List of 13 Reasons Why episodes

Clay Jensen finds a box filled with audio cassette tapes anonymously left on his front doorstep. He plays the first in his father's boombox and realizes they have been recorded by his recently deceased classmate Hannah Baker before he accidentally drops and breaks the boombox when surprised by his mother. Clay steals his friend Tony's Walkman to continue listening. Clay listens to the first tape, in which Hannah begins to relate the experiences that led to her suicide. She starts by sharing the story of her first kiss, with Justin Foley, who goes on to inadvertently spread a salacious rumor that begins the sequence of events leading to her suicide. Clay is revealed, through numerous short flashbacks, to have been in love with Hannah and to have worked with her at the local movie theater. It is revealed in this episode that Hannah has put Tony in charge of the tapes.

Hannah reminisces about her friendship with two other new students: Jessica, who moves frequently because her father is in the Air Force, and Alex, whom they met at a coffee shop. Jessica and Alex eventually begin a relationship and stop spending time with Hannah. When Alex breaks up with Jessica, she very publicly blames and slaps Hannah. In the present, Hannah's mother, Olivia, finds a note in her daughter's textbook that leads her to believe Hannah was being bullied. Clay asks Jessica about the tapes, which results in Bryce Walker's circle of peers meeting to discuss how Clay is listening to Hannah's recordings.

As Clay attempts to pursue a romantic relationship with Hannah, her relationships are threatened by a "best/worst" list made by Alex Standall, who has put a target on Hannah. In the present, Hannah's mother, Olivia Baker, seeks out the school principal about her suspicion of bullying and makes a disturbing discovery. In the midst of his investigation, Clay turns to Alex for answers, who not only feels regret for his actions on the tapes, but also warns Clay against trusting Tony, whom Clay later sees in a violent exchange with his brothers. As Justin tries to recuperate from his recent slump, Bryce strong-arms Clay and Alex into a drinking contest in an alleyway.

Hannah hears someone outside her window, and confesses to her friend, Courtney, that she has a stalker. Courtney offers to help her catch the offender in the act. While waiting for the stalker to arrive, they play an alcohol-fueled game of truth or dare that leads to the two of them kissing on Hannah's bed. The stalker, school photographer Tyler Down, takes a photo of the girls and sends it around the school. This effectively ends Courtney and Hannah's friendship as Courtney distances herself from Hannah to avoid being revealed as one of the people in the photograph. In the present, Clay goes to Hannah's house and talks to her mother, though is unable to admit how close he and Hannah were. He also confronts Tony about the incident with his brothers. Tony responds that "people have to make their own justice" and proves he has an extra set of tapes. Inspired by this, Clay takes a naked picture of Tyler and sends it around the school in revenge.

Courtney, afraid of her classmates finding out about her sexuality, spreads a rumor that the girls in the leaked photos are Hannah and Laura, an openly lesbian classmate. Courtney also adds to the rumor about Hannah and Justin, worsening Hannah's poor reputation. In the present, Clay takes Courtney to visit Hannah's grave. She leaves, not ready to face her involvement in the loss of her classmate or be more open about her sexuality. Tony arrives with Clay's bike and gives him a tape with the song he and Hannah danced to at the Winter Formal. Later, Justin, Zach and Alex force Clay into the car with them by stealing his bike and scare him into silence about the tapes by driving over the speed limit. They are pulled over by the police but face no consequences as the officer is revealed to be Alex's father. Clay denies knowing Hannah to his mother, who has been asked to represent the school in the lawsuit the Bakers are bringing.

Hannah's date on Valentine's Day with Marcus does not go as planned due to the rumors that she is promiscuous. In the present, Alex gets into a fight with Monty and they both must appear before the student honor board. The board, headed by Marcus, decides to suspend Monty from school for three days and give Alex a warning. Clay helps Sheri with an assignment, and they start kissing until Sheri reveals she is only there because she is on the tapes and wants Clay to like her despite her role in Hannah's death.

