My Biggest Issue With 13 Reasons Why

Regardless if you love it, hate it, or never heard of it, 13 Reasons Why is currently the hottest thing on Netflix. Don't worry no spoilers here (okay, maybe a few), just a minor logistics issue I have with the show that was pretty much all I can focus on while I was watching. 
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The series based on a novel of the same name premiered on March 31st to generally good reviews. IMDB gave it a 9/10 which is good enough for me. Heck, I'll check out any 9/10! LOL

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Apparently I'm not the only person who felt that way because since its first week 13 Reasons Why was tweeted about more than any other Netflix show in history. 

I'm not an analytics guy, but that seems like a pretty big deal.  

I'd say it at the very least shows the show's popularity. Chasing Cameron (which I've never heard of) had over 1.3 million tweets one week post premiere which was the previous record. 13 Reasons Why almost tripled it with nearly 3.6 million tweets. 

Given how heavy the subject matter of the show is (it touches on basically everything that can go wrong in life) and how close it may hit to home for some, 13 Reasons Why has generated a ton of buzz online. People want to talk about it. It's a polarizing show. There's a ton of fan theories and all that other bullshit online but that's not why I'm writing  this. 

In today's society where everything has to become "a thing", of course there are many people upset with the way this show depicts suicide, bullying, homophobia, rape, violence and the other bright and cheery subject matters that litter the show. I'm actually fine with what they did.  None of that really bothered me tbh. Yeah it's uncomfortable at times to watch, but those topics are supposed to be uncomfortable. Watching and talking about rape and suicide should make you uncomfortable. I'd be worried if it didn't. Doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it. Maybe this show helped save lives? We need to talk about uncomfortable topics more to deal with them and try to fix them.  

My biggest and really only complaint with stuff like that is the scene where they show Hannah kill herself (I promise you that's not a spoiler, the entire show is about her killing herself) but that's more so just because I have a weak stomach.

I just can't do cutting of the wrists or throat. I swear I can fucking feeling that shit happening to me when I watch it. I just can't do it. Like my throat hurts just thinking about that video of the old Sabres goalie who got his throat slashed by a skate.  I tried to watch when Hannah ultimately ended her life and was about to vomit.

That is not hyperbole.

​Your boy was about 85% of the way to full chunks. I felt it coming. If I didn't turn away my bed was about to look like the Exorcist. 

Overall, I think in 13 Reasons Why they do a pretty good job depicting a lot of real life issues. Liberty High could be any high school in any town in America.   Except for one glaring problem in my eyes. When watching the show there was one thing I had a huge issue with. More than the rape, more than the actual showing of wrist slashing, more than trying to get over the fact that Boobie Miles was now a High School Counselor. 

Before I get into it I gotta say I did have issues with the casting of Zach Dempsey.

You're really trying to convince me this 6 foot 7 dude who looks like he's about 30 is a JUNIOR in high school? Meaning he's 17 at the very oldest, like last year he couldn't go to rated R movies without his mom.

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But I can get over that. I get it, I can play along and not let it ruin the show for me. I know a lot of times in tv and movies they'll have much older actors who can get away with playing teens. I'm pretty sure buzzfeed's whole platform is making lists of shit like that, how someone in Clueless was like 35, but I digress.

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The biggest issue I had was with all the tattoos students had, not because I'm anti-tattoo or anything. But because I have a brain and felt it was very unrealistic AF. You can get a lot by me, but not this. How someone in production didn't think about this blows my mind. 

I went to high school not that long ago, and have worked in multiple high schools. Let me tell you. I've seen maybe a handful of tattoos on high schoolers. It's VERY rare. Then these kids who are supposed to be 17 look like they're in the Hell's Angels. 

Not only are minors not legally allowed to get tattoos in most states, but it's also pretty fucking expensive. Wheres this money coming from? When I was in high school I washed dishes and made less than $8 an hour.  Are we expecting high schoolers to foot the bill? I sub in a high school now and if a student has a 10 spot on there person they're basically Warren Buffett. They're all broke. 
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Let's take a look at Justin. 

