Summary
Episode 2 hones in on Clay and his mind as his overall character begins to change.
This recap of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, “College Tour” contains significant spoilers.
Access all the episode recaps.
How does 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, “College Tour” open?
Episode 2 begins with the priest talking about Liberty High again — “There’s too much anger and hate”. Like the previous chapter, it flits to 6 months earlier. As Clay does his college applications, he keeps seeing “Monty” showing up on his phone. He then enters the bathroom and sees the tap running; when he looks in the mirror his face smiles back at him but he is not even smiling. 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, “College Tour” confirms Clay has well and truly lost it.
Graffiti
When Justin and Clay get to school, “Monty was framed” is graffitied on the doors which have the main group of friends panicking. Clay tells Ani that “someone” is trying to set him up after seeing graffiti on his locker. Ani tells Clay to stop spinning and take a breath — “Stop losing your sh*t, work on that”.
Photography
Winston checks out Tyler’s photos; he asks Tyler if Monty was the one that hurt him — “You must hate him so much”. Tyler denies hating him, stating he feels bad for Monty. 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, ” College Tour” frames Winston as an investigator again.
College tour
On the bus for the college tour, Clay is still very suspicious about Winston. Headteacher Boland joins the bus; Clay suddenly finds a spray can and puts it in his bag. At the University, Clay wants to find a trash can to throw away the spray can. Clay’s father is a professor at the University and offers to give a tour, adding to the awkwardness. Clay is freaking out that Boland and his father are on first name terms.
I wonder if the twist is… that Clay did the graffiti?
Boland tells Clay that he received an anonymous tip that he did it. Clay obviously denies it.
Drinking games
Zach finds a party and gets Clay involved — Clay, once again, freaks out but participates in the drinking games while eyeing his bag with the spray can inside. Clay finds a drunk girl on the stairs and her boyfriend takes her to the dorm; Clay follows and sees the boyfriend taking off his belt while the girl is unconscious — he approaches the boyfriend and when he turns around, it’s Bryce. Bryce tells Clay what he’s capable of but then the real boyfriend enters the dorm, sees Clay looking at his girlfriend asleep, and thinks Clay was trying to make a move.
The college boys grab Clay and Zach and they accuse Clay of trying to have sex with the drunk girl. Suddenly, Clay has a panic attack and repeats “let me go” and has a fit. 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, ” College Tour” is currently putting the spotlight on Clay, forcing the audience to question him.
Winston talks to Alex
Alex confides in Winston and explains how he tried to kill himself. Winston holds Alex’s hand to try and make it intimate — Alex says he is not gay and walks off.
Campus security
At campus security, Clay’s father helps free Clay and Zach; he tells Clay that he missed his meeting with the Dean. Clay then throws up on Justin. When they get home, Justin is frustrated and doesn’t want to cost Clay’s parents more money. Justin asks Clay what was he doing in the room with the girl — Clay narrates, “I am f*cking lost”. When he opens his bag, there are two spray cans.
What really happened?
Winston asks Ani, “What really happened?”. This scene does confirm that Winston is investigating the group of friends. Ani resists, not answering his questions.
Called into the office
Headmaster Boland tells Clay that Sanderson University is not interested in pursuing the incident and that he’s not in trouble. Clay is absorbed by the photos of the graffiti. Meanwhile, Ani sees the spray cans in the crafts room and asks Estella if she’d like to get a coffee. They talk about Monty and Estella asks if there was any reason Monty would want to hurt Bryce.
Therapy
Clay tells the therapist that he is frustrated with always needing to “fit in a box”. The therapist asks why he followed the girl at the campus — Clay states he wanted to help her. The therapist asks what Clay was going to do next when he realized no-one else was in the room; Clay says he was thinking about having sex and that he was “hard” — he freaked out when he realized what was happening. The therapist states it may get worse before it gets better. 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, ” College Tour” is unpicking Clay’s character.
Zach meets Chloe
Chloe is worried about Zach and wonders why he will not look at her. Zach cries and says “sh*t is f*cked up”. Chloe offers to help but Zach says there is no way of fixing it.
How does 13 Reasons Why season 4, episode 2, “College Tour” end?
Alex and Winston go for a walk on the pier. Alex confides that he isn’t close to Tyler as much as he used to be. Winston stated that he doesn’t have many friends at Liberty High and they lock eyes for a few seconds. When Clay returns home, his parents are sat down with the deputy sheriff, Diaz. Clay speaks to Justin and they both agree, “this isn’t good”. Clay has a panic attack and collapses. Later in the night, Clay keeps getting a text saying “Monty was framed”.
“Yeah, things are going to get worse. Much, much worse”. In his college application, Clay types that he covered up a murder. Episode 2 hones in on Clay and his mind as his overall character begins to change.
Additional points
- In class, Justin asks Jessica if she’s okay but Jessica gets annoyed at him when he mentions trauma — “Let’s talk about you and Bryce”. At the college tour, Jessica tells Justin that she doesn’t recognize him.
- Tony is searched by one of the cops in school.
- The deputy sheriff tells Clay that “he is here if he needs him”.
- Clay asks Zach if he did the graffiti.
- Alex asks Zach the question — “When did you know you were gay?”.