After Hannah refuses to go out with Zach, he gets revenge by sabotaging her emotionally during a class project. Zach removes compliments from Hannah's box, affecting her self-confidence. She attempts to write a letter to Zach explaining why she needs the compliments, but when Zach reads it, he ignores it and throws it away. In the present, Clay hears Zach's tape and keys his car in an act of revenge and is eventually caught, but things turn out to be different than they appeared: Zach was actually scared by the letter's content and kept it to himself. Clay is now having both auditory and visual hallucinations of Hannah during the day, including seeing her dead body on the floor of the basketball court during a game and hearing her tape playing over the school's intercom system. He returns the tapes to Tony, unable to continue listening, but continues to experience problems, leading him to snap in the hallways.

Hannah is touched by poetry recited by fellow student Ryan Shaver, and joins the Evergreen Poetry Club, a place where people write and perform their own poetry, and listen and critique others. Hannah presents some extremely revealing and confessional poetry at the poetry club after Ryan encourages her. Ryan betrays her by publishing the poem without her knowledge or consent in his school magazine. Almost everyone in school finds the poem hilarious, but Clay is both touched and disturbed by it, not realizing Hannah is the author. In the present day, Tony confides to Clay about the night of Hannah's death, and Clay takes back the tapes. Clay later gives the poem to Hannah's mother.

While hiding in Jessica's room during a party, Hannah witnesses Bryce Walker raping an unconscious and intoxicated Jessica. In the present, Marcus warns Clay the worst is yet to come and again attempts to scare him into silence about the tapes, this time by planting drugs in his backpack to get him suspended from school. Clay finally admits to his mother that he and Hannah were close. After getting suspicious legal advice from his mother, he goes to Justin's apartment to retrieve his bike and talk about getting justice for Jessica. Justin finally admits that what happened in the tapes is real, and claims it is better if Jessica does not know the truth.

After the party, Hannah gets a ride home from her classmate, cheerleader Sheri Holland. They have what appears to be a minor accident, knocking over a stop sign. While Hannah wants to call the police to report it, Sheri refuses to do so, because she is afraid she will get in trouble. While Hannah is on her way to find a phone to call the authorities, the downed stop sign causes a serious accident at that intersection, resulting in the death of Clay's friend Jeff Atkins, which was incorrectly considered a drunk driving accident. When Hannah tries to tell Clay about the stop sign, he pushes her away, thinking she is being unnecessarily dramatic. In the present, Jessica's behavior becomes more erratic. Clay finds out that Sheri is trying to make up for her mistake in her own way, and he tells Jeff's parents that Jeff was sober when he died.

With Tony's support, Clay finally listens to his tape and is overcome with guilt to the point of contemplating his own suicide because he feels he did not do enough to prevent Hannah's death. Tony manages to calm him down; the two climb a mountain and each have a mental breakdown at the top. Justin finds out Jessica is at Bryce's home. He confronts her there and admits that Bryce raped her on the night of the party, causing her to slap him. Olivia Baker finds a list with the names of all the people on the tapes, although she does not know what the list means.

After accidentally losing her parents' store's earnings, a depressed Hannah stumbles upon a party being thrown by Bryce. The night ends in tragedy when she ends up alone with him, and he rapes her in his hot tub. This leads Hannah to create a list of people (the one that her mother found in the previous episode) who she feels were responsible for leading her to her current circumstances, which becomes the inspiration for the creation of the tapes. In the present, everyone on Hannah's list is subpoenaed to testify in the lawsuit between the Bakers and the school. The subjects of the tapes disagree over what to do. Tyler eventually suggests they pin everything on Bryce, but Alex refuses and says they should tell the truth. Sheri turns herself in. Clay goes to Bryce's house, on the pretext of buying marijuana, to confront him about the events of the night he raped Hannah. Clay provokes Bryce to attack him and is badly beaten. However, Clay has been secretly recording their conversation and gets Bryce to admit that he raped Hannah. An unknown teenager with a gunshot wound to the head is treated by paramedics.

Hannah begins to record the tapes and then visits Mr. Porter to tell him about her rape as she secretly records the conversation, hoping he will help her. When he does not, she heads to a post office and mails the tapes to Justin Foley before going home and taking her own life by slitting her wrists. In the present, Clay gives Tony the tape of his conversation with Bryce to copy before confronting Mr. Porter about meeting with Hannah on her last day, giving him the tapes before leaving. Tony copies the tapes onto a flash drive and gives it to the Bakers. As the depositions begin, Marcus and Courtney deny their involvement in Hannah's death as much as possible while Zach and Jessica admit their mistakes. Before his deposition, Tyler hides ammunition and guns in his room, then reveals the existence of the tapes and Clay's possession of them during his interview. Alex is revealed to have been the teenager with the gunshot wound; he is in critical condition at the hospital. Jessica finally tells her father about her rape while at school, Clay reaches out to Skye Miller, his former friend, to avoid repeating the same mistakes he made with Hannah.

