13 Reasons Why Season 4 - Netflix

Cassette tape reminiscent of season 1

[Spoiler alert!] This season sees 'the gang' racked with guilt over Bryce's murder and their subsequent framing of the conveniently deceased Monty. The secrets and tension are causing them to mistrust each other and crack under the pressure. Especially Clay, who goes full Ginny Weasley being possessed by Tom Riddle's diary and sprays graffiti on school walls, terrifies classmates on a camping trip and sets fire to cars...without any memory of having done so. When his responsibility for these incidents is revealed, it doesn't have as much impact as it was perhaps supposed to because there were big hints that this was the case early on. I thought Clay might have been possessed by Bryce, which would have been an interesting twist.

Clay's breakdown was one major plot line. The other was the parents of Evergreen (is that the name of the town?) spying on their kids and being responsible for the instigation of the school's ridiculously hardcore security measures. I didn't feel strongly about this storyline but did think it deeply unethical for the parents to spy on their offspring to the extent that they did.

The storylines of seasons 1, 2 and 3 rely largely on the use of flashbacks. This was done well in season 1 - the only season based on a book. The flashbacks in season 2 caused the story to become ridiculously convoluted and undermined much of what went on in season 1.

Season 4 was the only one not to use flashbacks. Clay's visits to his psychiatrist constituted one of the alternatives to flashbacks. The other alternative was the Ghostly Visitations. Clay sees and interacts with Monty, Bryce and (deceased) Justin over the course of the season - even Hannah makes a final ghostly appearance despite her having bid farewell to Clay at her funeral in season 2! OK, so Clay is having a mental breakdown and it's manifesting in his seeing ghosts. BUT other characters see the ghosts too! Alex, Jessica and Winston all see and have complex interactions with one ghost or other, which implies that they really aren't just in anyone's imagination - they are real. Here are my issues with the ghostly visitations:

• The ghosts undermine the character development that took place in earlier seasons. Ghost Bryce in season 4 is as much of an asshole as living Bryce is in seasons 1 and 2. In season 3 we see a more sympathetic side to him, so why does he revert to his former nasty self as a ghost in season 4? Surely his redemption was the whole point of season 3?
• One of the main criticisms of season 1 from suicide prevention groups was that it gave teenagers the impression that it was possible to carry on actively influencing other people and situations after death. The show obviously never took that criticism to heart because season 4 is riddled with dead characters influencing people. In the 13 Reasons Why universe, no-one ever dies dies until they have completed all possible unfinished business to their satisfaction.
• And in case anyone responds to the above by saying 'but the ghosts are just in their heads!', then why do the same versions of the ghosts appear in more than one person's imagination?! Nasty Ghost Bryce appears to Clay, Alex and Jessica. 

I was struck by how much Clay and 'the gang' - particularly Clay - get away with at school. They are constantly swearing and shouting at and arguing with teachers. In episode 8 there's a full-blown riot, complete with vandalism, projectile-throwing, fighting and car-burning. I understand that the teaching staff are sympathetic because of what this year group has gone through, but surely it's totally unrealistic for the school to not only not exclude anyone but to allow these pupils to hold their prom shortly after they've literally RIOTED!

The last two episodes are incredibly and unnecessarily slow-moving. In episode 9 we are treated to numerous depressing montages of visitors entering and exiting and sitting in the hospital waiting room to be near Justin in his final days. Episode 10 takes us through their graduation ceremony in what feels like real-time. There were two natural endings in episode 10: one after Alex and Winston's conversation and the other during the post-graduation-ceremony drinks, when the camera focuses on Clay's face, which wears an expression of acceptance and understanding. But no, we have to go through more ghostly visitations and the ceremonial burying of the tapes etc.

Despite the convoluted nature of the second, third and fourth seasons of 13 Reasons Why, I've mostly enjoyed them, although for reasons of artistic integrity I firmly believe they should have stuck to one season  - the one based on the book. I've found all the seasons compelling (season 2 probably the least so), and have felt genuinely invested in the characters - particularly Justin and Jessica. That said, in season 4, I found the last two episodes so dreary and drawn-out that they put me off the whole season to some extent.

And I don't think Justin should have died. It was as though the writers realised that the 'reveals' of Clay as Ginny Weasley and the parents as massive snoops weren't powerful enough, so they had to shoehorn something else in. Why not give us a scare with Justin rather than kill him off? His brush with death could still have had the effect of bringing the other characters closer together.

Anne with an E - Netflix

This is a bit how I imagine P.E.I. to look. Am prob wrong

I was an avid reader of L.M. Montgomery's books growing up. Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, Magic for Marigold - loved them all. I loved the characters, the descriptions of Prince Edward Island and L.M. Montgomery's capturing of what it's like to be a child with a vivid imagination and how much a vivid imagination can enrich your life.

So I was both excited and apprehensive about Netflix's Anne with an E.

The thing that impresses me most about Anne with an E is the casting and characterisation. The characters based on the book characters are played extremely faithfully to the books - certainly where the plot follows the plot of the books, anyway - particularly Amybeth McNulty as Anne, Geraldine James as Marilla and R.H. Thomson as Matthew. Anne isn't an easy character to play - she needs to be talkative, dramatic, whimsical and optimistic without becoming cringey or irritating. Amybeth McNulty isn't exactly how I pictured Anne, but her portrayal is no less legitimate than the Anne of my imagination. She plays Anne with complete sincerity and embodies her spirit perfectly.

The main issue I have with Anne with an E is the tone. The Anne books aren't relentlessly upbeat - sad things happen in them, the characters develop and grow up - but their general tenor is cheerful and positive. Anne with an E is dark. Bleak. The first season in particular is depressing: Anne suffers from PTSD, her future at the Cuthberts' is uncertain, and there are plenty of miserable orphanage flashbacks. Does anyone actually enjoy the orphanage scenes? Do they add anything? Once it's been established that Anne had a rubbish early life, what's the point in seeing yet more bullying flashbacks? It feels gratuitous. The bleak tone colours even the happier scenes, giving them a feeling of foreboding.

Relatedly: the new storylines. I don't have a problem with adaptations not rigidly adhering to a book's storyline, or the introduction of new characters. I've enjoyed some of the new storylines - Gilbert's friendship with Sebastian; Diana's relationship with Jerry. But some of the new storylines in Anne with an E feel a) unrealistic for the era and shoe-horned in for the sake of trying to make the plot relatable to modern viewers (e.g. Aunt Josephine's turning out to be a lesbian and her lavish party that makes LGBTQIA allies out of the most conventional of the Avonlea teens) and/or b) out of character (e.g. Gilbert becoming a stoker on a ship and delivering a baby at the age of fifteen/sixteen - this was implausible on so many levels. Why would academically-minded Gilbert, whose ambition it is to become a doctor, miss a ton of school by running off to become a ship's stoker?).

Rather than trying to tackle so many big issues - sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, persecution of First Nations peoples - I think they should have focused on a few and covered them in more depth and in a way that more accurately and subtly reflected people's varied attitudes of the era. In Anne with an E characters tend to be divided into 'caricaturistically prejudicial' and 'twenty-first century egalitarian' in their attitudes towards these issues.

Next: Anne with an E Season 3