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13 Takeaways from 13 Reasons Why: ‘The Box of Polaroids’

By Ashley Weyler

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Each day, you will get a recap of one episode from 13 Reasons Why’s second season.

Here’s our recap of the twelfth episode of the second season of 13 Reasons Why.

1. Mr. Porter gets fired.
We knew it was coming, but the school board or district finally fired Mr. Porter – just when we were starting to like him. He gave the principal a stack of files of kids who could use the school’s help. One of the files is for Tyler.

2. Tyler goes away.
After his falling out with Cyrus, Tyler decides to post pictures of their night vandalizing the baseball field on Facebook. Of course, the school finds out, and Cyrus is furious. The principal recommends that Tyler go to a diversion program for a month. Tyler clearly needs help, but he got there because of the torture he endured from students at Liberty.

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3. Clay needs mental health help.
The episode starts where the last one ended. Justin calms everyone down. Bryce doesn’t call the cops and Clay and Justin head home. But Clay’s mental stability has hit a breaking point. Clay continues to talk to ghost Hannah, who we now know is a hallucination. He asks her if she wants him to kill Bryce. She wants him to forgive her. Remember, Hannah is dead and this conversation is all in his head.

4. What happened to the gun?
Justin urges Clay to give the gun back to whomever he took it from. But I have a sick feeling that he isn’t going to and that gun will pop up again, if not in this season, maybe next season.

5. Clay’s mom comes back.
After a few days away, Clay’s mom returns right before Justin testifies. Clay seems happy to see her. She wants to speak to Justin alone, to warn him about testifying and explain to him everything he might lose. (His freedom, perhaps?)

6. Justin takes the stand.
It’s Justin’s turn to testify in 13 Reasons Why, but not before he finds another threatening note on Clay’s car. Though he didn’t actually see the rape happen because Bryce locked him out of the room, he knew it happened and said so. The defense attorney discredits Justin by bringing up his heroin use and declaring a rumor that Justin ran away because Jessica cheated on Bryce. Seriously, how does this lawyer sleep at night?

7. Justin and Hannah have a sweet moment together.
Through Justin’s testimony, we learn that after Justin and Hannah’s date, she helped him. Justin jumped in to help save his mom from her abusive boyfriend, and he got beat up. So, he escaped to Hannah’s where she let him sleep in her bed. She slept on the floor. The next morning, Bryce sees Justin walking from another direction at school, and that’s when Justin shows him the pictures of Hannah from their date. So, Justin also carries the guilt of what he did to Hannah after she showed him so much kindness.

8. How Justin and Bryce became friends.
Mini Justin came from a broken home, was poor, and continuously in fights at school. Bryce swooped in and befriended him, and that’s how they became friends in 13 Reasons Why. It’s a shame Bryce turned into a power-hungry raping machine.

9. Monty has been torturing them.
Alex figures out from lost memories that Montgomery is the one who has been leaving threatening notes to everyone. Alex also thinks Monty stole the box of Polaroids. All the boys confront him, and Alex brings the gun Monty gave him, threatening to kill him. Monty comes from an abusive home, as we find out from a conversation between him and Bryce. It turns out Monty lied and didn’t know where the Polaroids are, takes Alex’s car and leaves him stranded.

10. Jessica presses criminal charges against Bryce.
With another testimony that didn’t go their way, Clay and Alex go to see Jessica and sweetly tell her how much they support her with whatever she decides, but ask her to press charges on Bryce. After they say their speech, she looks behind them to find Justin, Tony, Courtney, Ryan, and Zach all standing and waving. They all go to the police station, along with Jess and her parents.

11. Justin also goes to the police to support Jessica’s story.
Justin also decides to give the police a statement about the night of the rape to help support Jess’ claims.

12. The verdict is in.
And the jury finds the school not responsible for Hannah’s death. Of course, they wouldn’t. With all the lies told on the stand, there wasn’t enough evidence. Someone arrest these people for perjury!

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13. Bryce is arrested… but so is Justin.
Just as Olivia speaks to reporters outside of the courthouse after the verdict, the police show up to arrest Bryce for felony sexual assault. I love how the arrest was so public and embarrassing for him. But our happiness is short-lived when police also arrest Justin as an accessory. Remind me never to move to this town.

Read the yesterday’s recap for 13 Reasons Why.

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