The first episode of “13 Reasons Why,” the new Netflix show produced by the popular Selena Gomez, shows the dark side of high school life. And after seeing the first episode, Valley is excited to watch the rest of the series ASAP.
The show is set to recount the life of Hannah Baker, a teenage girl who committed suicide in the weeks before the show begins. Its plot structure is different in that we see pre-suicide flashbacks and present day aftermath events. We meet Hannah through our protagonist, Clay Jensen, the awkward, lanky boy who had a major crush on Hannah, although she seemed to be unaware of his feelings for her.
Within the first few scenes, Clay finds a box on his front porch that holds 13 cassettes. He soon discovers that Hannah left these for the people who led her to ultimately end her life. Each tape includes the reason why she saw these certain people as somewhat responsible for her decision to commit suicide. Yet from viewers’ perspectives, Clay seems like a great guy — what could he have possibly done to come up on these tapes?
Hannah herself is quite unpredictable and different from other people her age. She is the atypical new girl in school who thrives off of playing games. It seems like she doesn’t care what other people think about her. We see a few scenes where her wild nature is revealed, especially when she starts flirting with a boy on the football team. It’s also revealed her different type of personality may be because of her overbearing mother who seems to be helicoptering over her about school and her studies.
However, Hannah’s first kiss is the actual climax of the first episode. The chaos of a girl we’ve originally met becomes the quintessential teenage girl who wants a special moment with the boy she likes. She trusts him. Soon after that though, we find out what started the saga of why she wanted to kill herself. It’s dark. It’s unexpected. But above all, it’s real.
Finally, we learn why Clay himself may have been a part of why Hannah died. It’s the beginning of a longer story, obviously, but it’s definitely enough to get viewers hooked for the next episode. Above all, it leaves viewers thinking one question: Who or what was actually the main reason Hannah Baker killed herself?
Valley can’t wait to watch the rest of the epic series “13 Reasons Why.”
