The Bitter Script Reader on the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why”

Thirteen part series by long-time blogger about controversial series.

I have been blogging for 9+ years. The Bitter Script Reader has been at it almost as long, launching his site on January 1, 2009. While other bloggers have logged off, Bitter and I forge ahead.

TBSR recently ran a 13 part series on the Netflix series ’13 Reasons Why’. Here is a trailer for that series:

Here is a summary of the series:

After a teenage girl’s perplexing suicide, a classmate receives a series of tapes that unravel the mystery of her tragic choice.

Here is an excerpt from The Bitter Script Reader’s final installment of his 13 part series:

I understand the original concept for 13 Reasons Why would have been as an anthology series like American Horror Story or True Detective, where the cast and storyline would be reset each season. This would have made sense, as the series uses up all the material from the novel on which the story is based. However, with the announcement of the renewal came confirmation that the cast and characters will return.
 
 In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Brian Yorkey discussed some of his plans for season 2. The creators did such an incredible job with season 1 that I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that season 2 won’t have a sophomore slump. That said, some of his ideas are not the direction I would have taken.
 
 Yorkey confirms that we WILL see Hannah again. “I think one of the things that is still hanging out there is this question of is someone responsible for Hannah’s death? Is the school responsible? Who is responsible, if anyone is? One way we’ll explore that question is through the trial and also through all of these kids reflecting on where they are a few months down the road and what other secrets are being uncovered. That’s going to take us into the past, into Hannah’s story. We’re going to get some new context for events we already know about and we’re going to see a lot of things we hadn’t even heard about yet that fill in some really interesting gaps in our understanding of who Hannah Baker was and what her life was.”
 
 I think I’ve been pretty clear in early posts about my utter admiration for Katherine Langford’s performance as Hannah and how I’ve found her to be one of the most compelling female protagonists of late. So it’s not a reflection on the actress or the character when I say that I feel incredibly strongly that we should never see Hannah again. To resurrect her, even via flashbacks, would compromise the integrity of her storyline.
 
 In season one, the very last time we see Katherine Langford on screen is Hannah’s suicide scene. That’s no accident. Other shows might have given us a Hannah appearance later, just as a way of getting a slightly happier or wistful final scene. But there’s no comforting voiceover from Hannah. Clay doesn’t have any adorable flashbacks to good times with Hannah, so that we can end the show with a sad smile. We don’t even get a silent hallucination of Hannah waving goodbye to Clay or some other way to let us feel she would have been happy for what he did.
 
 No, the last we see of Hannah is a girl in immense pain, slashing her own wrists and dying before our eyes. There’s real power in that moment and the show doesn’t diminish that with anything to soften that statement.
 
 As Hannah herself says on the tape at the start of the first episode: “No return engagements, no encore and this time absolutely no requests.”

The Bitter Script Reader is a smart guy. And yes, I can confirm, he is a male (I’ve met him). If you are looking for light instead of smoke about this complex Netflix series, here are links to Bitter’s entire series:

Side 1: The Setting
Side 2: An overly contrived premise can present a challenge
Side 3: Hannah Baker, from joy to despair 
Side 4: Clay, an outsider who isn’t an outcast
Side 5: Clay’s tape leads to one of this year’s most heartbreaking episodes
Side 6: Mr. Porter — Terrible Counselor or Worst Counselor?
Side 7: Do depictions of suicide provoke imitation?
Side 8: Generating tension that stokes viewer intensity
Side 9: Keeping storytelling clarity in non-linear structure 
Side 10: Alex’s storyline hides parallels in plain sight
Side 11: Fleshed out parents help deepen the other characters
Side 12: Episodic structure makes a comeback
Side 13: Thoughts on Season 2

The Bitter Script Reader and I believe blogging still has a place in the online screenwriting community. How about you?

Twitter: @BittrScrptReadr.