Warning: This article contains spoilers for13 Reasons Whyseason 4.
After four seasons,13 Reasons Whyhas come to an end.
But first, we jump forward in time six months to yet another funeral.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
With this show, we’re sure you’re not surprised.
We don’t know whose funeral it is at this point, but we know it’s a classmate.
Anyway, back to six months earlier.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
He’s having nightmares that Monty is still alive and pissed he’s been set up for murder.
Clay thinks he’s hiding his anguish from his parents but they definitely know something’s up.
You gotta feel for those parents!
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Their concerned probing is put on hold when Tyler calls Clay.
He’s been asked to go in and talk to the sheriff.
Clay drives Tyler there and waits outside while he goes in.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Tyler told the sheriff he did indeed buy that bag, but it was stolen from him.
(Remember, Alex’s dad knows the truth aboutBryce’s death.)
It sure seems like Tyler might not be telling Clay everything, and Clay seems to suspect it.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
It’s a bit of an awkward gathering.
At least Charlie is there with homemade cookiesa recurring occurrence this season.
Clay and Ani share their worries about Tyler’s meeting with the sheriff with the rest of the group.
NETFLIX
When Christmas morning rolls around, Clay and Justin both receive an already-loaded-with-apps iPhone from the former’s parents.
While they’re doing so, Jess hallucinates Bryce watching, smirking at her.
He’s just as creepy as a figment of imagination.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Sure this will end well.
It’s time for Future Fair!
Clay is less than enthused since he’s of the opinion there is no future.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Ani and Clay know Winston is Monty’s alibi but the rest of the group don’t.
We also meet Estela, Monty’s sister, at the Future Fair.
She asks Jess if she can join H.O.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Hands Off, the female-led support group Jess started.)
Just then, the football team all show up wearing de la Cruz jerseys as a tribute to Monty.
They really try and force Estela to put one on too, but Cookies (a.k.a.
DAVID MOIR/NETFLIX
Charlie) sticks up for her.
Not for the last time this season, Clay gets the s kicked out of him.
As they recover, Alex kisses Zach then apologizes when Zach doesn’t reciprocate.
Zach tells him he isn’t into guys, but is cool about it.
Looks like we’ve got a new storyline to explore for Alex!
Through the premiere (and season to come), Clay’s mental state goes from bad to worse.
He’s losing time, constantly confused and seeing things that aren’t there.
Thankfully, he’s seeing his therapist.
Clay says he is.
Six months earlier, Clay is filling out college applications.
Only he’s not really doing it because he thinks it’s bulls.
He’s missed most of the deadlines.
Panicked, Clay rejects the call and blocks the caller.
The phantom calls are doing nothing to help his ever-growing paranoia.
He’s barely sleeping and losing more and more time.
When they get to school that morning, someone’s graffitied “Monty was framed” on the walls.
Yeah, he’s pretty messed up.
Later, one of the police officers at the school stops Tony and searches his bag.
The cop gets rough with him and points out the red paint on his hands.
Everyone gets on a bus to head out to tour the nearby college campus where Clay’s dad works.
On campus, the students are split into two groups.
Clay’s growing suspicious of how close Tyler and Winston are getting.
In return, Tyler asks Clay to look out for Zach.
And, naturally, everything goes wrong.
They promptly get wasted and Clay encounters a drunk girl on the stairs.
He then imagines Bryce is there and about to rape her, encouraging Clay to do the same.
Just then the boyfriend walks in and accuses Clay of trying something.
(Clay also missed a meeting with the dean his dad had arranged.)
It freaked him out.
We wrap up another episode with a Clay Cray check-in.
The poor kid continues to spiral.
He finds another can of spray paint in his bag with no idea of how it got there.
Honestly, it’s stressful just to watch.
Someone is clearly messing with him.
Episode 3: “Valentine’s Day”
Love is in the air at Liberty High.
Clay suspects Winston is behind it at first.
At one point they call him, demand that he picks a fight and doesn’t fight back.
Clay has five minutes to do this so provokes Zach into punching him in the stomach repeatedly.
He immediately calls the number back, following the sound of ringing to the wrong person.
Clay now has no choice but to tell Ani what’s been going on.
He then gets another call.
It’s a cute moment, but messy considering Alex actually killed Bryce.
This should be fun.
It’s time to dance!
Zach gets wasted and makes out with a rando, while Alex and Winston just make out a lot.
Back at the DJ booth, Tyler gets an urgent call and leaves in a hurry.
On the dance floor, Clay and Ani are slow dancing when his phone rings.
The caller has him leave the dance and go to the showers.
The football team shows up and surrounds him.
A highly-distressed Clay points the knife at them and demands they hand over Monty’s phone.
The problem is, they all seem to have Monty’s phone.
