Favorite 13 Reasons Why Character?

• Clay (37%, 19 Votes)
• Jeff (33%, 17 Votes)
• Hannah (18%, 9 Votes)
• Justin (12%, 6 Votes)

Total Voters: 51

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The show follows the story of a Clay Jensen, a shy teenage boy, who is dealing with the recent suicide of Hannah Baker, the girl he had a crush on for the past two years. He discovers a mysterious package at his doorstep, which contains cassette tapes. The tapes it turns out, are recordings made by

Hannah right before her death, and detail the 13 reasons why she killed herself. Each reason is a specific person who hurt her in some way that lead to her unfortunate end, and she has made it so that each person on the tapes will receive these recordings.

What follows is a tragic and well told story of guilt, sorrow and bullying that follows not only Clay’s struggles to uncover the truth about Hannah’s suicide, but also Hannah’s story, told from the point of view of her recordings. As Clay slowly makes his way through the tapes, the two stories mold together, making Hannah a bigger character in the story than most.

Even though you know that she dies, her zest, humor and authenticity make the viewer easily fall in love with her, making her story hit hard and really sink it. The viewer watches with disbelief and anger as Hannah goes through a series of horrible events involving slut shaming, harassment, bullying, and rape, leaving her alone and feeling empty by the end of the series. 13 Reasons Why teaches how harmful all of these things can be.

More importantly, it depicts events such as bullying in ways that aren’t traditionally portrayed on TV. Here, bullying takes place in the form of casual sexual harassment, slut shaming, and being put on a list for having “the best ass,” things that some people see as compliments and don’t fully understand the harm of. 13 Reasons Why brings attention to all of these issues, showing that they are just as hurtful as common bullying tropes we usually see on TV like being shoved into a locker or having your face stuffed into a toilet.

The major place that the story falls short for me is in the ending. The conclusion seems forced, and many loose ends are left as the final credits role.

Although there are some characters that have been able to deal with the grief and responsibility they feel as a result of Hannah’s death, and then make what seems like the right decision going forward, most are left undecided. Not only that, but the final episode creates additional and unnecessary questions that need answering.

It seems like a hint towards a second season, but with the tapes listened to and the two main characters’ storylines wrapped up (Hannah and Clay’s), it would be doubtful the second season could pull off what the first one did. But regardless of what happens to 13 Reasons Why in the future, its first season is a solid standalone, and something I highly recommend people watch.