Clay prepares to testify, but not everything goes according to plan when defense lawyer Sonya brings out some unexpected questions. In the previous episode, Clay began to wonder if he really knew Hannah after hearing everyone else's testimonies, but Justin noted how unfair it is that being interested in two guys suddenly labels her a slut. This episode starts in an especially trippy manner, with an animation of Clay and Hannah talking about their existence and thoughts on things like love and infinity. The odd style, something completely different from anything ever seen in the show before, stands out in an odd way. I personally wasn't very into it, but others might be. Seemingly a dream from Clay, the intro does serve as a good way to compare how happily he seems to dream with how glum he is after waking. He calls Skye to give an update on his life, and after seeing his family having breakfast with Justin, causing Clay to become a bit jealous. Annoyed with how well they're getting along, Clay goes outside to get the paper, which he finds marked to say that Hannah lied. As Alex also wakes up, he finds his mom with balloons, talking about his birthday party that he is clearly not excited about. We cut to Tony meeting up with his boxing coach and new love interest, who, when Tony asks, explains the man with one eye was the victim of a mugging. As Tony listens, he is visibly bothered. At the school, Jessica leads a confused Alex to a hallway where Zach waits to show him a "happy birthday" banner. Bryce and Scott Reed interrupt, joking about how Alex's mom should bring cupcakes and how he might get a new cane this year. As they walk away, an enraged Alex screams at Bryce, calling him a rapist and causing him to stop momentarily. Zach berates Alex, saying doing things like that doesn't help anybody, but Alex fires back that doing nothing isn't helpful, either. Jessica, upset at Alex's actions, asks how he could do something like that and leaves. In the darkroom, Tyler gets a surprise visit from Mackenzie, who asks him out on a date, to which he agrees. Clay, in court, tells the jury about the Hannah he knew, who would talk to him about simply things like zombies or more important things like hopes and dreams. We see the two the previous summer, when he explained he'd be going to his grandparents' house, and she asks him to write to her. Despite promising to do so, we cut back to now as he says he never did, as we always think we have more time with those we care about than we really get. He gets emotional, though seems disingenuous as he glances at Olivia Baker. Back at school, Marcus shows him the video Tyler and Cyrus found, which they sent to blackmail him into wearing a dress at school. To Marcus' surprise, Bryce responds that, regardless of Marcus trying to help him in court, he owes him nothing. Sonya takes advantage of Clay being set up with marijuana in the previous season to set him up as a bad influence, noting how he later tries to buy some from Bryce and also keyed Zach's car. She asks if he is responsible for Hannah's death like he accused Courtney of being, and is cut off as he tries to say the defense let other kids and adults get away with worse. The defense asks if, despite never being in a relationship, they ever spent a night together, and Clay admits that they did, and did drugs. Later after court, Clay apologizes to his dad for not being honest with him and his mother, and says maybe kids hide the truth to protect their parents. Before he left, we hear Sonya ask why Clay didn't do anything when he apparently heard Hannah say something dark, though we don't know what that is. At the school's pep rally, Marcus arrives dressed as a cheerleader to get around Tyler's blackmail, enraging the latter. Zach and Bryce get each other with secret barbs as the athletes put Jeff's jersey up, which Clay stays behind to see, as did Sheri. We see Jeff in the past invite Clay to a party at his place with a few friends, which he now mentions to Sheri that the defense somehow found out about. She suggests that his mom found it in his test records, remembering his mom asking what it means when a girl and boy suddenly stop texting. Alex and his dad run into Tyler at the Baker store, and invite Tyler to Alex's party, which he says he will attend. Olivia and Andrew Baker have gone to Hannah's grave after court, with Olivia raging about the lack of care given to it. As the two share a tender moment as he assures her they had good times, he suggests they have dinner. Jessica is at the mall with Nina and her boyfriend, amazed at how cute they are together and how amazing he is. As she and Nina try on clothes, she suddenly thinks back to Bryce stripping and raping her, causing her to hyperventilate and run out of the store with the clothes. As the alarm goes off, Nina gives the clothes back and apologizes, and asks her boyfriend to get them some gelato. Jessica, surprised