So far, we have seen and come to know some of the people who caused Hannah’s depression. It seems that things may be worse than what was initially shown while Hannah tells the even darker side of her story as her tape delves into experiences that goes beyond simple high school bullying.

Tape 4, Side B

Mr. Porter brings Clay into his office after his breakdown in the hall. He tries to counsel him, but Clay rebuffs with a simple truth. “Everybody wants to talk, but nobody wants to do anything,” he says. He then leaves for class, but as he stands in the empty hallway, he instead turns around and walks out only to find Tony outside leaning by his car. Tony wants Clay to go somewhere with him, but Clay feels uneasy. But as he walks away he spots Mr. Porter at the entrance of Liberty High. Sensing he might get a telling off, he immediately goes into Tony’s car and tells him to drive. “Where are we going?” he asks. “You’ll see,” Tony replies.

Meanwhile, Hannah narrates the time she was, at least trying, to contemplate her future. During a college fair at the high school, she became discouraged because she had no money and her grades were not that good, limiting her options for her continued education. She then spots a hipster-looking guy with a stack of books and asks him what future he is peddling. “Librarian,” the guy replies. He asks if she writes. She affirms, but stated she does not show her work to anybody. He invites her to a poetry club and tells her it is a safe space. She is hesitant to go, but because, like a lot of people facing depression, she wanted to find a purpose, a reason for being, she ended up going anyway.

Normally, that would have been a good idea. I remember that having a creative outlet helped me in my depression. In my case, it was acting class.

For Hannah, it would not be a great experience because it was there that she would get to know another one of her thirteen reasons. Ryan Shaver, a kid from her school who she knows as the editor of the unofficial school literary magazine. They are acquainted and he acknowledges her. She rebukes, because he put her in his magazine for being named “best ass.” Ryan later apologizes to Hannah and, as a peace offering, gives her a journal to write  in, urging her to purge and turn her thoughts into words. She relents and thanks him.

At present, Mrs Jensen drops by the school in her capacity as a litigator working on defending Liberty High from the Baker’s case. In the course of interviewing Mr. Porter about Hannah, she is told that Clay has skipped school. Worried, she tries to reach him, but he doesn’t answer. At this point, Clay and Tony had reached their destination: a big rock outcrop. Tony tells him that they have to climb it and when they reach the top, he will tell him everything.

In the past, Hannah finally reaches out to Ryan and asks him to teach her how to write. They end up being “kind of” friends. Hannah then finally musters the courage to read a beautiful poem she composed in front of the poetry club. It is about vulnerability. It speaks about her being naked under lacy black underwear and how her skin is soft and easily pricked and how people don’t care about that. Iinstead, they want to know what her fingers do in the dark. Obviously, it was a metaphor for what she had gone through.

Presently, on top of the rock, Tony and Clay finally make it. Like a lot of boys, Clay responds to the physical exertion as a form of release with what he is feeling. He is elated and feels a sense of joy, and so it makes it easier for him and Tony to talk. Tony tells Clay his part in all of this. He is not on the tapes, but he was there after Hannah killed herself. He saw emergency services arrive. Tony then tells Clay of how he saw Hannah through his bedroom window that night as she was dropping the box of tapes at his front door. He shared his regret about how he didn’t get up and thought if it was important she would have knocked. He feels guilty about not chasing her. He says that 45 minutes later he opens the box and reads Hannah’s letter asking him to take care of it. When Tony listens to the first tape and realized the implication, he frantically tried to call the Bakers. No answer. He went to their home, and he witnessed the aftermath. Clay cries and realizes how wrong he was about Tony.

In the past, Ryan urges Hannah to share her work, but she does not want to. So in secret, he rips the page containing the poem out of her journal, scans it and publishes the full page with Hannah’s handwriting on his literary magazine. The next day at school, to her horror, Hannah finds everyone reading her work. To Ryan’s credit, he did put in that the author was “anonymous.” The only one that had an inkling that it was Hannah was Jessica, who recognized her handwriting and she told Courtney. In class, their teacher even read her poem saying that she liked it. Hannah berates Ryan for publishing without her permission.

