"13 Reasons Why" (Netflix)

He was also in Lost.

 

Agreed. It's a shame that we never found out which story line was the real one! It did seem to be some sort of psychological experiment. It seemed to be yanked before the writers could come up with a satisfactory ending. I think it's amusing that the boy playing Clay was supposed to be about the same age back then as he is now!

 

I decided to watch it because there was so much hype about it. I liked Clay and Hannah but I hated almost everybody else. Some actors are (or look) too old for the part they're playing, I don't identify at all with the USA high school stuff and the storytelling was too slow, but I decided to give it a chance because of Clay and Hannah.

At first you may think that Hannah is such a drama queen and that nothing that happened to her was reason enough to kill herself, but it wasn't until the last two (brilliant) episodes that you realise that every little insignificant thing led to what made her take such a decision.

The ending leaves many questions unanswered but I think a second season might not be as good as the first one.

 

Another season has not been confirmed, though there is enthusiasm for it by the producers.

The situation is pretty much the same as with Big Little Lies, a mini-series based on a single novel. Both were hits and were very well received critically, and so the temptation is it ride on that success for another season. And in both cases, I too feel that another season would be gilding the lily.

 

I didn't finish watching when I made my first comment; now that I'm done I can talk more completely about this disturbing show.
First of all I am way out of the target demo-but I thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as most of my fellow Hoffmanites. Don't go anywhere near Reddit, though-lots of hate for it over there. I had heard nothing about this show, knew nothing about the book, which was apparently very popular, so I had no preconceived ideas going in. I was not prepared for the very graphic nature of some of the content-the suicide scene itself is horror movie worthy (done so, according to the producers, to really drive home the idea of "Suicide=bad"). This may be one of the most drawn-out shows I've ever seen. It's an amazing coincidence that it took the normal amount of episodes for a series, 13, to resolve a plot with 13 tapes at the center of it /s. Ironically it took a lot of willpower to not binge it all at once; I could have been done with this in a day but I wanted to keep the anticipation going. I thought it was very well acted, written, and constructed, even if some of the characters motivations were puzzling. Maybe my biggest complaint would be the fairly unfulfilling ending to a show with such a huge build up of drama. There was a prologue that followed the show which explained many of the choices the producers made, (and where we hear Katherine Langford's very Aussie accent) and I think given the show's material is essential viewing.

 

While Netflix doesn't release ratings figures, Twitter does!

13RW is officially the most tweeted about show of 2017, thus far. The show has amassed more than 11 million tweets since its launch on March 30. I guess that will increase the pressure for another go around, but it would have to somehow include Hannah, as she's the most tweeted about character (followed by Clay).

Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why’ Is Most Tweeted About Show of 2017 (EXCLUSIVE)

 

I kinda hope they don't try to do a sequel. There were some things I just wanted to leave to the imagination as to how they played out.

 

I found it to be a tough slog. The story was just interesting enough to keep me watching, but I think it would have been better served as a 2-hour movie. The pace was excruciatingly slow, every episode really spins its wheels. At times it felt very affected, like an after-school special. The writing was fair and plot points were frequently contrived. (I found the constant use of this type of dialogue tedious: "Get in the car. Why? Just get in the car ... Come with me. Why? Just come with me .... Why? Just listen to the tapes ... etc"). Very few moments/performances came across as genuine or moving. It wasn't terrible, they just didn't have enough solid material to fill 13 episodes.

 

I'm two thirds of the way through and totally get this.

Meanwhile, for better or worse, it's official - a second season will be coming.

 

Not sure how they'll format the next season. It will be missing the main characters narration.

 

Well, I'm assuming they'd just have another character narrate the next season depending on the story line...or maybe multiple characters?

 

There were certainly enough loose threads at the end there to continue the story, but I think it totally dilutes the powerful message this show sent by trying to go to the well again. It's already the most notorious show on right now, leave well enough alone. I predict Tyler will be the new narrator. He was everywhere.

 

My wife made me watch it.

It was slow moving and too long but it was well done.

