Well, this is yet another blow to to already controversial series, 13 Reasons Why.
One of the show’s actors has been arrested for, of all things, stealing from the elderly. And the way that he went about it is upsetting, to say the least.
You know what else is screwed up? The show hasn’t even been around for a year, and he’s not even the first actor to get into trouble with the law.
Bryan Box isn’t one of the biggest names in 13 Reasons Why.
He plays a high school student named Jamie Garrison.
In an interview, Bryan revealed that he got the role on the hit series by discovering that it was filming nearby — via Facebook — and then looking into being cast as a background character.
He’s not quite an extra — his character has a name and performs actual actions — but it’s a minor role. Even so, that’s a huge break for a 23-year-old, right?
Which is what makes this so sad, disappointing, and difficult to understand.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bryan Box was arrested on suspicion of stealing from and burglarizing elderly people in San Francisco.
Per the report, he was arrested just before New Year’s and was charged with nine felony counts of burglary, possession of stolen property, and theft by a caretaker of an elder.
See, he apparently worked as a caretaker in multiple Marin County residencies before he got cast on 13 Reasons Why.
Are you ready for this to get sadder? The Marin Independent Journal reports that his alleged crimes took place between September 22nd and November 7th.
According to their write-up, Box visited the elderly people for whom he’d acted as caretaker in the past and offered them kind words or even small gifts, spoke of his new career, and … then allegedly stole from them.
He’s linked to six burglaries and accused of trying to sell some of the ill-gotten gains, which include but are not limited to:
Jewelry, medication, a laptop, checks, and a social security card.
Just one of his alleged burglaries reportedly involved losses of about $ 50,000.
That is … heartbreaking.
Sad that he would (allegedly) do such a thing. And sad that the elderly people who must have been glad to see him must have felt so betrayed.
It’s unclear if Bryan Box will be in the second season of 13 Reasons Why, but we’d point out that Season 2 began filming back in June, though they took a break from filming in October because, you know, California was on fire a whole lot.
Making things more awkward, Box isn’t even the first member of the cast of this nascent series to be accused of serious wrongdoing.
Uriah Shelton is accused of physical assault against a former friend-with-benefits, of having kicked her so hard in the midsection that she had bruising on her internal organs.
All of that is almost a footnote beside the largest controversy: the show itself.
Many ask if 13 Reasons Why glorifies suicide or at least tells a story of suicide in such a way that at-risk viewers, particularly those with suicidal depression, find it harder to resist their own self-destructive urges.
The father of a suicide victim has slammed 13 Reasons Why and singled out executive producer Selena Gomez, accusing them of being reckless and “sick” by creating their show.
Even if 13 Reasons Why didn’t follow sensible guidelines that would make it safe for those who are plagued by suicidal urges, we don’t think that there was anything malicious or “sick” about creating the series.
Just like how someone who uses peanuts in their recipe just wants to create the right taste for their dish. It’s just that, you know, sometimes people are deathly allergic to peanuts. And they die.
But we can absolutely understand how a grief-stricken father who found his teenage daughter hanging in her bedroom and ultimately lost her at the hospital could miss that nuance.
At this point, though, we have to ask — with two cast members accused of serious misdeeds in a year’s time, how may more of these young actors are going to turn out to be so much worse than we’d imagined?
