13 Reasons Why – Tape 3, Side B

By starrymag | May 5, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your feelings all bottled up inside.

 

The last episode of “13 Reasons Why” we found out why popular girl Courtney Crimsen (Michele Selene Ang) made the tapes. We also saw how forgiving Hannah (Katherine Langford) really is when she agreed to drive Courtney and her friends to the dance after Courtney dissed and dismissed her after Tyler (Devin Druid) sent the picture of them making out to the entire school. The episode gave a backstory on Justin (Brandon Flynn) and Jessica’s (Alisha Boe) relationship. She basically got drunk at the dance and decided she was into him. They do call alcohol truth serum. Hannah and Clay (Dylan Minnette) shared a very touching dance and almost a kiss before Jessica’s drunk antics interrupted, so frustrating! Bryce (Justin Prentice) made it known he knew who was in the photo that Tyler sent out leaving Courtney no choice but to again turn on Hannah. At least this time Hannah stood up for herself. You go girl!

 

Clay is still losing his marbles and his friends one at a time. He thought it’d be a great idea to take Courtney to Hannah’s grave to try and talk some sense into her, but all it did was make him look crazier than she already thought he was. Tony (Christian Navarro) was there to once again pick Clay up, like literally, when Courtney left him with no way home. Tony told Clay that he hadn’t been to visit Hannah yet because it was just too painful. Tony didn’t give Clay a ride though. He let him ride his bike, which would have been fine if Justin, Alex (Miles Heizer) and the boys didn’t have the bright idea to pick Clay up and scare the crap out of him. Yeah, that was one joy ride we’re sure Clay could have done without!

 

Let’s get started on Tape 3, Side B and see who’s the subject of this tape. We hear it’s Valentine’s Day at Liberty High and we wonder if Hannah is going to be left with a box of chocolates or a broken heart.

Clay isn’t the only one losing it

 

This episode starts with Montgomery (Timothy Granaderos) almost running over Alex in the parking lot, which really ticked Alex off. Alex tells Montgomery to get out of the Jeep and Justin, who was with Montgomery, tells Alex to calm down. Alex instead pushes Montgomery up against the Jeep, then Montgomery punches him and before long a full brawl ensues. Alex is on his way to getting a full beat down when Mr. Porter (Derek Luke) breaks up the fight. The Vice Principal (Kimiko Gelman) is more concerned with the school getting more charges of bullying than the boy’s condition. Clay also witnessed the fight and Justin asked him if he was going to continue to keep quiet. Clay asked him where his bike was, remember they confiscated it after the joy ride, and Justin told him he was keeping it as insurance to make sure Clay stayed quiet.

 

The school was doing dollar Valentines. You fill out a survey for yourself and what you’re looking for in a partner and then the computer spits out matches for you. Hannah filled hers out with a certain someone in mind, we’re thinking that someone is Clay. However, when Sheri Holland (Ajiona Alexus) gives her the matches Clay is nowhere on her list. Hannah gets a call from Marcus Cole (Steven Silver) and he tells Hannah that she is on his list and he wants to take her out for milkshakes on Valentine’s Day. Hannah tells him she will think about it. Marcus doesn’t seem like he’s going to take no for an answer.

Jeff is always making Clay do things

 

At work Clay tells Hannah that he didn’t want to do the $1 Valentine; however, Jeff (Brandon Larracuente) made him do it. Just like Jeff made him go to the dance and ask Hannah to dance when he was there. We’re thinking Jeff is a good influence on Clay as he actually makes him live life! Hannah tells Clay her list was awful, but Marcus did ask her out and she told him she’d think about it. Since no one else has asked her to do anything, she might as well tell him yes. Clay tells her she should. Clay! Dude! That was your cue to ask Hannah out on a date! Clay seriously needs an earpiece with someone giving him life advice live. After Hannah leaves Clay rips up his list and we never know who is on it, but we know Hannah was.

 

Montgomery is given a three-day suspension by the peer honor board while Alex is only given a warning. Montgomery isn’t happy with his punishment and Alex’s lack thereof since technically Alex started the fight. Alex wasn’t really that pleased either. He felt like he should also be suspended. The peer board felt that it was Montgomery that initiated everything since he almost hit Alex. After the hearing Marcus is upset with Clay because Clay made a comment that was everyone’s fault. Marcus told him that lives could get ruined and Clay pointed out that lives have already be ruined.

There is more to find, right?

