Review : 13 Reasons Why
{spoiler free}
Another one of Netflix’s brilliant creations: 13 Reasons why. As a reader of the book, I would always be critical about which plot detail they missed, or what detail they messed up. But, I am about to admit that they made something extremely better out of it, giving the characters more facets then the book had ever given.
Before diving in, some background: Hannah Baker, a high school student slits her wrists and bleeds to death in her bathtub. She records 13 tapes (by tape I mean the real, old audio cassettes that one would listen on a Walkman) before dying. Each tape telling the story about one person in her life, affecting her life, pushing her towards the edge. The person who has the tapes is on them and must listen to all and pass them on to the next person on the list, otherwise , they would be made public. These tapes are received by Clay Jensen, two weeks after her death and as he listens to each tape, he realizes what Hannah was.
The story explores the darker parts of life and main theme obviously is suicide. The story is narrated by Hannah and we see her perspective in the book. But the show took the liberty of developing each and every character separately, making them more elaborate. In the books, Clay heard all the tapes in one night, but here it takes him longer, which makes it more believable, as it is evident from the beginning that he was in love with Hannah.
Most of the story is in flashbacks and sometimes it gets very confusing whether we are in a flashback or the present. Also, the first few stories seem trivial, compared to what comes in later, but they are sad all the same. The story starts out with pity for Hannah to anger for the antagonist. And till we reach Clay’s story, it just bugs our mind: What could he have done that is more horrible than the previous stories?
The show explores the darker emotions and there are barely any parts that are a relief to the viewer, except for Clay and Hannah’s friendly banter. Most of the actors have done a fabulous job. It is said that the antagonist’s compliment is hatred. And that is what you feel for them. The only detail I did not like was Justin. Justin’s character changes totally in the story, so much so that I felt pity for him. After rethinking, I feel that the change isn’t justified after Hannah reveals his story.
The story develops a few loopholes through the episodes and the story ends for the character of Hannah and Clay, but keeping some doors open for the show to develop upon if they decide to make another season. Since I had decided to make it spoiler free, I wouldn’t talk about the ending or any of the plot details, but all in all, each and every character has been developed to keep us interested in it.
I am bad at rating so, until I come up with a better system for it, I am not going to rate any movie/ show. But in conclusion, 13 Reason Why is a very intriguing show, each episode getting a shade darker than the previous one, making you feel what the protagonist would feel at that point. The cast has portrayed their roles well and the screenplay is well written except for a few silly things like the people on the tapes threatening to hurt Clay throughout the show.