13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why is not some cliche romantic series that is too good to be true. It is sensitive, consistently engaging, emotionally riveting and perfectly crafted series from beginning to the end. 13 Reasons Why reveals to the audience how it ends at the very beginning of the series. Yes, the main cast, Hannah Baker is dead due to suicide. Hannah who was a high school junior left behind 13 tapes that explained 13 reasons why she made such a horrific decision. To Hannah, there are 13 people from her school, Liberty High School who are obligated for her death and each of them owns a different story that is detailed in each tape.

The story began when Clay Jensen received the 13 tapes in a shoe box. Hannah Baker is his late crush and he is the closest person to Hannah before she was found dead in her bath tub at her house. Hence, most of the scenes in the episodes are based on Clay’s perspectives and his experiences.

This is the name list and a summary of their wrongdoings in each tape.

Justin was being flirtatious with Hannah when she just moved to Liberty.

Justin Foley  Hannah had her first kiss with Justin during their first date at a playground. Justin also covertly took photo of Hannah’s crouch and he bragged about that at school. Bryce, his best friend then forwarded the photo to the whole school. 

Hannah, Alex and Jess were besties after they met at a
coffee shop.

Jessica Davis Jessica and Alex were Hannah’s best friend when those two started to drift apart from Hannah because they were dating. Hannah was frustrated by it, however the strong reason that kill their friendship when Jess slapped Hannah, accusing her to take Alex from her.

Alex Standall He made a best and worst list that circulated around the school. He put Hannah as the best ass category and Jessica as the worst ass category as he was frustrated when Jess did not want to have sex with him.

Tyler Down Hannah Baker’s stalker a.k.a school photographer. He took Hannah’s picture at her house, in fact in her room. The worst part, he took pictures of Hannah and Courtney kissing when they played truth or dare at Hannah’s house and spread it at the school.

Courtney Crimsen The blurry photo did not make anyone recognize the two girls straight away but some did. Due to the hectic situation, Courtney made up another story of how Hannah and the other girl at campus hooked up at Hannah’s house. Courtney who has two gay dads does not want people to perceive her the same way even she is, so she threw Hannah under the bus.

Zach, Bryce and Marcus are the the cool kids at the
school and I know you know why. lulz

Marcus Cole He might be the school’s student body president, but he is also the bad guy when he stood up Hannah an hour late during the Valentine’s Day. He arrived there with a group of basketball players and not only that, he tried to grab Hannah’s skirt. Hannah screamed in terror, Marcus ditched her and said onto her face he thought she was easy.

Zach Dempsey He is a good kid but he made a wrong move when he mentioned about the best ass list that Hannah’s rejected his kindness. Feeling dejected, Zach emptied Hannah’s compliment basket each time. Hannah knew about it and wrote a letter to him, but then she saw him crushed it and threw it away.

Ryan Shaver, the gay boy who loves poetry so much
 that he plagiarized Hannah's.

Ryan Shaver Hannah found her peace in a group of poetry where Ryan was there as well. She admired his piece and Ryan taught her to write one. She expressed her feelings through her writing and little did she knew, Ryan teared her poem in her notebook and published in the school mag. Hannah only realised about it when people mocking her racy poem at the hallways and in the class.

 Justin Foley For the second part, Justin did unforgivable mistake not only to Hannah, but to his girlfriend, Jessica when he let Bryce raped Jess during a party at Jess’ house. Jessica who was drunk laid unconscious and unaware what happened to her that night, however Hannah was in the room hiding and witnessed everything with tears rolling on her cheeks.

Sheri Holland During the same night, Sheri offered Hannah to ride home with her. On the way home, Sheri hit the STOP sign at a corner and refused to call cops, afraid that her dad might upset with the news. She left Hannah when Hannah insisted to call the police. Next thing Hannah knew that Jeff Atkins, their schoolmate died in a car crash at the same place after the incident.

Sheri Holland, well indirectly she caused the death of Jeff Atkin.

