Instead, a plot twist involving gun violence and a graphic sexual assault leaves viewers feeling confused and anxious for what is to come.

Instead of these bleak and sensationalist endings, let us hope the next season of “13 Reasons Why”—and other teen dramas like it—will spread a more constructive message to the impressionable young adults who watch them. Shows with dark themes rooted, to some extent, in reality should also include instances of real-life courage, faith and above all, a little human kindness.