The second season of 13 Reasons Why, the controversial Netflix series, debuted last week. The series is based on a book by the same name, and is centered around a young girl who kills herself after facing traumatizing experiences. She places the blame for her suicide on people in her life, and records tapes explaining her reasoning for blaming each person. In the first season, the tapes circulated and now, the girl's parents are taking her school to court in season two.
Although the latest season is facing a massive controversial backlash (there's an episode where a boy is raped with a broom by a group of other boys) that hasn't stopped it from topping the streaming charts in the US. According to Variety, when all 13 episodes of season two hit Netflix last Friday, it immediately shot past the reigning number one original digital series, YouTube's Cobra Kai (which is an offshoot of the Karate Kid films). 13 Reasons Why peaked at 64.4 million demand expressions on the date of its premiere. Variety also reports that the Netflix series was the most popular show in the US on a seven-day average per-capita basis from May 14th to the 20th. Although the numbers are looking amazing, several critics and fans have voiced displeasure with the second season, which holds a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (in comparison, the first season holds a score of 80%).