13 Reasons Why: 13 Things We Can't Believe These Kids Got Away With In The Netflix Drama's Final Season
Spoiler alert: We're about to break down the WTF-iest moments from the final season of 13 Reasons Why. Proceed with caution.
13 Reasons Why didn't just go off the rails in its fourth and final season — it pulled a Magic School Bus, transformed into a space ship and left the damn planet.
If you've completed your binge of the Netflix teen drama (and we hope you have, otherwise you're about to get spoiled!), then you already know what we're talking about. For a show determined to tackled so many real-life issues, there are moments when it couldn't be more detached from reality, as evidenced by the sheer number of shenanigans its characters get away with in the span of six months.
And when we say "characters," we mostly mean Clay Jensen. Of the 13 acts on this list, Clay is responsible for at least eight of them, from crashing Zach's car while driving drunk (that's two in one!) to staging a fake hold-up at a police station. And while we appreciate that Clay is finally addressing his mental health issues, you can't deny that he put a lot of people in danger this season, including himself.
Scroll down for our list of 13 things we can't believe these kids got away with in the show's final season:
Clay Enters the School Dance Holding a Bloody Knife
This may have been dismissed as a prank gone wrong, but walking into the Valentine's Day dance clutching a bloody knife was still not a great look for Clay. In fact, this is one of those moments his classmates probably look back on and think, "Yeah, I guess the signs were there all along."
Clay Has Sex With Sheriff Diaz's Daughter, Then Beats Up Her Boyfriend
Not only did Clay randomly lose his virginity to Sheriff Diaz's daughter in Episode 5, but he celebrated by beating the crap out of her boyfriend in front of an entire house full of people. And just for good measure, he pointed at Winston and threatened to "end" him.
This wasn't even the first time this season that Clay found himself bloody, confused and surrounded by slack-jawed classmates. But rather than take some sort of action against this obvious danger to others, everybody just shrugged it off as typical Clay behavior. Or as Diego said with a laugh, "Jensen's f–ing crazy."
Clay Grabs a Cop's Gun, Then Escapes Custody
The students of Liberty High were understandably traumatized after that extremely realistic active shooter "drill," but Clay — as always — took things to another level, grabbing one of the officers' guns and waving it around at his fellow classmates. When he woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed, it seemed like he was finally getting the help (and perhaps the punishment) he needed... until he easily snuck out of the hospital by literally pooping the bed.
Clay even escaped custody with enough time to clean himself up before his college interview! (At least we hope he did.)
The Whole Tyler/Guns Situation
Clay was able to prevent Tyler from bringing guns into the school dance back in Season 2, but when his firearms were fished out of the water at the end of Season 3, we were sure he was sunk. No, sir! Not only did Alex's dad help Tyler convince Sheriff Diaz that the bag was stolen, but the Evergreen Police Dept. later hired Tyler as an informant. We won't even bother asking how no one managed to get shot in the sting operation gone wrong (pictured here) in Episode 7.
Whatever Zach Almost Does to His Half-Conscious Prom Date
It was bad enough that Zach and his friends referred to his prom escort as a "hooker" and a "whore," but did we also need Alex and Charlie to walk in on him about to take advantage of his half-conscious date? For a show that has tackled the subject of rape several times, it felt odd for them to casually dismiss what could have been a date rape situation in the making. Did anyone talk to Zach about this afterwards?
Clay Blows Up the Principal's Car During a Riot
From destroying the hallway security cameras to spray painting "Monty was framed!" on the doors of the main office, Clay did a number on the infrastructure of Liberty High School in this final season — whether he remembered doing any of it or not. But the little vandal truly outdid himself during the riot in Episode 8, exploiting the chaos to blow up Principal Bolan's car.
Clay Drives Drunk and Crashes Zach's Car
Ignoring the fact that Clay should have been arrested for drunk driving, how did he and Zach even survive this ludicrous, multi-flip crash? And why didn't the next episode pick up immediately after the accident, rather than blowing past it and pretending it never happened? And how many cars must Clay destroy until he's finally satisfied?!
Clay 'Holds Up' a Police Station
Clay has a long history of exploding at his lowest moments, and there was no moment lower than when he learned of Justin's terminal condition in the series finale. But he didn't need an actual weapon to raise hell this time; he simply entered the police precinct with his hand in his pocket, claiming to be armed and dangerous. Why? Because "nothing f–ing matters."
The Investigation Into Bryce's Murder Is 'Closed'
Look, Bryce sucked. This is not news. Even his ghost sucked. But that doesn't change the fact that Alex murdered him and got away with it, despite several so many people knowing the truth.
Sheriff Diaz even acknowledged in the finale that he knew Deputy Standall was covering for his son, but he didn't seem to mind because "a father's love is a fierce and complicated thing." Sure!
Monty Remains Wrongly Framed for Bryce's Murder
Clay & Co. spent the show's entire final season terrified that Winston was going to expose them for pinning Bryce's murder on Monty, so when Alex finally came clean to him in the series finale, it felt like justice was about to be served... until it wasn't. As Deaken Bluman explains to TVLine, Winston was never really going to the cops. All he wanted was the truth. (Well, the truth and Alex. But he was willing to settle for just the truth.)
Which moments would you add to our list? And what did you think of 13 Reasons Why's final season? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.