Tape subject: Mr. Porter, for not believing Hannah was suicidal and for not giving her proper help.

Five months after the events of the first season, Hannah's trial moves to court. Tyler is the first to testify in the trial and does so truthfully. Skye and Clay are dating, but Clay starts to have hallucinations of Hannah. Mr. Porter confronts Bryce in the bathroom about raping Hannah. Jessica returns to school, as does Alex who survived his suicide attempt but has lost much of his memory from before it, including the contents of Hannah's tapes. Tony is given the note Hannah left him the night she died and is later seen burning it. A Polaroid was left in Clay's Locker which falls out when he opens it, Clay picks it up, flips it to look at the back and a note saying "Hannah wasn't the only one".

Clay talks to Hannah's ghost and asks what she was doing in the living world but she does not have any idea why she is appearing. During her testimony, Courtney reveals that she is a lesbian and had feelings for Hannah. A group of protesters gathers at the court to demand justice for Hannah, but Jessica and Alex are both threatened to avoid revealing anything incriminating when they testify. Skye and Clay fight over her suspicion that Clay is still in love with Hannah, and Skye is hospitalized soon after leaving Clay's house. Meanwhile, Tyler befriends a classmate named Cyrus.

Clay, riding home on his bicycle, is hit intentionally by a car, injuring him slightly. He visits Skye in the hospital, but she breaks up with him. Clay and Alex try to encourage Jessica to reveal information about Bryce during her testimony, but she fails after seeing incriminating pictures of her stuck to the board in a classroom. Olivia asks her afterwards if she was the girl on the ninth tape, but Jessica does not answer. After discovering Jessica had been contacted by Justin, Clay finds him homeless in Oakland with Tony's help. With no other option, Clay lets Justin stay in his bedroom with him. Skye's parents move her to a psychiatric facility, and tell Clay not to contact her. Tyler meets the rest of Cyrus' friends while Bryce is asked to testify.

Marcus lies about what happened with Hannah the night they went out on Valentine's Day during his testimony (in order to protect his reputation) and briefly mentions Bryce, angering him. Cyrus and Tyler hear of Marcus' lies and prank him, going to a nearby field afterwards to shoot guns. Clay finds out that Justin has been taking heroin and he and Sheri help him onto the path to sobriety. Jessica shows the threatening note she was left before her testimony to Mr Porter. Alex continues to be frustrated about not being able to remember anything and asks Clay for the tapes, who sends them to him. Jessica and Alex skip school and share a kiss. Clay also finds a second Polaroid photograph in his locker, which shows Bryce having sex with an unconscious girl, alongside a note warning "He won't stop".

Tyler is confronted by Mr. Porter, who suspects he was behind the pictures of Jessica found in the classroom before her testimony, but he denies involvement. Ryan testifies and talks about Hannah's poems, saying they were written about Justin and that she and Justin maintained contact even after falling out. Afterwards, Olivia invites Ryan to help her decipher Hannah's poems for additional clues, but Ryan soon leaves after Olivia mentions missing pages in Hannah's journal, which Ryan had torn out. Clay realizes the Polaroid photos were taken at school and attempts to find out where. Chlöe meets with Bryce's parents and his mother notices bruises on her. Jessica attends her first group therapy session, where she befriends Nina. Mr. Porter finds a brick thrown through his car window, with a threatening note attached; he later confronts Justin's mother and is arrested after a violent incident with her boyfriend.

Zach testifies and reveals that he and Hannah had a romantic relationship the summer before she died, but they kept it secret. After the testimony, Clay reacts angrily and confronts Zach, ignoring his apologies, while Bryce teases Zach about his relationship, prompting a small fight between them. Justin returns to school and talks to Jessica, but she asks him to leave. He then faints after seeing Bryce, and on his return to Clay's house, has to hide as someone breaks in, at which point Clay's parents find out he has been staying there, but allow it to continue.