I agree Clay and Hannah were the best.

 

This from an Entertainment Weekly story about season 2, an interview with showrunner Brian Yorkey:

Are you all done with cassette tapes?
The tapes are still obviously on people’s minds, but there is a different sort of analog technology that plays a hugely important role in season 2. So the cassette tapes aren’t at the center of it — those two boxes of tapes are still hanging around and matter to people — but there will be a new piece of technology for 13-year-olds to Google and try to understand what it was.

Anyone care to speculate on what he might be talking about?

 

The pictures that photographer kid was hanging?

 

Interesting idea but Yorkey did say it was analog-I guess you could say photographs developed the old-fashioned way is analog? It would go a long way to confirming who I thought would be the new narrator (Tyler), but Yorkey said it would be a combination of stories told from the various kids.

 

Maybe each episode will be narrated by the other subjects in each tape (tape 1 Justin, tape 2 Jessica, tape 3 Alex, etc)

 

Yeah he was shooting film & developing in a darkroom, so that is "analog" in the sense that it is not digital; and in what I think is his final scene we see him taking down a picture of the kid who stood up for him from a collection of other pictures of various kids hanging on line (sorry I can't remember all the names now)... I was thinking at the time that these pictures are probably next seasons set of "tapes".

 

I'd like to know who this show is aimed at? It sure isn't high school kids. It seems like someone came up with a story and decided that the scene would be set in a high school. Most of the acting is sub par in my opinion. I only checked it out because of the hub bub and a friend told me his 12yr old daughter started to watch this without him knowing because friends in school were watching. I think since he has put some parental controls in place for Netflix.

 

On the Reddit subreddit for this show people were suggesting it might be VHS tapes, but I don't remember seeing anything like that on the series.

 

The New Yorker just ran a piece about the series that contains numerous spoilers - real ones - and no warning whatsoever of them. Ugh. I'm glad I already finished watching it all.

I'm also with those that felt the use of flashbacks was extremely well done. The final episode was all the more powerful for it.

 

Anyone who appreciates quality entertainment. I don't see why one has to break it down to arbitrary age ranges. You could ask the same question of Stranger Things, and yet that show too was just as massive a hit as this one is, across a wide demographic.

 

POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW.....

I just finished watching it today. Some of these scenes are completely heartbreaking. The finale was harrowing.

The good part? The acting, mostly. Great chemistry between the characters. Lots of the dialogue was spot on, and the craziness at Jessica's party seemed very real.
Some have said that it romanticized suicide(it seems to, as a guarantee of notoriety) or reduced a serious discussion to a mere podcast(well, not sure).
I think Hannah's final scene took care of most of that. In my opinion, that was a big negative reinforcement.

The OK part, the music and most of the direction.

The bad? It was TOO DAMN LONG. There simply wasn't enough story to make one episode per tape necessary, and some seemed waayyy dragged out. I thought the Walking Dead producers took the show over or something.

Some parts were silly, the way that Tony(Bruno Mars lookalike) kept whipping out cassettes over and over to shut Clay down, for instance. If I were Clay, I would have been like "Would you please cut that sh** out already?" and maybe whack him on the head with one.

I also found myself questioning a few things.

I think Clay, once he made the stupid declaration that he was going to expose everyone, in the real world would have been in a world of hurt.
The tapes would normally have been either everywhere or known about by everyone relatively quickly.
Also, how could be not have been busted for the pot if a cop was there?
What about the obvious conflict of interest in the lawsuit? It's my understanding that this wasn't in the book, and I get why. It doesn't really work.
And not to be a brute, but didn't Hannah sabotage herself on several occasions, either walking away from help(selfishly expecting to be followed) or rejecting it entirely?

Those aspects aside, and a few things that may have slid past QC, it was enjoyable and it makes me so happy that neither the internet nor smartphones existed when I was in high school.


Dan

 

Actually, this is a fair observation, made by the show creators in the follow-up "Beyond The Reasons" documentary.

 

Ah. I have yet to check that out. Thanks.


Dan