Shocked, Ani tells him she can’t fix this and runs off.
Could it get much worse?
Yep, the whole sorry affair is caught on the newly installed school cameras.
Episode 4: “Senior Camping Trip”
Another episode intro, another funeral clip!
At least we know it’s not Charlie’s because he’s at it, making a speech.
Of course they get to go.
Okay, things are about to get really trippy.
So, there’s a treasure hunt as part of this fun excursion.
Justin disappears and Clay runs off the path looking for him.
Alex and Jess also get split up after she gets a hand full of maggots.
Yup, you read that correctly.
He has a panic attack, passes out and imagines a conversation with Monty.Insert humanizing Monty moment here.
Justin and Charlie find each other and team up to try and find Clay.
We told you things got trippy!
The jocks think the ghost of Burnham Woods is out to get them all.
Just then, someone drags an ax along the outside of the cabin and laughs creepily.
Everyone is sing themselves at this point, but then Zach shows up and the jocks run out.
Tony joins too and they all discuss how Winston can alibi Monty.
They think maybe the email came from Winston, but then Tony suggests it might’ve come from Tyler.
Justin suggests trusting one another.
Thankfully, Alex’s dad shows up to take them back to camp.
Upset about Winston, Alex goes out on the lake in a boat with Zach to drink.
Alex feels so alone and can’t keep carrying this secret.
Alex’s dad believes his friends are good, smart kids and they did the right thing.
Alex doesn’t need how to live up to that.
They round off what’s been a delightful trip by playing campfire games.
There will always be a bond between them that they can never break, even if they want to.
Alex goes next and confesseseveryone freezesthat he fing hates camping.
Those little scenes certainly didn’t happen on camera!
Elsewhere at the party, Zach and Justin both strike out with their respective love interests.
Winston and Zach are hitting it off the most because they are high on edibles.
This causes Justin to escape while the coach isn’t looking.
Clay is so disoriented that he sees another version of himself with an assault rifle in the hall.
The other Clay starts shooting him until the school principal yells at him to snap out of it.
The lockdown was all just a drill.
The gunshots were blanks, the teachers were the ones knocking on doors.
Seeing the SWAT team the principal invited into the school for the drill sends Clay into a rage.
She reveals that she rewrote his college essay to be about robots, which causes another rift between them.
After being shown walking around and talking to himself, Clay’s final destination is his therapist’s house.
He’s officially cleared to come home.
At home, Justin flips on his adoptive parents for suggesting a memorial for his mom.
The scene ends with him stripping his bed to the mattress, and climbing on it to cry again.
I truly have no idea what’s going on.
Of course, it was all a dream, but it went on for so long.
Definitely not, but hey, here we are!
This was his big moment and Clay and Tony totally ruined it.
The parents are definitely spying on them, but how?
Is it through their phones?
Meanwhile, someone (who?)
anonymously left Winston a tape of Bryce’s confession and he plays it for Diego and Estela.
Tony wins another fight and meets a scout from the University of Nevada after offers him a full-ride scholarship.
But for some reason, he’s not happy about it.
So he follows them on one … to his high school.
That’s why Clay’s parents have always known where he and Justin have been!
Talk about a massive invasion of privacy.
That’s got to be illegal on so many levels.
and roughly handcuffs Diego and takes him away while a crowd of students watch.
Infuriated by what just happened, Jess leads a group of students to confront Principal Bolan.
They all refuse to go back to class, and Jess and Clay lead them in a walkout.
Tony leaves because he already has a record.
The students start throwing things at the approaching police, and things escalate quickly.
Jess spits on a cop’s helmet and he punches her in the stomach and drags her away.
Diego helps save Justin from getting knocked out.
Tony comes back to help Tyler, and his police friend/boxing coach helps him avoid getting arrested.
Alex finds Charlie unconscious on the ground, and a car explodes nearby.
Clay tells his therapist he’s ready to “let all those secrets out.”
Is Clay suffering from dissociative identity disorder, with one personality trying to get him caught?
Or has all his trauma manifested into fugue states?
Is he about to confess to everything, including the truth about Bryce and Monty?
And did we really just watch13 Reasons Whystage a full-on riot, especially given what’s happening now?!
Sydney Bucksbaum
Episode 9: “Prom”
“So yeah, there was a riot.”
What an apt way to kick off this episode!
Justin’s clearly still using and he doesn’t want Clay’s parents to know he relapsed.
He threatens to talk to Foundry about what he knows and she doesn’t venture to stop him.
Meanwhile, Clay told his therapist about all his recently relearned memories but he hasn’t told his friends.
It’s a confusing bait-and-switch plan to ensure that the truth about Bryce’s murder doesn’t come out.
This scene is giving me life when I need it most.