During Clay's testimony, he is forced to reveal he and Hannah did drugs at a small party one night and spent the night together, and Clay ignored a comment Hannah made the next morning about wanting to die. Alex's birthday party at the arcade is derailed after a number of arguments break out. When Clay leaves the birthday party, he finds a Polaroid photograph left on his car, with a note reading "The Clubhouse". After reading comments posted online about his testimony, Clay anonymously uploads Hannah's tapes to the Internet. Meanwhile, Bryce is seen having sex with Chlöe without getting proper consent. The baseball team pays tribute to Jeff Atkins.

After the release of the tapes, Bryce returns to school to find his locker vandalized and his "confession tape" Clay recorded being shared among students. After Marcus is blackmailed, he calls Bryce a rapist during a speech at a ceremony, in front of a large group of parents and students, in order to protect his own reputation. Clay finally contacts Skye again and meets with her at the psychiatric facility, but she tells him she is moving to a different state. Justin overdoses on heroin, but Alex saves his life – he then returns to his mother's home. The release of the tapes gets Clay in trouble with his parents.

When testifying, Mr. Porter reveals that since Hannah's death he has come to believe that Hannah was raped by Bryce. He then emotionally apologizes to Hannah's mother for the part he played in her suicide. Justin steals money from his mother's boyfriend, and when confronted by his mother, leaves her some suggesting she leave too in order to escape the relationship. Bryce confronts and threatens Clay under the assumption that it was Clay who blackmailed Marcus into publicly accusing Bryce of rape. Later, Clay is violently beaten at school by four masked students. He is then approached by Cyrus who invites him to join him and Tyler in vandalizing the school that evening, but when he does, he sees a group of students entering a storage shed next to the baseball field, which he correctly guesses is the location of The Clubhouse. He texts Justin and they reconvene. Meanwhile, Olivia contacts a girl, Sarah, and her mother and asks them not to testify.

Tony is asked to testify, but chooses not to reveal that Hannah left him her tapes because he owed her a favor after she helped him evade arrest. During Sarah's testimony, she reveals Hannah was part of a trio of girls who bullied her at another high school. After an argument between Tyler and Mackenzie, his friendship with Cyrus breaks down. Offering marijuana, Sheri tempts some male students into taking her to The Clubhouse, where Bryce takes a picture of her and two other boys on a Polaroid camera, placing the photograph in a box filled with many others. She learns the code to unlock the door and shares it with Clay and Justin. During a baseball game, Zach confronts Bryce, tells him he knows Hannah was not lying, and quits the game. He goes to The Clubhouse to find Clay and Justin there, and hands Clay the box of Polaroid photographs taken in the Clubhouse, confessing that it was him who had given Clay the first three photographs. Clay reviews the photographs at home with Justin and Sheri, and they find a pair of photographs which show Bryce raping Chlöe. Clay also finds a picture of Nina and Hannah.

While testifying, Bryce lies and claims that he and Hannah had a casual sexual relationship, and that she falsely accused him of rape after he brought an end to it. When Bryce returns to school, Justin attacks him and a fight breaks out, which evolves into a mass brawl. Jessica shows Chlöe the two pictures of Bryce and her in The Clubhouse, and Chlöe confesses that she posted the pictures of Jessica in the classroom before she testified. Olivia, her legal team, and Jessica ask Chlöe to testify, and she agrees, but on the stand, she testifies that she remembers Bryce having sex with her and remembers consenting. The box of Polaroid photographs taken from The Clubhouse is stolen from Clay's car, and Alex is sent a package containing a gun and a threatening letter. Bryce's mother later asks him whether he was telling the truth in his testimony, and, after being pressed, he coldly confesses to raping Hannah. Flashbacks reveal that Bryce wanted a relationship with Hannah and was rejected himself. Clay becomes mentally tormented by hallucinations of Hannah, to the point where he contemplates both murdering Bryce and killing himself, but Justin manages to calm him down.

Justin receives a death threat before going to testify, but he tells of Bryce raping Jessica during his testimony nonetheless. After Alex realizes that Monty is responsible for intimidating people during the trial, Alex, Clay, Justin, Tony, Zach, and Scott confront Monty and he admits to stealing the box of Polaroid photos. However, after Monty takes Alex to a deserted location to retrieve them, he reveals he was lying and escapes. As a result, Jessica is encouraged by her friends to report her case of sexual assault to the police. After the Baker trial concludes and the jury finds the school district not responsible for Hannah's death, both Bryce and Justin are arrested outside the courtroom for their involvement in Jessica's rape. Mr. Porter is fired after a performance review, and Tyler is placed on a diversion program after one of his social media posts reveals it was him who vandalized the school.