At present, Clay and Tony continue on talking. Clay thought Tony cared about Hannah because he was in love with her. He laughs though and tells Clay “You do realize I’m gay, right?” And when they get back to Tony’s car, he asks for the tapes back. Tony smiles and he reaches at the back and hands the box of tapes to Clay. Tony brings him home. Mr and Mrs. Jensen seem lenient towards Clay. They tell him that he is not grounded and that they are glad that he is alive, but next time a text would be appreciated. Clay then looks for a copy he has of the literary magazine edition with Hannah’s poem in it. The next morning, he goes to the Baker’s drugstore and he gives Mrs. Baker the magazine. He tells her about the poem. She then opens the pages and immediately recognizes Hannah’s handwriting. Clay then leaves as Mrs. Baker contemplates her daughter’s words.

Tape 5, Side A

The pieces are finally coming together. It seems that we may finally find out what exactly happened in Jessica’s party.

Hannah talks about giving herself a fresh start. She reminisces about the end of sophomore year (which as we know has been hell for her), and the start of summer wherein she can begin anew. She gets a fresh new haircut, the one which Clay compliments her about in class later. But at that time at work, he only acknowledges it briefly. The two get talking and he tries to persuade her to go to Jessica’s party. She is hesitant but ends up going anyway.

At present Clay confronts Jessica (who is now spiralling into alcoholism) about what happened that night during her party. She says that Hannah is lying and that what happened is that she and her boyfriend, Justin merely hooked up. They were drunk and merely passed out afterwards. Clay asks if she really knows that, or is it just what Justin told her. She says she knows.

Meanwhile, at Mr. Porter’s office, Mr. Baker enters and shows the guidance counselor Hannah’s poem in the literary magazine. He wonders why the school keep saying that they had no idea that Hannah was facing issues when they publish a poem wherein she talks about her pain. Mr. Porter rebuts that this is not a school-sanctioned magazine and that it was published anonymously. But Mr. Baker is not having it, he points out that it was distributed on-campus and that teachers were discussing the poem in class.

Later, with Clay becoming more pro-active, Marcus decides to initiate a plan to shut him up for good. As part of that, he goes to Bryce to buy some weed. A while after, he then goes to Mr. Porter to talk about Clay. This results in the Vice Principal and Mr. Porter going to Clay’s class and having everyone’s bags searched. When they looked in Clay’s bag, not surprisingly, they find a packet of weed. He is suspended for three days and have to sign up for a drug program at the police station.

In the tapes, Hannah finally narrates whose tape this is: it is Justin’s second tape! As much as it seems that it is pointing to him doing “something,” it turns out it may not be what we think it is. It is still horrible, of course, but he may not be the main villain in Hannah’s story. During Jessica’s party, Clay and Hannah are having fun and they are forging a stronger connection. She discovers that Justin and Jessica are seeing each other, but it does not dampen her mood. She even says that , for the first time, she does not feel invisible. But she hints at darker things and that aside from this one, there are three things that happened in Jessica’s party. And the one she is telling is only the first.

She starts things off in Jessica’s room. How did she end up there? She says she’s saving that tale for another tape. The important thing is that she was there, hiding, when Jessica and Justin burst in and started to get intimate with each other.

At present, Mrs. Jensen picks up Clay at school. He asks that if possible he be dropped at the police station to sign up for the drug program. But when they arrived there, Clay instead asks his mom a legal question about whether, if someone was assaulted a while ago, and the witness is gone and the victim won’t speak up, will it still be possible to prosecute. His mom says that it may be hard to prosecute and understandably she is concerned about why her son would be asking this question now. He is non-committal, so she threatens to go inside and ask someone to get answers from him. Clay finally relents and tells her that he knew Hannah Baker and that they were friends and that he misses her. Mrs. Jensen asks him if his question about the assault had something to do with Hannah. He says no, not really. Mrs. Jensen presses on, telling him that, “Even if an assault cannot be prosecuted it shouldn’t be kept secret.” At those words, something clicked within Clay. He tells his perplexed mother that he needs to go, and promptly leaves her behind.

In the past, Hannah tells of how Jessica seems to be heavily intoxicated when she and Justin were in her bed. They haven’t even taken their clothes off and nothing has happened yet. Justin seems concerned, she asks if Jessica needed water or something, but she only murmurs in reply. He kisses her and leaves her alone, he then exits the room. Hannah emerges from her hiding place and proceeds to the door when she hears voices fom the other side. She hears Bryce and Justin talking, and then shuffling. She runs to hide in the closet just as Bryce is about to enter. As he comes into the room, he unbuckles his belt. Someone walks in, but Bryce tells him to go away and pushes him out the door and locks it. Hannah is horrified as she watches from the closet. Bryce then proceeds to have sex with the unconscious Jessica. When he was done, he promptly leaves. Jessica is still asleep and after the coast was clear, Hannah goes out.

