FTA-TV 13 Reasons Why

[Marlowe]

New Netflix series. Girl kills herself, leaves 13 tapes explaining why.

I am only two episodes in (both directed by Spotlight director Tom McCarthy). The characters seem a little too cutely written, I don't buy these words coming out of their mouths, and I don't like any of them yet. The mystery behind it interests me, although, rather harshly, so far I am not too sad she's dead; leaving tapes then killing yourself seems needlessly vindictive and overly dramatic, although I presume it's leading some harsher reveals.

 

[mike123]

Sounds like an interesting concept

 

[spinynorman]

I was considering starting a thread for this, but given I started the one for Riverdale probably don't want too many teen dramas to my name. So thanks!

Currently nine episodes in. It's pretty well done. I definitely get the original poster's point about not being sad at the victim's death, but as it's progressed I do feel more and more sympathy towards her.

I'm interested to see how they resolve the queasy notion that people could be blamed for her suicide, which would be a pretty bad message for a show aimed at teenagers and young adults.

Excellent cast of young actors. And well done to the main actress, who I did not realise was Australian at all!

Looking forward to finishing it, probably tomorrow.

 

[jackn]

I loved it. Early on was worried it was a bit too teeny bopper but by the end it's a lot more adult. I felt for Hannah (suicide girl) pretty early on but the things that happened later on made it easy to understand she couldn't see any alternatives.

Episode 12 and 13 have 2 of the most brutal scenes I've seen on tv. Very difficult to watch.

As others have said some great performances from the unknown young actors, especially those playing Hannah, Jessica and Alex. Wasn't a big fan of tony as he seemed like a 30 year old high school student but I guess he played an important role.

According to some articles netflix is considering a sequel. Hopefully they don't do it as the important story has been told and told well.

 

[Cruyff14]

Good show, but I was utterly underwhelmed by the end.

 

[dales.girl38]

I read the book I reckon 7 or 8 years ago, can't really remember much of it but looking forward to giving it a go on Netflix.

 

[spinynorman]

Good show, but I was utterly underwhelmed by the end.

Why's that? I finished it this morning and thought it a pretty tremendous ending with a real emotional wallop.

I'm not sure if all the subplots resolved themselves as I would've liked (and in that sense almost wouldn't mind a second season, though not sure how they'd do it because it'd basically be a sequel) but I thought the main storyline packed a real punch.

 

[Marmozet]

I enjoyed this, watched it all in 3 nights.

I quite liked the character of Hannah.

It definitely left it open for a continuation, with things such as

Spoiler

- Alex shooting himself
- Bryce's confession
- Tyler getting his hands on firearms (I was actually terrified of a school shooting, especially when the scene came on of Zach practising basketball on his own)

There were definitely a few brutal scenes, such as the rape ones and I'm not ashamed to admit that I had water in my eyes when Hannah's parents discovered her in the bathtub.

 

[Marlowe]

Wasn't a big fan of tony as he seemed like a 30 year old high school student

I keep forgetting he is supposed to be in high school, I thought maybe he was like McConaughey in Dazed and Confuse and just hanging around the high school still because, yeah, he looks about 30.

 

[Cruyff14]

Why's that? I finished it this morning and thought it a pretty tremendous ending with a real emotional wallop.

I'm not sure if all the subplots resolved themselves as I would've liked (and in that sense almost wouldn't mind a second season, though not sure how they'd do it because it'd basically be a sequel) but I thought the main storyline packed a real punch.

It was more the final scene in the car. Just thought it could have been more.

 

[Unique Name]

The impending dread made the last few episodes very impactful. The parents finding her in the last episode hit me quite hard.

I wish it wrapped up a few of the side stories up a bit more than it did but overall I thought it was fantastic.

Their were a few things I didn't like but the strength of the story made me overlook them.

Other little nitpicks.
- Tony the 35yr old high schooler.
- Clay's standing in the school social order didn't seem clear to me.
- Why Hannah didn't open up more to her mum, who seemed pretty cool.

Would recommend others to watch.

 

[Marmozet]

I enjoyed this, watched it all in 3 nights.

I quite liked the character of Hannah.

It definitely left it open for a continuation, with things such as

Spoiler

- Alex shooting himself
- Bryce's confession
- Tyler getting his hands on firearms (I was actually terrified of a school shooting, especially when the scene came on of Zach practising basketball on his own)

There were definitely a few brutal scenes, such as the rape ones and I'm not ashamed to admit that I had water in my eyes when Hannah's parents discovered her in the bathtub.

Spoiler

In regards to Alex and Tyler, I heard a new theory that it might have been Tyler that shot Alex, not an attempted suicide.

 

[Cruyff14]

Tony had a babyface.

 

[Marmozet]

Thoughts on this?

 

[Marlowe]

Thoughts on this?

Sounds fair, maybe a bit reactionary in a way you get with the social media but I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone I suspected was suicidal. It's crippling and paints an incredibly bleak picture. The ending is soul-crushing. It seems much more aimed at parents and the kinds of people Hannah leaves her tapes for.

I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.

Spoiler

I thought the show was setting up the idea that Clay was as responsible as everyone else because he was so introverted and clueless that his infatuation with Hannah was more self-serving than he realised. It started to show a different side of characters like Justin and Marcus, too, by flipping your sympathies for each of them. But then it stayed very cliched, let Clay off the hook a little and then found two very obvious bad guys to pin it on, which was a wee bit lame considering how much of the show was about how everyone - and no one - was to blame

 

[happy_eagle]

Watched this over the weekend
Pretty brutal, but well executed

 

[Underarm]

Sounds fair, maybe a bit reactionary in a way you get with the social media but I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone I suspected was suicidal. It's crippling and paints an incredibly bleak picture. The ending is soul-crushing. It seems much more aimed at parents and the kinds of people Hannah leaves her tapes for.