Flashbacks: On the night of Spring Fling, Clay and Tony help Tyler get away and get rid of the weapons, while Justin, Zach, and Cyrus cover for them with the police. The next day, Clay makes a schedule of the group monitoring Tyler and helping him get back to himself, though Zach refuses to participate, believing Tyler has become a psychopath. At school that day, Courtney has Clay give a tour of the school to a new transfer student, Ani Achola, who he forms a slight bond with and introduces to his friends. Later, during a student council meeting, Jessica blames athletes for being the cause of problems at the school. Ani, inspired by this, suggests that Jessica should run for class president, which Jessica agrees to, also becoming her friend. Bryce moves in with his mother after his father leaves town and sells the house.

Present: Clay is brought from school to the police station and questioned by Deputy Standall about Bryce Walker's disappearance. Principal Bolan reprimands Jessica over a riot that occurred at the Homecoming game. Clay tells the others that Bryce is missing, putting some of them on edge.

Flashbacks: Zach is elected captain of the football team, despite Monty having been the favorite, and vows to change the rape culture. At an assembly for class presidential candidates, Jessica promises to change the school culture. Chlöe walks out and reveals to Zach that she's pregnant. Zach takes her to get an abortion, where she is harassed by pro-life activists. Afterward, she tells Zach she will not be coming back to Liberty High next year and breaks up with Bryce. Meanwhile, Bryce is bullied by the football team at his new school, since they disapprove of him for being a rapist.

Present: After Clay sees a rabbit's foot stuck to Zach's bag, which he knows belonged to Chlöe, he and Ani confront Zach. Jessica tells them about Chlöe's pregnancy, but claims Bryce never knew, which Chlöe confirms. Monty threatens Tyler after having been interrogated by the police about Bryce, and is later threatened by Alex. Ani finds that Bryce was writing a letter to Jessica. After taking pictures of himself shirtless, Tyler walks by the river and eventually climbs an overpass. Later, near that overpass, the police pull a corpse out of the river, revealed to be Bryce.

Flashbacks: Jessica is elected student body president, and begins working at the Crestmont. She later confronts Bryce at his house, where he tries to admit he was wrong but is ignored. Bryce tries to apologize to her at work but is rejected again. Later, Bryce meets up with Justin, revealing his attempts to apologize, as well as his knowledge of Tyler's attempt to commit a school shooting. Meanwhile, Jessica tells Ani that sex with Alex isn't great, and Ani encourages her to "reconnect" with her body. Jessica does, and afterward, breaks up with Alex and begins a casual relationship with Justin.

Present: Clay notices a scar on Justin's back. Later, to Clay's surprise, Justin mourns Bryce. Clay and Ani suspect Jessica, and investigate her, but discover that she and Justin have been secretly hooking up. Tyler admits to Clay and Tony that he still has a gun, and they plan to get rid of it. Later, Tyler is shown looking through pictures on his computer of Bryce's corpse, looking like it was shot in the head, with the gun next to him.

Flashbacks: During the time that the group monitors Tyler, he hangs out at the movie theater during Jessica's shift. Jessica calls Alex to take over, due to being creeped out. Jessica forms a group called "Hands Off" to protect survivors of sexual assault, which Tyler joins. Clay gives Ani his bike and lock. Clay, Ani, and Tyler see a movie together. Tyler confronts Monty and demands an apology, but Monty refuses, claiming Bryce had him do it. Tyler threatens Bryce with a gun. Bryce tells him Monty acted on his own and does not defend himself.

Present: The group monitors Tyler due to the gun he still has. Clay sees him go outside to use the bathroom and later finds a brown bag in his backpack. Clay goes to Tyler's house, where his parents show appreciation to him for being Tyler's friend. In his room, Clay finds pictures of Bryce on Tyler's computer. Tyler hands over the gun and reveals he was the one who found Bryce's body, although he reported it anonymously. He also reveals that he kept the gun to eventually kill himself and that he intended to die at Spring Fling. The brown bag is revealed to contain a camera, the same model from the film Tyler, Clay, and Ani saw. Later, when the group meets at Monet's, Justin reveals that Bryce was not shot, but beaten to death, and takes the gun to dispose of it. He is later shown threatening Seth, his mother's ex-boyfriend, with it. The police look for a murder weapon at the river, and find Bryce's car, containing steroids, which puts Alex on edge. It is revealed Clay and Tony threw Tyler's guns in the river.

