“I’m sorry, mom. I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
“Tape 6, Side B” is one of the most plot-heavy episodes of 13 Reasons Why, and at its best it’s damn near spellbinding. A lot happens here, but it’s never confusing, and never feels rushed, due to the talent of the ensemble and the careful staging and pacing from director Jessica Yu. It’s almost as if the show needs to distract you with other goings-on, because this is a dark episode.
We don’t learn the subject of the tape for quite a while, which just adds to the foreboding nature. This is another one of those times in which a past-tense narrative really helps unsettle the audience; sometimes the episode plays like a horror film, making you want to shout at Hannah “Don’t go in there!”
Hannah, in a daze, ends up in the tony part of town (“Where the rich people live,” she says to the tape’s subject. “Where you live”) and, like a bad dream, she happens upon a party at Bryce’s house. No one is surprised to see her there; it’s almost as if she was expected. Yu stages this sequence with hazy, illusory finesse, and everything appears to move on a track, as Hannah strips to her underwear to get in a hot tub, before everyone leaves and she’s left alone with Bryce.
You see where this is going.
Bryce assaults Hannah in the hot tub, repeating the same disgusting lie he told Jessica: “We’re just having fun.” It’s a disturbing scene, but thankfully not too graphic, and that’s a testament to the fine facial acting from Katherine Langford. My main complaint about this development is that it pushes Bryce into a realm of almost unbelievable villainy; he’s not just a rapist anymore but a serial rapist, and his actions make the kids look unbelievable too, because they’ve all heard the tapes and are still protecting him for some reason. But this is by far the most impactful thing to happen to Hannah; that very night she starts planning the tapes, and about a week later she’s dead. “I felt like I was dead already,” she tell us, and that is described on Langford’s face and in her eyes.
The present-day story is just as engaging (if a little less traumatic), and it’s nice to see the burgeoning murder plot take a different turn. The show has been planting the seed of this since its fourth episode, which is pretty impressive narrative foresight. Tyler wants in on whatever the group is planning, going so far as to force his way in (“I sit or I start taking pictures”). But he’s not one of the group. He’s constantly shunned and mocked, even by Clay and Alex, and the message they send him is clear: what you did is worse than what we did. Tyler, like Hannah, is being pushed to a breaking point, even going so far as to buy a gun from someone he met online (Tyler’s screen name is ShutterBug1337, which made for a nice bit of levity).
What’s so tough to watch about this is that it shows that these kids haven’t learned anything. Tyler is worse than Hannah, to be sure, but they’ve seen and heard what a person can do when they feel like they have no other option. They’re making Tyler more and more unpredictable. Some kids have gotten worse in the wake of the tapes (like Courtney, who is truly heartless), some have gotten better (like Alex or, arguably, Justin), but they still stubbornly refuse to learn the lesson Hannah is trying to impart. Sure enough, “Tape 6, Side B” ends inside an ambulance, with its driver reporting a 17-year-old male has suffered a gunshot wound to the head. I don’t know who’s in the ambulance, but I know who pulled the trigger.
The most surprising part of the episode, though, is Clay. Dylan Minnette continues to be the bedrock of decency that this show needs. He shows up at Bryce’s house, ostensibly to buy weed, but really to get Bryce to confess to raping Hannah, on tape. The best and worst thing about Justin Prentice’s portrayal of Bryce is how damn reasonable he seems sometimes (especially compared with the much more broadly-drawn Montgomery). There are moments when Bryce almost seems nice, and you get a glimpse of the person who would randomly buy new shoes for Justin. It adds a nicely effective layer of unease to the scenes.
Minnette is really impressive here, and so is Clay. Clay knows that his mission is dangerous, and Bryce easily could kick Clay’s ass, which he does after Clay takes an ill-advised swing at him. But it was a smart move; it shows Bryce that Clay isn’t a threat, and he lets his guard down, telling Clay, “If you want to call it rape, call it rape.” Cut to one of the episode’s best shots, of a bloody but triumphant Clay, overjoyed that he has Bryce on tape. Sometimes, 13 Reasons Why tells us with this image, someone will still try to do the right thing.
A Few Thoughts
- This show could easily follow Alex as well. Miles Heizel’s performance is outstanding.
- Olivia shouting “We have my fucking charm!” shows just how alike she and Hannah are.
- All the kids got subpoenaed. I’m very much looking forward to seeing them give depositions.
- It’s really interesting seeing Hannah plot out the tapes, and see who didn’t make the cut (like Kat and Montgomery).
Final Score:
4/5
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