Two Is Company

13 Reasons Why Lauren Doesn't Like 13 Reasons Why (Or maybe one is enough)

Lauren sees 13 Reasons Why Season Two all over her timeline.

Lauren scoffs, exits Twitter, throws her phone away, and groans, "bitch, I barely had the patience to wait for Clay to finish your tapes, I sure as hell have no time now listening to thirteen DVDs or whatever the fuck shit there will be!"

The door opens and in comes Camila looking hyped as she scrolls through her phone. When she sees Lauren, she says, "Lauren! Did you hear that 13 Re---"

"Girl, shut the fuck up!"

Lauren puts on her headphones and blasts some good ol' Placebo.

There, that's better.

• •

A/N:

The reason why I can't warm up to this story is because Hannah Baker is annoying af. 😒

Hannah is an inconsistent character, and not even in a hey-I'm-a-complex-human-being-let-me-enjoy-my-duality. No. One episode she's a wannabe Rory Gilmore with all the witty comebacks and sarcastic humor and too cool for school schtick that tells me she won't have any problem having a normal conversation with another being other than her stuffed toy. Then the next moment she's this super meek confused child who can't even TRY to defend herself when the picture came out or when that edgy tumblr guy called her "best ass"? I'm all for a conflicted character (especially a girl) who can be confident one time and then be fearful and shamed at another time -- I know how that feels. But this characterization has a dissonant feel, which makes me think it's mishandled, or that they didn't understand how Hannah should be, in the first place. It puts me off. And unlike Rory (Alexis Bledel), Hannah's wisecracking attitude feels forced.

This show glorifies suicide in a way that impressionable young people would think it's simply showing them that suicide and bullying are bad, but wouldn't even notice it was glorifying it. I'll try to elaborate, and don't hate me for hating on the show.

I'm not hating on people who love this show, or the author of the book. This rant is more directed towards Hannah.

(If you love this show, it's fine. I'm not saying you guys are wrong for liking it. Hell, maybe I'm wrong for hating it. I mean, I don't like Riverdale -- but that's another story --  and a lot of people seem to like it, so maybe I simply don't have the patience anymore for youth-oriented shows, so maybe that's all me.)

I do get the important issues tackled in 13RW. Bullying is bad. Our actions, however minor or inconsequential we think they are, could have a major impact to someone. That we are somehow interconnected; our actions affect other people in various ways. That one word, one act, a failure to do something, could leave a lasting trauma or pain on someone, to such a point that it would push them to kill themselves, or even pick up a gun and shoot people down. And yeah it shows the impact a suicide leaves, it's ugly, it's painful, it hurts. Maybe it's a warning that we shouldn't do it.

I get that.

But this show, it's probably unintentional (and I haven't read the book so idk if it's the same -- because sometimes, adaptations lose the essence or subtle implications of the source material), is terrible. Yes, I've read the show's statement about its intent, and yes okay I believe the good intentions behind it. But I'm just gonna share my own perspective, and how I interpreted the show. I'm not claiming my opinion is right, it's just how I interpreted it.

Hannah Baker is a whiny ass bitch who thinks the world revolves around her. Sure, that's probably how it is for teenagers. And yeah, some of those people deserve to get a tape. But not all of them.