Justin shows that "friendship" can be a complicated thing when he finally gets the chance to testify in the twelfth episode of 13 Reasons Why. The episode begins with a young Justin facing bullies due to being poor and having little. Bryce stands up for him and shares his food, which Justin initially thought was the start of a good friendship. In the present, Justin convinces Clay to hand over the gun, then threatens Bryce with it, saying he hasn't got anything to lose so Bryce needs to forget this happened. Someone follows, but Justin manages to lose them and gets back to Clay's house. The next day Alex gets a blunt awakening from his mom and Zach busting into his room. Zach shows him texts from the nights prior, where Alex said he got a gun and bullet and knows what to do, and Alex explains he knows who is messing with them. Meanwhile, Clay and Justin find that Mrs. Jensen has returned home, and says she'll have to talk to Justin about his testimony, asking Clay to trust her. Justin warns that more will come out about Hannah and he doesn't want Clay to hate him again, and asks about the gun from before. Clay simply says a friend gave it to him, and once alone asks Hannah what she wants if not for him to kill Bryce. When she says she wants his forgiveness, he realizes he might never be able to forgive her. He and Justin head outside, where they find a note reading "You talk, you die!" on Clay's car. While Chloe and Bryce receive punishment in the principal's office, Justin meets with Olivia and Dennis, saying he's not afraid of Bryce. In the school darkroom, Cyrus confronts Tyler about the pictures of them doing the graffiti, and Tyler says they can bring down the system using his guns. Realizing how dangerous Tyler really is, Cyrus exits, saying they shouldn't hang out until everything blows over, but assuring the disturbed teen that they are still friends. Justin begins his testimony, recounting a time where his mom and her boyfriend were fighting, so Hannah let him sleep in her room. At school, Coach Rick confronts Bryce about the clubhouse, showing anger rather than shock as we learn he introduced the boys to it. Bryce denies damaging the Baker store, and Rick says he doesn't want to hear anymore about the Polaroids or Hannah. Justin explains to the court how he tried to help Jessica, but after being locked out he was afraid to tell anyone and lose the life he was living. What he thought was a friendship with Bryce, he says, was actually just Bryce using him and keeping him under his thumb. Despite pressure from Sonya to say he didn't know what really happened, Justin stands firm and the lawyers give their final statements to the jury. After Cyrus comes clean about he and Tyler's actions, they face disciplinary action and an enraged Tyler almost attacks Cyrus. Despite urging from her mom to go to the police, Jessica says she doesn't want to be on trial the way Hannah was treated. The group having realized Monty was, not shockingly, the one messing with them, they gang up with Scott's help at the place Monty stays when his home life is bad. Alex threatens him with the gun and bullet, demanding the Polaroids back, and Monty agrees to take him where they are. The principal fires an unsurprised Porter, who leaves a stack of student files, saying they are the most at risk and need to be looked at. The principal, in a telling moment, leaves them behind; the top file is Tyler's. The episode comes to a close with a few unexpected revelations and a few expected, starting with Alex and Monty's confrontation about the photos. Clay and Alex try again to get Jessica to go to the police, and after everyone waits in various ways, the verdict is read. While it's not a shocking one, an incident outside the court comes as a surprise. There were a few more moments that stood out to me in this episode to show some of the weaker writing for season 2, particularly in the situations with Monty. It's intended to be a surprise that Monty is the one threatening everyone, when to me he was the most-likely suspect. Throughout the season, we see him keeping an eye on everything that happens with Bryce and anyone else, especially Zack. This makes the reveal rather weak, as although we learn that his violent home life is the cause of his own actions, it's not shocking at all. Perhaps weaker is the decision to send just Alex with him to get the Polaroids back. Obviously Monty says he'll go get them just so he can drive off and leave everyone, and even though Alex has a gun, it's ridiculous to think a school athlete wouldn't be able to somehow handle a boy who is physically disabled. We see a lot of true character for Rick and the principal in this episode, especially from learning Rick already knew about and participated in the clubhouse. With the principal, his words with Clay hold much less meaning now, as he obviously doesn't care as much as he claimed about the students's well being if he casually tosses aside folders marked as at-risk. The scene gives a much-wanted rant from Porter, as he both derides Rick and says the principal obviously doesn't care about the kids because he doesn't bother to pay any counselors even half as much as what Rick gets. Tyler's situation continues to develop as he is further punished and now his trust with Cyrus is broken, and while Justin's drug use may make him less believable to some in the jury, it was great to see him stand firm in the truth against Bryce. The final verdict isn't a surprise, though I like the way it turned out, and those who disagree with it need only wait a few minutes. Despite things going poorly after the Polaroids were stolen, the end of this episode sets up quite a season finale.
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