If you haven’t seen the trailer for the show precede with caution but if you have, nothing major is really revealed…
I have to admit that I was enticed by the two main characters Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. However, I can’t say the same for any of the other people in this teen suicide TV Drama. It might sound cruel but I truly didn’t care for their fate and possibly worst I kind of desired their demise. Then again the viewers are not meant to like them as they are part of the 13 reasons why Hannah takes her own life.
The series discusses the very serious and very current issue for bullying and cyber-bullying in schools. It is most likely not the first title that has covered this subject, so perhaps Selena Gomez’s producer credit has significantly helped the show’s popularity.
I did keep on binge-watching it like you probably should with any good Netflix show but it felt more like a chore than pure entertainment. I do have to mention that I genuinely like sad stories and 13 reasons definitely drew a few tears out of me but I guess that was expected.
One of the most heart-wrenching scenes, of course, is the actual suicide and without giving anything away many people have claimed it’s very graphic and detailed. They often question its necessity but I feel that the plot required it and the whole point was to have that shock factor.
Moreover, the argument that it would encourage kids to commit the deed themselves is completely unsupported as children are not only exposed to worst events in their lives on an everyday basis but also with the right parental guidance they can clearly see it isn’t real and it should serve as the bad example not to follow.
One of my main issues with the series is Hannah herself, the character, not the actress because Katherine Langford does a splendid job, she is very charismatic. It might have to do with the fact that I’m a grown-up with bigger life experience, but none of the 13 reasons mentioned seem good enough for someone to kill themselves.
Most of all, putting aside everything horrible that happens to Miss Baker it still puzzles me that someone so nice and caring like her would hurt her parents like this and would risk allowing the people who wronged her to remain unpunished if the tapes she prerecorded got lost. If anything I think she would have achieved more if she stayed alive.
The trailer for the second season is already out, but I haven’t seen anything that would make me think this is worth a watch. It seems like a watered-down version of the first season and I think they could have done a new take on the same issue with better characters, new story-line and potentially a different ending to show the many possible outcomes to this plot.
In conclusion 13 Reasons Why is definitely watchable but certainly not the best TV drama I’ve seen out there