Hannah’s parents are still looking for signs as they go through her things. Mrs. Baker (Kate Walsh) doesn’t understand how her daughter was right in front of her every day and didn’t see her suffering. Hannah didn’t show her signs that she was in trouble, did she? Mrs. Baker asks Mr. Baker (Brian d’Arcy James) if they should blame themselves because they didn’t notice that something was wrong, but he tells her no they can’t blame themselves. Hannah hid it so well from them. Hannah’s parents love her, she loves them, isn’t that enough?

 

Clay and Sheri are at Monet’s working on a school paper that Clay has finished, but Sheri needs help with. Clay is good at tutoring. First, Jeff and now Sheri. Skye (Sosie Bacon) obviously has a few smart comments to make about Clay being there with a “cheerleader.” She thought he was cooler than to be seen with a cheerleader. Poor Clay, he just can’t make anyone happy these days. Of course, Tony crashes their study date so Clay moves it to his house for more privacy. Tony swears he’s only there to get coffee, but Clay isn’t buying it.

Stood up

 

Hannah goes to the diner to meet Marcus and it seems like she’s being stood up. She gets a message from him that he’s caught up with the guys and running late so she’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Marcus finally shows up an hour late, makes a few jokes and Hannah forgives him and lets him sit down. He brought the guys from the basketball team with him and Zach (Ross Butler) can’t figure out what Marcus is trying to pull. One of the other guys tells him that Marcus makes the girl wait and if she’s still there after an hour she is absolutely DTF.

 

Mrs. Jensen (Amy Hargreaves) is home when Clay and Sheri get to the house. Of course, she embarrasses Clay. He tells her that he and Sheri are going to go upstairs to work on an English paper and she tells him to make sure to keep the door open, which he didn’t do because Clay and Sheri ended up making out in his room. Jessica shows up at Justin’s house because he hasn’t been returning her calls. She wants to let him know that they let Alex off, among other things. Justin in’t in the mood for anything Jessica wanted to do. Jessica leaves after calling Justin a few derogatory names and stealing a bottle of vodka.

Clay can’t trust anyone.

 

Clay and Sheri’s make out session ends just as quickly as it began. Clay isn’t a fast moving guy, as if we didn’t know this already. He stops things with Sheri simply because it’s moving a little quickly for him, but she thinks it’s because he listened to her tape. She didn’t even realize he hadn’t listened to her tape! Clay didn’t even know that Sheri had a tape. Sheri doesn’t want Clay to listen to her tape so she asks him not to and Clay asks her if that was why he was at his house and if that was why she made out with him. Sheri says that isn’t true, but Clay doesn’t believe her and asks her to leave. What could Sheri have done that was so horrible that she doesn’t want Clay to know?

 

Of course, Marcus thinks Hannah is easy. He sits down next to her in the booth and tries to put his hand up her skirt. She pushes him out of the booth and he stands up and says “no sweat, I thought you were easy.” Hannah thinks it’s all her fault as she believes she will always be alone, but she knows there has to be a good guy out there somewhere. Once Marcus and his entourage leave the diner Zach stays behind and joins Hannah at the booth where he just sits with her. We wonder if Zach could be one of the nice guys Hannah is talking about?

With just a few tapes left to go, we’re not going anywhere until we know what really happened to Hannah Baker.

 

Clay’s mom continues to ask him if her taking the case for the school board is okay with him and he tells her it’s fine. She wants to know if he’s being bullied at school and he doesn’t really give her a straight answer. In a way, Clay kind of is being bullied. He’s listening to the tapes and the other people on the tapes don’t want him to listen to them anymore because they’re afraid he’ll talk. Mrs. Jensen tells Clay she just wants to help him and he tells her that she can’t help anyone now and shuts his door. Geez Clay, tell her how you really feel. Clay still hasn’t told his mother how he really felt about Hannah and until he does she’s not going to understand what he’s going through.

 

Jessica is drinking herself silly and her dad (Joseph C. Phillips) is none the wiser. He thinks she’s sad about Justin and offers to beat him up for her. Tony is hanging out at the cemetery at night listening to sad music and Hannah is researching headstones, specifically epitaphs. Hannah wonders what hers will say on her headstone. Well, that’s morbid. Alex’s dad (Mark Pellegrino) is proud of him for standing up for himself and fighting Montgomery. Since his dad is a cop it seems to us like it’s important to Alex that his dad is proud of him. Alex still seems to be the one that is doing the worst out of the individuals on the tapes and yet no one seems to notice.

 

Join us next time when we recap Tape 4, Side A!

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts or feelings of suicide please contact The National Suicide Prevention Line 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255.