“ | They’re gonna try to make us think that we’re the problem. But we are not the problem. We go to the school that they built for us. We live in the society that they made for us. And shit is broken, shit is wrong! And they can’t fix it, they won’t. So it’s our turn now, we’re gonna make it right, if we have to burn it down, and start over. So I say fuck it all. We’re fighting. | ” |
— Clay’s speech to students through a megaphone because the students are starting to leave during The Student Riot, after the speech they continue it. |
Acceptance/Rejection is the eighth episode and of the fourth season of 13 Reasons Why. It is the fourty-seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 5, 2020.
Synopsis[]
In the wake of the lockdown, the school is on edge — and a troubling abuse of power pushes the students to take action.
Plot[]
Clay narrates about a dystopian future where the earth is under attack from an alien army. Bryce appears in the dream, telling Clay to fall back and they can fight another day. However, that's not an option for Clay. They continue fighting, and some die. Clay wakes up from his dream and says he's had several versions of that dream.
Sheriff Diaz explains to Tony and Clay why Tyler was buying illegal guns; he was their informant. In exchange for dropping his charges against his bag of guns, they offered him a job of being a police informant. It was initially Deputy Standall's idea and he believes the community are safer now with Tyler's sacrifice.
The students receive the results from their college application in this episode. Jessica finds out she's been rejected from her top 3 colleges. Devastated, by this Jessica doesn't reveal the news to her father. The timings for her SATs were not great; she took her SAT two days after Bryce got probation for raping her, then she got a SAT makeup which happened a week after Bryce's death. So it was clearly not in her favor. Alex gets into Berkeley, but he won't let himself get excited over that. Justin gets into college (it is unkown which college) but Clay has yet to receive a reply. Their parents want to take them to see Gordon Lightfoot concert to celebrate. The parents mistakenly think that they're fans of Gordon Lightfoot and Clay and Justin find this alarming.
At school, Winston, Diego and Estela listen to Bryce's tape. Apparently, someone had dropped it off in an envelope in the dark room. Winston theorizes that Jessica must've heard it and sent Justin to take care of Bryce. However, Diego refuses to believe Jessica played any part in it. He storms out. Then an astute Estela asks Winston if he wants justice for Monty or for himself before leaving too.
After Ani moves out of Jessica's house, she now lives with Tony and Caleb. She finds out that she got accepted into eight schools, Stanford being one of them. However, she doesn't think she'll go to any because of her financial situation. Tony advises her to take Mrs. Walker's money, since she offered it to her, but Ani asks Tony if he would take it were he to be in her position. Tony explains that it's different for the two of them; their parents aren't citizens, so they have more to lose compared to the others. Hence, they have to seize any opportunity that arises.
At school, Diego confronts Jessica about how she's been avoiding him as of lately. Jessica tells him that Justin's mother died and she's trying to show some support. Diego then tells her Winston thinks she's blowing him off because they're getting close to uncovering the truth behind Bryce's murder.
Meanwhile, Tony and Clay apologize to Tyler after mistakenly thinking he was the active school shooter. Tyler's hurt that his friends lost faith in him, as they're the ones who taught him that.
Clay tells Jessica about the parents' meeting. Jessica meets up with Alex at Monet's and tells him about it. In reply, Alex tells her that he overheard his dad and Sheriff Diaz talking about reopening the Walker case. Jessica starts to freak out. Alex suggests that they should call a meeting, but Jessica says that she has pissed off everyone in her life and no one except Alex has patience with her anymore. Alex thoughtfully says that it makes sense and points out that it always have been the two of them and they're the ones who are always there for each other. They realize that none of them knows what to do what to do this time.