She narrates that this is about she and Justin, and how the two of them have failed Jessica. How they could have had stopped this, if only they tried.

“How do I live with that?” she says.

At present, Clay decides to go to Justin’s apartment and confronts him with what happened to Jessica. He tells him that Bryce can’t be prosecuted, but he has to let Jessica know what happened. “Jessica deserves to know truth, and she will never believe it, unless it comes from you,” Clay tells Justin. At that moment, Justin remembers that night, wherein he was standing outside the door when Jessica was passed out. A drunk Bryce comes near, and asks him what he is guarding. He says Jessica, Bryce wants a peak at his summer hook-up, but Justin says that’s his girlfriend. Bryce tells him, “What’s mine is yours, right?” Justin looks dejected, as Bryce pushes past him.

Back at the present, Justin tells Clay that it didn’t happen like Hannah said it did. “I heard that before,” Clay answers. Justin then stands by his story, he hooked up with Jessica and that’s it, there was no other guy. Justin’s memory betrays him. He was the guy that walked in and tried to stop Bryce, but he was pushed out the door. He cried in the hall, knowing what was happening. Clay then asks, “Why are you protecting, Bryce?” Justin shouts, “I’m not protecting Bryce, I’m protecting Jessica!” 

It seems really messed up and does not justify what he allowed to happen, but his actions and motivations can be understood. Justin is from a poor messed up family and Bryce had obviously been kind and generous to him. Justin feels like he owes him a lot. Meanwhile, he does not want to tell Jessica because he believes that she’d be better off with a lie. There are a lot of dimensions to Justin’s story, but in the end he is still complicit. Clay seems to get where he is coming from and he gives up talking to him (although it seems he still won’t stop trying to get some form of justice, just not with Justin). So, he just tells him that he wants his bike back. “It’s out back, behind the building,” Justin tells him.

On Jessica’s side, memories of that night seem to be creeping in. She is still not accepting it. Justin goes to see her, to talk to her.

Later Clay goes to Tony’s car workshop and admonishes him about doing nothing about Jessica and Hannah. After acting out, Tony makes him a deal. He listens to all of the tapes, then they do what they have to do.

Tape 5, Side B

Now, we arrive at the second story that happened the night of Jessica’s party.

Something weird happened between Hannah and Clay and so he walks out of the house and is confronted by Jeff, who wonders why he is leaving. He tries to urge Clay to stay, and maybe go for a drive with him because he is going on a beer run for the party. Whatever it is that occurred between he and Hannah is still lingering within him and so he says no and tells Jeff that he will walk home. Hannah is still dazed by what she has witnessed and looks utterly dejected. Sheri, who has to go home anyway, spots her, and offers her a ride because she looks so forlorn. Strangely, this act of kindness would lead to her being the subject of the latest tape. And Hannah, of course, narrates why.

As Sheri drove them home, Hannah had a moment where it seemed she’d tell her friend what she witnessed. Instead, she had a moment of weakness and changed the topic. Hannah then noticed that her phone was dead and asked Sheri if she had a charger. Sheri fumbled for her charger, but it leads to her momentarily losing control of the car and crashing into a stop sign at an intersection.They are unharmed and the car seems fine. Since the stop sign is down, Hannah wanted to report the damage to 911. Sheri is scared to report the accident and promptly drives away, leaving Hannah to fend for herself. With her phone battery gone, she tried to find other people with a phone. She is able to borrow one from a guy at a convenient store, and she reports the accident only to find out that someone else had already reported it.

At present, Clay talks to Sheri about what happened that night. Saying that they have to come clean with what occurred. Sheri tells him that she does not want him judging her for the worst mistake she has ever made in her life. She asks him to meet her after school so she could show him what she is doing to make amends. Clay remembers the aftermath of that night, when he was mourning a friend at school who was driving drunk. He also recalls when Hannah tried to talk to him and she was crying. Clay thought she was just being dramatic. I mean she didn’t even knew his friend who they thought drove drunk and died at the accident. He rejects her, and she has no one to talk to about what she witnessed.

