Hannah Baker, live and in stereo. No encore, no reenactments, and  this time, absolutely no requests.

First a book and now a Netflix adaption, 13 Reasons Why is a young adult, one-season show that is sweeping the nation with its narrative about a girl who took her life for 13 reasons, or rather, 13 people.

A quick, spoiler-free synopsis: the main character Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) after reeling from a classmate, Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) committing suicide finds a shoe box on his doorstep. Inside he finds 7 tapes, 13 sides with her voice on them.

Hannah recorded the things that happened to her that drove her to end it all, and she points the finger at everyone who had wronged her. Clay realizes that he must be one of these people though he feels like he never did anything wrong. Clay makes his way through the tapes and has a new perspective about his classmates.

Clay makes it his personal mission to avenge Hannah and her memory and the other 12 reasons are after him for it. The plot thickens and is more intricate; however, the point of the show is to go on the journey with Clay to find out all the reasons so you will have to watch to find out more about the actual events that took place.

The premise turns some people off as it seems pretty awful to blame others for something that someone did to themselves, and I would agree if the reasons were things like “So and so didn’t text me back today.”

Hannah’s reasons involve betrayal, big time crime, and physical and mental abuse. The show tackles suicide but its main focus is bullying in the teen environment more than anything and something that gives the show a lot of criticism was that some perceived it at romanticizing suicide and mental illness. This is a bit of an issue considering that Hannah is a likable character; some say it’s saying it’s okay to hurt yourself and blame others but in my opinion the earlier point still stands.

I will say it again because it’s very important: Hannah’s reasons are not petty teenage drama; they are actual issues and they are very serious, most probably wouldn’t be able to handle everything the character had to go through either.

Another thing is that the show is made for more mature teens, not children. If someone takes the show with a grain of salt than that is their issue, not the show runners. People like to dissect the show and say that Hannah should have done this and that but people should have treated her with respect and that is exactly what the writers were trying to hit home.

The writing was great and as far as the directing and acting go, it was a superb thing to watch. The show is full of flashbacks and they use very clever ways to switch between them and the present, it is not hard to follow at all.

The story is suspenseful and it’s so easy to feel like you are Clay, getting these tapes and wondering what you did to that poor girl in your math class.

The few gripes I have is that some of the pacing is a little off, like they draw out certain episodes and plot lines to fill the hour gap but even then it’s still enjoyable.

Some of the dialogue can get very annoying, in the beginning everyone is talking about things that you can’t know yet as a reader and they say things like “What do you think?” and “You’ll understand later,” it gets a little frustrating after a while. At one point there was a full five minute scene where there was an interaction where somebody asked a bunch of questions to the other character and he just kept dodging every single one with basically the same words. It was annoying.

With these minor blemishes, the show really hit me hard as it did for many others who watched it. I think it really showed how bullying can be so much harmful “than a couple of jokes” and how doing nothing is just as bad as doing it yourself.

Having a show that actually isn’t afraid to show this kind of stuff and make it as realistic as possible is very brave of the writers and I think it is safe to say it payed off.

If there is anything to be taken away from this series is that if you see someone getting bullied and picked on, you don’t have to be some amazing hero and stick up for them, you just have to show them you care. It’s easier said than done I know, but a little can go so far.

I for one, is happy that a show with this message is around. I give it a rating of 9/10 and 4.5 stars. If you have the emotional capacity to watch this series, I would highly recommend following the two rules: listen to the tapes and then pass them on.