This kid is supposed to be a junior in high school right? Not once in the show do they talk about him having a job. They could've filled this plot hole in 2 seconds by just saying something like "oh I can't make it, I have to go to work" at any point in the show and at least now we're thinking, "okay this kid has some sort of way to pay for all this ink".

But they do not.

What we do know is that Justin plays basketball. So between that and letting his friend rape his girlfriend, it doesn't seem like Justin has a ton of time to work to afford paying for tattoos. 

Then maybe you're thinking, "Well Doz, what about his parents? Couldn't they have money?" To avoid any further spoilers, let's just say Justin does not have the greatest homelife. So no, I don't think they paid for him to get inked TF up. Although since he has such shitty parents, they could've given him legal permission. That wouldn't shock me.

Considering how Bryce basically takes care of him. Maybe he paid for the tattoos? Still this kid is not only a minor, but he is broke. I'd think he'd rather use any money offered on things like, I don't know food or clothes. But then again I'm not a 17 year old anymore, I have a brain. If I was broke (I am, venmo me) and was offered money from a friend, I would not be using it on a fucking barbed wire tattoo. I have student loans, bruh.

It's cool that Bryce helps out his friend with a place to crash at times, but there's a big difference between helping your friend out, and funding his tattoos. No matter how rich they are, I doubt Bryce's parents are just like sure, I'd love to pay for your friend to get some really ugly, lame, outdated tattoos.  

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​People forget that tattoos aren't cheap. Anybody with full-sleeves will tell you that not only does it take hours, if not days to complete, but it's also expensive AF. An hour of tattooing can cost over $100 depending on where you go. Usually more. I just googled it and a decent full-sleeve tattoo will set you back at least a few grand.


​Which leads me Skye Miller. 

We don't know a ton about Skye except for that fact that she used to be a lot closer to Clay and is also a barista at the local coffee shop "Monet's" where seemingly everybody in town is always at. 

Skye is also a junior in high school, and to her defense, at least she is working. However as a barista in a coffee shop who is supposed to be like 17, you're making what? $11 an hour absolute best case scenario? Maybe if you've worked your way up since you got the job as a freshmen? Let's say she's working 20 hours a week. Still doesn't seem like enough to pay for what seems like thousands of dollars of ink. 

Also does this girl not have parents? I get it, it's 2017 and people want to let their kids do whatever the fuck they want. But I have a hard time believing anybody would let their daughter look like this at 17. How can you let your daughter, who is in high school cover herself in tattoos before she's 18? I feel like every parent in America plays the "not under my roof" / "Not until your 18" card. Do her parents not know about that card? I just don't understand it. You're just doing such a disservice as a parent. You basically just gave her the okay to drop out of high school the very minute you said it was okay to get a fucking alligator neck tattoo. 

Then there's Bryce. 

Again, another guy who's like 30 pretending to be in high school. Let's overlook that as well. At least with this ass hole could be 18 since he's a senior. Fuck Bryce though.


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Finally Tony, probably my favorite character on the show. 

Tony is tatted the fuck up. He also mentions that he's Catholic, and based off the fact that he's also Mexican and has good parents, I'm going to assume he's practicing. I'm going to guess that his religious Mexican parents would not be too pleased with the fact that their son is tatted. So they probably would not be okay with paying for it. Tony also spends a ton of time working on his old Mustang, I would think that all his money goes into that. 

So that is my major problem with 13 Reasons Why

WHERE ARE THESE TATTOOS COMING FROM??

Maybe Terrelle Pryor could lend a helping hand here, but to say it has puzzled me would be an understatement. I actually enjoyed this show a lot, but I mean come on? It's high school. Not prison. If you're not going to have 16 year olds in the show that's fine, but maybe remember that most high schoolers don't have neck tattoos? Idk. That's just my two cents.