She has the power of social media and their parents and booster club on her side.
She promises that prom and graduation will go off without a hitch, and he agrees.
But that’s not a promise anyone on this show can make.
They all accept him and Charlie with big smiles and open arms.
Again, this relationship is now the best part of this show and it better stay that way.
Charlie tries to do a big prom-posal for Alex but he completely misses it and walks right past him.
Tyler asks Estela and she’s really excited about it.
The look of dejection on Charlie’s face is heartbreaking!
Caleb asks Tony to prom with donuts at the garage.
Normal high school problems!
Diego tries to get Jess back but she rejects him.
He says Bryce should be at prom too and that he didn’t deserve to die.
Zach agrees but says that they deserve to live.
Winston then sees a vision of Monty on the dance floor and they dance together.
Winston just loved the idea of Monty, which, accurate.
Monty walks out and Winston is left alone in the middle of the dance floor.
Back home, Justin puts his tux jacket on.
They help get home.
Alex then tells Charlie he’s in love with him, and Charlie says it back.
I just want the best for these two.
But they hold each other and dance as Diego looks on, crushed.
And after a sweet moment with his mom who is also chaperoning, Clay asks her to dance.
At a high school prom, Clay only dances with his mom!
It’s as weird as it sounds.
Like Alex says: “Mind.
Ugh, what now?!
Episode 10: “Graduation”
We finally made it, friends:13 Reasons Why’s series finale.
A week after prom, Justin is still in the hospital in Intensive Care.
In other words, it’s not looking good for him.
Also, Jess definitely needs to get tested, right?
Then Tyler sends a Gordon Lightfoot text, alerting the group.
Outside the hospital, Zach can’t bring himself to visit Justin, and Charlie yells at him.
And Alex says he was alone so Jess won’t be implicated.
In the hospital, Justin gets worse and is hooked up to a ventilator.
Clay doesn’t understand that this means Justin’s time is limited.
When he finally gets it, he runs out of the hospital and his dad runs after him.
Why is he doing this?!
That’s … certainly a “twist.”
Meanwhile, Justin continues to get worse.
But it works, and Zach finally comes to the hospital.
Tony’s dad video chats him after Caleb told him about Tony’s college offer.
His dad tells him to sell the family’s garage and get on with his life.
Justin wakes up and can’t talk but can communicate by writing.
Clay finds out he got into Brown and that he’s been voted class speaker for graduation.
So even though he’s better than he’s been all season, the pessimistic Clay remains.
But it’s under the terms that he has to graduate and be sober.
It’s the kind of kick in the butt that Zach needs.
He has beautiful moments with Jess and Clay while Liberty High students fill the hospital waiting room.
And then, it happens: Clay holds Justin’s hand as he dies.
Now we finally know whose funeral it’s been all season Justin’s.
Somehow, there’s still an hour left to go!
At Justin’s funeral, Alex tries to give a eulogy but he can’t finish.
Zach gives a speech about doing better.
After it ends, Jess and Clay sit hand-in-hand in the church together for a long time in silence.
At Monet’s, Winston asks Alex to talk, and he asks why Alex killed Bryce.
But he also says he’s more sorry than he could ever say about killing Bryce.
They hug for one last time and Winston walks away.
I did not expect that.
At the hospital, Jess and Diego both get tested and their results are negative.
Turns out Jess told Diego and even offered to go with him as he got tested.
She also says she was never worried because Justin would never do anything without protection.
Too soon, dude.
His therapist opens up about his own past and how a teacher saw something more in him.
Clay finally opens up about how it all starts with Hannah Baker.
Jess makes her speech about love, ending it with: “Oh, and f the patriarchy.”
Then Clay gives a speech, and it ends up being his voiceover from the premiere.
“It comes down to one question.
Will you survive high school?
Because I know too many people who didn’t.
In the past two years, three people who I loved have died.
And two other people who I thought I hated also died.”
But whatever happens, they have to keep moving and choose to live.
Tony is surprised by his younger sister, visiting for his graduation.
But then the whole crew leaves their families to meet up and talk about their hopes for the future.
But that doesn’t make sense because Clay has always treated these ghosts like they’re actually there.
Clay also sees ghost Hannah, and realizes that ghost Justin is talking about how Clay feels about her.
There’s hope for the future for Clay!
Jess sees another vision of Bryce and tells him that he didn’t win.
They’re bonded for life.
Back at home, Clay looks at Justin’s high school diploma and talks with ghost Justin again.
Because Clay was the positive influence in Justin’s life.
Clay starts crying, Justin starts crying, and I start crying.
But Justin tells Clay that he’ll survive.
And with that,13 Reasons Whyhas ended!
Clay got his groove back and he never has to return to Liberty High again.
That’s something we can all be thankful for.
