13 Reasons Why is the most talked about show at the moment, and there has been a lot of buzz surrounding this painfully real series, which follows the story of a teenage girl named Hannah Baker, who takes her own life and leaves behind thirteen tapes each with a different reason she killed herself. Each tape is generally directed to one person, and Hannah explains how the words and actions of this person led her to her fatal choice. The series accurately shows what Hannah has been through and reveals a harsh truth about high school.
Technology has consumed our lives making it even more difficult for a person to escape bullying. Not only can people be bullied and targeted face-to-face, but they can also be targeted through a computer screen or a cell phone. 13 Reasons Why exposes just how fast news and gossip can travel in this generation of technology. The tapes that Hannah leaves behind are tragic and some of the scenes are brutally authentic. Although there were some happy scenes throughout the show, more often than not, our hearts were breaking while watching the story unfold. Here are 13 times 13 Reasons Why broke my heart…
1. The rise and fall of the friendship between Hannah, Alex, and Jessica
I think what made this so heartbreaking was the fact that it was so relatable. Everyone has been through a situation similar to Hannah’s and sometimes losing a friend is just as hard as losing a significant other. Seeing Hannah continuously try to make their friendship work, even when Alex and Jessica were not putting in as much effort, was sad to watch because let’s be real, we loved this iconic trio.
2. When Hannah runs out of the liquor store crying
Thanks to the list that said Hannah had the “best ass,” Bryce makes a comment about it as he grabs her butt at the local store. Seeing Hannah feel violated and run out of the store with tears streaming down her face was very upsetting. She began to feel like an object rather than a woman with feelings and dignity.
3. Clay and Hannah at the dance
Photo Credit: Netflix
Although this was not necessarily a sad scene, it was one of my all-time favorites from the show, and I had to include it in this list. This is where the love these two characters had for each other became clear as day. You could classify this scene as heartbreaking because it truly showed what could have been with these two pivotal characte
4. Hannah’s Valentine’s Day Date
Marcus seemed like more of a good guy then many of the other jocks and popular boys in Hannah’s high school, but he proved this theory wrong during episode six. Many people had thought that Hannah was “easy” and Marcus was one of the people who had this false thought. When he is an hour late to their Valentine’s Day date, he seems apologetic and kind, but in reality, he truly just wanted to get some action from the girl he labeled as “easy.” Hannah, like anyone in this situation, once again felt like an object rather than a woman. Her pain was clearly visible when Marcus revealed his truth and it broke our hearts just as much as hers.
5. Clay and Tony climbing to the top of the mountain
Finally, Tony gave us some insight on his relationship with Hannah and how he knows about the tapes without actually being on the tapes. The two of them climb to the top of the mountain and Tony reveals that he was present at Hannah’s crime scene. As he arrived at the crime scene, he sees Hannah in a body bag. This scene broke my heart because it was obvious that seeing this will stay in Tony’s mind forever.
6. Jeff’s Death
Jeff Atkins was honestly my favorite character in the show, and his tragic ending left me heartbroken and speechless. His relationship with Clay was a special aspect of the show and he is the one who really forced Clay to open up to Hannah because Jeff knew how strong Clay’s feelings were for her. It was also very upsetting to see that it was pinned as “drunk driving” when in fact, Jeff was not drunk when he left the party. When Clay visited Jeff’s family and told them about their relationship and said that he did not think Jeff was actually drunk that night, my heart broke even more. Jeff Atkins deserved better; I think we can all agree on that.
7. Justin’s relationship with his mom
Justin clearly had his fair share of flaws throughout the show, but seeing his mom and her apparent substance abuse issue made me feel bad for this jock. The hardest and most emotional scene in reference to this relationship was when her boyfriend starts to strangle Justin and she does very little to stop it. When Justin tells her to choose between him and her boyfriend, she does not choose her own flesh and blood. This clearly shattered Justin’s heart and the heart of the viewers as well.
8. Jessica’s Rape
It is not uncommon to see someone get too intoxicated at a party, but you can only hope that someone will be there to look out for them, right? Unfortunately, this was not the case for Jessica, which we quickly learn in the tenth episode of the show. She had too much to drink and was very visibly intoxicated. Justin did the right thing when he let her lay in her bed and hopefully sleep it off, but when he lets Bryce in the room with her, things do not end well. Bryce takes advantage of Jessica’s drunken state and rapes her while Hannah is hiding in the corner of the room. This was one of the most disturbing scenes to watch and one can only imagine the pain that was brought on to Justin, Hannah, and of course, Jessica after this horrible encounter.
9. When Clay heard his tape
Let’s be honest, this was the moment we were all waiting for. It was hard for us to understand how innocent, precious, kind, loving Clay could be one of the reasons for Hannah’s suicide. Hannah explains that she knew that he should not be on the tapes, but she could not help but to include him. The night of Jessica’s party the two of them were laughing, drinking, and enjoying each other’s company, and they even began to get physically intimate when they went into Jessica’s room and started to hook up. Because of her broken past and bad luck with men, she was scared and started to panic. She yelled at him to leave, so he did. What Clay did not understand was that she actually wanted him to stay. Clay heard his whole tape and began to cry and hyperventilate. He felt like he should take full blame for her suicide and watching him feel so responsible was heartbreaking.
Photo Credits: Beth Dubber/Netflix
10. Hannah’s rape
I really did not think that there could be another scene as awful as Jessica’s rape, but there was. Hannah stumbles upon Bryce’s party and eventually finds herself alone in the hot tub with him. She is vulnerable and Bryce takes advantage of her. He rapes her and it is just as awful and sad as Jessica’s rape. This scene was graphic and gruesome and left me speechless yet again.
11. Clay talking to Mr. Porter
The whole time I knew that Mr. Porter had to be on the tapes because there was so much mystery behind his character. When Clay opens up to Mr. Porter about the tapes and tells him that he is the focus of the thirteenth tape, the mood is very intense. This scene is compelling because Clay talks with such power and emotion and it honestly pulled at my heartstrings. Even Mr. Porter gets emotional as Clay talks, and this was one of the best final scenes of the episode.
12. Alex shooting himself in the head
The show did leave us on a bit of a cliffhanger when it comes to Alex’s storyline and his gunshot wound, however, we still were shocked and saddened when we heard he did this to himself. The show did kind of allude to his possible suicide in other scenes, such as when he was consumed by water in the pool and was just floating. Although Alex committed a lot of wrongs in the show, his character kind of grew on me and I was rooting for him.
13. Hannah’s suicide scene
I sat with tears in my eyes and down my face during this whole scene. It was very hard to watch because it was graphic and so heartbreaking. Seeing her parents find her was an absolute tragedy. I do not think that this scene could have been any more upsetting, but sadly it was exactly how I imagined the end of the show would be.