The first season of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix was based on the Jay Asher novel of the same name about a high school girl who commits suicide. But before she does, she creates a series of 13 cassette tapes, each addressed to one person she claims played a role in the turmoil that caused her to make the decision.
It was a heartbreaking and controversial season, much like the three that came after it. But none have made the same impact as the first.
Of the episodes, each of which focused on one person in Hannah Baker's life and the tape she left behind for them, which were the best? Here's the ranking of all 13 episodes according to IMDb.
Episode 3: Tape 2, Side A – 7.9
Viewers seemingly didn't find the episode based on Alex as their favorite as it ranked last among them all. It was about high school silliness that was seemingly meaningless but really upset Hannah.
The boys were making a list about the girls' attributes and Alex listed Hannah as having the best butt. Even though it wasn't Hannah's fault, Jessica got angry at her for this and their friendship ended.
Episode 2: Tape 1, Side B – 8.0
In this, the second episode of the series, the focus shifted to Jessica, who became Hannah's fast friend only to betray her by accusing her of getting in between her and Alex. The three were close friends until Jessica and Alex struck up a romantic relationship and began to leave Hannah out of things.
Jessica not only blamed Hannah for her break-up with Alex when Hannah had nothing to do with it, but she also did so very publicly, embarrassing her in front of everyone.
Episode 6: Tape 3, Side B – 8.0
Up until this point in episode six, Marcus came across as the good guy. But it turned out even he hurt Hannah. On Valentine's Day, he was her date but he ended up spreading rumors about her being "easy," adding fuel to the already existing rumors, none of which were true.
Things went further as Marcus tried to get Hannah to live up to her untrue reputation, essentially sexually assaulting her on their date until she angrily got up and left.
Episode 4: Tape 2, Side B – 8.1
Tyler was the focus of this episode as it was revealed that he followed Hannah and took photos of her, apparently just mesmerized by her natural beauty and her ability to photograph so well. But when he caught her and Courtney kissing while playing a drunken game of truth or dare, he snapped a photo and sent it around the school.
It was clear it was Hannah in the photo but Courtney's face wasn't in view and she distanced herself from Hannah to avoid the truth coming out about her sexuality.
Episode 8: Tape 4, Side B – 8.1
After Hannah shared a very private, personal, and revealing poem with Ryan, he stole it and published it in the school newspaper against her wishes. And while the poem discussed her deepest and darkest feelings, everyone laughed at it as if it's a joke.
Not surprisingly, Hannah was broken up about this, even though no one but Ryan knew she was the author.
Episode 5: Tape 3, Side A – 8.2
Now that Hannah's friendship with Courtney was effectively over, Courtney became the subject of the next tape. To hide her identity from the salacious photo, Courtney spread a rumor that it was another lesbian girl in the photo with Hannah and added some more Justin-related rumors to further boost her credibility.
This greatly hurt Hannah and added to the bad reputation she had already been getting. All in the name of Courtney keeping her sexuality a secret.
Episode 1: Tape 1, Side A – 8.3
This was the first episode where we met the shy and nerdy boy Clay and began to hear the story of Hannah, in her own words via narration, discussing what happened to her prior to her taking her own life.
It's in this episode that Clay finds the box of cassette tapes on his front doorstep and discovers the chilling series of stories that Hannah left behind. Viewers discover Clay's feelings for Hannah and the fact that she left the tapes with Tony. The subject of this tape is the handsome school jock Justin, who spread a rumor about Hannah after they had a seemingly sweet first date.
Episode 7: Tape 4, Side A – 8.4
During a school assignment, Hannah had the opportunity to actually hear some good things about herself. But Zach took that from her by stealing all of the compliments from the compliments box in retaliation for being rebuffed. He didn't realize how much seeing those encouraging words could have meant to her.
It's in this episode as well that Clay starts to see visions of Hannah and hear her voice as he continues to deal with her loss.
Episode 10: Tape 5, Side B – 8.6
Sheri accidentally crashed her car into a stop sign, which eventually led to the death of fellow student Jeff Atkins, who didn’t stop at the intersection because the stop sign was missing. Hannah was with her at the time and wanted to report the missing stop sign but Sheri disagreed.
Even though Hannah was on her way to report the accident anyway, against Sheri's wishes, it was too late. And Hannah became upset with Sheri for abandoning her that night, not taking responsibility for what she did, and leaving Hannah to live with the guilt.
Episode 9: Tape 5, Side A – 8.7
Ranking among the top-five episodes, this one was the second tape dedicated to Justin and the fact that he allowed Bryce, his best friend, to rape his girlfriend Jessica when she was drunk.
Hannah happened to be hiding out in the room when it was happening and didn't do anything, something for which she also blamed herself.
Episode 12: Tape 6, Side B – 9.0
One of the most disturbing and graphic episodes, this one depicted Bryce's rape of Hannah in a hot tub right before she officially decided she was going to commit suicide.
She ended up at a party at his house and quickly, everyone scattered, leaving the two of them alone. In this episode, Clay also provoked Bryce into admitting what he did and secretly got the confession on tape.
Episode 11: Tape 6, Side A – 9.1
Hannah was clear that even though Clay was technically part of her story and a subject of one of the tapes, she didn't blame him at all because he was the only one who truly cared about and tried to help her.
What did he do? All he really did was leave her alone at the party when she asked him to, and she wished he hadn't.
Episode 13: Tape 7, Side A – 9.2
The season finale, this was the most controversial, but also the highest-rated episode. It's the one that depicted Hannah's suicide in the bathtub in graphic detail in a scene that was digitally altered a few years after release due to pushback.
It also revealed Mr. Porter, the school's guidance counselor, as the final tape subject. Hannah went to him suggesting she was suicidal yet he didn't take her cries for help seriously and even suggested she might have been to blame for the things that were happening to her.