Clay Jensen Basically, Clay did not do anything wrong to Hannah. Nonetheless, Hannah believed Clay deserved for explanation. There were many occasions that Clay did not do what he and Hannah wanted to. Clay did not confess his true feelings to Hannah, he let all the feelings that he had buried deep in his heart. When Hannah Baker died, the guilt overwhelmed Clay more than anyone could imagine.

Bryce Walker Bryce is the most vicious and destructive of all. He raped Jessica at her house and he raped Hannah at his house during a party. Not only that, he grabbed Hannah’s ass at a convenience store and along the same line, he was responsible in circulating Hannah’s picture when she went a date with Justin.

Mr. Porter only wish he could turn back the time after Hannah's death.

Mr Porter He is the school counsellor but he did not act like one. During Hannah’s last days, she visited Mr Porter as her last resort as she said in the tape, ‘Last Chance for Her Life’. Hannah tried to describe of what had happened at Bryce’s house but Mr Porter suggested she should just move on, assuming that it was not an assault but the relationship is made with her consent. Hannah killed herself the next day.

I do not want to argue whether this is a good show for teenagers and school kids or not due to its nudity, violence and whatever things they put on the tv shows. Instead, I would like to highlight on other perspectives that we barely can see (due to our worrisome) on assault, body shaming, raped, suicide, depression, social pressure, isolation and so forth.

1.      Small matters do matter.

Yes, no matter how unimportant something might seem, it is still important to someone especially when the small matter is piling up on top of one another . These little things can affect someone personally, and greatly. Ryan and Zach’s deeds might not be so much for us, but Hannah was really in need of supports that she often checked her ‘compliment basket’ for the anonymous notes. But, Zach stole it away from her. Yet, she found poetry group as her new hobby, however Ryan crossed the line by publishing her private thoughts on a school magazine. These constant ‘attacks’ could make anyone out of place, not just Hannah. It is just the matter of time. Little do we know, these small acts are tantamount to death.

2.      Family is not always to be blamed.

There has been a lot of hype on Hannah’s death. One of the school’s initiatives is to invite the parents and talk about the issue to curb the problem. Principal Gary Bolan addressed that ‘everything starts from home’. I disagree with him because all of us know that not everything starts from home when children are growing older to teens and adolescent. In fact, we can see how clueless The Bakers after their daughther’s death. From their perspective, their daughter had a perfect life and a perfect family and they had no idea how Hannah’s schoolmates could influence her greatly to kill herself.

When teens have becoming teens, their life is no longer revolves around their house only, but their schools. I believe school has a huge amount of influences than the family itself. School is where the social pressure starts to initiate which takes place at the hallways, cafeteria, classrooms, court and library. Hannah felt isolated when she was at school, she was a lone ranger yet, she was herself when she’s at home. She was a target at her school to a number of sexual assault. School sees Hannah as a slut, but when she was home, she was the most beautiful woman in the family. That’s what Mrs.Baker told her daughter once.

3.      The difference between seeking for attention and reaching for help.

I truly believe the communities of a person who suffer from mental health are incapable in differentiating these two. They only know which one is only after that particular person committed suicide. Remember when Justin Foley mentioned Hannah is a liar and attention seeker when they were talking about the tapes? So did Jessica who called her a slut when Hannah tried to defend herself on Alex issues. Not exception, Clay Jensen called her drama queen as she tried to explain that she knew what happened to Jeff Atkins’ car accident.

Names after names, people just shut her off and it did seem it is the world against Hannah Baker. Until it reached one point where she neither feeling sad nor happy. Once, she called Clay at the locker, stared at him for a few seconds and turned away. That was when she had nothing left on her mind. She reached for Mr Porter, yet he asked her to move on. Hannah Baker gave everyone’s a chance to make them understand her, yet they fail. They only knew it is actually help she was asking only after she was dead.

To conclude, 13 reasons Why succeeded in letting everyone knows the other side of high school life in one dark and sympathetic tv shows. Neither high school is merely about cool kids and nerd kids, nor it is only about love stories between cheerleaders and a school athletes. It is beyond that, that parents could not even manage to trace of what had happened to their kids.

This series is definitely too heavy and too dark. Yet, it is very true and a highly recommended series for matured audiences who are hungry for the knowledge of how the real world works. It is something that you should watch at least once.