If you are one of those people that have consistently worked to overcome the stigma surrounding mental health and the rising rates of teen suicide, 13 Reasons Why is the series that you need to watch? Although the show got mixed critical responses from the audience, it isn’t surprising that the show gained popularity and prominence pretty soon.
This American teen drama web series is created by Brian Yorkey and is based on a novel written by Jay Asher. The primary premise of the show follows the life of Clay Jensen after the suicide of Hannah Baker. The show isn’t as simple as the plot suggests. From educational prospects to including some raw and harsh reality of the present generation, the series manages to highlight a lot of things that are often overlooked.
The first season of the show was released on Netflix in 2017 and received a good initial response from the audience and critics. Later in the year, the show was renewed for a second season, following up with a 2018 release. The third and the fourth seasons were consecutively released in 2019 and 2020.
The fourth season was the last and final season of the series, which did gain a lot of viewership, thanks to the relatable and convincing premise of the show.
Contents
The plot of 13 Reasons Why follows the life of Clay Jensen, who finds an audio cassette lying outside his house’s entrance. Curious to find what’s in the tape, Clay gets his father’s boombox to plug in the audio cassette to listen to the contents. Soon enough after listening for the first few minutes, Clay realizes that the tape has been recorded by his deceased classmate, Hannah Baker.
However, while listening to the audio, Clay gets startled by his mother and ends up dropping the boombox and destroying it in the process. Intrigued to learn more about Hannah’s story and the cause behind her death, Clay gets his friend Tony’s Walkman to listen to the rest of the audio.
In the cassette, Hannah describes her friendship with two students, Jessica and Alex. While she meets Jessica at school, Hannah describes that she met Alex at a coffee shop. When Jessica and Alex get together in a relationship the friendship between the three falls out eventually, leaving Hannah alone.
However, the worst happened when Jessica and Alex broke up and Jessica ends up publicly humiliating and blaming Hannah for the same. In the meantime, Hannah’s extremely distraught mother ends up finding scribbles in her daughter’s notebook that make her believe that her daughter was likely bullied in school.
Before Hannah’s death, when Clay ends up approaching her to pursue a relationship with her, it was Alex who ended up being a problem in between. With all the revelations and indications in hand, Hannah’s mom, Olivia Baker seeks help from the school’s principal to look into her suspicions of bullying and they find extremely disturbing things that no one possibly expected.
This American teen drama features a range of new faces and rising actors who have made their impression on the audience with impeccable acting skills. The primary cast of the show includes:
We live in a world where mental health is often treated as an accessory. People are either too passionate about the subject or they don’t care at all. Also, we are all busy living our own life that we fail to pay attention to the people around us and take notice of the personal struggles they go through.
The main message of 13 Reasons Why highlights the struggles and shortcomings that the majority of teens and youth undergo in silence. It touches base with topics like depression, suicide, sexual assault, substance abuse, bullying, etc., all of which are triggering topics but ones worth talking about.
Do situations depicted in 13 Reasons Why happen in real life? The answer is yes. We lost thousands of youths to suicide, bullying, assault, etc.
However, when it comes to the storyline of 13 Reasons Why, isn’t inspired by anyone’s life in general. Instead, the series is inspired by the novel of the same name that was released in 2007. The novel, authored by Jay Asher, influenced the first season of the show.
13 Reasons Why has four successful seasons with 49 episodes in total. The show has managed to articulate amazing acting and even better themes along the way.
Episode 1 – Tape 1, Side A
Episode 2 – Tape 1, Side B
Episode 3 – Tape 2, Side A
Episode 4 – Tape 2, Side B
Episode 5 – Tape 3, Side A
Episode 6 – Tape 3, Side B
Episode 7 – Tape 4, Side A
Episode 8 – Tape 4, Side B
Episode 9 – Tape 5, Side A
Episode 10 – Tape 5, Side B
Episode 11 – Tape 6, Side A
Episode 12 – Tape 6, Side B
Episode 13 – Tape 7, Side A
Episode 1 – The First Polaroid
Episode 2 – Two Girls Kissing
Episode 3 – The Drunk Slut
Episode 4 – The Second Polaroid
Episode 5 – The Chalk Machine
Episode 6 – The Smile at the End of the Dock
Episode 7 – The Third Polaroid
Episode 8 – The Little Girl
Episode 9 – The Missing Page
Episode 10 – Smile, Bitches
Episode 11 – Bryce and Chloe
Episode 12 – The Box of Polaroids
Episode 13 – Bye
Episode 1 – Yeah, I am the New Girl
Episode 2 – If You’re Breathing, You’re a Liar
Episode 3 – The Good Person is Indistinguishable from the bad
Episode 4 – Angry, Young and Man
Episode 5 – Nobody’s Clean
Episode 6 – You Can Tell the Heart of a Man by How he Grieves
Episode 7 – There are several Problems with Clay
Episode 8 – In High School, Even on a Good Day it’s Hard to Tell Who’s On Your Side
Episode 9 – Always Waiting for the Next Bad News
Episode 10 – The World Closing In
Episode 11 – There are a few things I Haven’t Told You
Episode 12 – And Then The Hurricane Hit
Episode 13 – Let the Dead Bury the Dead
Episode 1 – Winter Break
Episode 2 – College Tour
Episode 3 – Valentine’s Day
Episode 4 – Senior Camping Trip
Episode 5 – House Party
Episode 6 – Thursday
Episode 7 – College Interview
Episode 8 – Acceptance/Rejection
Episode 9 – Prom
Episode 10 – Graduation
If you haven’t watched 13 Reasons Why yet, you probably don’t know that the show is inspired by a novel of the same name. While the show hasn’t been banned and it is still available for streaming on Netflix, the book is banned in certain schools across the U.S.
One school in Florida especially banned the book in the school because they didn’t think that the elements of discussion in the book were something suitable for teenagers and children. They stopped the book’s open reading in the school as well.
If you were worried that the show has been banned, it hasn’t. You can still watch it on Netflix.
Since 13 Reasons Why Contains Trigger Elements, we’d recommend you watch this with caution and keep yourself safe. If possible, watch this with an open mind and understand that situations like Hannah Bakers are pretty prevalent in today’s world.
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13 Reasons Why is available for online streaming on Netflix.
Yes, Season 4 is the last season of the show, as suggested by the creators.
No, 13 Reasons Why is based on a novel under the same name, written by Jay Asher.
Despite the feature of teenagers and students in the show, there are certain elements and discussions in 13 Reasons Why that make it unsuitable for kids under the age of 18. You will find mentions of suicide, self-harm, and even sexual violence, which can be triggering for children to watch.
Despite being in the midst of a lot of controversies, 13 Reasons Why managed to steal the attention of the viewers by exposing topics of discussion that we are often not comfortable talking about. Discussions around suicide, bullying, sexual abuse, HIV, etc. sparked an interest in people.
Although some of the topics of discussion in the show can be triggering for people, it manages to present vulnerable situations in a very sensitive manner, which is one of the many reasons why the show has managed to attract the attention of the viewers.
The show contains Mature content including murder, police brutality, violence, drug use, sexual abuse, suicide, etc. which can be triggering. Since these topics are quite sensitive, the show is rated R and parental supervision is highly recommended.
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