All over the web, people are buzzing about 13 Reasons why. There are memes, annoying listicles why it’s great, even more annoying ones about why it’s horrible. Well, the other day I finally finished all 13 episodes of Netflix’s newest hit, and it was truly an experience.
First of all, this isn’t a fun thriller that you kick back and binge while chowing down on a chick parm and a pep. This show is as dark as dark can be, and it got to me.
Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) earns your sympathy rather quickly as she tells the story of how all the super popular kids knock her down one-by-one, until she ultimately takes her own life. It’s a show full of unknowns, and every actor knocks their part out of the park, especially the douchey kids.
Our hero, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette,) wins us over as the heartbroken and internally destroyed young man who never worked up the courage to tell Hannah how he really felt before it was too late. Minnette is fantastic, and it’s easy to feel what he is feeling as the narrative unfolds.
Overall, this is not a series that you really end up enjoying. It’s more of an experience that hits your emotions in a way we rarely find in film and television, and will leave you up thinking it over at night. It might not be a show that love you to relive over and over, but it’s one that will stay with you for a long time after it ends.
Chick Parm and a Pep 