The playwrights did a great job playing games with the audience's emotions. The Clay you feel a pity for in Season 1 and cheer for in Season 2 becomes such an unbearable jerk by Season 4 it made me almost stop watching. Ani, just like Alex, never quite made herself likeable but Bryce and Zach (both almost until the end of Season 4) get more compelling as characters with every new appearance. On the other hand, the reasons why certain characters such as Marcus and Sheri disappear from the plotline all of a sudden are unclear. Google the answers by yourself!

One thing that sticks out in this era of political correctness is the disproportional representation of gay characters. Let's count together: Alex, Ryan, Tony and his boyfriends ending with Caleb, Monty, Winston, Charlie (who claims to be bi), Courtney's fathers, Dean Foundry, to name just a few. Some sources claim that LGBTQ people make up about 4.5 percent of the U. S. population and 6.7 percent of recurring TV characters, but here the representation is sorely overblown and gay PDOA becomes ubiquitous ad nauseam towards the end. By Season 4, the viewer is left expecting just about any two male characters to start kissing all of a sudden. It feels like Evergreen Gay High School has a slogan: Who isn't gay yet, please, report to Dean Foundry. By the way, where are all the lesbian characters? I would surely be interested in some loveplay beyond Courtney's with Hannah in Season 1.

In conclusion, this show makes a number of good points. In my high school, though years after my graduation, there was a case of a high-profile kid who hung himself and then his father then created havoc in the school and the whole town. "13 Reasons Why" gave me a lot of new angles to look at this case. Starting with Season 2, though, the episodes start feeling drawn out unnecessarily with too many twists burying the feeling of suspense. Too many conflicts are left unresolved until the student walk-out in Season 4 - possibly since more seasons were planned for originally - so the eventual peace treaty feels unnatural, a classic deus-ex-machina resolution. I agree with other reviewers that the last season really spoiled the overall impression and felt just like milking the air time for cash.