I recently began watching Season 3 of 13 Reasons Why, the most popular Netflix series that have caused controversy among the audiences and people that have heard of the TV show. What was so different with Season 3 as compared with the beginning two seasons was that, the narrator this time was Ani, the new girl to Liberty High. She was someone who was 'living with the enemy,' none other known as Bryce Walker, the known rapist that sent girls to their death, the known Hannah Baker from Season 1, the girl that Clay Jenson had fallen for and loved since. Clay Jenson was always the protagonist and the narrator, that's why it was refreshing to see a new face, a new voice, and a new perspective.
Personally, I didn't like Clay Jenson. I didn't like how stubborn and certain of what he was seeing, or what he felt was right. He was impulsive in so many ways and most of it was driven by how much he loved Hannah Baker, and how he wanted justice for her. But then again, did Hannah ask for this? All she wanted was for the tapes to be sent around, she just wanted love from the people that should have taken care of her. That was the problem. Clay had this mindset that whatever he was doing would be good for Hannah, would be good for all those that have been hurt by his number one enemy: Bryce Walker and his hooligan jock friends, including Monty De La Cruz who have wrecked his close knitted friends and destroyed their sanity.
When Ani came along, she was someone that I related with, seen myself in. She was a girl that people watched. She sat in the corner, while simultaneously blended herself in with Clay and his group of friends, learning and listening to all the events that circulated. She knew who to become friends with, who to become acquaintances with, she knew who she wanted to talk to, because that's all she ever wanted. The way she narrates shows how much she knew about people, about the way they think, how far they would go for the people they cared for. Ani was smart. Unlike Clay, she knew what she wanted. She never became close with anyone, because she knew how dangerous that can be especially if she gets caught with the wrong secrets.
13 Reasons Why does a good job in capturing the monster within Bryce Walker. I can't argue with that: he was a monster. But what the show failed to capture was his failed relationships with his family, his inability to love, his insecurities, his sadness, all from his divorced parents and feeling of abandonment as a child. We can agree that looking at society right now, there are people who became narcissists or sociopaths because of how they were raised, because of the toxicity that rose from their parents that affected their own children. Here's the thing: life doesn't always capture one person as the main bad guy and another person as the main good guy, life shows that everyone has their demons. In this case, I believe Clay had the most amount of demons than any other person.
Clay was irrational, but was also caring. He was stubborn, but also did the right thing. He made his friends happy, but also pushed them in a direction they weren't comfortable with. For instance, when Jessica wasn't comfortable in sharing her rape story as a victim, Clay urged her to and told her it was the "right thing to do." For Hannah, he specifically repeated over and over. But, this was Jessica. This wasn't Hannah. He was so keen on his sights in his goal to revive Hannah and make her happy that he began to put her problems onto everyone else, that everything he did was to help her, and not exactly help each person achieve what they really wanted for themselves. It wasn't them making their own decisions, it was Clay persuading them to avenge justice for Hannah, even though she was no longer relevant to begin with. Yes, she was an example made for future women to stand up for themselves if they have been victimized, but she cannot be a scapegoat forever. Hannah needs to be set free from Clay's sick mind.
