It's time for Tony to speak up, and as not much is known of his secrets yet, he has quite a bit he could spill. Tony begins the episode talking about how Hannah was an important friend who saw through his facades. Despite trying to act tough, Hannah knew that he had softer interests, and he says they kept each other's secrets. He finally opens up a bit to Caleb, still sitting outside his ruined car, saying he has done a lot and can't let anyone know. As the school called him in, not the Bakers, he is concerned that his testimony might cause problems for those around him. We cut to Justin as Clay asks if he's high, and after saying no he gives a half-explanation of where he's been. He tries to pay Clay rent with Seth's money, but Clay turns it down, and Justin explains he came back because Clay said he needed him. They head back to Clay's house, and as Justin showers, Clay finds the ghost Hannah in his room again. He explains that he is angry all the time but can't tell anyone, and she tells him he needs to. Explaining that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget Hannah, especially their kiss, he leans in. She pulls away, saying he can't, and he asks why she's there. At the baseball field, Cyrus and Tyler's handiwork is burned into the field, but the coach says they need to go out at their next game to show people who they really are. Zach asks how winning baseball proves they're not rapists, and he and Bryce butt heads once again. Jessica arrives at school and assures her dad she's fine. He notices Justin and goes to confront him, but she holds him back, asking who he thinks he's really hurting. Her father relents, telling Justin to watch himself, as Tony's voiceover says we hurt those we don't mean to when we act out of anger. The girl from the end of the previous episode, Sarah Carlin, is the first we see testify for the episode, explaining that Hannah and two other girls bullied her at another school. When she finally told her mom, the three were suspended, and though they stopped, others began picking on her and she had to switch schools. With Justin, Clay reveals his plan to get into the clubhouse to Sheri, as Justin pulls out bolt cutters. She sarcastically asks why they don't just bust down the door, explaining they need to make it seem like they were never there to prevent suspicion. Nina speaks negatively about the field burning with Jessica, saying the only people it hurts are rape survivors like them. Jessica seems to think otherwise, and is confused when Nina and a boy, Michael, seem to flirt. Tony starts a conversation with Ryan, explaining that he is up last and won't have support, but turns down Ryan's offer to show up. Ryan assures him they won't ask about the secret mentioned in the past, and Tony becomes angry. The scene shifts to the past, when Hannah convinced Tony to ask out Ryan, who he said at the episode's start seemed to have a crush on him. Mr. Porter heads to his office with his fellow employees watching him. Bolan says he's surprised Porter showed, as his employment is being looked at, and tells Porter to stay away from the students until the check is done, saying he knows about Porter threatening Bryce. Sheri, having gotten in with Scott and another athlete, gets into the clubhouse, taking note of the lock's combination. To her surprise and fear, Bryce shows up and ignores her claims of having a test, and gets her to take a hit of weed alone. Despite feeling uncomfortable and trying to leave, Sheri is kept inside as the guys get close to her and Bryce takes a photo. She gets back with Clay and Justin, but says she won't be joining when they search during the baseball game, as she can't go back in the clubhouse. Jessica confronts Nina about having dumped Garrett and getting with Michael. To her surprise, Nina says she got annoyed that Garrett wanted to talk about her feelings too much, and was getting close to finding out her secret. Jessica says Nina doesn't really seem to be over all her issues when it comes to her own rape, and an offended Nina says Jessica still fawns over Justin. Saying it was apparently a mistake to offer Jess her help, she leaves. Inside, Porter sees Justin enter the office and tells him to come to him for a talk. After explaining Justin can potentially scrape by to graduate, he asks about Justin's home. Though Justin tries to lie first, saying he hasn't seen his mom, Porter sternly breaks through the attempts, saying he visited, and tells Justin to sit when he tries to leave. He explains that, even if he wants to, Justin can't go through this by himself, in part because once the school fires him, the new counselor will want Justin living with his mom and Seth. He tells Justin to let go of his past mistakes and take care of himself, and Justin leaves. In a quick scene, Alex finds that someone stole his books from his locker and left a bullet. We then head back to court, where Dennis has to discredit Tony, bringing up his prior arrests and how he could end up in juvie. Tony becomes agitated, remembering a past assault, and taking issue with some of Dennis' descriptions, but agrees to everything. In a flashback, we finally see Tony knows Lucas, as the latter hurled homophobic slurs and him and Ryan on their first date, and Tony brutally beat him. In the current day, he says where he's from, you have to make your own justice, and Dennis says this means Tony tries to assume what the right thing is to do, and as a branch of that, gave out the tapes assuming what Hannah wanted. Though upset, Tony lies that Hannah left him no instructions and he simply assumed what she wanted, agreeing to everything Dennis says. Bryce gives a speech before the baseball game about how they are a family, and Monty notes Zach's apparent anger. During the game, Bryce repeatedly ignores