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

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 8: Tape 4, Side B

Tape 4, Side B was another brick in the dismantling of Hannah Baker’s will to live. At any other time, if Ryan Shaver’s theft and betrayal had occurred, Hannah may have been able to shrug it off. Hannah would have been able to cancel her budding friendship with Tyler then move on to someone who would respect her wishes, her friendship, and its boundaries. Because of what Hannah had already endured beforehand, Ryan’s actions were a cinder block tied to her ankle, dragging her deeper into the abyss of despair and ridicule.

The even sadder part of the situation was that Ryan didn’t know that Hannah had grown into a shell. Ryan didn’t know that he and his friendship could have been the way out of that state-of-mind for Hannah. Instead, Ryan’s aggrandizing actions harden that shell.

Tape 4, Side B contained a preview of what eventually befell Hannah. The description that Tony Padilla gave of Hannah Baker’s death scene and how the coroners handle her corpse, like it was a piece of meat with no history (or future), was almost like a self-profiling prophecy. How the coroners treated Hannah Baker’s dead body was exactly how Hannah felt about herself when she decided to take her own life.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 9: Tape 5, Side A

During most of 13 Reasons Why, tape subjects one-through-ten knew about the claim Hannah Baker made on Tape 5, Side A. Everyone that heard Tape 5, Side A wanted to believe that the rape that Hannah described was made up. They only had Hannah’s version of events, Jessica Davis couldn’t remember the attack, Justin Foley was denying everything (going so far as to be defensive about it), and Bryce Walker was still in the dark about Hannah’s tapes. Seeing the event happen, the viewer knew why Jessica had been drinking more and more and why her behavior had become erratic. The fascinating part was that consciously, Jessica didn’t know why she was drinking more and more. The desire to drink was a voice in Jessica’s head, a need that grew louder and more urgent. I believe Jessica’s subconscious mind was trying to keep her conscious mind from remembering the rape. One substance that negatively affects memory and recall is alcohol.

Because of what Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe) was going through, Boe’s character had to emote a complicated set of emotions and Justin Foley (Brandon Flynn) had to counter with increasing concern coupled with the awareness of what he had allowed to happen at Jessica’s party. The psychological situations thrust upon each of these characters in Tape 5, Side A caused both actors to turn in some of their best performances of the season.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 10: Tape 5, Side B

There are times when a friendship between a popular kid and a non-popular kid feels false or forced. In Tape 5, Side B, the friendship between and Clay Jensen and Jeff Atkins (Brandon Larracuente) felt nothing like that. On the contrary, their friendship was mutually beneficial. That friendship culminated at Jessica Davis’ party where Atkins watched out for, gave advice to, and prompted Clay as if Jeff was Clay’s big brother. He, like the viewer, was rooting for Clay with Hannah at Jessica Davis’ party.

One of the most engrossing aspects of 13 Reasons Why‘s story-line was that it was not content to be the narrative of a girl who was driven to take her own life. The narrative of 13 Reasons Why spidered outward from Hannah. Those new storylines, though they were connected to Hannah through two degrees, three degrees, or four degrees of separation, sprang to life after Hannah’s death and before that death occurred.

One of those story-lines was between Clay Jensen and Jeff Atkins. Another was between Hannah Baker and Sheri Holland (Ajiona Alexus). The former was far stronger, narrative-wise, than the latter because it existed on a more substantive foundation. That led to Jeff’s death being more powerful than the piteous, emotional result of Sheri’s poor decision-making on the night of Jessica Davis’ party.

13 Reasons Why: Season 1, Episode 11: Tape 6, Side A

Tape 6, Side A was a bittersweet episode for Clay Jensen and contained Dylan Minnette’s finest performance of the season. The underbelly of the second biggest event of Clay’s life (almost having sex for the first time) was revealed in Tape 6, Side A. That reveal was a sledgehammer to Clay Jensen’s stomach, doubling him over with aching guilt and understanding.

It was within the confines of Tape 6, Side A where Clay found out just how much Hannah Baker had been through, the mental state that had created, and how much Hannah had needed Clay, even-though she’d pushed him away.

Reliving everything at once (the burst of emotions – dread, helplessness, and other feelings and sensations washing up then back down the inside of her skull) must have been hell for Hannah, a sensory overload. Hannah didn’t even know that her physical traumas had affected her so deeply until she was physically with Clay. It made what could have been between Clay and Hannah that much more star-crossed.

Tony Padilla, the caretaker of Hannah Baker’s tapes and Clay Jensen’s mental state, had been an excellent motivating force up to that point in the narrative of 13 Reasons Why, a safe harbor that Clay could land on whenever Clay needed. Tony’s importance was at its apex during Tape 6, Side A. Tony was there for Clay during pivotal moments in Tape 6, Side A as if they were life-long friends. Perhaps they had been. Perhaps Hannah knew that.

It was never revealed how Hannah Baker knew that Tony Padilla was the type of sympathetic person that he was or how she knew that he would follow her wishes after her death. Perhaps Hannah was just a good judge of character, like she was with Clay Jensen and Zach Dempsey.

The person that wasn’t a good judge of character in Tape 6, Side A was Jessica Davis when it came to Justin Foley. Justin’s admission in Tape 6, Side A about Jessica’s rape proved that fact. Guilt and Jessica’s increasingly erratic behavior prompted Justin to speak up but why didn’t chivalry and decency prompt him to protect Jessica during her party? Bryce Walker had always been there for abused and neglected Justin no matter what but that didn’t buy Bryce a Rape Pass. Justin should have kicked the door down and saved Jessica when Byrce threw Justin out and locked the door but he didn’t. Justin let the rape happen out of friendship, fear, and obligation.

Where was Justin’s obligation to Jessica? Justin became the boyfriend that Jessica needed after the events of her party but it was too late by that point. The destructive seeds had already been planted. Justin and Jessica’s relationship was on a Doomsday clock that was counting backwards to zero. Nothing could stop it. Not being the best boyfriend that a girl had ever had. Not alcohol. Not repressed memories.

Justin had grown to understand part of that, finally, in Tape 6, Side A, which is why he said what he said to Jessica. Justin couldn’t protect Jessica in the past. He had already failed in that regard. He could protect Jessica from a predator in the present. The only way to do that was with the truth, a truth that Jessica was already beginning to remember.