Tape 6, Side B
It's time for the subpoenas. Everyone seems to be panicking, apart from Alex. He's glad that the truth is going to come out. Justin shows up at Jessica's house to try and explain why he let Bryce in to her room the night of the party but she doesn't want to know. Marcus and Courtney don't stop bullying Tyler, despite knowing the last person they bullied ultimately killed themselves.
Clay is sat in Monet's, listening to the twelfth tape. This is the beginning of the worst day of Hannah Baker's life. The family have received a letter from their landlord threatening to evict them from the store. She offers to help out by taking a $700 deposit to the bank for them. She put the money bag on the roof of the car as she gets a text from Clay and then forgets it. When she shows for her shift at the Crestmont, she says to Clay that she's sorry about Jeff's death. He hands her a paycheck and Hannah realises her mistake.
Present Day.Clay goes to the Bakers' pharmacy to buy the same blue nail polish Hannah used to label her tapes. He meets with Tony to trade his Walkman for recording equipment. He explains that the 13th person won't get the tapes if the 12th person gets them. So he decides to do something else.
With all the subpoenas coming out, Sheri goes to Mr. Porter for advice. She doesn't tell him what happened but he encourages her to tell the truth. Instead of meeting with everyone else on the tapes at Monet's, she hands herself in over the car accident.
Meanwhile, Tyler buys a gun in an alleyway.
At Monet's, Courtney, Marcus, Zach, Alex, Ryan and Tyler meet. Courtney encourages everyone to continue to make out that Hannah was a liar, despite Jessica and Justin not showing in school and that Justin admitted what had actually happened at the party. Tyler points out another idea which is to use Bryce as a scapegoat so his parents will pay off the Bakers. Alex declines, saying that Hannah was his friend and the truth should come out. Everyone, apart from Courtney, agrees.
At the Bakers shop, Tony is meeting Olivia. She shows him the list of names she found and screams at him when his name appears with a question mark. He doesn't budge in telling her why and leaves. He meets with his boyfriend, Brad and breaks down. He always meant to keep Hannah's word but feels he doesn't know if he did the right thing.
Flashback. Hannah tells her parents about losing the deposit money. It's here that Hannah begins to feel that everyone would be better without her in their lives. She goes on a late night walk, passing to Bryce's house.
Hannah hears music coming from Bryce's house and decides drop by. Justin, Jessica, Zach and another girl are in the hot tub but Jessica convinces her to get in. Hannah relents and gets in, feeling at peace amongst the bubbles for a short while as the others get out. That is until she's not alone. Bryce joins her and before long, he forces himself on her, too. Hannah explains that there are two types of death; one that is after you live a long life and your body stops working or if you're not lucky, the one where you slowly die bit by bit, until it's too late.
In that moment where Bryce commits rape, Hannah explains that she felt like she was already dead.
Present Day. Clay cycles to Bryce's house to buy weed. Clay's real agenda is to get a confession from Bryce and how he raped Hannah and Jessica. He wants the confession recorded without Bryce knowing. When Bryce remains tight-lipped, Clay boldly accuses him. This leads to a full fist-fight. Even after taking a beating, Clay refuses to give up which Bryce seems to respect. Bryce eventually lets his guard down and admits what he did.
As things start to connect, we see what's happening to multiple characters. Justin gets into a fight with his mum's boyfriend. After being choked, he grabs cash and a gun and leaves. Jessica is obviously struggling with what happened to her but pours away her secret alcohol stash. Courtney begins telling her parents about what her relationship with Hannah was really like. Sheri visits the accident scene and Zach ignores Justin's phone calls. Finally, Alex begins to clean his room as his dad tells him he can get him out of his deposition.
We also listen to a pair of paramedics who are dealing with a 17-year-old gunshot victim.
Flashback.Hannah comes home after Bryce's party. Her hair is wet, she's limping. She sits down and makes a list, the one her mother would find weeks after her death.
"Once I took a look back and I finally understood how everything happened, I decided that no one would ever hurt me again."
This episode provides examples of:
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Justin's attempts to explain to Jessica why he allowed Bryce to rape her is just a series of cases where Bryce helped him out.
- Enemy Mine: Tyler, Ryan, Courtney, Marcus, Zach and Alex all meet up to discuss being summoned to the deposition. Each person has an issue with someone else within the group:
- Marcus has been throwing rocks and breaking Tyler's bedroom window to intimidate him
- Ryan hates the fact that Courtney is an Armored Closet Gay
- Courtney resents Tyler for sending the photo of her and Hannah kissing around the school
- Engineered Public Confession: Clay decides to trick Bryce into admitting he raped Hannah. He records it on a blank side of tape and gives to Tony, who then makes copies.
- Faux Affably Evil: When Clay confronts Bryce about him raping Hannah and Jessica, Bryce beats him within an inch of his life before calmly sitting down, drinking and continuing a conversation.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sheri does this when she decides to turn herself in to the police and take responsibility for the crash that caused Jeff's death.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Jessica breaks up with Justin after he finally admitted to letting Bryce rape her at her party and for gaslighting her about it afterwards.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Alex gives one to Zach, Courtney, Tyler, Marcus and Sheri when they try to worm their way out of owning up to their responsibility in Hannah's death.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Tyler suggests making Bryce The Scapegoat for Hannah's suicide because his action against her (rape) is much worse than the rest of theirs.
- The Reveal: Bryce is the subject of the tape because he raped Hannah.
- The Scapegoat: In a meeting of several of the subjects of the tapes, Tyler suggests making Bryce (who is not even aware the tapes exist) the scapegoat for what caused Hannah's suicide.