Flashbacks: Alex starts working out to overcome his physical problems after his breakup with Jessica. One of the football players offers him steroids, which he takes. He later begins buying different steroids from Bryce, who also introduces him to a prostitute to help him get over Jessica. They begin hanging out. Later, Bryce brings Alex to help him destroy his father's house. They go to the wrong house, and Bryce threatens a child who finds them vandalizing the house. Alex ends their relationship following this. At some point during their "friendship", Bryce and Monty attend a party, where Monty hooks up with a boy, Winston, from Bryce's school. Later, when Winston asks Monty to hang out, Monty assaults him. Bryce pays him not to press charges.

Present: The police search the school for steroids, and find some in the possession of one of the football players. Alex throws away a stash, which is retrieved by Justin. Monty hides some in his car, which is found by Clay and Ani, along with an ID of another boy named Winston. Clay and Ani confront Monty, and later, after finding the real Winston's Facebook page, Winston, who admits the other boy took the SAT's for him and that Bryce and Monty were blackmailing him not to talk about the assault. Justin gets rid of Tyler's gun. Mrs. Walker tells her father Bryce is dead. Ani finds Tony's Mustang in Bryce's garage.

Flashbacks: Bryce's father divorces his mother and begins seeing another woman. After Bryce trashes his father's house, his father demands he pay for the damages. Bryce refuses and reveals he has an illegitimate daughter, though his mother decides not to use this against him in the divorce. Meanwhile, it is revealed that shortly after Bryce's rape trial, ICE was called on Tony's family, resulting in his parents and brothers being deported to Mexico, and Tony having to send his sister to their aunt and uncle in Arizona. Bryce tried to make amends for his past ways by buying Tony's Mustang for double its worth, giving Tony money for a lawyer to fight the deportation, but it did no good.

Present: Tony is interrogated about Bryce, but tells the police nothing. At Bryce's funeral, his father shows up but doesn't appear to mourn, disgusting his mother. Zach gives a speech. The funeral is interrupted by Jessica's sexual assault survivor group, who protest the mourning of a rapist. Clay asks Tony and Caleb about the car, and they tell him the truth. The police find security footage of Clay pointing a gun at Bryce in front of his father's old house.

Flashbacks: Clay and Ani become closer after bonding over a love of comic books. Later, they measure each other to make costumes for a cosplay convention. Ani takes off her clothes for this, allowing Clay to see her underwear. Later, Clay drops Ani off at Bryce's house, and they kiss. Meanwhile, Ani and Bryce are revealed to have had a sexual relationship, in which he treated her with respect.

Present: The police interrogate Clay and Justin about the security footage. Sheriff Diaz shows Clay underwear containing Ani's blood and Bryce's semen. Clay denies knowing the underwear is Ani's, and that Bryce and Ani were seeing each other. Clay's parents question Justin about the footage and begin to question whether Clay had something to do with Bryce's death. Alex confronts Jessica over her relationship with Justin, and the school, as a result, finds out about it. Jessica's group refuses to listen to her when she tries to reprimand them for protesting Bryce's funeral. Clay and Ani fight over her relationship with Bryce and Clay later hallucinates Bryce taunting him. Clay returns home to find Ani in his room and notices she is afraid of him.

Flashbacks: Mrs. Walker asks Mr. Porter to become Bryce's counselor, which Mr. Porter agrees to. During the time that he counsels Bryce, he gives Bryce a journal to write down private thoughts and has him write a letter from his mother's point of view about him. Bryce does so, revealing his belief that his mother hates him. When Mrs. Walker sees the letter, she reveals this is not true, and that she blames herself for her mistakes when Bryce was younger. Bryce also tells Mr. Porter about his relationship with 'a girl', and that he still has thoughts of rape on his mind. Mr. Porter suggests he get other help.