At present, Jessica is spiralling downward, causing problems between she and Justin. Oddly, she ends up hanging with Bryce more and more. Meanwhile, Clay visits a familiar house. On the night of the accident, he remembers talking to the old lady who lives on the house and telling her that her husband was in an accident. He is alive but on his way to the hospital with injuries. Sheri knocks on the door and the old lady remembers him. As it turns out, Sheri has been going to this house to take care of her husband. The clincher is they don’t know about the stop sign.

Later Clay talks to Sheri and asks her, “What about the other family?“ Sheri says she can’t see them, so Clay urges her to come clean. She is adamant not to talk, though. Clay decides to visit “the other family”. He approaches the house of his good friend Jeff, who everyone though had been drunk driving the night of the accident. He confesses to his parents that he was the first person to get to the car crash that night. He was the one who found Jeff in one car, and the husband of the old lady in the other car. As it turns out, it was Clay who reported the accident. He tells Jeff’s parents that he saw him that night at the party and he said he wasn’t drunk.  He also confessed that the stop sign was already down that night and that maybe is what caused the accident.

Hannah narrates that she also tried to talk to Jeff’s parents. She even walked to his house, but could never go through with it. She also affirms that she had made wrong decisions and that this is the first one. She says that there is a second one, also.

At present in the playground, Clay is listening to the end of Sheri’s tape when Tony joins him.He proceeds to take out the next one. He tells Tony that he does not have to stay, but Tony says maybe he should because the next tape is his. Clay is afraid, he asks Tony, “Did I kill Hannah?” Tony says that he and everyone else who are in this tapes were, in a way, responsible for what she did, but in the end it was her choice. Clay thinks he is skirting the questions, so he asks simply and to the point, “Did I kill, Hannah Baker?” Tony replies, glumly, “Yeah.”

Oh, what did you do Helmet?

Tape 6, Side A

We finally get to Clay’s tape.

The good friend and the love interest of Hannah Baker.

What did Helmet do? He seemed loyal and kind towards Hannah. Insensitive sometimes, yes, but still kind. So far, he’s the only one who listened to the tapes who seemed to want to do something about it. Hannah, though, narrates that it comes down to her and her bad decision. So, whatever Clay might be is a matter of circumstance. It also is the third story of Jessica’s party. So far, it seems to have been one truly life-changing and eventful party.

On to the story:

Clay arrives real early to the party, which is no one is there yet. Jessica answers the door and explains to him that when a party is set at seven it usually means nine. Clay asks if he should come back, but Jessica tells him to stay and that he could help with the prep. What happens next is something to which we are sort of familiar with. Hannah arrives hoping for a new start and is looking for Clay. What we never knew was that Clay, upon seeing her, had cold feet. He actually tries to sneak out and is then blindesided by the best-wingman-in-history: Jeff. Jeff stops him and tells him to go and talk to Hannah. It makes one wonder though, if Jeff had not died in the car crash, maybe Clay and Hannah would have made it through, and she wouldn’t have had killed herself. Funny enough, Hannah did catch onto this, taking notice of how she and Clay would really only hang out when Jeff is around. Jeff’s efforts are truly paying off because Hannah and Clay end up in Jessica’s room, alone together.

Meanwhile at present, we get a deeper glimpse into Justin’s life. His mother seems to care more for her boyfriend than she does her own son. She often takes her boyfriend’s side, or doesn’t interject at all,  even if he mistreats her son. This prompts Justin to leave the apartment often, and does so on this night. He texts everyone he knows, asking for a place to crash. His girlfriend, Jessica, is still hanging out with Bryce. His best friend Zach could not entertain him, either. He strangely ends up at Alex’s front door. Alex’s dad welcomes him and even gives him dinner. He ends up wolfing the food down. Like I said before, Justin started out looking like a typical jock villain. But as the story went on, we get to see that he is far more multi-layered than we realize. It is really hard not to feel sorry for him for certain moments. This is what makes 13 Reasons Why even more compelling. It is not just Hannah’s story, it is a combination of everyone’s truths.

Justin then gets a phone call from Jessica. It is then that he finds out that his girlfriend is hanging out at Bryce’s place. This horrifies him and he asks Alex if they could drive to Bryce’s place.

