Tyler Down has given his testimony, and now it's Courtney's turn, as she takes a surprisingly good turn from her season 1 personality. At the end of the previous episode, Jessica found herself the victim as someone hung a doll outside her house calling her a slut. Clay, meanwhile, got the shock of his life as he found he could suddenly see Hannah, and is now unsure what to do with this development. He takes time trying to figure it out with Hannah, and Skye comes to take him to school, pretending their awkward night prior didn't happen. The episode's focus, Courtney, meanwhile, is talking with her dads about how anxious she is about court, but they remind her to just tell the truth. Another soon to testify, Zach, learns from his mom that Bryce's family is letting them use their lawyer, to his surprise. Things go to school where Jessica sees Bryce and his new girlfriend, her fellow cheerleader, and Zach arrives with Alex, to Bryce's confusion. Jessica finds a note in her locker telling her to keep her mouth shut, which she hides when Mr. Porter appears to offer his help with anything. Another cheerleader who seems to be watching Jessica arrives and helps shoo him away, and the focus switches to the court. Olivia Baker is caught off guard by the media frenzy her friend is turning the case into, and her lawyer Dennis cautions her to keep control. Courtney begins her testimony, admitting to spreading a rumor about Hannah, and says the school did nothing as the photo of them went around and they were sexually harassed. At school, Clay finds the yearbook room trashed, and Tyler angrily says it was likely someone he talked about the day before. After leaning Tyler doesn't work with Polaroids, Clay asks if he knows the two people in the photo from his locker, who Tyler identifies as former students Tommy Schuster and Erica Charles. We then see the baseball coach confronting Porter about wanting "teamwork" with teaching players, asking that Porter come to him if he has concerns with a player before talking to them. Porter states his concern about all the players, causing the coach snap that he's tired of athletes always being "targeted," but Porter fires back that the players run the school, and that he should watch them if he doesn't want someone else to. In a class Porter started, he has the students learn about thinking before acting, to control their impulses, by directing a blindfolded partner around the room. Tyler makes friends with a student who is busy mocking the school's choice to call the class "Alternative Strategies Solutions." Things return to court, where the school's lawyer notes that, despite Courtney saying she and Hannah weren't friends, Hannah seemed to tell no one else of her stalker. Olivia then remembers Hannah coming to her with her fears, only for her mother to brush the situation off as anxiety and joke about it. The lawyer suggests that Hannah had a crush on Courtney and could've been using her, as there were enough pictures to show she kissed back. Over at the school, Jessica confides in her situation with Alex, who says it probably isn't Bryce or his girlfriend, Chloe. He recommends that Jessica just tell the truth, saying that will stop whoever it is, since there wouldn't be a reason to protect Bryce, but Jessica says it's not that simple. She admits that every time she sees Bryce, it's like she's being raped again, and Alex continuing to suggest telling the truth makes her feel alone. After Jessica leaves, Alex texts Clay to ask about getting the tapes, which Clay ignores as Skye asks if his parents know about them, telling her they invited her to dinner. She asks if Clay told them about Hannah, and he says he eventually did, prompting her to suggest he didn't talk about her because he's still stuck on Hannah. Revealing she knows about him going to court, Skye tries defusing the situation, only for Clay to become distracted as his Hannah vision says she likes Skye. As things head back to court, we see the lawyer's accusation against Hannah cause Courtney to think about encounters they had that led to her crush. The lawyer keeps the pressure up, saying Hannah may have spread the rumors to put suspicion on Courtney. Courtney finally admits the opposite, and we see that, after their initial kiss, Courtney came out to Hannah, who, feeling bad, kissed Courtney back. This moment, Courtney says, proves Hannah was a true friend, and was there for her in a way that Liberty High was't. After court, Olivia heads home, where and her friend stumble upon the dress Olivia was wearing when she found Hannah, still stained with her daughter's blood. Olivia begins to apologize, but her friend stops her, sharing that she kept her daughter's sock for months after her death. The scene shifts to Bryce questioning Zach about Alex, with Zach lying that his mom is