The disgusting mind of Bryce Walker takes the stand to clear his name, and the others set their plan in motion, with poor results. Bryce opens the episode saying what it's like being on a team and feeling like a family as we see him win a football game where he meets Hannah. This is the first sign of some depth to his character, where we learn that he wanted his parents to be there but they evidently rarely show. Clay and Justin show Jessica the Polaroids, but she becomes angry when she sees Nina's and takes it, saying they don't belong to them. Jessica takes the photo to Nina, telling her about the box, and the latter apologizes for her anger prior, saying she has been making herself seem strong for Jessica, because Jess was right; she hasn't dealt with everything. Saying the photo isn't proof of what happened, Nina explains she might be able to deal with it better if there was actual proof. While cleaning the Baker store, Olivia agrees to let Alex go to court for the day, and in the meantime Clay struggles with the fact that Hannah has a Polaroid. When he says he wants the truth from her, Ghost Hannah says she already gave it to him, with her tapes, and he is simply not trusting her for whatever reason, quick to assume the worst after every bad thing he hears. On the stand, Bryce explains that he and Hannah quickly became close after she took him to a bridge and talked about life and death, which he says he found strange. Along with hanging out, he says they would occasionally make out or have sex, until his party where he turned down her hope for an actual relationship. Later outside, Tony is angry about the lies but Clay is unsure Bryce was lying. Alex says they can't tell Jess, but Clay says they have to because they need Chloe. At the school, Coach Rick tries to get Zach back on the team by reminding him of how he was there for Zach when the latter's father died. Zach becomes angry at the manipulation, saying Rick should have stopped the athletes years ago, and storms out. Jessica asks Chloe about marking out the bathroom graffiti, and when she gets little response other than wanting to protect her, she shows Chloe the photos. Chloe admits she's the one who put the photos of Jessica on the classroom board because at the time she wanted to believe Jessica was lying, then agrees to help take down Bryce. A frustrated Clay tells Hannah to say Bryce was lying and asks for the truth, causing her to begin the opening to tape 12. Clay becomes upset and tells her to stop, and a concerned Justin comes in and says everything will work out because of Chloe. Chloe meets with Olivia and Dennis about testifying, and Jessica assures her they will have her back if she decides to. Mackenzie apologizes to Tyler for telling a friend about what happened at the movies, which resulted in an earlier scene where someone shot white goo at him. Cyrus comes to keep an eye on them, but becomes distracted when Bryce walks in to applause, saying he would like to take the jocks down. After turning down and mocking Tyler, he watches as Justin confronts Bryce, then punches him. The other jocks and main cast soon join in, and Mr. Porter and Coach Rick come to break the fight up, only to begin themselves. Courtney pulls the fire alarm and everyone else gets detention, where a puzzled Clay learns Scott held him back rather than fighting because he's tired of being lumped in with people like Bryce just because he's an athlete. Bryce's lawyer pulls him out for court, and Clay, Tony, and Justin manage to get out after learning Chloe decided to testify. The trio heads for Clay's car, which someone has broken into and stolen the Polaroids. At the court, Chloe changes her mind midway through her testimony, saying she remembers giving consent, and an upset Clay stays behind where Tyler invites him to go shooting. Again in Tyler's neighbor's fields, he advises Clay it can be easier to hit a target if you name it, like imagining it's someone you dislike. Clay imagines he's aiming at Bryce, and successfully gets a bottle just before police sirens go off. Porter and Olivia search the Clubhouse with police, only to find a normal shed, and Mrs. Walker confronts Bryce, who graphically details raping Hannah, causing her to slap him and say he brought shame to their family. Alex finds a package for him at the store, and as Justin and Jessica talk about Chloe backing down, he says he could help if she lets him testify. Clay leaves him a message saying to drive to Bryce's house, where he is walking with one of Tyler's guns after being initially too stunned to run from police like the latter. Alex opens the package he got, finding a gun for the bullet he previously received, and suddenly remembers what he meant by how he "could have stopped it." This memory heads into the end of the episode, along with Clay and Justin meeting for a dangerous situation outside Bryce's house. We also see the truth about Bryce's testimony, which is certainly different from what Clay would at least have thought. Justin noticing Clay talking to no one is an aspect I most enjoyed about this episode, as throughout this season Clay has been constantly talking to himself in public around plenty of people, with somehow no one noticing. The idea of ghost Hannah was definitely a strange one from the beginning, and I've simply been assuming the writers are saying Clay has some form of mental illness like schizophrenia. A negative aspect came from the group discovering the loss of the Polaroids, which felt like a poorly thought out way to lose them. Clay has always been said to be a smart character, though he can make poor decisions sometimes or puts himself at risk like when he got Bryce's confession. Throughout this season, however, he has repeatedly done or said incredibly dumb things, often serving as a way for characters to chastise a way of thinking you wouldn't expect from him, like when he wonders how the girls in the Polaroids "got themselves in these situations." The fact that he left the photos in his car is a shining example of this, as while the end of last season he was smart enough to have a tape recording before getting Bryce to confess, here he left the only evidence they had unprotected in his car. He tries to defend himself by saying he couldn't just put it in his locker, but one would thing he'd be able to find somewhere in his house to hide the box. Unfortunately for me, a seemingly unrelated Google search told me who stole the box, but for now the characters are left wondering who could have broken into Clay's car. While it's also disappointing to see Chloe unable to say Bryce raped her, it is expected, as along with the general fear people like Jessica have felt in the same situation, it's obvious she's struggling because of how she thought of Bryce before. Tyler continues to spiral down as now his embarrassing secret has been let out since his outburst, and we see more problematic signs when he suggests Clay think of someone he dislikes while shooting. Clay's confused reaction was honestly pretty funny, but it was odd he didn't just immediately stop when Tyler suggested pretending to shoot a person. Bryce's testimony and Clay's inability to trust Hannah's words has made him crack further, and her assertion that she told him the truth but he doesn't believe her was a good thing for him to hear, though he might not think so. Despite repeatedly saying how much he loved Hannah, he was so quick to judge her even as far back as when she was alive, hearing a rumor and feeling hurt thinking it could be true. This is often due to his jealousy, which he doesn't seem to realize, as he always assumes the worst after thinking Hannah was giving attention to boys that he felt he deserved, treating her more like an object to be won than a person. Bryce's testimony and later scenes give us an understanding of part of why he became the way he is, though obviously without saying his actions are excusable. Seeing more of his home life and how he interacted with Hannah gave us much more character than we ever saw in the first season. With his testimony already believed and then somewhat supported by Chloe, the loss of the Polaroids will only make if more difficult to try getting him caught as the season winds down.
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