advice from Zach, causing the latter to become angry. Zach says the speech was obviously all talk, and the two arguing draws the crowd's attention. The coach breaks up their fight after Zach says Hannah didn't lie on the tapes, and Zach storms away as Monty watches. He heads to the clubhouse, where Clay and Justin are trying to find the box of photos. Thinking Zach will hurt them, Clay says he won't back down because he's already been beaten up and he's not afraid of what happens if the truth comes out. Zach gets the box of photos, revealing himself to be the one who gave Clay the others, saying he doesn't release them himself because he's a coward, unlike Clay. Olivia heads home after court, finding that Jackie has left after discovering Hannah's past bullying Sarah. Tyler, meanwhile, heads to a punk concert, and though clearly uncomfortable, he takes part in a mosh pit. He goes to leave when his nose is hit and bleeds, encountering Mackenzie. She tells him she understands why he left and that it's actually normal. Embarrassed as she says this while the others are around, he tells her to shut up, yelling that he doesn't want to be with her because she's boring. Cyrus, having walked over just then, stands up for his sister, and tells Tyler to get out as Mackenzie watches silently. At the Baker house, Tony says he's not proud of his past, and when Olivia says they always seem to find out what we're least proud of, he tells her his secret. After assaulting Lucas, Tony ran to the Crestmont, where Hannah hid him and lied to police, then cleaned him up, sharing that she used to be a bully because she wanted to fit in and has always regretted it. He says he wanted to keep Hannah's secret like she kept his. She replies that she's glad Hannah kept his secret, and after she tries to apologize for letting his record be brought up, he says it's his fault for having one. The episode closes out with Tyler making a discovery and being discovered, Tony trying to make amends for Hannah, Olivia facing hatred, and Clay, Justin, and Sheri taking a look at the photos. It's interesting with this episode to see how Tony lies in court, then trying to think about how that should make viewers feel. We saw another liar in court when Marcus testified, trying so desperately to keep his image squeaky clean. Here, Tony obviously doesn't want people to know what he did int he past, as he could get arrested for it, but it's not exactly the same. With Marcus, there were ill intentions throughout. He's trying to keep himself clear of any wrongdoing so his life will get better and better, while further destroying Hannah. Tony, meanwhile, wants to help Hannah's image, as Sonya's slick words made it seem like Hannah wanted people to suffer like she did, so he went all-in to say he wasn't credible in that aspect when Dennis questioned him. This brings in somewhat of a moral dilemma, as although he had good intentions, he did commit perjury by saying Hannah left him no instructions, just like Marcus. But on the other hand, Tony was doing it at least partially because he wanted to help someone dear to him whose name has been dragged through the mud. Seeing Zach finally act out against Bryce was enjoyable, though not quite on par with Alex yelling in the hall. Unfortunately for me, his reveal was spoiled weeks ago, but I was glad to see the way Clay finds out about him was through him giving them the photo box. Even if he feels like a coward, Zach's actions have been important to the others getting what they need to get Bryce. Another split came with Nina and Jessica, and will likely appear again down the line, as Jessica seems much bolder about speaking her story. Initially, she didn't want anything to be known, but since telling a few people what happened, she is more open with her emotions. Nina, on the other hand, wants no one to know, and Jess disagrees with that as a course of action. Sarah's introduction felt odd at first, but in a way I like that something was revealed in this episode that wasn't touched on much before. Last season and this season, characters have mentioned Hannah moving to town from her last school after bullying, but they didn't go into details. Now we see that Hannah wasn't always the one being hurt, though at the same time, it shows the kind of societal pressure we have seen before. No one wants to speak up because the athletes "run the school," even the other guys who think it's horrible. Similarly, Hannah was so desperate to fit in that she went along with something terrible, despite not thinking it was right. While showing that she used to be a bully, the show doesn't paint her as a one-dimensional villain, like some bullies and/or villains end up in shows. Rather than just having her bully because she wanted to and then being okay with it later, we see the guilt she felt about her actions. In later life, the hurt she caused may have contributed to her own pain, as she wanted so badly to take it back. We see the problem in Tyler growing bigger with this episode, as now he is definitely alienated from the only people he saw as friends. While it's easy to see where his snap action came from it doesn't excuse his words, and his lying to both his friends and his parents is causing him to be alone. As we saw in the season one finale, this already could have been dangerous due to his guns. Now, however, it's worse, as the bullying he experiences at school and some negative signs about him have ramped up, his only friends are angry at him, and his parents are punishing him as the nude picture of him is again sent around. With things getting worse for him but apparently going well for those fighting Bryce, conflict is bound to happen soon.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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