'13 Reasons Why': Who Pushed Hannah to Commit Suicide?
For some who are yet to begin (or have just begun) watching the miniseries "13 Reasons Why," the main question that is more likely to come up is who really pushed Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) to take her own life?
The TV series adaptation "13 Reasons Why" has quickly become the talk of the town since its release on Netflix on March 31. It is based on a same title novel authored by Jay Asher, and it brings up some of the most sensitive but important topics the current generation encounters: bullying, sexual assault, and suicide.
The 13-episode series opens up with the aftermath of Hannah's death, but the story also revolves around her friend, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette), who struggles to listen and finish the 13 cassette tapes she left before she died. In each tape, Hannah talked about a different person and narrates how these 13 people have contributed to her suicide. However, the gravity of their involvement vary.
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Clay's struggle boils down to honoring Hannah's death by trying to make those involved own up to their mistakes.
Hannah Tried but the People Around Her Repeatedly Failed Her
Right before Clay reaches the end of the tapes, Hannah made it clear that she was giving life one last chance. However, the people around her failed her repeatedly.
Hannah was subjected to bullying and was repeatedly objectified by the boys and laughed at by the girls in school. It all started when her first kiss, Justin Foley (Brandon Flynn), and his friends spread a revealing photo of her that she did not know existed. He also told his friends that Hannah agreed to have sex on their first date, which was actually a lie.
Hannah's struggling high school life went from bad to worse. Over and over again, she was abandoned by the friends she thought she had. She was also raped by one of the "famous kids" in school named Bryce Walker (Justin Prentice).
After being preyed upon by Bryce, Hannah had almost given up. But after all she went through, she thought maybe she was just approaching the wrong people. A few days after getting raped, she went to the guidance counselor's office to open up to Mr. Porter (Derek Luke).
The 13th Tape: Hannah's Last Straw
However, Mr. Porter gave a highly disappointing response which Hannah recorded as the 13th tape. After telling Mr. Porter that she was giving up on life after being raped by someone from school, the school counselor could only tell her to try to move on if she was not willing to press charges against her attacker.
Hannah then decided that there was no hope. Thus, she decided to skip school that same day to go home and end her life.
As per Hannah's instruction, the tapes should be passed on to everyone mentioned in it. However, everyone (except for Clay) decided not to let Bryce and Mr. Porter know. The famous kid belongs to a very influential family while the latter is part of the school administration so giving them the tapes could reveal that they were all responsible for what happened, which scared the others - especially when Hannah's parents filed a lawsuit to dig deeper into who and what pushed their daughter to commit suicide.
In the end, Clay gave the tapes to Mr. Porter. The series ended with the guidance counselor attempting to listen to them but being interrupted when the school principal came to tell him that another one of their students attempted to commit suicide.