On the other side of town, Clay, who is agitated from listening to his tape, is driven by Tony to have a bite to eat at Monet’s. I especially love the reasoning behind this, which is a nugget of wisdom from Tony’s mother, “First we eat, then we do everything else.”

That is now my motto.

Anyway, at Monet’s, Skye senses his agitation and wonders if he should get a mystical reading via her tarot cards. Clay agrees. Her reading is frighteningly accurate, but Clay sees it as a sign of her being mean. In their conversation, we hear why their friendship seemed to have ended. It turns out that on the first day of freshmen year, Clay did not greet her because she was different. It was the time she started out her Goth look. There is also another side. Hannah also ignored her. Clay also revealed that she cuts herself. Skye rebukes him saying that it is what you do instead of killing yourself. “Suicide is for the weak,” she says.

Clay leaves her and he and Tony drive off. He is really angry but Tony tells him that he does not know what Skye may be going through. They drive to the top of a hill overlooking their town. Tony then leaves him alone, and Clay resumes listening to his tape.

The night of the party at Jessica’s room, Hannah and Clay start getting intimate. She envisions a future with him as they start removing their clothes. It was supposed to be a beautiful romantic moment. She panicked and remembered all the bad things that other guys had done to her and she pushes him away. This left Clay perplexed. It really was not his fault. He even apologized, but Hannah tells him to leave her alone. She tells him to go, even if a part of her didn’t want him to. Clay leaves her and that’s when Justin and Jessica walked in, thus revealing how she ended up witnessing what she did.

Hannah narrates, “Clay… Helmet… your name does not belong on this list, but you need to be here if I’m going to tell my story. If I’m going to explain why I did what I did. Because you aren’t every other guy. You’re different. You’re good and kind and decent. And I didn’t deserve to be with someone like you. I never would. I would have ruined you. It wasn’t you. It was me, and everything that’s happened to me.”

Clay breaks down as he hears it, and he angrily rants at Tony.

He walks to the edge of the cliff. He blames himself for not staying with Hannah. He plays out a scenario in his head where he stays and tries to comfort her and understand what she has gone through. He tells her, “I love you, and I’m not going to hurt you.”

This was a really hard scene to watch. To those of us who had a loved one suddenly die or who knows someone who actually killed themselves, how many times have we replayed scenarios in our head about what we could have had said?

Hannah’s reply is haunting and it seems to speak to all of us, “Why didn’t you say this to me when I was alive?”

Clay breaks down and Tony comforts him.

At Bryce’s place, where a party seems to be going on with Jessica and a bunch of other jocks, Alex and Justin walk in. Bryce invites Justin to a card game which Zach, Jessica, and even Alex take part in. During the game, Jessica actually sits on Bryce’s lap, much to Justin’s chagrin. Justin actually drags Jessica away and he forbids her to hang out there again. Jessica gets out from his grip and Bruce shouts for Justin to calm down. This angers Justin more, who tells Bryce to, “Stay away from her!” Jessica shouts, “Why do you care?”Alex says, “Tell her, Justin.” He finally blurts it out, “Because he f***g, raped you!” Justin even tries to beat up Bryce. After a tustle, Jessica slaps Justin and walks away. Everyone at the party falls silent, each contemplating what they just heard. There are people there who never listened to the tapes who are confused by what had just taken place.

Meanwhile, Tony drives Clay home. Once there, Mrs. Jensen tells her son that in line with the Baker’s case there will be subpoenas and the kids in school, including Clay and everyone else in the tapes, will be interviewed. By coincidence, of course, because they still have no idea about the existence of those recordings. Clay then promises his mom that sometime he will tell her all that he knows but for now…not yet.

Tape 6, Side B

We now know what happened at Jessica’s party. All three stories. Yet, it seems that none of those is the worst thing that ever happened to Hannah Baker. But more of that later.

