Hannah Baker (13 Reasons Why TV series)

Hannah Baker is a fictional character created by American author Jay Asher. She is the subject of his 2007 young adult fiction mystery novel Thirteen Reasons Why, which was adapted by the media company Netflix as mh:terribletvshows:13 Reasons Why. Hannah is introduced as a sophomore at the fictional Liberty High School, where she struggles to adjust to living in an unsympathetic school environment.

Note: This will only focus on her TV counterpart.

Why She Sucks

 * 1) Unlike her book counterpart, her TV counterpart was horribly flanderized into an extremely unlikeable character, to the point where the viewer doesn't even feel for her.
 * 2) Similar to Brian Griffin (Family Guy) and Bella Swan (Twilight), she is known to be selfish, entitled, and demeaning.
 * 3) She abuses Clay, the main protagonist, constantly pushes him away, and doesn't even say sorry. Even worse, Clay didn't do anything wrong.
 * 4) All Hannah wanted to do was to make the people that caused her to commit suicide to feel bad by including their names on the tapes.
 * 5) She records 13 tapes and leaves them behind. To be heard after she's gone. She then becomes the voice-over for all the events that happen after she kills herself. In effect, it showcases that you can kill yourself and then be around to observe the aftermath and people's response to your decision.
 * 6) She kills herself to teach certain people a lesson. That they were mean to her and weren't around when she needed them. "You weren't nice to me, now I've killed myself and left you these tapes describing in excruciating detail how bad a person you are. Live with that guilt now. I'm out of here!"
 * 7) The depiction of how Hannah kills herself is graphic, raw, and very messy. It's shown in fantastic detail. It's also a great 101 on how to get it right and not screw it up. The blood gushing, which way to cut, how much water in the bathtub – all presented as what's a 'How To' video on suicide to be followed. So, in other words (as mentioned above), the show pretty much encourages suicide.
 * 8) She is shown to have some major challenges and problems. But she's responsible for most of them due to her seriously bad life choices. Again and again. Pretty much like any teenager. The showrunners present suicide as a good response for when the challenges of life seem to overwhelm you. No lessons on how to overcome challenges, or why taking a bad decision every single time can lead to bad situations.
 * 9) In addition, Hannah also has great parents. Involved and comforting, they're always there for her and take an active part in her life. Ditto for a few friends and a great counselor at school too. But the storyline conveniently ignores them when needed. Thus when she kills herself, she's convinced she has no one, clearly forgetting her parents.
 * 10) She records on cassette tape and the main reasons why Hannah loses it are all tech and social media related. The first trigger is a (not very nice) picture taken of her and shared on instant messaging with the whole school, followed by more meanness resonated through social networks. They show technology as the villain without giving any lessons on how to handle social media when it turns against you.
 * 11) She’s the reason Clay has his ridiculous and supernatural visions of her in Season 2.
 * 12) In the third season, she is not mentioned at all, and is shoved out of the picture.
 * 13) Because of all of these qualities, she is completely unfaithful to her book counterpart.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Katherine Langford did a decent job playing as her.
 * 2) She was decent and a LOT better in Season 1, though that’s not saying much since she was very flawed during that season too.
 * 3) Her original book counterpart is likable and sympathetic as she was innocent and not even selfish.