13 Reasons Why - Netflix Series Review

08:26:00 Victoria 0 Comments

As some of you may know, 13 Reasons Why has been adapted into a show by Netflix. I had already heard about the story when the book was released a couple of years ago. I bought it but I haven't read it yet. I think it is the kind of story you need to read when you are in a certain state of mind: not too happy, not too sad, not too angry... And I felt like it was never the right time.

When I heard about the series, I wanted to give it a try though. The trailer made the story pretty interesting and I really wanted to see how the scenarists put it all up together.

I heard that many people were disappointed by this series. I also know that some of them read the book and they didn't think the series was good enough for it. As I haven't read the book yet, I have no point of comparison, which I guess makes more encline to like this series. 

Clay Jensen is a just normal teenager who goes through high school unnoticed. He is shy, clumsy but above all, he doesn't care what other people think of him. 

One day when he came home from school, he found a package waiting on his doorstep. Inside of it was thirteen tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - one of his classmates and lover - who killed herself a few days ago. Each tape points out one person who was directly linked to her suicide and Clay is one of the reasons why she ended her life... 

I finished this Netflix series in 24 hours and let me tell you, it is quite intense. I do not think you can possibly come out of this series without feeling anything. It gives us a true glimpse of high school life. It is all centered around one girl committing a suicide and yet, it was so much more than that. 

Bullying, assault, rapes, depression, body shaming, guilt, sex, alcohol, drugs, false rumors, homosexuality, stalking... There are so many topics covered in this series. Topics that we hear from time to time on the news but that we never truly talk about. 

Sure, in this series you have high school cheerleaders, popular kids, normal kids and the outsiders who do not fit anywhere. But it was so much more than just the typical American high school clichés. It makes us face the fact that high school is the moment when you start understanding and taking responsibilities for what you do or do not do. You start to differentiate what is right and what is wrong. But taking responsibilities isn't always easy and it's damn right scary!

It all started with a girl who committed suicide for no apparent reason. Everyone kept blaming her saying that if she really wanted to kill herself, no one could have done anything to change her mind, or that she is a drama queen looking for attention. But what is striking in this show is that, through Hannah's voice and Clay's discovery of all the reasons why she killed herself, we have a gripping and alarming dark drawing of life in high school. 

The tapes all start with reasons that are ranked from minor to major reasons why she killed herself. At the beginning, the series uses suspens to keep people watching. We are just too curious to know what happened exactly and when Clay's name will appear in these tapes. When you see him, you just feel like he is a nice guy who wouldn't hurt anyone. Yet, he was one of the reasons why. 

I have to admit that the four last episodes were intense and very disturbing and I am not ashamed to say I may have shed some tears. 

This series is a huge emotional roller-coaster. You feel the guilt of some characters, you feel the anger, you feel the pain, you feel Hannah being desperate to hold on to something or someone... And you are just here thinking "It could have been avoided". This series strips you of your feelings to basically leave you naked when you watch this. We witness Hannah's and Clay's parents wondering if they ever truly know/knew their children. This series makes you wonder if it is possible to truly know someone. 

I liked that they addressed all these high school problems as if they were talking to young adults and not just teenagers. It may also be interesting for older adults to watch this series.

13 Reasons Why you should watch this show:

1. The story is heartbreakingly intense, amazing and disturbing 
2. The actors were really good
3. It has been adapted from a book that had quite some success 
4. It will remind you of your high school period (yeah... maybe it's not really a good reason actually)
5. Because at some point we have all known what it was like to be either stalked, bullied, assaulted, uncomfortable, lost... (please don't tell me I was the only one in this case!)
6. Because you understand that things and people need to change 
7. This series talks about everything and knows no taboo 
8. It is not because it talks about teenagers that it is necessarily a teenager series. Trust me, I think adults should also watch it!
9. Because we have all done things at some point that we were not proud of but we didn't take responsibility for it
10. We should all understand that sometimes "just" saying mean things - even if we don't mean them - could have a greater impact than we thought
11. Because rapes are still not considered seriously in our society
12. We all heard rumors in middle schools, high schools or colleges and sometimes we didn't try to look further for what truly happened. 
13. It has been produced by Selena Gomez (could be reason enough for some people ^^)

P.S: I would not advise "sensitive" people to watch this series as there are some scenes that are really graphic and hard to watch.