Story continues in second season of “13 Reasons Why” and proves that the cruel realities of high school controversy is something worth highlighting.

The much disputed Netflix original teen drama is based on a novel by Jay Asher and covers sensitive issues such as underage rape, bullying and suicide.

Season one follows the story of Hannah Baker who is bullied and raped amongst other demoralizing events that lead her to take her own life.

Baker records a set of tapes prior to her death recalling thirteen incidents in careful detail that caused her to believe that suicide was the right answer to end her problems. Each tape and event is dedicated to a specific person who had direct influence in Baker’s demise.

The set of tapes circulates among the thirteen people involved. Being passed along in chronological order based on the sequence of events.

Baker’s thirteen-reason confessional quickly turns dark as the truth of what really happened is told from her point of view as each of the thirteen take their turn to listen to the tapes and learn the secrets and truth about the others.

“13 Reasons Why” perfectly depicts what could happen when gossip and bullying goes wrong and the urge to reach popularity can legitimately kill you.

Without revealing too much for those who have yet to watch the first season, let’s just say that enough juicy drama happened to kick start the possibility for the second season where more is revealed about Baker’s story before she passed.

This second season starts 5 months after Baker’s death and highlights more controversial issues that take a nod at the Brock Turner case, gun violence and heavy substance abuse in schools on top of the issues already presented in season one.

With Turner’s case and school shootings being events that have occured recently in real news and have affected many, the directors and producers made sure to include a trigger warnings and resources before and after each episode. A precaution that was largely missing last season and caused Netflix to face much scrutiny for.

As difficult as it is to watch these types of issues, we cannot look away and need to face them head on and accept the reality that the sensitive topics are not just for good TV but are happening in real life, right now all over the country.

And for that, I commend “13 Reasons Why” for continuing Baker’s story into a second season and spotlighting these topics that can no longer be ignored.

If you are thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or the Suicide Crisis Line at 1-800-784-2433

If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call the RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).