I read the book years ago and felt Season 1 was a decent adaptation, even though they did change some things.
I even liked Season 2, because I had grown interested in the characters.
Season 3 I had mixed feelings. I didn't like Ani. I didn't like them trying to make us see this other side of Bryce. However, a lot of great powerful moments for Jess, Clay, and Justin occurred.
And let's talk about Clay and Justin. The way their relationship started and grew. It was my favorite thing about this show! I was so happy that they became brothers and Justin was adopted and he really did this 180 with his life. It was so nice to watch. He went from being one of the bad guys to someone we all hoped would be OK in the end. He redeemed himself and proved to be a good friend.
Season 4 seemed to take all of this and all of the other great things about this show and throw it into the trash. Clay's issues should have been addressed and handled much differently by his parents, therapist, teachers friends. He wasn't simply "anxious". We spend the majority of the season watching him freak out, berate Justin, have hallucinations, etc. Aside from briefly being in the psych ward, it's like no one was really doing anything about it. So unrealistic.
The camping episode? What was that? When did this show turn into a horror movie? So many loose ends. Why wasn't his mom out there in the woods looking for him when he was missing for hours? It just made no logical sense. The riot episode was also too much and out of place. Of course these kids should be under security restrictions..half the senior class has died or gotten into serious trouble!
They tried to cram in too many "woke" things. More than usual and it felt awkward and rushed.
They threw in new characters. Winston was terrible, Diego (also terrible), and Monty's sister? What? Then they threw in Alex all of a sudden being gay and having this brief fling with Winston only to then be with Charlie? Too rushed and could have been handled better. Tyler and Tony's storylines kind of fell into background, but again just nothing felt like it made sense. I don't like how Clay was not there for Tony at all. Weren't they best friends?
I thought Season 4 was going to be about Justin trying to stay sober and him and Clay's bond and also Justin and Jess working things out slowly. While they all struggle yet work together to not get caught. Clay treated Justin so poorly, and I get that he was having a mental breakdown, but I wanted a better reconciliation toward the end.
The finale was the only decent episode of the season. I was angry at what happened to Justin, but in a way I had a feeling they would do this. His character grew the most and he just always had this tragic story no matter what. Kind of like how they killed off Jen in the Dawson's Creek finale. I suppose the ending scenes between him and Clay made up for the trash in other episodes, but I still wanted Clay to do more. To say more. But again he also struggled from his own issues, so maybe that was best we could get. But Justin deserved more.
I even liked Season 2, because I had grown interested in the characters.
Season 3 I had mixed feelings. I didn't like Ani. I didn't like them trying to make us see this other side of Bryce. However, a lot of great powerful moments for Jess, Clay, and Justin occurred.
And let's talk about Clay and Justin. The way their relationship started and grew. It was my favorite thing about this show! I was so happy that they became brothers and Justin was adopted and he really did this 180 with his life. It was so nice to watch. He went from being one of the bad guys to someone we all hoped would be OK in the end. He redeemed himself and proved to be a good friend.
Season 4 seemed to take all of this and all of the other great things about this show and throw it into the trash. Clay's issues should have been addressed and handled much differently by his parents, therapist, teachers friends. He wasn't simply "anxious". We spend the majority of the season watching him freak out, berate Justin, have hallucinations, etc. Aside from briefly being in the psych ward, it's like no one was really doing anything about it. So unrealistic.
The camping episode? What was that? When did this show turn into a horror movie? So many loose ends. Why wasn't his mom out there in the woods looking for him when he was missing for hours? It just made no logical sense. The riot episode was also too much and out of place. Of course these kids should be under security restrictions..half the senior class has died or gotten into serious trouble!
They tried to cram in too many "woke" things. More than usual and it felt awkward and rushed.
They threw in new characters. Winston was terrible, Diego (also terrible), and Monty's sister? What? Then they threw in Alex all of a sudden being gay and having this brief fling with Winston only to then be with Charlie? Too rushed and could have been handled better. Tyler and Tony's storylines kind of fell into background, but again just nothing felt like it made sense. I don't like how Clay was not there for Tony at all. Weren't they best friends?
I thought Season 4 was going to be about Justin trying to stay sober and him and Clay's bond and also Justin and Jess working things out slowly. While they all struggle yet work together to not get caught. Clay treated Justin so poorly, and I get that he was having a mental breakdown, but I wanted a better reconciliation toward the end.
The finale was the only decent episode of the season. I was angry at what happened to Justin, but in a way I had a feeling they would do this. His character grew the most and he just always had this tragic story no matter what. Kind of like how they killed off Jen in the Dawson's Creek finale. I suppose the ending scenes between him and Clay made up for the trash in other episodes, but I still wanted Clay to do more. To say more. But again he also struggled from his own issues, so maybe that was best we could get. But Justin deserved more.