Things are getting heated among the kids who were named in the tapes. No one outside of their group knows of the existence of Hannah’s recordings, and yet they are getting subpoenas for the hearing of the Baker’s case. (But then again, Mrs. Baker does have Hannah’s written outline with their names on it). Bryce, as it turns out, is trying to reach Justin. He appears genuinely concerned for his friend, even if he was called a rapist. Justin is trying to make amends with Jessica by creepily appearing in her bedroom uninvited. He tries to explain himself with regards to how much he owes to Bryce. How every time he was thrown out of his house, Bryce took him in. When he was hungry and had nothing to eat, Bryce was there for him. As it turns out, Bryce’s parents even bought stuff for school for Justin and when Justin’s mom was locked up for drug possession, Bryce got his dad to bail her out. Even with Justin’s explanation, Jessica is not having it – and she has a point. Just because you owe someone that much does not give you the right to let him rape your girlfriend. It is understandable, but not necessarily forgivable. It could be, but that decision belongs to the victim alone. She, or he, owns that narrative and we must respect and support that choice.

The beauty of this scene, though, is it shows the multifaceted characteristics of these two jocks. We already delved into Justin’s story and it seems that, for the most part, Bryce might be the best friend you could ever have, just keep him away from your girlfriend. Jessica stands her ground, and she tells Justin to go.

This takes us to Clay, who is at Monet’s and starts listening to tape 12. Hannah narrates the story of the worst day in her life. It starts out with a heated discussion between Mr. and Mrs Baker at their drugstore. Hannah overhears that they are having money problems and are having trouble paying the rent for their store. She offers her college savings, but her mom does not want to jeopardize her future. She instead says she’ll try to ask their landlord for an extension. The problem is she has to do a bank deposit that day, so Hannah instead offers to do it so that her mother can have the meeting with their landlord. Hannah is given pouch with the cash in it. She goes to her car, but as she is about to enter it, she receives a text from Clay. She puts the pouch, the soda she was drinking, and her wallet on top of her car to call him back. She tells him that she would probably just pass by to help him with something. Hannah then picks up all the stuff she put on top of her car – except for the pouch with the cash in it – and drives off, none the wiser. She passes by the cinema to see Clay who gives her an envelope for her to deposit since she was on her way to the bank anyway. They make small talk and even have an awkward exchange about Jeff’s funeral that Hannah did not attend. Thankfully the cringe-worthy conversation ended, but as Hannah walked away with the envelope, she remembered the pouch. She searches her car with panic. Then she remembers she put the pouch on top of her car. She then drives back to search and retrace her steps.

At present, Zach, Alex, Ryan, Courtney, Marcus, and an uninvited Tyler, who barges in to join, are having a meeting at Monet’s. They are discussing what to do about the subpoenas. Tyler proposes that they throw Bryce under the bus. Alex simply proposes to tell the truth. Tyler does not want to do so and Courtney is adamant that Hannah’s truth is not hers.

Meanwhile, Mrs Baker asks Tony about the written outline with names. Why Tony’s name is in there with a question mark, and why is Bryce’s name is circled several times. Tony, overcome with guilt, is hesitant, and denies he knows anything. Mrs. Baker does not believe him and can feel that he is not telling her everything that he knows.

In the past, Hannah shares what happens in the aftermath of her losing the pouch. Her parents are disappointed, but at the end they tell their daughter it is okay. It makes one wonder why Hannah would kill herself when she has parents as great as these? Even with all the bad things that has happened, at least she has that, right? Well one more thing happened.

Feeling guilty, Hannah muses that she ruins everything and that maybe the people she cared about are better without her. She goes out to take a long walk. She ends up near Bryce’s house and hears the sound of music playing and so she makes her way. She ends up in Bryce’s backyard pool where a full-blown party is going on. Jessica, who is in a Jacuzzi with her boyfriend Justin, as well as Zach and his girlfriend, calls to her and asks Hannah to bring them a box of pizza closer to where they are in the tub. Hannah obliges and Jessica welcomes her, inviting her to join them. She tries to decline, saying that she didn’t bring a swimsuit. Jessica says that everyone else is just wearing their underwear. She then splashes Hannah with water and tells her not to be a pussy. Hannah obliges, removes her clothes and joins in. For the first time in days, she actually feels at peace. But then, the couples started leaving her to do stuff elsewhere. Everyone else is gone too. She closes her eyes, and the Jacuzzi is turned off. When she opens her eyes, she sees that Bryce is in the water with her. She tries to go, but he holds onto her.

At present, under the pretense of buying weed, Clay goes to Bryce’s house. At first, their conversation seems friendly enough. But soon, Clay accuses Bryce of raping Hannah! He wants him to admit it. Bryce says she wanted it and that she got into a Jacuzzi with him. Clay punches him, which has little effect on the jock. Bryce then proceeds to pummel him bloody, while still insisting that Hannah wanted him.

