While critics were split into several aspects of the show, in particular how it handled mental health and its depictions of rape and suicide, Langford's performance was highly praised.

Failure to follow her instructions will result in a second set of tapes being released by a classmate and close personal friend of Hannah's, later revealed to be Tony.

[4] In the present, Hannah's mother, Olivia Baker, finds the "hot or not" list, leading her to believe her daughter was being bullied.

During a basketball game, Clay keys Zach's car out of rage where he is discovered by Skye Miller, a classmate he was once friends with.

The two bond over poetry but Ryan betrayed her by publishing her personal poem in the school magazine "Lost 'n Found" that she had been reluctant to share.

In the present, Justin, who had been violent with Clay, is now being confronted by him to tell Jessica the truth: that she was raped and that he needs to stop protecting Bryce.

In Jessica's room, the two partially initiate sex before Hannah, traumatized by her negative encounters with the boys at school, screamed at Clay to leave.

After losing her parents' business deposits, she took a late night stroll as a solution to her growing depression and came upon Bryce's pool party.

Mr. Porter cannot make her disclose the identity of her rapist and Hannah refuses to get her parents or police involved so he gives her the only option of moving on.

At this time, Clay confides in his mother regarding hypothetical situations similar to Bryce's criminal activities and Jessica's rape but will not reveal anything else.

Secretly recording their conversation to the seventh tape, side B, Clay suffers a beating but gets Bryce to admit that he had raped Hannah.

Feeling guilty that her parents never received answers regarding their daughter's suicide, Tony converts the tapes into mp3 format and hands it over to Mrs. Baker.

[17][18] In her book review for The Guardian, Katherine Hughes wrote that Hannah "comes across not so much as a young soul in distress as a vengeful harpy".

[20] At the beginning of the series, Hannah is a 16-year-old high school junior, "from a white picket fence town with an almost perfect family".

[21] Noting the realism and relatability of the character with real-life people, Quinn Keaney of Popsugar wrote that Hannah, "is just like you ... like someone you know; she's smart, she has a bright future ahead of herself, she has loving parents, she just wants to be liked".

[22] Variety's Maureen Ryan offered a similar observation on the realistic portrayal of teenagers, writing that the "darkness" in Hannah's life is "constantly interwoven with the natural resilience and questioning optimism of adolescence".

[23] Writing for TVLine, Andy Swift described her as "a fresh-faced teen with a bright future",[24] while Sarah Hughes of The Daily Telegraph called her "smart, funny, beautiful, and sometimes awkward in that way that teenagers are".

[27] While some critics lauded the honest treatment, Lauren Hoffman of Cosmopolitan said the series is so "enamored with this idea of Hannah as someone who does things to others that it neglects to tell us who she is herself".

[28] Although Hannah's story is mostly told by the use of voice-overs and flashbacks following her suicide,[29] her character is also viewed from the perspective of Clay Jensen.

The show's director Tom McCarthy, script-writer Brian Yorkey, and the executive producer Selena Gomez selected Langford following a Skype audition.

Yorkey called the casting process especially hard because of the extra effort needed to match the actor with the visions of the novel's readers.

Speaking with James Gill of the Radio Times, he expressed his satisfaction on the casting of Langford and Dylan Minnette as the leading duo, and said, "It was well worth it because it was about finding two people who could not only portray Hannah and Clay but understand at a deep level what their journey is".

[34] Universal Studios purchased film rights to Asher's novel on February 8, 2011, and Gomez began the process of casting the role of Hannah Baker.

[37] Filming for the show took place in the Northern Californian towns of Vallejo, Benicia, San Rafael, Crockett and Sebastopol during the summer of 2016.

Katherine Langford, however, garnered unanimous acclaim for her performance in the television series and was variously called "a revelation", "believable and raw" and "magnetic".

[42] Jesse Schedeen of IGN praised her performance stating, "Langford shines in the lead role [and] embodies that optimism and that profound sadness [of Hannah's] as well".

[44] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe praised the chemistry of Langford and Minnette, saying, "watching these two young actors together is pure pleasure".

[45] Schedeen of IGN agreed, saying the lead actors are "often at their best together, channeling just the right sort of warm but awkward chemistry you'd expect from two teens who can't quite admit to their feelings for one another".

Mental health professionals such as clinical psychologists, therapists, and academics have expressed major concerns about the series such as romanticizing suicide, Netflix not providing adequate resources at the conclusion of each episode, targeting a young vulnerable audience, and painting mental health professionals as unhelpful and not worth seeing.

[46][47][48] Mental health experts are also educating the general public on what to do in the situations Hannah Baker goes through and also disseminating accurate information surrounding teen suicide, depression, and youth that experience traumatic events.