Present: Clay goes to the Walkers' house to ask Mrs. Walker to call off the investigation, but she refuses. He finds a note she seemingly wrote about her hatred of Bryce. The police call Mr. Porter to help with the investigation. Mr. Porter calls in Tyler, Zach, Alex, Cyrus, Justin, and Jessica, all of whom defend Clay when he asks about various incidents. Clay shows Ani the note, and Ani reveals Mr. Porter was privately counseling Bryce. Mr. Porter meets Clay, and they arrange to meet outside of school, where he reveals he doesn't think Clay killed Bryce, and only spoke to students he thought would defend Clay. He tells Clay the truth about the note when Clay asks him. Mr. Porter also suggests to Clay that something may have happened to Tyler. Clay asks Tyler, and Tyler reveals his sexual assault by Monty. When he confronts Monty, the jock tells him Justin may still be using. At home, Clay searches Justin's things and finds a bottle of oxycodone prescribed to Bryce.

Flashbacks: Clay feels depressed on the anniversary of Hannah's death, despite Ani's attempts to comfort him. Zach gets Justin to join the football team. Shortly after Justin begins working at Monet's, Seth arrives and demands the money Justin stole from him. When Justin is unable to pay, Seth agrees to allow him to work off the debt by selling drugs to his customers. When the customers notice Justin is keeping some of the drugs for personal use, Seth threatens Justin and demands the money. Shortly afterward, the police arrive. Seth escapes while Justin is arrested. Justin calls Bryce to bail him out and asks him to not tell Clay. Bryce pays off Seth and gives Justin some oxycodone to feed the addiction and prevent him from overdosing. Despite this, they do not resume their friendship. During a game, during a drug test, Justin admits to Zach that he is still using and will not pass, but Zach ensures he does.

Present: Clay confronts Justin about the oxycodone. Justin claims he stole it from Bryce's room at the funeral. Later, at Monet's, a reporter asks Clay questions about Bryce, and Justin tells him to leave. At school, Justin and Jessica officially become a couple, but Alex, disgusted, asks Justin what he will do when Jessica finds out he is still an addict. Clay tells Ani Justin's alibi, and Ani states he could not have stolen the drugs from Bryce's room since they were not there when the police checked it. Monty threatens Justin, revealing he knows about Justin's addiction. Justin breaks up with Jessica, claiming he cheated on her. At Monet's, Clay and Ani confront Justin about his lie. Justin shows them Seth texted him when Bryce died, and states his belief that if Seth killed Bryce, he may be the reason why. The three investigate Seth's hideout and find Bryce's watch. When Seth catches them, Clay accuses him of having murdered Bryce and taken the watch, but Seth reveals Justin traded him the watch for drugs. The students escape. At home, Justin admits he stole the watch, not the pills, on the day of the funeral, and traded it to Seth for the pills. He also admits that on the night of Homecoming, he was getting high. Clay and Justin reaffirm their brotherhood. Clay later gets a call from Mrs. Baker, which upsets him.

Flashbacks: Olivia returns to Crestmont on Homecoming weekend to finalize the selling of her house. She meets with Jessica and Tony, telling Tony that her ex-husband is remarried to his mistress and that Bryce's father was the one who called ICE on his family. Tony confronts Bryce about this. When Bryce finds out his father was the one who called ICE, he tries to return the Mustang for free, and Tony makes him listen to the tapes; when Bryce finally listens to his, he has an emotional breakdown realizing how much he hurt Hannah. He tries to apologize to Olivia for what he did to Hannah, but she rejects him. Later, Olivia goes to Hannah's grave while drunk, and calls Clay, expressing her wishes for Bryce to die. Meanwhile, after Ani reveals she has never been to a school dance, Clay attempts to ask her to Homecoming. When he goes to Bryce's house, he meets Bryce, who tells him that Ani isn't the nice girl he thinks she is. Clay threatens to kill Bryce and leaves. Later Bryce, while drunk, tells Ani he misses her and needs her, then tries to grab her.

Present: Olivia is questioned about Bryce's murder, and reprimands the police for caring more about him than about the girls he raped. Clay tells Jessica that Justin is still an addict. Jessica shows up at Monet's during his shift to get back together with him, promising to help. Clay and Olivia meet, where Olivia tells him she is worried about how a voicemail she left him makes them look guilty. Olivia and Mrs. Walker meet up and talk about the pain of outliving their children. At home, Justin forgives Clay for telling Jessica he is still an addict. The police then arrive at the house with a search warrant.

