Kierra Gilbert 

“What if the only way to not feel bad, is to stop feeling, anything at all, forever.”

13 Reasons Why is a teen-drama, mystery series based on a novel written in 2007 by author Jay Asher and later amended by Brian Yorkey for Netflix. The storyline revolves around a high school student, Clay Jensen, and his crush Hannah Baker, his classmate that committed suicide after a series of demoralizing situations that eventually causes her to take her own life. Clay Jensen comes home from school two weeks later after Hannah’s death and finds a box laying on his front porch. Once inside, he discovers seven double-sided tapes previously recorded by Hannah. On the tapes, Hannah reveals thirteen reasons why she decided to kill herself. She states clear directions: each person that receives the package is one of the reasons why she committed suicide, and once each person has finished listening to the tapes, they pass the tapes along to the next person. If anyone breaks the chain, then a separate set of tapes will be released to the public. On each tape, it is addressed to a person in her school and their connection with her suicide.

The first person on Hannah’s list is Justin, a boy whom Hannah shared a brief romantic relationship with that went horribly wrong. It starts off by Hannah sneaking out of her house late at night to meet Justin at a park nearby despite being under watch by her mother (Kate Walsh). The couple enjoys a wonderful night together and even share a romantic kiss, Hannah thanks Justin for the kiss—just not what happens after. Justin then proves himself to be careless when he shows his friends a photo of Hannah that he took from under her skirt on their date. The football captain, Bryce (Justin Prentice), forwards the picture to the entire student body, embarrassing Hannah. That is the reason why Justin is listed on one of Hannah’s tapes: he took a night that meant a lot to her and made it ugly.

Side two of Hannah’s tapes are dedicated to Hannah’s ex-best friend Jessica (Alisha Boe), the reason they are ex-best friends is because Jessica’s story is about betrayal. The two became close friends when their guidance counselor introduced them together and soon they began sharing hot chocolate together at their local coffee shop. The two girls soon meet Alex (Miles Heizer), another new student that attends the same school. They soon form a strong friendship and began hanging out frequently. However, Jessica and Alex begin dating and soon ditch Hannah. Things begin to take a toll on Hannah and Jessica’s friendship when Jessica confronts Hannah about a “hot list” made by Alex… which labels Hannah as “best butt” and Jessica as “worst” (due to Jessica not wanting to have sex with Alex). Jessica then slaps Hannah, accusing her of seducing Alex behind her back while they were dating.

In the present day, Jessica is now a cheerleader and is dating Justin (yes—Hannah’s ex-boyfriend). However, during this time Justin has been MIA. Clay sets out to find him, and Jessica seems more anxious to find him, which gives Clay the hint that both of them have listened to the tapes.

The third side of the tape carries on Hannah and Jessica’s cohesive friendship: Alex. Alex is having a hard time dealing with Hannah’s suicide. He has already listened to the tapes twice, just in case, the first time was a dream. Meanwhile, Hannah’s mother is trying to find the reason behind Hannah’s death. She didn’t receive the tapes, which leaves her to find evidence for herself. She goes to the school to speak to the principal and ask for answers about anything that has to do with Hannah. Unfortunately, she does not get any evidence and the principal states that he should not be speaking to her at all given the lawsuit she is bringing against the school. She eventually finds answers, or at least more questions, when she finds graffiti in the girl’s bathroom stall that mocked Hannah in her time need. Later on in the day, she threatens to call the police when she believes that Clay is responsible for toilet papering their house when she comes outside and catches him with it in his hands. But he tells her that he was trying to take it down. She then invites him inside to talk about Hannah, but Clay kindly declines, not able to bear the thought of having a conversation with Hannah’s mother, knowing that he should give her the tapes.

Marcus Cole (Steve Silver) was another one of the people who were on the tapes. He becomes Hannah’s Valentine’s Day date when they become each other couple matches for a Valentine Cupid test. The date goes wrong when Marcus attempts to sexually assault Hannah when he tries to feel her up. Hannah angrily pushes Marcus out of the booth and screams at him to leave her alone; Marcus, feeling embarrassed, tells Hannah how he thought she was “easy”, due to the rumors.

Hannah is touched by poetry that was given by a classmate, Ryan Shaver, and eventually leads her to join the poetry club at school. She writes a passionate and touching poem, and Ryan betrays her by publishing her story without her permission in the school paper. The whole school finds it hysterical, but Clay is troubled at the poem but does not know that Hannah is the author. Later in the present, Clay gives the poem to Hannah’s mother.

Hannah has had a lot of things happen to her under horrific circumstances, but one of the worst nights happened when she least expected. Hannah attended a party at Jessica’s house one night along with Clay.

After the party, Hannah gets a ride from fellow cheerleader and friendly classmate Sheri (Ajiona Alexus), but what appears to be a slight accident when Sheri knocks over a stop sign. It turns into a major accident when it causes a huge collision resulting in the death of Clay’s best friend, Jeff Atkins.

The series does not end right there, however, I am going to end the review here because the episodes further on are contained with explicit content. The series overall was done fairly well and it taught important morals and gave me a different perspective on life. It shows how bullying develops and how much it can hurt someone. Suicide is no joking matter and needs to be prevented at all cost because once someone takes their life, they cannot get it back. I would recommend this series for teenage viewers over the age of sixteen.