TBH, I started watching this show because I saw someone post on my Facebook newsfeed that they wanted to know what all the fuss was about on this show 13 Reasons Why. And I respect the fuck out of this person for their entertainment tastes. So I figured (without her knowing this) that if she would give it shot that I would too. Mad respect for my 4’10”, converse wearing and very sarcastic friend from the Bronx. I log onto Netflix and figure I’m going to have to hunt for this bad boy. But alas, nope, it was actually the first show that pops up and is all over my suggested category. Go Netflix. I get comfortable and push play. I watched 2 and half episodes that one night, 2 the next night and i watched the rest of the show on Saturday. I couldn’t stop watching. And when I wasn’t watching I was thinking about this show. I became obsessed. Now I was Season 2 to come out (if it’s coming out).
Right off the bat, we are introduced to Hannah Baker via cassette tape and the journey begins. Hannah made 13 tapes, each depicting to a reason why she took her own life, how she felt and what was done to her to make her feel hopeless. Each tape is dedicated to a person from her high school. She’s left explicit instructions that each person on the tape were to be given the set of tapes, listened, go to a specific place, perform an action sometiems and move them along to the next person on the tapes. It was clever. Each episode is a different tape which explains what each person did to crush Hannah, body, spirit and mind.
The series doesn’t start with the first person on the tapes, it starts with Clay. He’s some place on the recordings. I’m going to say where. You’ve gotta watch or google for that information. As the shows progress we see Hannah’s relationship with Clay. How it evolves. The hits and misses in life. That awkward stage where you don’t understand the implication of your actions. I know how it ends. You’ll know what I mean when you watch it. We watch how each tape he plays an important part in her life. It’s cute and oh so tragic.
I’ve got to say the worst tapes were the last two. If you are sensitive or are triggered by force or scenes of helplessness then this is NOT the show for you. Each tape gets worse. Each person does something worse than the person before. The end of the tapes is pretty devastating.
On a personal note, I think this story is so important to showcase bullying in the 21st century. I’m an older Millennial which means Myspace was just introduced when we were in the middle of high school and Facebook came to my school in Sophmore year of college before it as opened for everyone. And yes, I remember there being cyber bullying. Fake accounts were created to make fun of others. Rumors were started online. Pictures were spread like wild fire. Anyone who wsa anyone was asking you if you saw the post or rant or whatever someone posted the night before. Everyone had a cell phone when I was in High School but we didn’t have apps, there was no internet browser on our phones then. I don’t think texting was so huge. You had to pay per text and for using minutes to make a call in those days (I’m sure most of you don’t remember those day but they were fucking brutal). We had calling, texts and snake. Maybe snake 2 if you were lucky. But today, with Facebook, Instagram, Whatsap, Snapshat all just a click away at any given moment- today must be devastating to be a kid in the age and height of cyber bullying. I think shows like these that depict what could really happy and what does really happen in schools today can explain and shed some light on how difficult it is to be a kid in school these days.
Side note: While doing research for this review blog post, I came across Thirteen Reasons Why is a book by Jay Asher which the Netflix show is based on. Below please find the official website to the book and the link to buy it off amazon.
http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054R6BFM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
