The premise of the show is the suicide of Hannah, a 17 years old girl, that leaves 13 tapes to explain the events that led her to this decision. In each tape, she tells her truth about some event regarding some person, with one main protagonist (or reason) for each tape. The tapes are delivered to one of them that has to listen and then pass them over to the next one. If this doesn't happen, the tapes will be publicly released. In particular, the story begins when Clay, a friend of hers, receive the tapes.
Let me say right away that the premise was my main reason to not watch the show. I always tell myself that each individual is not responsible for the other people's fragilities and I still keep my stand after watching the show. However, I am very glad that I've seen it. I liked it quite a bit: it has an overall good structure, it faces many important themes, and it made me reflect on human interactions and social constructions.
Let's start with the easy part: the structure. I am generally skeptical when it comes to shows based on flashbacks because, and I admit that it is probably my problem, if I know how it is going to end already I simply fall asleep. The risk with this show was very high but, although you know what is going to happen, you don't know how it is going to end (or, to say it better, when you know it, you don't have to wait too much). The narration keeps relentlessly going back and forth, revealing pieces of Hannah's story and Clay's story. The puzzle takes form episode after episode and, most importantly, evolves.
Another reason why the show captured me is that, like in every story, there is a hero, a villain, and a fool. The identity of these three characters is, at least in my opinion, particularly deceptive. This choice infers a very peculiar dynamic to the narration and, thus, keeps the viewer interested. More on this point in the spoiler section.
As mentioned before, the show explores many themes. The dominant one is, and I am glad that this is the case, not suicide and it is not adolescent anxiety. They are certainly present given the age of the characters and the event, but making them THE themes would have made the show very unoriginal and probably a copy of everything produced during the 90's or the early 2000's. Instead, the main theme turns out to be the importance of consent (in intimacy, physical and not) and how society perceives or values it. I will talk more about it in the spoiler section, but I can say that exploring this theme (along with all the others) in the way that it is done makes a format that sounds 20 years old very actual. The theme comes in very different moment and very different shades and draws a very much needed line: consent has to be confirmed, consent is not granted if previously given, and has to be respected at all times.
It is true that we were flooded by teens' shows. The difference is that 13 Reasons Why uses a story about a group of teenagers to speak to the adults. It is definitely not a show for teens because it is very intense and at times really painful to watch, thus requiring the viewer to have experimented that period and moved on. In other words, the 17 years old me would have been trapped by the story. Everyone can relate to the characters, the events, and the emotions but I feel that the intensity of the show can be dangerous if you are still in those kinds of situation. No matter on which side of the story you will find yourself, you will be able to recognize how much you evolved from that version of yourself. The show displays how things that looked extremely important back then were actually stupid and, most remarkably, vice versa.
There are many other themes, such as sexism (that is just another shade of the importance of consent), bullying, the role of social media, and prejudice and discrimination. However, I want to elaborate one of them: the social pressure that pushes the individual to the impossible task of being perfect. This can regard the appearance or the circles of friends (thus falling back close to the adolescence anxiety), but also having a perfect record at every step in order to not compromise the admission to a college.
It is yet again displayed a society that doesn't admit a mistake and thus the individual finds himself or herself crushed by the reality that this is impossible. Thus, responsibilities are not fully taken, facts are hidden, insecurities are violently reversed on others all because your entire future can be compromised by a single mistake, no matter what the mistake is (and we see a very large range of them).
Of course, the show presents quite a few weak spots. For example, although it doesn't reflect my view on the show, I can see why some people saw a justification of suicide and the dangerous message that brings with it. Some of the reasons are very difficult to understand as they are put on the same plane as very serious ones. Therefore, I see a few problems in the writing and character development. For example, I can see now who the hero, the fool, and the villain are but I can't find a reason for all of them.
If I carefully think about it, at times it seems that, with some obvious exceptions that will be clear when you see it, almost all the issues that Hannah had are valorized by the fact that she committed suicide. This is simply wrong. The sexist idiots in the school treat her like society usually treats women and this is wrong regardless the fact that she eventually killed herself. Spreading a (sexist) rumor about her or a picture is wrong regardless the fact that she killed herself. The show addresses this issue in one dialogue, but it is then lost due to the increasing intensity of the show.
All that being said, I liked it and I recommend it. 13 Reasons Why is a 13 episodes exercise of empathy and detachment. It is true that you are not responsible for the other people's fragilities, but it doesn't hurt to be decent to each other and to do so you need empathy.
If you don't want spoilers, don't go further.
In this spoiler section, I want to elaborate on some aspects that I mentioned before.
First, the show unravels around Clay. He gets the tapes and does not simply listen to them but also starts a campaign against the other kids, judged as responsible for her suicide. In other words, I felt that he was painted as the hero. However, he is on the tapes too and for a reason not even remotely comparable with any of the others. Hannah made him the fool, obsessed by the reason why he was on the tapes, wrongly blamed for her death. The hero is thus his friend Tony, supporting Hannah's parents and doing what was necessary to reach a fair end.
The villain changes along the show too. It starts by being Justin, responsible for creating Hannah's reputation, a fact that exposes her to everything that followed. However, the little prick turned out to be just a stupid kid, and the villain revealed himself as Bryce, the rapist. What makes him a perfect villain is that is unaware of being one: he never considered that girls didn't want to have sex with him, he didn't receive the tapes yet, and he lives in complete impunity due to his social status and role in the school. Bryce never drew the line of consent, he never questioned its existence. He is the perfect reincarnation of a society as sexist as ours.
When Clay finds himself in that situations, he acts as one human being is supposed to act. This perfectly draws the mentioned line of consent and thus shed a light to one very actual theme and issue of our society. It remains the fool, though, because being a human is not heroic.
Another aspect that I noticed and appreciated is the complete absence of other discriminatory factors. The focus is on gender discrimination and thus the school of 13 Reasons Why, as far as I noticed, is free of other kinds of discrimination. The exception are the events regarding Courtney, afraid of coming out because she has two dads and people will think that her sexual orientation has been influenced by that. I liked how she addressed it because it made me think about my own limitations: as her, I wrongfully anticipated that thought, I assumed the worst in other people's opinion and this is a discrimination as well. I like questioning myself.
The more I write, the more I feel I can go on, thus, for the brave readers that reached this far, I hope I gave you enough elements to think about.
