Thirteen Reasons Why: Season 1 [2017] (Serial Review)


Creator: Brian Yorkey
Starring: Dylan Minette, Katherine Langford
Dur: Each episode had a run time of about 45-55 mins
Genre: Drama
Rating: 4/10

13 Reasons Why  is the number one trending show according to IMDB as of the day of this blog post. It was publicized quite a bit and created ripples with its release. Honestly, it was the hype that encouraged me to view this teen drama and I regret doing so. 13 Reasons Why didn’t have the makings of a great show. I cannot really understand what attracted people to it. Rotten Tomatoes rated it a 7.2/10 which was fairly high considering the quality of the series. The premise is perhaps the most fascinating aspect besides the acting which was really good and deserving of the praise it received. The show had little else going on for it.

13 Reasons Why tells the story of Hannah Baker played by Katherine Langford who won a Golden Globe for her acting, who commits suicide and leaves behind a mysterious set of tapes detailing 13 reasons why she chose to take the extreme step. Reviewers have praised the mature content of the series which is honest and candid not to mention emotionally brutal. School life isn’t as good or rosy at it seems or should be, it can be quite traumatic for many a young person. This reality is brought out rather strongly over the course of the series. It also explores other aspects of student’s lives like the party culture, the hooking up culture and the shaming culture. The content isn’t very graphic although the language used is.

The show is quite dull for the most part. Frankly, the only reason I got through the whole series was for the sake of writing this review. While the show shocked me out of any idealistic thinking on teenage life it also offered me food for reflection particularly on the theme of friendship and educational accompaniment. I cannot help but shudder at the thought that there are so many Hannah Bakers out there who feel that nothing is going right for them and that they are alone in the world. I feel challenged to avoid behaving like any of Hannah’s “friends” whose hurting behaviours are well explored and documented in the series, and feel like being that someone to somebody that he/she who can be with them during their loneliness and pain and help see the light that comes at the end of their dark tunnel.

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