Sam Spodek is an 18-year-old student from Toronto currently studying business administration at Wilfrid Laurier University.
I heard about 13 Reasons Why in early April, just after it was released on Netflix. Many of my friends were watching and there were multiple occasions when I had to leave a room to avoid hearing spoilers. (Fair warning, this article contains a few.)
I eventually sat down to watch the first episode; 48 hours later, I was finished the entire season, all 13 50-minute episodes. Since then, I've been following all of the relevant threads on Reddit, joining discussions around plot points, highs, lows and, of course, the controversy.
A teen's perspective: I didn't enjoy 13 Reasons Why, but the backlash is excessive
For those who aren't caught up yet, the show is about a teenage girl, Hannah, who takes her own life. But first she records 13 cassette tapes, each about a person involved in her suicide.
The show does a good job of realistically portraying most of its teenage characters, a task most shows focusing on high school struggle with. I can easily pinpoint people I know who are like Tony, a close friend of Hannah's: mysterious, rough around the edges, but full of heart and kindness.
I also know people who are like Courtney, a high-achieving and popular student at the school who cares more about her own reputation than whether she's hurting others.
And there are of course the Hannahs. Though luckily I don't know anyone who made the same choice that she did, I do know of people struggling with mental illness and who always seem to be in the public eye for the wrong reasons.
The show did lose touch with reality a bit when it came to some of the minor plot points. I know it is television, but there is no way another student's parent could be the lawyer defending the school against a lawsuit brought by Hannah's parents. Such conflicts of interest happen in soap operas, but not in real life.
But overall, 13 Reasons Why displays an array of teenage characters and makes them feel real. I genuinely cared about their fates, cried when they cried, and hurt when they were in pain.
The ongoing controversy concerns a crucial scene in the season finale, which graphically depicts Hannah taking her own life. Some viewers were deeply put off, including numerous mental-health professionals. Although this episode, along with a couple of others, begins with a clear trigger warning, there are those who feel the warning does not do the scene justice.
I have to admit, I have never struggled to watch anything as much I struggled to watch this scene. But what frustrates me most about the negative response is that I think my discomfort was important. Troubling scenes like this one effectively convey the message that bullying, sexual assault and suicide are serious, horrific issues.
Filmmakers and television producers should be able to portray the darker sides of reality, in part to help viewers who have never dealt with these issues get a sense of what they're like. In the case of 13 Reasons Why, many of these dark realities are far more common than they should be.
For all the talk about the show, I haven't heard much worthwhile discussion about the character of Bryce, a spoiled jock who sexually assaults both Hannah and another student. Both of the rape scenes (which also come with trigger warnings) were just as disturbing as the scene of Hannah slitting her wrists, if not more so.
That's in part because there are Bryces all around us. Bryce is an award-winning student leader and captain of the football team: clean and cool to the public, but disgusting and despicable in private. It is no coincidence that Bryce's assault of Hannah is one of the final straws. Sexual assault needs to be discussed just as much as the mental-health issues surrounding suicide.
Overall, I loved the show. While it made me feel uncomfortable, it was a kind of uncomfortable that I think we can all benefit from feeling once in a while. With proper discretion, it is a show that many teenagers, and their parents, could benefit from watching.