Tape 4, Side A
Clay's parents are talking about Clay at home. They discuss how his nightmares have returned and he should maybe start taking his medication again. Clay overhears the discussion as well as his mother revealing that Hannah had slit her wrists in the bathtub.
At school, a new girl has started and her locker is Hannah's old one. Clay sees her struggling to open and goes over. She asks him why he did it and what did he do to Hannah. This is shown to be in his head and he instead, helps the girl to open the locker.
Flashback. Zach is nice to Hannah at the diner, sitting with her and letting her ignore him. He even offers to pay for their milkshakes. When they're back in school, Zach tries to be nice to her but Hannah freaks out. After slowly realising that Zach doesn't seem to have a motive to his kindness, Hannah begins to let it go. Compliment bags are started in the communication class. Hannah writes Zach a letter and keeps it in her bag. After reading some compliments in her bag for a while, she notices that some are being stolen. Zach is shown to be the thief. He steals the letter from her bag and reads it. He then throws it on the floor.
Present day. Clay begins having disturbing hallucinations of Hannah. He keeps hearing things people are saying to him and we never know what's true and what isn't. He throws a basketball in Zach's face but that's revealed to be a vision. Clay does, however, key Zach's Audi outside on the parking lot. He keys the words, "Why me?", something Hannah had shouted at him after Zach threw her letter away. During his vandalism, Skye the barista from Monet's, catches Clay in the act. She says she won't tell and that she actually likes this new, angry Clay. The pair seem to bond.
Present Day. We find out that Hannah lied, either intentionally or not. Zach actually kept the letter she wrote but he just didn't know how to respond. Zach shows Clay that he still has the letter and asks if he wants to read it. Clay declines, saying that he doesn't think he ever could.
Clay returns the tapes to Tony. He explains that he can't listen to her and asks Tony why he's on the tapes. Tony, of course, doesn't tell him but he does say that he can help him through it.
Back at school, Clay seems to be back to normal. He's given the tapes back and his mood seems much better. However, Hannah's tapes begin to play over the speakers. Of course..they're not. Clay's hallucinating again.
Jessica heads to Bryce's house to drink with him and his friends after being suspended from her cheerleading squad. Justin asks Jessica why she didn't text him. She tells him that Bryce did; Bryce just didn't tell him that Jessica was there. Jessica tells Justin that he can't be mad at her because he never answers texts and constantly stays at Bryce's.
In class, Clay confronts the teacher, Mrs. Bradley in front of everyone. He hallucinates during a questionnaire, seeing answers and questions that aren't there. He asks her if it was important to her to help Hannah Baker. He tells her that the note left in her bag was from Hannah Baker and that it told her that she didn't feel anything anymore. Mr. Porter pulls Clay from the class before the conversation could continue. Clay has forgotten he's supposed to be showing a group of international students around the school. He takes this as a golden opportunity to tell the truth about what the school is really like. He explains that the jocks rule the school, the librarians are stupid and that the reason there are so many "Don't Kill Yourself" posters everywhere. Mr. Porter finally takes Clay out of the tour.
This episode provides examples of:
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Clay looks directly into the camera and says, "Welcome to Liberty High".
- Foreign Exchange Student: Clay is pulled out of class to help Courtney give a guided tour of the school campus to new foreign exchange students however, they're treated to a tense display from an increasingly erratic Clay.
- Hearing Voices: Clay begins to hear voices that blame him for what happened to Hannah.
- Hypocrite: Hannah. She devoted an entire tape to Marcus for humiliating her at the diner however she does something very similar to Zach in the school cafeteria, even when he was trying to be nice to her. She then begins making assumptions about him being the same as the other jocks.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Clay gives one to the entire school during a tour he's presenting to foreign exchange students.
- Clay: Everyone is just so nice until they drive you to kill yourself!
- The Reveal: Zach is the tape subject as he had sabotaged the compliment notes that Hannah needed to push through the bullying (after she'd rejected him) and also disregarded a heartfelt note she'd written him.