by his reaction, learns that Nina hasn't told him about them being survivors, saying there's no need to. The Bakers, at a diner they used to go to, make small talk until Andrew says they need to finalize their divorce, rather than staying in a weird limbo. Initially shocked, Olivia asks if he wants to marry his girlfriend, and he says he wants to close a door he can't go back through. While driving around, Clay thinks back to Jeff's party, where they, Jeff's girlfriend, Hannah, Sheri, and Alex all hung out and they convinced him to take ecstasy. As everyone hit their giggly high points, Jeff and his girlfriend left, and Clay and Hannah almost began holding hands. In the present, Clay heads to Alex's party, where only the Standalls, Zach, and Jessica also arrive. Alex tries to apologize to Jessica, but she says they don't need to talk. Tyler later shows up, but Zach and Jessica berate him, saying it was creepy that he took pictures of a comatose Alex, and tell him to leave. They bring up what he did to Hannah, and Clay tells them that Tyler at least tried to help Hannah in court, which they didn't do. Alex, already annoyed with the party and Clay's testimony, says that Clay seems to think that he didn't let her down like them. The scene shifts into the real version of the animation from the beginning, as we see the drug caused Hannah and Clay to open up to each other more. Zach gets a call from his mom and gives generic, shady answers to her, angering Alex, and leaves. For much of the rest of the episode, the focus remains on the group as Alex has an angry breakdown, confronting his friends and family with how he feels now. We also get some time with Tyler, who wants Cyrus' help in messing with Zach more as a result of Marcus getting around his blackmail. Clay also gets a third Polaroid after leaving Alex's party, and he and Jessica have reactions to a sight at his house. In one final flashback, we see the aftereffects of Jeff's party and learn what Hannah said, and in the present day we see some deterioration of Bryce and Chloe's relationship and a decision Clay makes that might will have consequences later. Dennis was definitely right when he told Olivia that Sonya would tear Clay apart, as she throws him curveballs he wasn't expecting in his testimony. When he gets annoyed with Zach and Jessica, Clay says that Zach's testimony labeled her a slut, but as Zach points out, Clay's testimony labeled her a drug user. With Zach saying this, it shows how Clay has seemed to think himself as better than others this season, as despite knowing he could have taken steps to help Hannah, he chastises others for their inaction. This and a phrase Clay uses at the end of the episode continues this season's trend of showing his negative aspects like the first season showed his good. The lack of action against Bryce has resulted in Clay being a lot angrier this season than he ever was before, which caused problems in his testimony. He thought he was being smart in expecting certain questions and wanting to target certain people like Bryce, but he didn't know everything Sonya had in her arsenal to use against him. There is some contrasting in how Clay's parents are seeing everything and talking to him. After Clay's testimony, his dad mentions that despite parents always loving their kids no matter what, kids feel the need to lie to them. At this point, Clay opens up to his dad and apologizes for his secrets, but when Cheri mentions the texts, he becomes angry, likely feeling betrayed as he suspects his mom is the reason the court found out about the drugs. We get a lot with Alex in this episode as well, showing how angry he is about the situation his attempted suicide has left him in. While Bryce ended last season by taking on Bryce directly, the birthday scene at school has Alex screaming at Bryce, and for me it was more satisfying than when Ryan told off Courtney last season. The wishy washiness he has seen from Zach combined with how people have been treating him, both obviously negative and attempts at positivity have finally gotten to him to the point that he will take on anyone he feels deserves it. Tyler is continuing his downward spiral, being more and more bold in messing with people he doesn't like and dragging Cyrus into it. With Jessica we get a painful look at how Bryce has affected her, as she seemed to not even realize exactly what she was doing in the clothes scene. Simply taking off her clothes is enough to trigger a flashback to Bryce prying her clothes off. In this scene, she also finds it odd that Nina hasn't told her boyfriend how they might or what she herself went through. While Nina has an understandable reason for this, Jessica seems to disagree with her. With Clay making a questionable decision at the end of the episode, he may cause more problems than he solves in future episodes.
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