Tape 5, Side B
This tape is the second story of what happened at Jessica's party.
Clay and Jeff are having a brief conversation outside the house. Jeff needs to go on a beer run but Sheri's car is blocking his in. She is about to leave so they go at the same time. They both appear to be sober. Sheri offers to give Hannah a lift back home as she looks completely miserable. On the way, Sheri is looking for a charger for Hannah's phone and crashes into a stop sign, totally leveling it. Hannah wants to call the police but Sheri freaks out and drives off, leaving Hannah on the side of the road. Hannah runs to a gas station to ring 911 and report the stop sign. However, they tell her that it's already been reported.
Present day. More people on the tapes meet up with each other. Ryan asks everyone why they are all still protecting a rapist like Bryce. Courtney doesn't want Clay to pass on the tapes and that no one there is sure what actually happened at the party.
Meanwhile, Clay confronts Sheri about her tape. She asks Clay to meet her after school so she can show him what she does before he gets revenge on her. Sheri explains that the fallen stop sign caused a car accident. The old man seen at the beginning of the episode was injured but lived. Sheri helps out the old man and his wife with errands and chores but hasn't admitted that the accident was caused by her.
Alex talks to Clay whilst they sit on the bleachers. He asks Clay if he's sad but Clay just tells him that he's angry.
Flashback. Hannah comes to Clay, crying about the situation with the stop sign. Clay angrily snaps at her that everything has to be 'her drama or it doesn't count'. It turns out that Jeff had actually died in the car accident with the stop sign. Sheri decides that her and Hannah shouldn't speak anymore so Hannah feels more alone than ever.
Present day. Justin and Jessica hook up at the cinema but Justin stops it. Justin asks Jessica why she's acting out. Jessica angrily leaves and asks Bryce to come to hers to get high. When he arrives, Jessica takes a gun from her dad's safe and teaches Bryce how to shoot.
The Bakers and Mrs. Jensen have a meeting. As the school's lawyer, Mrs. Jensen tries to convince the Bakers to settle the case. The Bakers lawyer declines. During a break, Olivia and Mrs. Jensen bump into each other in the toilets. Olivia asks Mrs. Jensen how much Clay's life is worth. Mrs. Jensen says she wouldn't settle for any money, just the truth.
We then learn the truth about Jeff's car accident.
Clay was actually on his way home from the party when he heard the crash. Rushing to the scene, he's the first one there and rings 911. He doesn't say anything to the police, angry that Jeff had lied to him about drinking on that night. Now Clay is aware of the truth, he goes to tell Jeff's parents. He finds out that Jeff thought just as highly of him as Clay did of Jeff, despite their different social statuses.
Tony and Clay are sat together as the next tape is about to start. Tony tells Clay that this tape is Clay's. Clay asks Tony, "Did I kill Hannah Baker?"
"Yeah."
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: Jenny Kurtz from the book is changed to Sheri Holland in the series and the focus of this episode.
- Adaptational Heroism: Sheri is distracted by Hannah when they're driving just before the crash which makes Sheri slightly more sympathetic. Sheri is also shown to be deeply upset by the entire situation and eventually goes to police.
- The Atoner: Sheri begins a friendship with the old couple who were affected by the car accident that killed Jeff. However, when she tells Clay he doesn't believe that atones for her fault in the crash. She soon goes to the police and is sentenced to time in juvenile.
- Dead to Begin With: Jeff Atkins. He died before Hannah did in the car accident.
- Drunk Driver: Clay thought that Jeff was drunk when he had the accident.
- Foreshadowing: Mr. Porter very quickly mentions that the school had lost two students that year in an earlier episode. One of them was Hannah, the other is revealed to be Jeff in this episode.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Jeff died in the flashback part of the episode, his parents are still alive in the present part.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Sheri becomes this briefly for Clay when she comes over to 'study' and they two make out. However, this stops abruptly when Clay accuses her of using him so he won't listen to her tape and find out her part in Hannah's death. Sheri's book counterpart, Jenny, was never a romantic interest to Clay.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Clay calls out Hannah on this after Jeff's death because she appears to be trying to make his death all about herself. Of course, the irony is that even though it was a speech she needed to hear, it was at the worst possible time, because she was involved in his death and was trying to admit it to him when he got angry with her.
- The Reveal: Sheri is the subject of this tape because she caused the death of Jeff Atkins by disregarding a destroyed stop sign she'd crashed into.
