'13 Reasons Why' Audiences Have This Major Question About Mr. Baker In Season 2

The central event of second season of 13 Reasons Why is a court case between Hannah Baker's parents and Liberty High School... but one of the Bakers is nowhere to be found, it seems. We get to see a lot of Olivia Baker's sorrow and fury at the beginning of the new season, but her husband Andrew Baker is totally M.I.A. So, is Mr. Baker in 13 Reasons Why Season 2? Andy Baker may be absent at the beginning of the new season, but we find out why a little later on.

Spoiler alert: This post will discuss plot details from the first four episodes of 13 Reasons Why Season 2. Nothing after Episode 4 will be spoiled here. While most of the main characters returned in the new season of 13 Reasons Why (even Hannah Baker, surprisingly), there were a couple of notable absences in the first few episodes that really threw fans for a loop. Along with Justin Foley, who is completely out of the picture at the beginning of the season, the new season does not feature Hannah's father Andy Baker at all at the start. It's a really shocking absence, since Hannah's mother Olivia is leading a lawsuit against the school following her daughter's suicide, and viewers would assume that her husband would be by her side during the trying time, right? Well, he's not, and by Episode 4 we find out why.

Before we get to Mr. Baker's first appearance of the season, Olivia Baker name-drops him a couple of times, and seems to suggest trouble in their relationship. Throughout the first few episodes, Olivia is supported by a new friend named Jackie in place of her absent husband. Jackie is an anti-bullying advocate who appears to have found out about Olivia's court case and offered her aid, revealing that she also had a daughter who died of suicide due to bullying. When Jackie discovers the blood-drenched blouse that Olivia still keeps in a drawer from the day Hannah died, Olivia says that she could never bring herself to wash it. She contrasts that with Andy, who she says was able to wash his clothes from the day of the death and re-wear them almost immediately.

Olivia brings up her differences with Andy again when she talks to Tony about the court case. Apparently, Olivia grew very close with Tony after listening to Hannah's tapes repeatedly, since he was clearly close with Hannah, but Andy found his wife's growing friendship with a teenage boy to be inappropriate.

All of these little suggestions seemed to point to some sort of breakup, and we finally get confirmation in the middle of Episode 4, when Andy Baker makes his first appearance in the new season. Andy has a tense conversation with Olivia in their drugstore, in which he reveals that he was always skeptical of the court case and fearful of losing his and Olivia's livelihood if they lose the case, but Olivia retorts that they had already lost everything that matters when Hannah died, and the case was the only way they could get justice for their daughter. Clearly, it was the lawsuit that broke the couple up, and at the end of the scene, we find out that Andy is seeing another woman now. Although, he tells Olivia that he and the woman are not yet living together.

It is unclear how much of a role Andy Baker will have in the rest of the season, since he clearly wants no part in the court case and it sounds like he has moved on to a new relationship. Then again, you never know what twists 13 Reasons Why has in store.