Reviews

The show has been building up for the angel to die.

Ruth despite her brash attitude has always had a heart of gold. She was dealt a bad game but always came through for the people who respected her.

There was poetic justice in her telling the mother of her cousin's killer that she didn't regret killing him one bit.

It is just a shame that out of all the people trapped in that web of secrets and conspiracy, she and her cousin, the most angelic of all didn't make it out alive.

Unfortunately in our society ruthless people win. Sociopathic traits such as machiavelism and nacrisccism and lack of empathy lead to success. The ending is powerful because it drives that realization home in a staggering way. The ending is probably closer to reality that is comfortable.

At the end of it all, it is always bad parenting that turns children sociopathic and distrustful. We need to take better care of our children.

I love the message of the show, that it is for every man to walk with every man, that every man makes their own decisions, every day anew, and it is never too late to let guilt, shame, hybris and cowardice behind. In the end those who did not believe get left behind. "You become what you believe". The character of the priest was a great illustration. Albeit a man of God, he did not have sufficient humility and faith - his entire quest for meaning had been self-centered, and so when the prophet is painted as a scam with psychiatry disorder, he stops believing and burns his Church. He was looking for a solution in other people, wasn't able to find it within himself.

I love the message that this gives - it is for every man to save every man.

It is true that we get a feeling of being maneuvered by a plot device which may seem artificial, as it is initially hard to understand why the kids don't talk to each other.

In the first part of the series, we are lead to believe the events are trivial and misunderstandings and there is no reason for the first people on the tape to want to withhold the information on them, and for some of them (Alex, Marcus, Zach, Jessica, Ryan) their "faults" were very minor and you don't understand why everyone is so intent on preventing Clay from releasing the tapes - it is only later you discover their true situation: Alex has an overpowering father would be disappointed in him Jessica is ashamed about the rape situation (at first not revealed).

Marcus, Ryan and Zach were not vehemently opposed, nor did they have a reason to be but were just followers and more than anything are guilty of not standing up for what is right and following the wrong charismatic people at school.

But actually, there is a clever detail in the show, which is that Clay's wound doesn't heal throughout the 13 episodes, which means it all takes place within a couple of days and is a perfectly valid reason for the situation not becoming clarified until the end - we just have to accept the premise of the show, which is to provide a photography of the millennial generation.

Overall the show is very clever in that it does not try to shove guilt down people's because of kids that are intrinsically fragile and fallible. However it does push guilt onto parents by showing a direct relationship between certain millennial educational patterns and how kids develop, precisely because kids don't have all of the answers and can be fragile.

Justin is the good guy who suffered from a mother choosing her new boyfriend over him, which explains why he is so attacked to Jessica Alex has this overpowering father which sucks out individuality out of him Tyler has a mom that keeps invading his privacy and he ends up stalking others thinking it is a normal behavior. Courtney has had 2 gay dads who probably tried to hard to raise a straight kid Hannah's parents were being too naive, permissive and overprotective which means Hannah wasn't prepared for the harshness of other kids Sheri and Jessica seemed to have good parents and eventually come forward despite the strong burden that weighs on them. Clay was raised by fair, trusting parents neither too strict nor too disrespectful of privacy and seems to fair the best of all the kids - but even then as a kid you don't understand your feelings and find them hard to control

So overall, parenting is not a 100% safe way of keeping your kids out of trouble, and some kids are naturally more fragile than others but if parents respect their kids, show them understanding without choking their privacy or being overprotecting, chances are kids will form deeper and more meaningful relationships.

More than parenting though, the show depicts the divide between millennials and their parents. Millenials seek instant gratification and have lost the ability to communicate with each other on a deeper level. Friendships form and dissolve faster. They were told by their parents that they are good kids and will achieve great things, only to discover reality is much harsher than they thought.

Overall the book and series have captured the essence of the millennial generation as analyzed by anthropologist Simon Sinek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eem-w1Uwf_I

This makes it a great show - it does not try to make people sympathize with Hannah, she was weak (as Skye depicted her), choosing the easy way out instead of fighting for the people she loves. It simply observes educational case studies, which can help both parents and kids in dealing with millennial scenarios.

Those overprotected kids are hypersensitive and scared of forming deep meaningful bonds because they have been rebuked and shamed too many times, they have lost the ability to trust each other and develop borderline personalities - it is everyone's responsibility to become more aware of these issues and hopefully it can help kids value deep friendship and respect in others more than they do today.

Today, they will form superficial relationships for instant gratification, just to feel better, less numb and end up getting hurt in the process. It is easier to win over something you never had, even if it is just a flint, than to aim for something more difficult, messier, deeper that requires hard work but will ultimately offer more fulfillment and stability.

We are in an era of unstable, superficial relationships, where kids simply consume one superficial relationship after another, pick dates on an app, text instead of calling, which makes them unable to communicate or entrust their innermost feelings to anyone, unable to form deep meaningful bonds, which all human beings need.