13 Reasons Why: 9 Reasons It Ultimately Fails

6. It Attributes Blame

"We're all to blame."

It's a line spoken by Tony in the show, and it's a theme that is repeated throughout the series: As Clay makes his way through the tapes, he wants to know who is at fault for Hannah's death. He of course blames himself, but then by the end he agrees that he didn't do enough, the councillor didn't do enough, nobody did enough, and each and every one of them in some way contributed to Hannah's death and must share the blame.

It's a very dangerous and irresponsible line to take, because it states that in suicide there is a blame to be appropriated. Let's make it clear: there isn't.

Friends of people who commit suicide are likely to feel some sense of guilt as it is, and the show doubles-down on that by actively shifting blame around various characters, and essentially seems to fall on the message that, if people had just been nicer, Hannah wouldn't have killed herself. Sure, 'be nice to people' is something everyone could do with remembering, but it's a massively reductive statement when it comes to something as complex as suicide.