making him help, and things becomes more awkward as Zach asks about the lawyer. The two see Alex and Clay, and Zach leaves as we hear Alex demanding that Clay give him the tapes so he can have a statement for court. He tells Clay that just knowing what Jessica told him isn't enough, and that he can't "fail at this, too," a deeper look at his character as he is ashamed of not killing himself. Despite having no memory of why he tried, this reaction is quite telling of Alex's personality, as he sees his inability to commit suicide as failure. We saw in the first season that he and his father weren't close, so it could be a case of Alex feeling like he doesn't live up to what his father wants. This has led to new self-hatred, as his attempt has left him with muscle problems he finds difficult to manage. Later in the episode, he becomes frustrated during a PT session with Zach, in which he suddenly has to stop his workout. Enraged, he asks Zach why he is even helping and says he can do things himself, suggesting Zach go hang out with his "rapist friends," but Zach reminds him that he knows what it's like to feel alone. Jessica, meanwhile, continues dealing with Chloe, who, while seemingly nice, has Jessica warily maneuvering through an awkward conversation after having issues during cheer practice. The focus returns to Alex, talking to Tyler, who has been barred from photographing women's sports, and Alex notes the cruel irony that the school is only letting him photograph the jocks who bully him. After learning Tyler can't help with the tapes, Alex asks to see the photos Tyler took during his coma, becoming shocked and wondering why he would do such a thing to himself, though Tyler said it was others at the school who did it. We then get a look at a less-viewed character this season, Sheri, disinterestedly brushing off Mr. Porter talking about her school standing and giving suggestions. He says he wants to help, even if she thinks it's too late, and as she leaves, she turns down his offer of a session, saying she'll stop by if someone rapes her. A return to the Baker home shows that Olivia's friend, thinking she was ready to move on, washed her dress, prompting an outburst from Olivia. Though Olivia insists she stay, she takes more charge over their situation, saying there are some things she has to do on her own. Heading back to the court, Olivia's lawyer notes that people will question Courtney's reliability if she's been keeping the truth hidden for so long. Courtney explains that she owed it to Hannah to finally tell the truth, and later in the coffee shop, she tells Jessica that she just knew it was time to do so. We then see that Bryce has finally been subpoena'd, and see multiple characters dealing with changing parental relationships. Tyler's dad tries video games with him and says he's thinking of transferring him, and Courtney's parents try deciding how best to help her come to terms with herself. Things become awkward for Clay as Skye has shown up for dinner with the family, during which he stumbles through questions of their relationship. Skye begins feeling Clay up under the table, leading to an unexpected night for the two, and we learn that Tony is taking boxing lessons as part of parole, after which he spends time with Olivia. As she wonders why Hannah had so many secrets, Tony states he believes we sometimes keep secrets to protect others. Jessica continues to struggle with her upcoming court date, and an interesting discovery is made about Porter. Courtney's change was a highlight for this episode, drastic from how she was in the previous season, when her attempts to keep Clay quiet earned her the fanbase's ire. Seeing her finally tell the truth not only about what happened, but about herself, is great to see, in part because now she seems happier. In season 1, she was afraid how people would treat her if they knew she was gay, but upon realizing things seem little different than before, she calms down. In a following scene, we even see her openly checking out a girl, who seems to return the feeling. Tony's scenes near the end are interesting to see, as we honestly didn't learn too much about him in the first season. We get a lot about Clay's relationship with Skye, and how his feelings for Hannah are obviously hurting them, which is nice to see, as he is struggling like anyone could. He repeatedly lies, and his lack of communication causes problems as Skye has to find alternate ways to be a part of his life. Though it didn't present him as a god, the first season did do a lot to present Clay as a moral high ground of the series overall, but seeing him struggle here helps make him more realistic. With two testimonies down and threats getting worse, the violence can only escalate going forward.
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