'13 Reasons Why' is quite brilliant, and here's why...*spoilers*

[Pwent]

isnt this show for teenage girls lol

 

[CO68]

Yeah I don't think Hannah placed equal blame on all of them though. It was pretty clear that there was a hierarchy of blame. And again, do I think what happened to her warranted killing herself? No. But dude, even a lot of grown adults resort to suicide after being raped. That is a devastating thing to have happen to you. Can I see how a teenage girl would kill herself after being raped and being a complete social outcast? Yeah, I could see how that could happen. I gurantee you it has happened in real life, and more than once.

She was pretty much empty inside and had given up at the point. Why else would she go to a party and hop into a hot tub in her underwear with a guy who groped her in the past, and who raped one of her friends in front of her? Earlier, she could have done something when her friend was getting raped or done something afterwards, but she did nothing. The person who deserved the most blame was herself. She played up on the victim mentality, and didn't think about anyone other than herself. I'm not saying it was all stuff she brought upon herself, though. She was young and dumb. What other suicide victims has put out tapes blaming everyone else after their suicide?

 

[Gavster]

What this has been good for is bringing awareness to suicide. I know therapists who have said that they have a good increase in kids reaching out about suicide. What is bad is that there was no recourse to dealing with it shown in the show.

It showed adults ignoring kids, kids ignoring kids and the counsellor ignoring Hannah. And nothing that was positive towards dealing with it. It was about the why and vengeance really.

It didn't show anything really to demotivate suicide. She relaxed and went to sleep in the bathtub for all intents and purposes. I guess it's impossible to really show the depths of suffering one might go through if they were doing it. But it irked me how it was just like yeaaaah just gonna die now. Easy does it. They could have played some dark music.

Awareness without tools or help is useless. So there's a big void there that now has to be filled. With a bunch of kids thinking about suicide.

Ways to have it seen and dealt with that were missing were: to talk to friends, talk to parents, talk to the school counsellor, to a doctor, to a therapist, ask for help, write in a diary, call the suicide support line.. be encouraged to talk to someone else if they don't get adequate help. It showed those recourses not being effective. There are other options available.

 

[Fungoose]

Pretty sure that's why people call the cops for suicidal people...

Its true. Call the homicidal to deal with the suicidal. Take the option out of their hands I say.

 

[Pugilistic]

I binged watched all 13 episodes in four days and I just finished watching this show. I assume everybody saw it by now or people who haven't seen it don't care to so I won't use spoiler tags. I enjoyed it. Whatever you think about the message or personalities of the characters, it is a well-made and well acted show. I was impressed by the acting chops by such young actors, minus the guy who plays Tony (I'll get to Tony later). I thought the show was well-written, the dialogue is witty, and the chemistry between the characters are fun to watch, especially between Hannah and Clay.

I have a history of depression and suicidal tendencies so it's a topic and show that greatly interests me. I don't think it doesn't do the best job of depicting depression or suicidal tendencies. The show tries to dramatize Hannah's plight through things that happen to her rather than her internal struggle, which I understand since it's not a book, but I thought her suicide was bit too sudden. There should be some established history of depression in Hannah but she is portrayed as an otherwise cheerful, confident girl with supportive parents who killed herself because bad shit happened to her. I don't believe this is realistic. Or course some really bad shit did happen to her, but you can argue that she brought it upon herself in some situations, which also only makes sense if she has self-destructive tendencies, but that was also never properly established in the show. I think the show was trying to raise awareness of suicide (also briefly touching upon school shootings) but didn't do the best job of it.

To the show's credit, it also does call into attention the idea of taking responsibility for one's own feelings, albeit briefly. I can't help but think Hannah could've handled many of the situations better, but I can also understand that teenagers aren't the best at handling their emotions and navigating difficult situations. Hell, most adults are terrible at taking responsibility of their own emotions, so I definitely can't fault a 17 year old girl. I think the real brilliance of the show is touching upon many different themes such as how technology affects the way we communicate, the gap between young people and old, sexual abuse, being aware that other people's negativity may be due to their pain, etc. In the last episode Clay has a poignant line about how he pushed Hannah away because he was hurt by her, but he didn't think about how she was hurting too. It's something I try to keep in mind in my life when I deal with negative interactions.

I think the "boys are shitty to girls" angle was a bit too heavy handed. I could imagine female viewers of this show would have a different reaction. A girl I know recommended this show to me and she said she was pissed off at the end. I was more sad.

Some of the characters were way too mature for their age. Especially Tony. I think the actor was the weakest in the cast, and it seemed a bit over the top to have a gay Latino badass who drives a Mustang to his high school and deals out street justice with his brothers. Then again highschool kids in shows and movies are nothing like how they are in real life anyway. The most believable kids were Alex, Tyler and Clay.

I couldn't really relate to Hannah's plight, but I could relate to Clay, who is the main protagonist anyway. I guess most guys can relate his struggle of being too scared to express their affection for a girl they like at that age. I certainly can. There are some great moments in the show between Clay and Hannah. Some scenes were particularly powerful, while Hannah's suicide and her parents walking in on her dead body was particularly hard to watch.

Overall, I liked it. I don't get the hate for it.

 

[JalacoJones]

I'm at work so I don't have the time to go into as much detail as I would like but this is my observation:

In the show, Hannah Baker commits suicide and leaves behind a series of tapes detailing why she killed herself and has them sent to the people responsible/involved.

The general reaction from the kids responsible is: butthurt about the reality of the situation, refusal to take responsibility, and lashing out against Hannah for releasing the tape to begin with.

If you have been paying attention, the reaction from our media and psychological professionals about this show has been highly negative. With widespread calls for the show to be taken down.

So our own media and mental health professionals are having the same reaction to this show, that the kids in the show have to Hannah's tapes: butthurt about the reality of the situation (high suicide rates among young people that are on the rise, and the inability of high school counselors to prevent them), refusal to take responsibility ( mass media and social media that lead to kids being depressed and also lead to other kids/people being more cruel and less human) and finally lashing out against Netflix and the show itself, calling on them to take it down.

If you have watched the series, what are your thoughts on that comparison?

I think you make a good observation about peoples response. People don't like to face or discuss reality too often. It is unsavory, so we avoid it. Then we never discuss issues, people will feel unable to discuss them, and feel isolated...

 

[SoberAwakening]

I just got done with the show. I have mixed thoughts. I do like the idea of bringing mental health awareness to the forefront and suicide is very serious, but there's a level of victimhood in this show that I don't agree with. Didn't like how they painted Clay or the counselor. Two people actually showed that they cared and basically the main character said their caring wasn't good enough for her. She needed/wanted more.

- I think it was a little bit overdramatic with the whole "____, this is your tape and here's why you're responsible for my death. At the end of the day, you pulled the trigger, slit your wrist, wrapped the belt around your neck, or took a swan dive out of a high rise. Are there warning signs? Sometimes. Not always though.

- I thought it was brilliant how everyone was so focused on the main character and her actions, that very few people noticed one of the characters exhibiting suicidal tendencies the whole time.

- I was also shocked that they left the series open for another season with so many different story lines so active. Didn't read the book, so not familiar with what happens next.

Overall an interesting show.