He arrives home to discover a package containing cassette tapes, recorded before she died, by Hannah. To put it differently, it's the greatest passive-aggressive "fuck you," the dream of every miserable adolescent who dreams about offing themselves as a means of making those around them feel guilty. You are gonna feel so bad when I am gone. Hannah Baker takes the additional step; she needs everyone who hears the tapes (all 13 people should listen, then pass it onto another title, or a copy of those tapes goes people) to not only know their offense against her, but to share that burden with all the other people. Auditor--listener beware.The weakness is in the structure itself, a conceit that seems tailor-made for television. Not all stories are equivalent, and the first half of the season begins to drag under the burden of pulling out these stories that are individual at a pace. Clay claims he can listen to the tapes as the pain of his loss makes it tricky for plays that are extended. Fair enough, but during 13 Reasons Why streaming episode after episode exposes Clay demanding to know what happened, just to be advised to follow the tape, the foot starts to grate. Viewers can be forgiven for wanting to yell, "Just finish the damn tapes, already!" The melodramatic and juvenile nature of the characters bleeds into scripts that are ponderous and overwrought. In the earnest pop music beneath the title sequence to the swooning soundtrack choice ending every installment, each feature of the series makes the label "emo," the visual equivalent of a felt heart safety-pinned into a backpack. It would be something if the show was about calling out the inconsistencies of its children in an insightful way sharper, but it takes them showing the inconsistency. All of which is unfortunate, since the series has some character study of high school kids' inner lives. Together with portraying the adults in a intelligent and honest manner (almost every grownup is a well-intentioned but faulty parent that doesn't see when they are creating a situation worse), there are constant beautifully realized moments during that catch that barbarous and increased reality of being in an age when the slightest change in the social firmament can look to be a life-destroying earthquake. From examinations of how parties and other social functions appear to have a strange power, to how a short moment of foolishness can derail an entire friendship, the show treats childhood in a bracingly direct manner, refusing to sugarcoat the self-absorbed tunnel vision of teenagers. "Maybe there are not any good children," a character indicates, and the show is smart and provocative enough to deal with that issue seriously. Besides a passel of stereotype characters that were one-note that exist on the margins, the figures are seen with honesty and compassion--both victims and abusers, mice and creatures simultaneously. Doesn't negate the ability of these portrayals. Behind-the-camera talent and the actors go a long way toward overcoming the weaknesses in some of the performances and the story. The story of the reason Hannah works and it's largely whose brilliantly guileless portrayal and expressive features keep the narrative's insistence, and radiate charisma. And 13 Reasons Why streaming episodes look great, capturing scenes of beauty amid hoary content and the clumsy dialogue. A roster of directors was recruited, such as Oscar-winning documentarian Jessica Yu and art house stylist Gregg Araki, and they coax lived-in and warm performances. 13 Reasons Why streaming boasts enough juicy plot twists and compelling puzzles to sustain a dozen seasons, and for the first half of this series, that is good enough to keep the audience hooked. But angles are dropped in favor of beats, and leaves a bad taste. There is more than enough reasons to provide a go, but perhaps one to this series.
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AuthorI'm Andre. 22 male from Munich. Thanks for stopping by on my blog! Archives
August 2017
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