I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.

Spoiler

I thought the show was setting up the idea that Clay was as responsible as everyone else because he was so introverted and clueless that his infatuation with Hannah was more self-serving than he realised. It started to show a different side of characters like Justin and Marcus, too, by flipping your sympathies for each of them. But then it stayed very cliched, let Clay off the hook a little and then found two very obvious bad guys to pin it on, which was a wee bit lame considering how much of the show was about how everyone - and no one - was to blame

Couldn't agree more. Its bleak, and its an extremely real expression of teenage suicide, And when you are feeling depressed and suicidal watching someone (and teaching someone) actually go through with it is hard to watch and can make you feel worse.

Spoiler

Well Hannah was already a fair way down the depression rabbit hole before the party. She was already shying away from social situations, showing signs of feeling lonely. Pushing away friends. she'd been pushed down by everyone she had tried to be friends with. She goes to the party, but has a PTSD moment when her and Clay get together. She then witnesses and doesn't do anything to stop a Rape, causes a friend to have an accident, which leads to another school student to have a fatal accident.
But I agree the Bryce part of the story was a bit thin, both the rape and Clay being the hero and getting his confession. The other 12 reasons pale in comparison (but still important) to that.

But there were some good things about the final 2 episodes I thought. The background story of the blond emo kid was powerful. People who are affected by Suicide are much more likely to follow through which is why some neighbourhoods can have epidemics at times. Also the stalker kid gets treated pretty badly through out the entire show. The jocks fake being nice to Clay and Emokid to keep them quiet but they still continue to bully the stalker pretty bad, shut him out of everything, and Clay sending the naked pic of him was just as bad as what he did to Hannah.

EDIT: and as much as liked Tony, He was way too perfect. Thought his involvement could have been bigger in Hannah's suicide in some way.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Every time he was on the screen, this was running through my head. Every time.

 

[Kickpuncher]

Some what regret binge watching this.

Not because its bad. Just because of how brutal it got towards the end and how it didnt shy away from anything. It must have been so hard for the actors/actresses to film a few of those scenes in episode 11 and 12.

 

[happy_eagle]

Not sure if it was explained why but..

Spoiler

Why didn't they give the tapes to Bryce, he was the next on the list after Clay

 

[JackNah_8]

Thoughts on this?

I've come across a few articles criticising the show's depiction of suicide and a concern, especially if vulnerable teens, are watching . The article below is lengthy but makes a few good points (there's some spoilers)

Spoiler

This is good journalistic practice: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s official guidelines state that stories that explicitly describe suicide methods or use dramatic or graphic language and images actually increase the risk of additional suicides. Which makes 13 Reasons Why’s depiction of Hannah’s death, even as a work of fiction, all the more appalling, considering its demographic. It shows her stealing razor blades from her parents pharmacy, wrapping up her affairs, running a bath, climbing into it fully clothed, and then cutting her wrists open in such explicit detail that it’s traumatic to watch.

https://www.theatlantic.com/enterta...wn-suicide-netflix-serial-binge-watch/522162/

 

[happy_eagle]

One thing that always confuses me with these shows, is how old they make the high school kids look
I assume these guys were meant to be about 16-17. Surely there are plenty of actors that age you could cast. Instead they had all actors that were in their 20's and looked it too (Tyler was probably the only one who you could believe was the age of his character)

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

The Mrs is watching this, so I've caught bits and pieces, but I don't think it will be any more than that, simply because I don't find any of the characters even remotely likeable. One thing that really grinds my gears is that it seems to use what I consider to be the ultimate TV cliche constantly...every episode that I've caught so far and often multiple times.

Main character is doing something mundane: at school, at work, on a train, in a packed shopping centre. All of a sudden, something crazy happens and it gets crazier and crazier and all of a sudden they go beserk, then it cuts back to where it began with everyone turning around staring and it turns out that the main character just imagined the whole thing. How many times have we seen that on TV (dramas, commercials - sometimes they go the comedy angle, with a sports betting ad, or a radio station ad, where someone will burst into song randomly on a bus or whatever)? Literally hundreds, right? How many times have we ever seen it IRL? Roughly zero? So why do TV shows continue to use this incredibly lazy way to try to build drama and expect to retain credibility? It really gets to me.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Thoughts on this?

It's interesting. One things for sure, you wouldn't want anyone who's feeling down and having thoughts like suicide and is lonely sitting on their room and watching this. This show got pretty brutal towards the end.

 

[Richard Cranium]

This was a show that, despite finding decent overall, I reckon I can point out more flaws and bad bits in than I can good bits.

I think the two main kids were pretty good, and it ultimately delivers some decent gut punches, but that's about it as far as any real positives go.

On the other hand, it went too long and lagged a fair bit at times (it should have at least had shorter eps, but probably could have done with a couple less eps, though I guess that would go against its whole '13' thing), some of the characters didn't warrant an entire 55 minute episode and regular plot lines throughout the series, and the suspension of disbelief being asked of the viewer was a bit much at times, plus small stuff the basketball star quite clearly never having played basketball before bugged me (those scenes were really bad).

And man, the amount of times the main kid went around accusing everyone under the sun of stuff without listening the freakin tapes got on my nerves. You'd think such a supposedly clever kid wouldn't set himself up to look like such an idiot so often... Just listen to the tapes Clay!

Maybe if I hadn't binged my way through it, I'd have a different opinion, the slow eps and little annoyances wouldn't have piled up so much, but I did and they did. So while I thought it was fine, I think it could have (and probably should have) been a lot better.