**WARNING: SPOILERS**
If you are like me and binge-watched 13 Reasons Why in just three days, you probably have a lot of feelings. Many of those feelings are probably about the characters: the good, the bad, and the ugly. As the season progressed and Hannah revealed each thing that happened to her, my opinions on the characters changed . . . mostly for the worse. Here are the main 13 high school characters (except for Hannah) and Mr. Porter, ranked from worst to best by what they did and my own personal opinion.
14. Bryce
This show is more like “13 Reasons Why Bryce is the Worst.” He raped Jessica and Hannah, beat up Clay, sent the photo of Hannah to half the school off Justin’s phone, was a jerk to his friends, and grabbed Hannah’s butt multiple times. He is the show’s biggest a**hole, and I hope that if there is a second season his character goes to jail.
13. Tyler
Tyler was the biggest creep on the show, and we found out he has a large gun collection which is scary. He stalked Hannah and took photos of her, and in addition to that he leaked the photo of Hannah and Courtney kissing even after they caught him. He developed the photos he took at school so who knows who else he stalked. However, he was the only one who told the truth about the tapes.
12. Mr. Porter
Mr. Porter is a terrible guidance counselor. He victim-blamed Tyler when he was getting pantsed at school after Clay spread the photo of him. And when Hannah came to him the day she died, he did not do anything even though she was so obviously in trouble. While true that he could not do anything about Bryce because Hannah did not give him his name and didn’t actually admit that she was raped, it was clear that she was having suicidal thoughts.
11. Justin
Oh Justin . . . the only person to get two tapes. He first took the picture of Hannah going down the slide on their date and told his friends that he got to third base. He let Bryce rape Jessica while she was drunk and then lied to her about it. The only reason he’s not lower on the list is because he did not send the picture of Hannah, and he eventually told Jessica the truth. He also had a horrible childhood so he has never had a good role model in his life.
10. Ryan
Ryan leaked Hannah’s poem in his artistic magazine by actually stealing the piece of paper out of Hannah’s notebook and printing that exact copy. He knew the poem was hers and it was obvious that she needed help, and he didn’t help her. He joined the others to stop Clay from listening to the tapes, and he didn’t add anything to the show.
9. Courtney
Courtney originally seemed like she’d be a good friend to Hannah when she helped uncover Tyler as her stalker. That changed, though, when Courtney denied that it was her kissing Hannah and spread the rumor that Hannah is a lesbian to hide her own sexual orientation. She worried about what people would think of her and sacrificed her friend’s reputation for her own. Then throughout the rest of the season, she was just really annoying.
8. Alex
Alex started out as one of the best characters, but we quickly learn that he created the “Best and Worst” list, where he said Hannah had the best ass in the school. He knew Hannah had a reputation as a slut, and that list further accelerated the rumors. Then after he and Jessica broke up, he became friends with Justin, Bryce and the other guys; he definitely knew they weren’t good people and still joined their group.
7. Marcus
Coming in right at the middle of the list is Marcus. He asked Hannah out on a date after she appeared on his dollar Valentine’s Day matchup. He showed up over an hour late because he “got caught up with the guys.” Then when he did show he was with his friends, and since they were there he tried to make the move on Hannah which was a d**k move. Marcus also lied to Clay and told him he didn’t listen to his own tape to try to get Clay to stop listening. However, kudos to him for his El Nino Halloween costume.
6. Zach
After Marcus played with Hannah’s feelings and she didn’t take kindly to him after he tried cheering her up, Zach stole the compliments that were left in her bag in class. While this was a horrible thing to do, it was simply just childish and I don’t think he was doing it to actually hurt Hannah, but rather to make himself feel better. When Clay keyed Zach’s car, he was nice about it and knew it was his own fault.
5. Jessica
When we first met Jessica she was super funny and was Hannah’s first good friend at Liberty High School, along with Alex. When Jessica and Alex started dating they stopped hanging out with Hannah while keeping their relationship secret. When they broke up, Jessica blamed Hannah for it and slapped her in Monet’s. She then later dates Justin who lets Bryce rape her, and then she develops a drinking habit and nearly cheats on Justin.
4. Sheri
Sheri made one mistake when she drove Hannah home from the party where Hannah had her encounter with Clay and was in the room when Jess was raped. Sheri knocked a stop sign over. She refused to call the police and proceeded to leave Hannah stranded. The stop sign is what caused the crash that killed Jeff, but Sheri did not intentionally cause any harm. She then visited the the elderly man who was injured in the accident and developed a relationship with him and his wife.
3. Tony
Tony is a good guy, but TBH he creeped me out a little bit because he was always just there. He helped Clay come to terms with Hannah’s suicide and was a good friend to him. At the same time, he kept a lot of secrets from everyone who was on the tapes and from Hannah’s parents.
2. Clay
Clay was the most adorable, socially awkward high schooler. He was completely clueless about girls, but throughout the season you could see him become more comfortable at social events and around Hannah. As frustrating as it was to watch him listen to the tapes because he was so slow, he was one of the few big-hearted people on the show.
1. Jeff
Jeffrey Atkins was a precious cinnamon roll who deserved so much better. He was such a good friend to Clay as he “discreetly” helped bring him and Hannah together by making bets with him, and pulling drunk guys away from them. RIP Jeff Atkins.
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