The much-talked-about show has gotten a lot of attention. A lot of people are raving about the show and couldn't wait for the second season. I, on the other hand, watched the first season (just to see what it was that everyone was talking about) and I did not think the show fulfilled everyone's hype or needed a second season. My opinion may be unpopular, but just like Hannah had 13 reasons, I have mine all about why the show is not what everyone cracked it up to be.

1. First things first, the acting is just horrible...

Nothing against the people who portray Hannah Baker, Clay Jensen and all the other characters in the show, I’m sure they all have the capability of being great actors. The acting is just over dramatic and immature. While the characters are supposed to play high school kids, the acting just does not portray high school kids well. Aside from the suicide, the basis of the show is all about the way teenagers interact with each other and how their interactions affect one another. But to be real, the way the kids act in the show makes each one of them seem like they are just begging for attention… it’s almost cringe-worthy. The actors are over dramatic and each conflict that takes place in the show has a very clear resolution, but the characters beat around the bush to make the show interesting, but it’s not. It’s overdramatic and predictable.

2. The show is in no way related to the book at all

The book takes place over the span of one night, while the show takes place over a much longer time span. Also, in the show, Hannah’s mother initiates a trial after Hannah’s death. None of that happens in the book. In fact, the baker’s hardly have a part in the book. One of the biggest differences, and the most important because it’s the basis of the entire show, is the suicide. The book does not mention how Hannah actually took her life. Her suicide is only brought up when Clay mentions that Hannah “swallowed a bunch of pills.” The show is totally different as Hannah takes her life in a graphic scene in a bathtub with a razor blade.

3. The show romanticizes and glorifies suicide

Hannah commits suicide and becomes the talk of the school, town, and everyone in the show. Do we really want kids thinking that suicide will gain them attention? Or do we really want kids watching the show to think that committing suicide is an effective way to get back at the people they deem deserving? No. All of these concepts take away from the fact that people with suicidal thoughts are actually hurting and need help.

4. The entire show is based on Hannah Baker pinning her suicide on other people

Not that I know what goes through a suicidal person’s head, but the idea that Hannah Baker made 13 individual tapes meant for people that she felt were responsible for her death just seems ridiculous. It almost seems as if Hannah is not so much upset with herself and her life, but she’s upset by the people she’s surrounded by. Throughout the show, Hannah goes through some intense and horrible situations. But the viewers don’t actually get a feel for how she is affected by these things until she kills herself. The characters in the show that Hannah made tapes for did, in some way, affect Hannah’s life, but to actually dedicate your death to them? She’s dedicating her suicide to these people as a way to get her revenge, which diminishes people who have or have had mental health issues or suicidal thoughts.

5. The show steers kids away from confiding in the people that are meant to help

There are no adult figures in the show that offer support or help to not just Hannah, but any of the students. The guidance counselor at the school was more a man that the students were afraid to be around rather than a man that the kids thought they could confide in. Most importantly, none of the teenager’s parents seemed to be actively engaged in their kid’s lives. Hannah’s parents were there but they were not there enough for Hannah to feel as though she had support and that she was not alone. Which leads into my next point…

6. The show puts truth to the notion that all we have is ourselves

Aside from there being no adult or authority figures to help, but there are no friends either. Hannah went from having friends to having none all because of some stupid high school drama that was used just to lead into something deeper… her suicide. It’s unrealistic to say assume that every teenager going through high school has a ton of friends, all of which they feel comfortable talking to, but it’s also unrealistic to portray a girl like Hannah who has absolutely no one. And that’s the thing, she had Clay and it was obvious throughout the whole show, hence my reason #1 where I said all of the “conflicts” in the show had clear resolutions.

7. The build-up to her suicide is just not accurate

Of course, every person is different and expresses themselves differently, but Hannah’s “depression” is shown through her quirky personality. There is nothing Hannah does to symbolize the pain that she is going through. The build-up goes from high school bullying issues, to a rape incident, to her killing herself. There is no depiction of struggle or anything, just the death.

8. It also portrays rape to be something that is not a big deal

As mentioned in point #7, there is a rape incident (spoiler alert). Bryce Walker aggressively rapes Hannah in a hot tub one night. Hannah is apparently not Bryce’s first victim and that is the issue. It is a talked about issue that Bryce has raped girls before, yet no one does nothing about it? No one investigates or looks more into it. Hannah does not speak up about it either. She tells her guidance counselor, but no one seems to do anything about it. Again, unrealistic.

9. The horrid scenes the show depicts is an issue

There are rape scenes where Hannah and the character Jess both get raped and they are depicted graphically enough where all you focus on is getting past the scene rather than empathizing and understanding how those actions made the characters feel. Same thing with the suicide scene. You know when it’s coming and when I watched it, all I seemed to focus on was fast forwarding through it because no one wants to watch stuff like that actually happen, especially because you know from the beginning that it’s coming.

10. The tapes reflect upon behavior that should result in some sort of consequence, but it doesn’t

The tapes Hannah made circle throughout the hands of many people before they make it to the hands of her parents, adults, authority figures, etc. All the things Hannah explains throughout each tape are serious crimes, like the rape, for example. There is evidence of Hannah talking about it on these tapes and yet again, no one does anything.

11. The show is just so dragged out

Let’s forget about the fact that there is a whole second season that I’m not even going to bother watching. The first season alone is so dragged out that you lose interest. Right from the beginning you can predict everything that happens, so the show just tries so hard to fill 13 episodes, regardless of the content and how ridiculous it is,

12. Clay is frustrating

I have just one question to prove the point of Clay being annoying… If you were given tapes all about how you were involved in driving a girl to want to kill herself, would you listen to them right away or procrastinate listening to the tapes because you just couldn’t handle it? Leave it to Clay to sporadically listen to the tapes.

13. Hannah is a DRAMA QUEEN

I surely have nothing against drama queens, as giving myself the title of “drama queen” would not be far off, but for the main character of this show, it’s annoying. Not to belittle the things that Hannah went through (because some of the things were terrible) but it just seemed like every little piece of high school drama would leave Hannah performing a dramatic, unnecessary reaction. People in school told her she had a big butt and that was like icing on the cake for Hannah. And not to mention the WHOLE TIME she was waiting for Clay to make the first move. It’s not the 1950’s Hannah, you could’ve stepped up and made the move yourself.

If you or anyone you know is in distress or experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-273-8255. You are not alone.