I agree, suicide is a horrible thing to have someone who loves you have to go through. I think Hannah felt like she was a failure and that she couldn't be the daughter her parents deserved because of the bad decisions she thought she made. Losing the envelope with the money was just another thing that propelled those thoughts. I remember when I was a teenager I often thought of suicide too, one of the things that always stopped me was imagining what my parents would have to go through once they found me. I wished I could simply disappear or evaporate instead of putting them through that. I think this show is the realest depiction of high school and of teen vulnerability that I've ever seen on TV or in movies.

I agree , I think it was quite selfish of Hannah to put her parents through that. I do empathise with everything else she went through (I am a boy). Even when she lost the envelope with the money I didn't think her parents reacted that badly.

Her parents definitely deserved better.

@kcd0226 said:

So....was anyone kinda angry with Hannah for making her parents go through something so horrible? Maybe I missed something but they seemed like decent parents. They were a bit distracted with work and trying to make ends meet but I'm sure if she had asked them to sit down and talk to her about the things she was going through they would have listened. They clearly loved her very much and they seemed to have a pretty good relationship with her. Its just so awful for them to come home and find her like that. Did she not think about how this would affect them? I'm trying not to be mad at her, but it is such a selfish thing to do to her parents. It frustrates me. I can understand her pain (we've all been bullied, felt alone or depressed) but it was really awful for her parents and that scene (more than the one where she actually slits her wrists) made me cry seeing the panic and pain on their faces and seeing her mom trying to hold it together.

I think the fact that Hannah's parents were for the most part, loving, caring and normal people, was really important to the story.

Suicide can catch people off guard sometimes, and while sometimes the obvious answer is just a bad home and a bad environment, the show subverts that expectation a little by giving Hannah a pair of loving parents. Which makes the show even more depressing, but it does paint a much more relatable, realistic scenario.

And as for being angry with Hannah, i feel the same way! Releasing the tapes in that way WAS irresponsible imo. For better and for worse, it exposes her bullies sure, but it also threw a ton of innocent bystanders in the cross hairs. I think we can all agree that Clay and Zach at least were innocent. But by giving them their own tape was a pretty selfish way to guilt shame them. But ofc, this all helps to make Hannah a much more 3 dimensional character. I understand why she did it, and i sympathize with her even if i dont agree with what she did.

If anything, you can argue Hannah thought of it as a revenge fantasy. But we see all the ugly consequences of that play out, in like you said, some of the realest depiction of high school and of teen vulnerability.