13 Reasons Why Ends as Crudely as It Started

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The most popular teen dramas in the past few years have been only half effective in capturing the modern American teenager’s experience. HBO’s acclaimed series Euphoria leans into graphic, embellished depictions of teen sex and drug use, but at the heart of the show are stories about addiction, self-image, and queer love that resonate across ages. Riverdale, a goth rewriting of a wholesome cartoon, does the opposite via dark escapism. In four seasons, meanwhile, the Netflix teen soap 13 Reasons Why meandered between both of those poles. There were moments that reflected the realities of young people and many episodes yanked straight from the headlines. Since the show seemed to only feed off public debates, its final season, made available last week, ends with the same tone-deaf sensationalism that made it worth discussing in the first place.