“That girl had two chances that night. But we both let her down.”
“Tape 5, Side A” is the first episode of 13 Reasons Why to start with a graphic content warning. It becomes easy to see why. This episode is a hard watch, and it doesn’t play nice. It’s bold, and upsetting, and by the hour’s end, it seems as though this tape is as much about Hannah as it is about Justin.
For a while now, we’ve been hearing about Jessica’s party (which, with the amount of import bestowed upon it by the show, seems like it should be written as Jessica’s Party). It’s gotten to the point where 13 Reasons had to deliver 100% or risk disappointing its audience, which seems like an odd choice of words considering the darkness of the material.
Luckily – another odd choice, damn – the show delivers what might be its heaviest hour yet, and this is a show that hinges on teen suicide.
“Tape 5, Side A” has an elegant presentation and structure; not only does this make Justin’s second tape, defying expectations that thirteen tapes = thirteen subjects, but the show plays around with its format, giving us flash-forwards of Clay breathlessly running down the street, or Hannah hiding in a closet. It’s a clever technique by director Carl Franklin, a thriller director who has since moved into TV; his resume includes films like One False Move and Devil In a Blue Dress. It’s a smart way to build tension and confusion, and it’s effective, because for a lot of the episode it’s hard to tell where it’s going.
Until it becomes extremely obvious where it’s going. This is the greatest effect of “Tape 5, Side A” – the sense of sick inevitability. Even then, once 13 Reasons Why makes it clear that Jessica is going to be sexually assaulted, you want so badly for something to happen to prevent it, but the tragedy is that this isn’t happening, not necessarily: it’s being remembered. Nothing can change it. In a lot of ways, that feelings represents 13 Reasons Why in a microcosmic sense.
What’s surprising is that the episode is still able to subvert expectations. When Jessica gets too drunk and wants to sleep, Justin wants to keep fooling around, and you think you know where it’s going from there. But it gets much worse – it’s Bryce, not Justin, who violates the sleeping Jessica, in a scene filmed with grotesque straightforwardness. (It might be a little too straightforward; the episode is harrowing, sure, but it fell short of the emotional devastation it was aiming for.) Hannah is hiding in the closet the whole time, to make things worse; we don’t know why, which leads me to believe that a few tapes will take place at the party.
The episode isn’t completely dark, though. There are some nice moments of quietude that give a glimpse at the heart beating at the show’s core. In a scene that humanizes Lainie Jensen more than any other so far, Clay admits that he knew Hannah: “She was my friend, and I miss her…really fucking badly.” It’s an important moment, because Clay realizes he can no longer keep Hannah – or the wrongs she endured or witnessed – at arm’s length. He’s on the warpath more than ever, confronting Justin and demanding that he tell Jessica the truth about what happened at the part.
Dylan Minnette does righteous indignity very well, and one of the strongest aspects of Clay’s character is that he is genuinely unafraid of kids like Justin, Bryce, or Marcus. “You can ruin my fucking life if you want to,” he tells Justin. “It won’t change what you did.” And it’s true; Marcus already tried sabotaging Clay by planting weed in his backpack, and it was barely even a setback.
The most hopeful moment of the show comes when Jessica remembers, or allows herself to remember, what happened that night. It’s awful, and it hurts, but now she can work on getting justice and healing. In addition, the revelation hits her, like a thunderclap, that Hannah wasn’t making things up on the tapes, that she didn’t, like Justin and Marcus suggested, kill herself for attention. There’s something toxic in this group of kids, but now she can try to extricate herself from it. Mind you, none of what I just described included any dialogue, just terrific facial acting from Alisha Boe.
“Tape 5, Side A” neatly balances hope with despair, which helps it from becoming too dark or too saccharine. It feels real in a way that this show doesn’t always achieve. I’m on the record as not being a fan of the burgeoning murder conspiracy, but if this episode shows us anything, it’s that those kids are right to be afraid of Clay.
A Few Thoughts
- Tony continues to be the best, giving Clay an ice pack and then fixing his bike.
- Clay saying “personal space” when Justin and Jessica were making out next to him really made me want him to continue “Two, personal space; three, stay out of that personal space.”
- Courtney has gone from neglectful and self-centered to petty and shitty, giggling at the sight of Hannah working at the theater. That’s a shame; I always liked Courtney, in spite of everything.
Final Score:
4/5
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