TV Review: 13 REASONS WHY: Season 1, Episodes 1-13 [Netflix]

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 4: Tape 2, Side B

Tyler Down (Devin Druid)’s story-line in Tape 2, Side B was the first clearly criminal incident involving Hannah Baker in 13 Reasons Why. Tyler’s rationale for stalking Hannah and taking pictures of her without her permission, even if what he said was the truth (Druid portrayed his statement in an authentic way), was immaterial. The act was still an intrusion of Hannah’s privacy. Capturing someone “in life” is cool but following them home and taking pictures of them in various states of undress is not art. It’s unlawful, especially if they are under age. Tyler knew that, in part, which is why he did what he did clandestinely.

The journey that Hannah Baker took the listener of her tapes on around her town, the meaning of it, revisiting traumas, drawing the listener into her narrative, came into its own when Clay arrived outside Tyler’s bedroom with its cracked window panes. 13 Reasons Why became a unique experience during that moment in the episode.

That moment became surreal when Marcus Cole (Steven Silver) showed up wearing his Halloween costume and lied that he hadn’t listened to all of the tapes. No one could listen to those tapes up to that point, having gone to Tyler’s window themselves in the past, having thrown a rock at the window, and then stopped listening to the tapes (or skimmed over the remaining tapes). It’s impossible, especially since the author killed themselves soon after completing the tapes. Curiosity and a need to understand would destroy any mental blocks that a normal person could put up in opposition.

Later in Tape 2, Side B, Tyler indicated that he liked Hannah and wanted to date her. The moment Tyler said that, the automatic mental retort was: “If you liked and wanted to ask her out, why stalk her?” Tyler’s response to Hannah’s incredulous rebuff showed just how detached from reality Tyler was and how vindictive he could be (e.g. sending out the picture of Hannah and Courtney semi-dressed, kissing) when scorned.

Tyler was a truly sad individual, saying during 13 Reasons Why that standing on the outside and observing life was better than participating in it. If life was so bad or difficult to deal with, so troublesome that it should be avoided, why was Tyler so adamant about photographing it? Why was Tyler so drawn to photographing individuals that seemed unusually alive, like Hannah? It was a contradiction and Tyler could not even see it or if he could, he avoided its implications.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 5: Tape 3, Side A

Tape 3, Side A introduced one of the best characters in 13 Reasons Why, Courtney Crimsen (Michele Selene Ang), a character that was in constant conflict with themselves – the past versus the present, desires versus vicious reality.

The facade that Courtney propagated because of her sexuality and her past traumas was fascinating.  In Tape 3, Side A, Courtney showed that she would say or do anything to keep the fact that she was gay a secret. The trauma of having two gay fathers (i.e. the ridicule from other students while growing up) had bored into the psyche of Courtney’s being. That cruelty had lacerated her brain and created open wounds. Courtney had no intention of bringing those insults and comments, magnified because her parents were gay, down onto her shoulders by coming out of the closet.

When Courtney explained her past, her perspective on her past actions to Clay Jensen, the viewer got Courtney’s reasoning. The viewer emotionally understand her. Courtney Crimsen’s actions were still incredibly selfish but just like Hannah’s traumas prompted her to push Clay away during their moment of greatest intimacy, Courtney’s traumas prompted her to use Hannah as a shield against any possible gay rumors.

The first season of 13 Reasons Why was not just the story of one bullied girl, it was the story of multiple bullied people and how the results of bullying could manifest themselves in different ways. Hannah Baker’s story was one of those ways. Courtney Crimsen and Tyler Down’s stories were two others.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 6: Tape 3, Side B

Like Tape 2, Side A, Tape 3, Side B showed the abusive world that Hannah Baker existed in. What “curdled the milk” even further in Tape 3, Side B was the near destruction of hope in Hannah’s mind that someone could look past her unearned reputation and see her as normal girl. That hope, that someone could be interested in and possibly like her was snuffed out by Marcus Cole (Steven Silver)’s under-the-counter, unwarranted, second base move. Even if Hannah was that “easy,” in what reality did Marcus believe he existed in where he could touch her like that having spoken to her across a table for less than three minutes? It was like Marcus was trying to get a rise out of Hannah. It was obvious that he was performing for his jock audience but Marcus didn’t even see a hopeful, responsive, and open-minded human being sitting next to him, someone who wanted to “talk” to him. Marcus’ mind had been made up about Hannah and his potential conduct towards her before he ever arrived at the diner.

If Hannah Baker’s One Dollar Valentine’s date had been with Zach Dempsey (Ross Butler) and not Marcus Cole, Hannah’s tapes may never have been created. Walking back into the diner after partaking in, from a save vantage point, Hannah’s humiliation, took guts on Zach’s part. It was an illustration of Zach’s conscience. What followed was a subtextual but heart-felt apology to Hannah about what had happened.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 7: Tape 4, Side A

Following his positive actions at the end of Tape 3, Side B, the melancholy story between Zach Dempsey and Hannah Baker went from grey to black in Tape 4, Side A. Hannah was very perceptive. She calculated, through everything that she’d seen, that Zack may have been a unique type of person, a kindred spirit. When he tried to “talk” to Hannah, to ask her out, the waters between the two of them, because of Bryce Walker and Marcus Cole, were poisonous. Hannah didn’t believe a word that Zach said. His sincerity met her incredulity and Hannah’s incredulity was ironclad, born of recent traumatic experiences and hoodwinks. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Zach’s revenge for his public and hurtful rejection by Hannah was petty and malicious. He had no idea how much Hannah emotionally needed the notes from Communications class and how not receiving them reinforced her negative feelings for herself.

Hannah’s heart-felt letter to Zach was a bridge between them, an olive branch, and emotional blitz perpetrated by Hannah that Zach hadn’t been expecting and one he couldn’t respond to constructively. It was a letter from a person that some people really didn’t see as a person.

It was one of the best moments (“Why me?”) in Tape 4, Side A but not the best. That belonged to Clay Jensen and the basketball game that he hallucinated during multiple times. It was a glorious domino effect: Clay sees Hannah’s gory, bleeding body in the middle of the basket court, then he keyed Zach’s car with a specific “I know” message,  an old friend showed up, then the next day Zack and his mother showed up, and the Hannah-to-Zach letter’s continued existence was revealed. It was great writing by Elizabeth Benjamin and excellent acting by Dylan Minnette.

Zach Dempsey was a complicated individual, seeing one truth, as Tyler Down did, while avoiding others. Zach Dempsey openly disliked / threatened Tyler Down because of the pictures that he took of Hannah Baker and Courtney Crimsen but still hung out with Bryce Walker as if he had never heard Hanna Baker’s tape about Bryce. Zack Dempsey was a hypocrite.