Hannah narrates how she lost control, how she struggled at first but could not fight and at the end, she walks home shocked.

Meanwhile at present, Clay, bloodied and swollen, still stands up and is able to sit in one of Bryce’s leather lounge chairs. Bryce seems impressed at his tenacity and says, “Respect,” as he gathers some ice in a cloth napkin for Clay. Clay moves his open backpack near him to the center. Bryce then gives him the ice for his wounds and a glass of scotch. He gestures a toast, which Clay reciprocates. This is a very masculine ritual and it shows Bryce’s character. He respects strong men, even those who stand up to him and oppose him. Only men, it seems, which is even more evident when Clay asks him about Hannah wanting him. Clay presses on, “Did you rape Hannah Baker?” Bryce pauses and replies, “If you wanna call it rape, call it rape.” Clay then takes another sip. He then leaves exultant, biking with triumph away from Bryce’s house.

Everyone else in the tapes are also starting to deal with their own truths. Jessica cries alone in the shower, contemplating what happened to her at her party. Sheri, who has reported what she did, visits the stop sign. Alex seems resigned to speak out. While Justin, who is again mistreated by his mom’s boyfriend, runs away from home, he packs a few possessions, including a gun.

At the Jensens, Clay’s mom worries about her son not being home yet. It is a worry that may have a bearing, because on the other side of town an ambulance is carrying a 17-year-old gunshot victim to the hospital.

 Tape 7, Side A

Hannah finally says her last piece. It seems that, at the end of recording, with everything that has happened to her, she had felt a release. Even her mother noticed that she seemed more radiant. For a moment, she thought she could fight. We know that, sadly, she didn’t win out.

At present, things are coming to a head. The kids named in the tapes have been deposed and are now giving their recorded statements. We also get to see Kat again as she gives her own testimony. As for Clay, his plan is now going full steam. He hands Tony back the tape recorder he borrowed and reveals to Tony that he added his own recording at the blank Side B of Hannah’s last tape. He plays it for his friend and Bryce’s voice from the other night resounds. Tony is shocked, of course. Clay tells him to make a recording of all the tapes because he plans on coming clean for Hannah’s sake and also for Jessica. Tony is hesitant, knowing that Hannah’s plan and her wish that the next person after Clay who is meant to listen, Bryce, should get all the tapes. Clay says that in doing that it will end all things and that they should stop thinking about doing what Hannah wanted and instead do what she needed. Tony, though, does not reveal what he intends to do.

Later, Clay meets with Jessica at Monet’s. He shows her the box of tapes and tells her that he would burn all this if she wants him to, but if she wants to fight and make Bryce pay for what he did, then the tapes could serve as crucial evidence. Jessica is also hesitant. She doesn’t want to tell the world what happened to her. Clay tells her that she should do whatever that she wants. He then stands up to leave, but he is walking out, Jessica calls him and says, “Don’t burn the tapes.” He nods.

When Jessica exits the coffee shop, she finds Justin waiting for her. He begs for forgiveness and tells her that he nearly killed himself the previous night by shooting himself or jumping off the top of a crane. She does not relent, so he asks her what he could do. She tells him point blank that what she wants is never to see him again.

In the past, we get to see Hannah’s last ditch effort to give life chance. She talks with her guidance counselor, Mr. Porter. She talks about not caring about anything anymore.

At the present, Clay also decides to talk about Hannah Baker to Mr. Porter. As it turns out, Hannah had the recorder for her entire session with Mr. Porter and that is what Clay seems to allude to. He tells Mr. Porter slyly, “What if we knew what we did wrong?”

We then get a glimpse of Hannah’s outpouring, as she says that she just “wants it to stop.” (If you have undergone depression, chances are you would really relate to those words.)

She says she wants “everything to stop”.

At present, Mr. Porter tells Clay not to blame himself and that they, as humans, can be imperfect. Clay admonishes him, asking him, “What about the next kid who wants to kill himself?” Mr. Porter says mistakes do happen and you cannot always tell the signs. Clay rebukes him and tells him he knows that Hannah saw him that day. He tells him that he knew how she got to that point. Clay reveals that he knows how Hannah had tried telling him about her rape in the counselling session. We see that, in the past, Hannah had really tried her best to let it out, but Mr. Porter’s line of questioning veered from a little bit condescending to straight up victim-blaming. He seemed well-intentioned enough and tries to tell her that he will do everything in his power to protect her. Clay tells Mr. Porter the name that Hannah could not. “Bryce Walker,” he says, “Bryce Walker raped Hannah.”

