‘13 Reasons Why’ Goes Above and Beyond Its Genre
There is a certain aura around teen dramas that repels even the smallest sprinkle of interest I could possibly give to it. I tend to stay away and look down on shows airing on CW or MTV simply by the mere fact that I’d rather spend my attention elsewhere. The last teen drama I stuck with was “Freaks and Geeks,” and I would watch little snippets of more recent teen dramas here and there, like “Pretty Little Liars” or “Teen Wolf,” purely out of curiosity. Apart from “Freaks,” there was something I just found so corny about them. But this show I’m going to talk about now really forced me to challenge this stigma.
“13 Reasons Why” is based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Jay Asher, and was adapted by Brian Yorkey for Netflix. It stars Dylan Minnette as Clay Jensen, a reserved high school student who is plunged into a large mystery after the suicide of his friend Hannah Baker, played by Katherine Langford. Prior to her death, Hannah recorded thirteen incriminating tapes, each talking about a particular individual and their impact on her deteriorating livelihood. Clay comes into possession of these tapes and must go through them to bring justice for Hannah’s death.
I normally start a show out of curiosity, but this time I had several people come to me asking what I thought about it. I’ve mentioned above that I dislike shows that stink of the CW/MTV vibe. And sure enough, the first episode was giving me those vibes with an absolutely sub-par soundtrack and rather pretentious narration from Hannah. But I stuck through with this because after the first episode, I was thrown in for a loop and shown that this was absolutely not CW trash.
Nope. This was miles beyond it. I was hooked.
Minnette provides an ironically charming performance as a teenager who is supposed to apparently lack some. He approaches his character with a sense of urgency, and is absolutely perfect for that socially awkward role. But Minnette is only one of several actors, many of whom are relatively unknown apart from small television and short film roles. It’s difficult to single out any of the recurring cast, but if I had to choose, I’d have to shine a light on Brandon Flynn as Justin Foley (subject of the first tape) and Alisha Boe as Jessica Davis (subject of second tape). It might be because apart from Clay and Hannah, we spend the most time with these characters. But Flynn and Boe give immensely powerful performances as these two characters, both in their highest, happiest moments and at their most desperate, despondent stages.
But among all these amazing performances, perhaps the most telling performance from a narrative sense was from Kate Walsh, who plays Hannah’s mother Olivia. The story is told from two points in time, before and after Hannah’s death, and Walsh’s facial cues alone are already a clear distinction of which time period we’re watching. She goes from the typical, high school mother who just wants to be a part of her daughter’s life, to someone who has been damaged, and beaten down by numerous fits of emotion. Her eyes alone tell the whole story of what happened in between.
I’m saving Langford’s performance as Hannah for last because of course she had the heaviest task of all the actors: Going from a sarcastic, fun-loving, carefree high school girl to someone whose spirit is absolutely shattered by being wronged numerous times ad nauseam. Langford does this extremely well, when she’s on-screen that is. I have to mention that because if there were any moments where her performance was less than stellar, it was when she served as the show’s narrator.
And this is where the CW flashbacks come in, because honestly I felt myself getting a bit annoyed at her narration. From a tone that’s unconvincing of a soul-shattered teen, to absolutely pretentious dialogue. And BIG emphasis on “pretentious,” because what nearly got me to drop this show completely was the dialogue every now and then. Episodes would begin with her speechifying pseudo-cryptic epigrams, like “humans are a naturally social species,” or talking about the “butterfly effect.” It’s this level of pretense that drew me away from “Mr. Robot.”
I’ve mentioned a few times that the story is structured in two parts: before and after Hannah’s death. Many times these scenes are juxtaposed, conjoined by the narration of Hannah’s tapes. And much greatly to this show’s credit, the switches from the present to the flashbacks are absolute genius. The creators of this show could have taken the easy route and cut to the past with a slight audio cue, kind of like “Lost.” But nope. They went the extra mile to have the transitions flow, rather than cut. And they flow into each other so seamlessly, with clever distinctions ranging from the color of light shining on the different characters, to aesthetic cues like Clay’s present-time facial scar and Beats by Dre headphones. While the latter is blatant product placement, they also serve to show Clay inserting himself into the past vicariously through Hannah’s tapes. Little details like these really help the story flow much nicer.
As for the story, that might be what kept me from dropping this series. This is a much better story than it has any right to be, whether it be for its genre or its production. While the “one-individual-per-episode” dynamic might be hit-or-miss for some people, it competently – or rather successfully – handles some of the best character development I’ve seen in this genre. You will go from absolutely despising a given character to a complete 180-switch, sympathizing with them. And the thing is many of these characters could easily be one-dimensional, but they went incredibly in-depth to really make you care about their stories. I went from muttering “this shit is so corny” to throwing my hands in the air yelling “Boy don’t do it!”
Apart from a few words, I’ve been praising this show endlessly. But rest assured, I do have some major problems with this. One of them is the character of Tony, played by Christian Navarro. Unlike the other characters, he is not on the tapes, and instead acts as an enabler or a guiding force. He is essentially Hannah’s posthumous right-hand man, the one who is ushering Clay to finish listening to the tapes. His presence in the show started off as secure and reassuring. He would always be the only one who ever knows what’s going on, and wanted nothing more than for Clay to cooperate with Hannah’s wishes. But my problems with him started when the show attempted to flesh his character out as well. His backstory eventually led nowhere, and had no bearing on the actual plot. I’m a sucker for character development, but I feel like his character was better left as a mysterious force, rather than someone we’re supposed to sympathize with as well.
Another problem I had with this was that there are also a few too many moments where Clay’s parents try to connect with him that tend to drag on for quite a long time. What’s sad about this is that it’s probably not within the control of the show’s production. The story of Hannah’s tapes grabs you so effortlessly that the moments where Clay is having a heartfelt talk with his dad and/or mom tend to take the wind out of our sails.
My last two problems are things I can’t talk much about. The ending, because spoilers, and the soundtrack, because what else can I say other than it not appealing to me. I have this theory that all these high school dramas go for a tiny gray area around the vertex of “songs that sound indie” and “songs with relevant lyrics.” Sure enough, this vertex usually meets at the bottom of the barrel.
But I think the most powerful aspect of this show, and what it does better than most shows of its genre, is how much gravity it gives to the heavy subject matter it conveys. Being a Netflix show has worked out immensely in its favor. It will show the roughest scenes absolutely at its core. They don’t downplay or trivialize them. It gets so graphic that it’s even drew inadvertent criticism (my thoughts regarding which potentially in another article). And no, I’m not praising it like a 17 year old who just got to see his first bloody R-rated movie. But it’s usually counterproductive to sugarcoat or water down these difficult, traumatic moments.
For someone who claims to be open-minded and a lover of all media, I was pretty quick to skip this upon hearing that it was a drama that took place in high school. But as I’ve said before, that first episode threw me in for a loop, and I could not stop watching. Sure, this show has pretty significant lulls here and there, particularly in the dialogue, narration and atrocious soundtrack. But this also was one of the few shows that were able to manipulate me, emotionally and mentally. Any show that could make me go from despising a given character to downright tearing up for them deserves a place somewhere on my own personal hall of fame.
