13 Reasons Why – Tape 5, Side B

By starrymag | June 7, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

What you decide to do about the things that happen to you is what really matters in the end.

 

On the last “13 Reasons Why” we found out that Justin (Brandon Flynn) has a 2nd tape. The reason he has a second tape has to do with the sexual assault of his girlfriend Jessica (Alisha Boe). Jessica has a party and gets way too drunk. When Justin takes her back to her room, she passes out. Neither of them knows that Hannah (Katherine Langford) is hiding in the bedroom and, at this point, we don’t know why or how she even got in there. Justin leaves the room to get Jessica some water and Bryce (Justin Prentice) takes this as his opportunity to “share” Justin’s girlfriend with him. Against her will, of course. Hannah was in the closet witnessing the entire act.

 

Marcus (Steven Silver) also got Clay (Dylan Minnette) suspended from school by planting drugs in his backpack. Clay is getting too close to exposing the secret that they’re protecting: Jessica’s rape. Clay also finally came clean to his mom (Amy Hargreaves) about knowing Hannah better than he originally said. Hannah’s parents were also still dealing with finding out about Hannah’s poem that was published in the school magazine. The poem was her clearly asking for help, yet no one on the school’s faculty tried to see who the anonymous student was who wrote it.

 

We’re getting really close to the end so stay with us! It’s time to recap “Tape 5, Side B.”

Is Clay having an out of body experience?

 

Clay is at the site of an accident giving a statement to an officer while a man is being loaded into an ambulance when the episode begins. Clay then goes over to examine where it looks like something has broken. It is just a piece of wood sticking out of the ground. Could this be what caused the accident? Justin and Jessica are at her house in her room and she asks him what he’s thinking. He tells her that it’s been awhile since they hung out at her house and she said that the last time was her party. Justin tells her that her dad hates him. Justin, girls’ dads are supposed to hate their boyfriends!

 

When Clay leaves Jessica’s party, Jeff (Brandon Larracuente) tries to talk him into staying but Clay tells him he just wants to go home. Jeff tells Clay he’s going on a beer run later and Clay questions the fact that he’s driving, but Jeff says he’s fine. He’s drinking Coke. He had two beers earlier, but it was hours ago. Sheri (Ajiona Alexus) is blocking Jeff in, but she tells him she has to leave anyway. She is staying at her dad’s and she has a curfew. Before leaving, Sheri spots Hannah and realizes she’s wasted and offers her a ride home. Hannah is reluctant to accept, afraid Sheri might be too drunk to drive but goes with her.

Sheri Holland, welcome to your tape.

 

Sheri is telling Hannah how she was expecting so much more to go down, but Hannah is in her own world. Hannah starts to tell Sheri what happened to Jessica, but then she tells her that she got wasted. Sheri tells Hannah she can sleep at her place so her parents won’t know. Hannah’s phone is dead so Sheri starts digging around for hers. She isn’t looking at the road and she hit the stop sign and knocked it over, hence the broken piece of wood Clay was looking at. Hannah tells Sheri that they need to call the police and report the stop sign being down so it doesn’t cause an accident. Sheri refuses and leaves Hannah on the street.

 

Hannah goes to the closest store she can find to try and find a phone. Meanwhile, Clay is sitting on a curb and hears a crash. Hannah tells the clerk that she needs his phone to report an accident. When Hannah calls 911 she tells them she needs to report an accident and they tell her they already received a call and they have units already responding. Hannah is confused, but says thank you and leaves the store. Clay asks the same clerk about Hannah coming in and calling 911 and with a little prodding the clerk remembers Hannah yet he’s not much help to Clay.

Should the Baker’s settle?

 

The school district’s attorneys have called the Bakers in for a conference regarding their lawsuit. More than likely they want to talk to them about a settlement so the case does not have to go to court. Hannah’s mom (Kate Walsh) says that they’re not going to let them get away with what they did to their daughter. Hannah’s dad (Brian d’Arcy James) tells her that they at least need to go in and hear what they have to say. He tells her they could lose the lawsuit and they could go bankrupt in the process.