In the past, with Hannah not giving out a name or being more specific, Mr. Porter tells her that there is only one other option, which is to move on.

Seriously?

But then again, this is more prevalent than you think. How many abuses and wrongs have been left alone? Just because the “supposed-to-be-good” people in authority focus more on telling the victim to move on, instead of trying to uncover the abuse? This goes for anyone who has ever been not only sexually, but also physically, and mentally abused.

Mr. Porter defends himself by saying that it is dangerous to accuse someone of such a crime.But Clay tells him that he has Bryce’s confession. He tells him that he believed Hannah at her word, something which Mr. Porter should have done. He also says what happened the night before, that he accused Bryce of Hannah’s rape, that he was beaten down, but got Bryce’s confession. Mr. Porter says that they should stop the conversation. But Clay tells him, “Wouldn’t you like to know what happened after Hannah left that day?”

“She walked out of this office and she hoped you would come after her,” He continued.

Hannah did walk out that day looking back at Mr. Porter’s office door.

“He’s not coming,” She narrates in her tapes. “I think I’ve made myself very clear, but no one’s coming forward to stop me,” she says, adding, “Some of you care. None of you cared enough.”

These words probably struck me more than anything in the series so far. Remember when I said I knew someone who killed herself. There was a time I did wonder, if there was something I could have done. I actually still wonder to this day.

Anyway, Clay continued, “You let her walk away. We all let her walk away. She walked out of school went home and put some things in order. She returned her uniform to the Crestmont, where I worked with her. She didn’t say anything. She dropped it on the counter and walked away. She dropped a package off with a friend, then took another to the post office. Then she went back home put on some old clothes. She went into the bathroom filled the tub opened the box of razor blades she took from her parents’ store that morning She got into the tub still with her clothes on slit her wrists and bled to death. And she died alone.”

Her mother found her first, and then her dad. They both tried to save her but could not.

Clay told Mr. Porter he could have stopped her. He says he could have and a dozen people could have. Mr. Porter says then that what she did was her decision and that there is no way to know what she thought. That’s when Clay brings out the box of tapes. He tells Mr. Porter about the tapes and he tells him that it’s about the 13 reasons why she killed herself and that Mr. Porter is number 13. Clay then walks out to the hall, and amid the crowd he sees his former friend Skye. He thinks for a moment and follows her. He asks her if she would like to hang out sometime. She asks when. He says, “How about now?” He followed up, asking her if maybe they should just skip school and just hang. She says okay.

Meanwhile at Tyler’s house, you know the creepy stalker. A disturbing image is revealed, it seems that the young photography enthusiast has a hidden cache of weapons underneath the trunk he uses for his camera equipment.

At the Baker’s pharmacy, Tony finally comes clean with Hannah’s parents. He decides to give them a USB filled with digital copies of Hannah’s tapes. He tells them sorry and leaves.

Later at the video recording of Tyler’s statement, wherein Hannah’s parents attend and Mrs Jensen acts as the defence of the school,  he finally reveals the bullying that went on at their high school. He also talks about the existence of the tapes. When asked where this tapes are, he says that last he heard Clay Jensen had them, which shocks Mrs. Jensen. Later, Jessica is also interviewed, but for her part she denies the existence of the tapes.

In the meantime, Justin and Bryce have a drink together. Bryce asks about how Clay knew, Justin tells him about the tapes. He then goes and seems to have decided to leave town for good.

Jessica finally confesses everything that happened to her to her dad. At school, the principal delivers a shocking news to Mr. Porter. Alex shot himself in the head last night and is now in critical condition. He was the 17-year-old in the ambulance! At a road somewhere in town, Clay, Tony, Skye, and Tony’s boyfriend Brad are driving off somewhere. Tony asks Clay if he wants to listen to something, Clay answers, “Just the radio.”

Well, Hannah’s story is done and told, but so many issues are yet unresolved. Will Alex survive? What is Tyler’s intention with those guns? Will Bryce be held accountable for his crimes?

Season 2, anyone?