I've just finished watching! I really need to vent this while it's fresh in mind...
Wow. What an incredibly important, poignant & necessary story to tell. And told so well, I was impressed.
It's been a while since a story has pulled me in so completely, and I have felt connected to at so many points in the story arc. It could've gone so wrong in so many places, could have been all cheese, could have gotten really cliché and unrealistic. But I believe it was done perfectly.
I'll skip the teen angst portion, but I have to bring up a significant topic running deep in the root of the show, and what was most apparent to me - life.
A reminder that all action has consequence. Those seemingly insignificant choices we make that ripple into the wider ocean. Good, bad and ugly. A cross-section view on the layers that impact life, and underpin the every day.
Each of the 13 reasons or events represent someone or something we can all relate to at some capacity. We see here a microscope on teenage life, but those of us long removed can still see parallels in our adult lives - we look back and remember what those days were like for us; remind ourselves of the things that made us who we are today; we look forward and see what we could be avoided; and we look presently at how we act. What we do. The decisions we make that alter our paths.
Common decency, helping one another, integrity, standing up for our peers, honesty, being brave enough to truly be ourselves. We live our adolescence striving to fulfil these; some of us still reaching, even now.
When we learn of Alex's condition at the very end, it's a reminder that while the truth did come out eventually for Hannah, the negative cycle still continues. Increasingly frustrated the lack of change, he took extreme measures. The actions of others in various points of the show, including those of his dad & himself caused Alex to fall into a similar spiral that led Hannah to her death. And it's up to us to break the cycle. To know better now. To do better for others. To be better.
A lot of people aren't happy with the ending, calling for more. While I would like to see what happened to everyone & the continuing ripple effect that followed her tapes being released, I'm actually pretty satisfied how it did end.
I know Alex's end was a call to action for major change to the cycle. The 'friends', little by little facing up to the fact their actions had a butterfly effect gave us *some* satisfaction (except Marcus. I didn't feel like he even owned up to what he did. What a jerk lol). I'm glad Hannah's parents got the tapes and were able to understand what happened in some way. I know justice would've been served to Bryce after the confession was heard.
I think it was a nice way to end the show, to leave it open. To let us take the reigns, to decide what happened and what lessons to take from it - much like the reigns we take and the choices we make in life itself.
I also listened to the S-Town podcast last week, and the ideology remains the same.
Amongst the self-entitled lives people are living these days, in a time where keyboard warriors are fearless, and in this disposable society, this type of show and content is so needed.
It costs nothing to be a decent human, to at least try to be there for other people, to really strive for meaningful connections. To make the most of every day, in a positive and enlightening way. Let's hope people listen.
J x
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