 

Alex (Miles Heizer) is upset with Marcus for getting Clay suspended. He tells Marcus that it goes on Clay’s permanent record. Ryan (Tommy Dorfman) wants to know why they’re all protecting Bryce when he’s a rapist. Courtney (Michele Selene Ang) tells Ryan to be quiet, they don’t even know if Hannah was telling the truth. Jessica says she wasn’t raped. Clay shows up to talk to Sheri about what he heard on her tape. She tells him that this is why she didn’t want him to listen to her tape. He’s judging her and she can’t take that. Sheri says she’s trying to make it better and asks him to meet her after school so she can show him.

There’s a reason we’ve only seen Jeff in flashbacks.

 

The accident Clay heard, and he was giving a statement to the police about, was Jeff’s. Because of the stop sign that Sheri knocked down when she hit it, Jeff didn’t stop and hit another car. Jeff did not survive the accident. Clay asks Hannah why she’s crying because she barely even knew him. Hannah tells Clay that she has to tell him something about that night, but Clay doesn’t want to hear it. He tells Hannah that she has to make every drama about herself and then he storms off. Hannah tries to talk to Sheri and Sheri tells Hannah to keep her mouth shut.

 

Hannah goes to the auditorium to be alone. The auditorium is also a favorite makeout spot for Justin and Jessica. Jessica is still off the rails as she’s trying to have sex at school during class. She tells Justin if they can’t see them they can’t get caught. Jessica starts throwing nails to a lightbulb and Justin asks her why she’s acting so crazy. She asks him why he isn’t. Justin leaves the auditorium because he can’t deal with Jessica anymore. Tyler (Devin Druid) tries to talk to Sheri about Clay, but Montgomery (Timothy Granaderos) has other ideas. He starts to threaten him, but Alex tells him to leave him alone. These two are never going to get along.

The school had no anti-bullying program in place.

 

The conference is not going well between the Bakers and the district. The district offers to put an anti-bullying program in place by the following school year. Wait, what? They didn’t already have one in place? We guess this isn’t surprising as there are many schools that do not have programs in place. The Baker’s attorney (Wilson Cruz) tells the district attorneys that they’re not even at a starting point. They want an NDA and that’s not an option. They’re not willing to sweep Hannah’s story under the rug and act like it never happened.

 

The man that Jeff hit was on the phone with his wife and asked the paramedics to notify her he was okay immediately. The paramedics told him they would call her when he got to the hospital. Clay runs all the way to the man’s house and tells his wife that he is okay. The address Sheri gave Clay was that of Mr. and Mrs. Cantrell. Sheri comes and helps Mr. Cantrell (Dik Martin) get up and down the stairs. She also helps Mrs. Cantrell (Annie Scott Rogers) around the house and spends time with both of them. Clay tells Sheri that she has to tell them what happened. Sheri still doesn’t see what telling them what really happened will do besides hurt them.

Keeping secrets will only eat at you until your conscious either forces you to come clean or you can’t live with yourself anymore.

 

Jessica has Bryce over and after smoking pot she shows him her dad’s gun safe, which freaks him out. Not only is Jessica high, but she’s acting absolutely crazy. She unloads the gun then hands it to Bryce and shows him how to shoot it. Bryce tells her that he’s not from a gun family. Clay goes to see Jeff’s parents and tells them that he’s the one that called 911. He tells them that he was the one that found Jeff. Clay also tells them that he didn’t think Jeff was drunk and that the stop sign had been knocked down earlier in the night and the accident wasn’t Jeff’s fault.

 

Hannah always felt guilty and angry because she was not able to tell the secrets she knew. She wanted to be able to tell what she knew, but she was never able to. When Tony (Christian Navarro) finds Clay at the playground Clay tells him that he found Jeff, which is something that Tony didn’t know. Tony tells Clay that he’s going to stay there with him because his tape is up next. Finally! We have been waiting for this. Clay tells Tony that he can’t listen to the tape. Tony tells Clay he has to. Clay says he will if Tony can answer one question: “Did I kill Hannah Baker?” Tony’s response: “Yeah.”

 

Wow! What an episode! They’re just getting better as we get closer to the end! Join us next time when we recap “Tape 6, Side A.”

 

Arrive Alive. If you or a loved one has been affected by drunk driving contact MADD at 1-877-MADD-HELP or www.madd.org