*SPOILER ALERT*

Bryce Walker’s race, money, popularity and athletic career makes him the typical kind of guy that gets to freely walk away after it's confirmed that he is a serial rapist. Tyler Down is made out to be worse than he truly is due to the stigma associated with being "a loner" and his own struggles with mental illness bringing him to the edge, causing him to almost kill someone who was on his side. And Montgomery de la Cruz will always walk away unscathed even though he’s close to being the lowest of the low for being friends with a rapist and trying again and again to prove he’s so loyal to the most despicable human in the world.

This episode brings up hard topics and gets completely torn apart by critics as a series because it’s one of the few shows reinforcing the idea that horrible truths need to be fixed, not just prayed for. Prayers don’t give all answers, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, now would we?

Bryce Walker, a serial rapist, walks away with 3 months probation (PROBATION!) but, don’t worry guys, all his scholarships were revoked as if his parents couldn’t pay his way into any college of his choice. This sheds light on the biggest aspects of white male privilege and helps to show why rape victims seldom come forward. After all, why would you put yourself through the public eye and have to retell your painful, traumatic, horrifying story for a judge only to let the rapist off without any real punishment. Bryce Walker’s case is a mirror to the Brock Turner case. Yet we see that Justin receives even more punishment for helping Jessica as he gives her the courage to come forward and testify against Bryce. His low status and checkered past left him stuck with a severe punishment for a crime he did not even commit.

Tyler has a rough spot, as many teens go through: persistent bullying, traumatic events and some bad influences led to some dark paths for him. But he pulls his life together and begins to understand what led him down all the wrong paths to begin with. But, as is the typical high school fashion with immature male high schoolers, Tyler doesn’t receive a second chance from the popular boys. Tyler has taken hit after hit from Montgomery, and, in a very graphic scene in episode 12, the viewer sees Tyler crack and crumble. He hides his true feelings from those who care about him most and devises a plan. But, he uses an indirect cry for help by letting Mackenzie know ahead of time what he is planning to do. This is where the episode starts to turn good.

While the kids don’t necessarily go to adults due to pressure and potentially grave outcomes, they also don’t ignore the problem. They understand the situation and its outcomes and don’t just flee the scene. Rather, they attempt to create a safe way to diffuse the situation and get Tyler in the right headspace. A powerful line is uttered by Clay as he’s talking Tyler out of his poor mental state when he says,

“If you think this is the way, if you really think this will change a goddam thing, and not be another fucking tragedy that adults cry about for a week and then forget, if you really think this is going to be different, then do what you gotta do.”

Some may say that Clay allowed too much leeway for Tyler’s decision and others may think it allowed Tyler to see the entire impact, or lack thereof, that his actions would have had on the people who actually have the power to change what is wrong in the world. To me, Clay was courageous for trying to resolve the issue at hand, but there also could’ve been some better strategies. This scene allows for a dialogue around a hot topic and one way in which to handle it.

Montgomery is a lesser problem in the eyes of some, but, to me, he’s one of the biggest. He’s so wrapped up in his popularity and loyalty to his “boys” that he goes above and beyond committing crimes and creating problems for many: from running Clay off the road, to threatening those who were subpoenaed to testify and even physically harming Tyler in an unbelievably gruesome way, which pushes Tyler all the way over the edge after he had finally found himself in a good place. Montgomery de la Cruz deserves punishment to a strong degree for the amount of hate crimes he has committed.

All in all, I am already anticipating a season three due to the cliff hanger producers left us with. And, while the series gets a copious amount of backlash, I have strong feelings that it is just because America isn't ready to face its demons. So, until we start owning up to our problems, our mistakes and our wrong doings, I want "13 Reasons Why" to keep pushing the envelope and asking the hard questions.