THREE THINGS: 13 REASONS WHY

Like every human on the planet I binge watched 13 Reasons Why recently and even though I enjoyed it there were a couple of things about the show that just left me confused/annoyed. So I decided why not come on here and share the three things that bugged me most about 13 Reasons Why.

* There will be spoilers.

Let's go...

1. Hannah didn't have to die.

I can already hear people screaming 'you missed the point' at me for making that statement but I stand by it and I'll explain why. For one thing the show never actually addresses Hannah's mental health issues which makes her suicide seem misplaced. Had we seen Hannah struggle in some way it might explain why she reacted so strongly to experiences that could be chalked up to mundane high school crap (with the exception of a few of course, but I'll get to those later). Because the show skips over that Hannah comes across as simply over dramatic and her suicide seems like one last bid to get attention.

Also the tapes are an amazing device for Hannah to get back at the people who hurt her and it would have been much better if she thought of ways to do something to let each person experience what they put her through (think Kill Bill set in high school). It would have been refreshing to see Hannah strike back rather than watching the oft used premise of bullied teen going off the deep end. Adding suicide into this makes Hannah's death part of the revenge and something about that doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't teach the value of being nice to people because the tapes in themselves are cruel and only bring pain to everyone involved, tossing in a suicide does nothing but glorify death as a means of retaliation. Hannah isn't a cautionary tale, she's a hero which makes me wonder do we really need this to validate teens fatalistic views on high school and bullying? Seriously don't they already take that shit way too seriously?

*Oh also Jeff's death is a cheap ploy to elicit emotion from the audience cloaked in an anti-drunk driving message.... aka utter bullshit.

2. Bryce makes zero sense as a character.

Bryce may be the one thing about 13 Reasons Why that pissed me off the most because he is hands down the most horribly developed character on the show and I mean of all the primary and secondary characters. He exists solely to add validity to Hannah's decisions which up until then don't make sense. We never learn anything about Bryce and even the episode that was supposed to be dedicated to him ends up focusing primarily on Clay and Hannah making his actions when we do see him all the more odd. By not providing us with more information about who Bryce is we have no ability to understand him or his motivations and not knowing those things makes him a one note villain.

Plus I always felt like I was being asked to suspend belief whenever Bryce popped up because everything he did seemed to come out of left field and I could never wrap my head around the fact that he was this violent serial rapist and yet no one said a thing. In a school where every little secret gets revealed Bryce manages to do horrible things without so much as a rumor? Sorry I don't buy it, he might get away with it formally because he's rich and popular but based on the crap he does just involving Hannah I find it hard to believe he would be under the radar.

3. Please no season 2.

If you watched the show it was pretty obvious the creators of 13 Reasons Why were angling for a season 2 and you most likely have a good idea what they want to tackle which is why I was hoping they wouldn't have a second season. By now we know the show was renewed and I am going to continue to hold out hope they go in a different direction. Focusing on Tyler and school shootings might have worked if we hadn't already met him but we know him now and guess what, he's not that likable! Plus if the final pictures indicate a hit list I can already promise making Clay a target next season would be a huge mistake, no one wants to see him harmed.

And those are the things that bugged me about 13 Reasons Why. Now since I just spent this post complaining here are three things I loved: 1. Literally everything about Clay 2. Jeff and Skye 3. The Sherri/Clay relationship (I really wanted that to work) and to end things on a high note...