Warning: This article features content that may disturb. It also includes potential spoilers for 13 Reasons Why.
Reviews are out for the second season of Netflix's controversial teen rape/suicide show 13 Reasons Why - and most are negative.
The season ends with yet another sexual assault scene that's being labelled "horrifying", before the victim is shown taking an automatic rifle to a high school - evoking the regular mass shootings that plague the US.
13 Reasons Why is criticised as exploitative of the very serious issues it deals with, by some while others have praised the show for being a "suicide prevention tool".
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While the first season scored 80 on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the second has scored a rating of just 29.
"13 Reasons Why isn't about uncovering trauma, but perpetuating provocation... the second season even more exploitative than the first," writes Vanity Fair's reviewer Sonia Saraiya.
"It's also hard to interpret the violence that ends episode 13 as anything more than setup for another wrenching season - one that will feature even more lived and relived trauma."
"It teeters over the exploitative line that it was always in danger of crossing, and then decides that it's not that big of a deal," writes Rolling Stone's reviewer Joshua Rivera.
"If Netflix's hit teen drama is sincere and wants to get people talking, it's also a show that can't hide the fact that it wants them to watch the next episode even more."
The second season finale was called "horrifying" by the Parents Television Council (PTC) in the US, which is calling for the show to be banned.
"Netflix has delivered a ticking time bomb to teens and children who watch 13 Reasons Why. The content and thematic elements of the second season are even worse than we expected," said PTC President Tim Winter.
"We would have liked to have 13 reasons for hope and redemption following the graphic suicide of the lead female teen character, but rather than providing a path forward, the season only provides cause for despondency."
The finale's sexual assault scene caused an outcry on Twitter, including calls for the show to be cancelled.
However, others praised it for not glamorising rape.
13 Reasons Why is currently streaming in New Zealand on Netflix.
Newshub.