Flashbacks: Bryce makes the Dean's List at Hillcrest, and tells his mother he wants to transfer back to Liberty next semester. Jessica tries to get the Homecoming game canceled due to it celebrating jock culture, but Principal Bolan refuses and reveals he is considering allowing Bryce to return to Liberty High next semester. When Bryce asks Tyler about his attempt to shoot up the school, Tyler tells him about Monty raping him. On Homecoming night, Bryce tells Jessica to meet him at the pier after the game, as he has something to give her. Afterward, in the locker rooms, Bryce confronts Monty over his rape of Tyler in front of Charlie. When Monty proudly confesses, Bryce threatens to reveal his threatening of other students during Hannah's trial to the police. During halftime, Jessica and her sexual assault survivor club start a protest, where they take off their clothes and paint themselves with red handprints. When one of the jocks from Hillcrest touches Jessica inappropriately, the Liberty High team attacks the Hillcrest team. Other students join the brawl.

Present: The parents check the students' alibis for the night of Homecoming. Tyler considers telling the police about his assault and Bryce's knowledge of it to protect Clay, but Clay refuses, telling him to come out when he is ready, and that he may want to tell someone else in case he is arrested. Tyler tells Jessica, who apologizes for mistreating him, and afterward, confronts Monty. Principal Bolan tells Jessica to apologize for Homecoming or lose her position as student body president. Clay reveals to Justin that he writes fanfiction, and researched how to kill someone, which makes him look more guilty. His parents try to get him to tell them everything, but he becomes more upset that they don't believe he isn't capable of murder. Clay asks Tony to help him disappear. Justin meets with Seth to make a deal.

Flashbacks: Clay watches Ani and Bryce kiss. Later, Bryce attacks Zach over Chlöe, dislocating his knee and ending his football career. Ani spills red paint on herself and hurries home to remove it. Zach finds Bryce at the pier and attacks him. He throws his phone in the river and leaves Bryce to die while he reconciles with Chlöe.

Present: Tyler convinces Clay to come to an assembly where Jessica apologizes for the protests. Tyler and Justin publicly reveal that they are sexual assault survivors. In private, Justin tells Jessica about his childhood experience. Clay is arrested. Tyler reports his sexual assault to the police. Monty is arrested. Ani tells Jessica that she slept with Bryce. Zach surrenders to the police, believing he killed Bryce. Deputy Standall reveals that Bryce drowned. Zach is released but charged for assault and battery.

Flashbacks: Shortly following the Homecoming game, everyone's alibis are revealed: Tony was laundering money through the Mexican cartel for his deported family, Justin was dealing and going under the influence from drugs at the docks, and Monty is revealed to not have been at Charlie's house, but was sleeping with Winston. Bryce, having been abandoned at the pier, is met by both Alex and Jessica, who ignore Bryce's pleas for reformation, but hands Jessica a cassette tape. Alex helps him up, but when Bryce threatens retaliation against Zach, Alex becomes furious and pushes Bryce into the river, where he drowns. Jessica ends her relationship with Alex, after which they go home.

Present: Ani tells the details of the circumstances leading to Bryce's murder to Deputy Standall, instead of telling him that Monty was responsible for the murder since Monty had threatened to kill Bryce earlier in the Homecoming game and that he didn't have a strong alibi. Deputy Standall reveals that Monty was killed in his jail cell, to which Ani encourages Standall to close the case quickly by blaming the murder on a man already dead. Deputy Standall quickly deduces Alex was the killer, but doesn't mention anything, and burns all of Alex's clothes that he was wearing the night of Bryce's death. Clay and Mrs. Walker come to terms with each other, and Ani begins dating Clay. The group, who have agreed to cover up Alex's involvement as the killer, plays Bryce's tape, where he confesses to his rapes, but shows remorse for them and apologizes, although having come to terms that nobody will allow him to change. Tyler showcases his photography project at Monet's, as a tribute for everyone who has helped him since his sexual assault. Meanwhile, Winston, angry over Monty's death, confronts Ani about lying to the police. Elsewhere, a fisherman finds the discarded bag of assault rifles that Clay, Tony, and Tyler hid in the river during Spring Fling.