Normally I really don't like binging shows as I feel like individual episodes tend to lack the impact they could have if I pace myself a bit better, but I found it hard to resist here. There's the danger of everything blurring together.
I have some mixed feelings. The show is extremely powerful and caused me to break down in tears on a couple of occasions. It's a very important story that doesn't shy away from any of the ugliness. There's some wonderful acting.
Outside of that, the writing and characters can be distractingly... off. It's hard to say what it is. I can't imagine people, especially teenagers, acting the way many of these ones do. Maybe it's just American high school culture that I don't get. People - especially Clay - make huge leaps in logic and reasoning while the story doesn't give justification for it happening. It didn't make sense to me that Clay is labelled as a nerd (just because he makes Star Wars references? Seriously?) and yet is a super popular person that everyone likes. Everyone here is ridiculously attractive. The jocks (arseholes) rule the school and run around whooping and pushing everyone about. The teachers shout at people for not taking sports/cheerleading seriously and act like a crime is being committed.
Hannah herself is her own worst enemy. She says she feels invisible and yet is seemingly the object of desire of everyone, getting invited to the parties and making friends. School for me was being completely unknown, thoroughly ignored, and I struggled to identify with what was shown in the show. But the show evolves and makes you care deeply.
Again, I think I'm letting my lack of understanding of American culture skew my opinions (what's with all the kids calling their dad's "sir"? Why are all these kids driving? How are they able to move about the school so freely? Why are they having routine guidance counsellor appointments? Why are they doing the magazine/yearbook/dances? How come they spend all their evenings out at parties or just wandering around? etc ).
The character of Tony is especially odd and everything he did made little sense. The frustratingly vague answers were present from start to finish and he was the worst culprit. Clay listens to the tapes UNBEARABLY slowly for no reason other than to give us 13 separate episodes. After a very good opening episode things become very muddled for quite a while, but the later episodes are a real gut punch. There is some brutally unpleasant stuff to watch, and the warnings at the starts of a few episodes are important.
Overall, it's a show I'm really glad I watched and will need to roll it around in my head for a while. I did feel it went around in circles several times and the teenage angst may be too much for some viewers to bear. I fear it trivialises depression to an extent and doesn't realistically portray essential avenues of help. It ended without a complete resolution, needing more.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2017-04-15T18:56:57Z
Normally I really don't like binging shows as I feel like individual episodes tend to lack the impact they could have if I pace myself a bit better, but I found it hard to resist here. There's the danger of everything blurring together.
I have some mixed feelings. The show is extremely powerful and caused me to break down in tears on a couple of occasions. It's a very important story that doesn't shy away from any of the ugliness. There's some wonderful acting.
Outside of that, the writing and characters can be distractingly... off. It's hard to say what it is. I can't imagine people, especially teenagers, acting the way many of these ones do. Maybe it's just American high school culture that I don't get. People - especially Clay - make huge leaps in logic and reasoning while the story doesn't give justification for it happening. It didn't make sense to me that Clay is labelled as a nerd (just because he makes Star Wars references? Seriously?) and yet is a super popular person that everyone likes. Everyone here is ridiculously attractive. The jocks (arseholes) rule the school and run around whooping and pushing everyone about. The teachers shout at people for not taking sports/cheerleading seriously and act like a crime is being committed.
Hannah herself is her own worst enemy. She says she feels invisible and yet is seemingly the object of desire of everyone, getting invited to the parties and making friends. School for me was being completely unknown, thoroughly ignored, and I struggled to identify with what was shown in the show. But the show evolves and makes you care deeply.
Again, I think I'm letting my lack of understanding of American culture skew my opinions (what's with all the kids calling their dad's "sir"? Why are all these kids driving? How are they able to move about the school so freely? Why are they having routine guidance counsellor appointments? Why are they doing the magazine/yearbook/dances? How come they spend all their evenings out at parties or just wandering around? etc ).
The character of Tony is especially odd and everything he did made little sense. The frustratingly vague answers were present from start to finish and he was the worst culprit. Clay listens to the tapes UNBEARABLY slowly for no reason other than to give us 13 separate episodes. After a very good opening episode things become very muddled for quite a while, but the later episodes are a real gut punch. There is some brutally unpleasant stuff to watch, and the warnings at the starts of a few episodes are important.
Overall, it's a show I'm really glad I watched and will need to roll it around in my head for a while. I did feel it went around in circles several times and the teenage angst may be too much for some viewers to bear. I fear it trivialises depression to an extent and doesn't realistically portray essential avenues of help. It ended without a complete resolution, needing more.