While in the hallway, Diego confronts Justin about their rivalry for Jessica, and Diego wanting to know why she would choose Justin over him. Tensions rise between them when Diego admits he listened to Bryce's tape and believes Jessica is only doing it to protect Justin, to which he further accuses Justin of murdering Bryce. Justin attempts to dismiss it but gets enraged when Diego threats to beat him and reveals that he was the one who beat up Zach. Justin shoves Diego and the two begin to fight. Right as the two start to get rough, a guard breaks up the fight and orders Justin to return to class while he pins Diego against the lockers and searches him. The guard accuses Diego of starting the fight and he singles him out based on his race, he rhetorically asks Diego "Another Mexican kid picking a fight?". A crowd of students begins to form and Justin tries to get the guard off of Diego, the guard goes after Justin pushing him up against the locker; Justin falls to the floor accidentally and Diego takes the opportunity to push the guard away from them both. However the guard goes up a level to restrict them and pulls his gun out. Diego becomes scared and puts his hands up begging the guard not to shoot him. Justin gets up, realizes the guard now has his gun out and follows Diego's actions. With both their hands up, the guard instructs them to get up against the lockers with his gun still out in front of their faces. They comply and the guard goes back to searching Diego. Justin, aware that the guard is being racist in his actions, shouts at the guard to stop because he didn't do anything wrong. The guard refuses to listen and takes Diego down to the station. Diego and Jessica lock eyes as he leaves.
In response to Diego being apprehended by the guard, Jessica and Clay, backed by the rest of the student body, confront Principal Bolan regarding how not only Diego was treated by the guard, but other students as well. Innocent people are being treated like criminals, it's not only Diego that was being signaled out but other students were being subjected to this as well. Bolan tries to reclaim the students' attention by stating that the issue was being addressed and that they should go back to class with a loose promise that the school will look into the situation, that Diego is being released, the guard will be reprimanded if necessary, and that the issue will be further addressed, to the dismay and disgust of the students. Jessica says enough is enough and then she leads the walkout.
Once outside, Clay and Jessica start to wonder the next the step in their plan. Ani moves through the crowd and hands Jessica a megaphone. Jessica uses the megaphone to incite unity and support within the crowd. The students start to chant that the SRO's have to go. Clay and Jessica make demands with Principal Bolan and Hansen Foundry (Dean of Discipline) to remove all forms of surveillance, bleed-out drills, and shooter drills. With both sides being uncompromising, tensions only rise. Armored riot police guards arrive and demand the students to leave school grounds. Tyler notices Tony trying to flee through the crowd, Tyler tries to convince him to stay, but Tony dismisses it because this could mark his third strike. Instead of leaving, the students start to throw school supplies at the guards.
Meanwhile, Zach and Alex argue whether or not to join the walkout. Zach calls it a waste of time and convinces Alex to "Make some noise." By the gymnasium, Alex and Zach start breaking windows with a baseball bat. Zach and Alex hide inside of the main office and start to vandalize Foundry's things. Officers begin to bang on the barricaded door, ordering them to open up. Zach demands Alex to leave through the backdoor and go find Charlie.
Back outside, the students run out of supplies and start to physically fight the officers. Justin grabs Jessica, stating she can't get arrested. Jessica states that she stopped caring when Justin gave up on himself. Justin attacks a riot guard but gets pinned to the ground by him, so Diego shoves the guard off of him and helps Justin up. Justin thanks him, while Diego questions Justin about why Jessica can't get arrested. Justin's silence leads Diego to believe that Jessica is the one who killed Bryce. Many of the students begin to flee from the area. Justin then throws Clay the megaphone; using it, Clay stands on top of the Principal's car and convinces the leaving students to stay and fight to fix the system because if they don't then no one else will. Clay leads the charge of students.
When Tyler gets handcuffed by a guard pinning him down, Tony returns to kick the guard off of him. The guard apprehends Tony and begins to arrest him, but Officer Ted intervenes saving Tony from his third strike and wanting to pull Tony out of the fight. He reveals to Tony that he's to one who called the college recruiter to watch his fight. Alex arrives looking for Charlie, until he finds Charlie unconscious in the street. Alex tries to wake Charlie, when he then realizes there is a car on fire. The car explodes.
Afterwards, Dr. Ellman questions Clay about the fight and if anyone found out who light the fire. He reveals footage from Principal Bolan that shows Clay setting fire to the Principal's car. Clay then answers he doesn't remember doing that. Clay then realizes he's the one who did all the crimes at the school and school events: The graffiti on the Main office doors that stated "Monty was framed", terrorizing the students during the Senior camping trip, and vandalizing the school cameras.
Cast[]
Quotes[]
- Tony: "You could take her money. It would be the most fair thing."
- Ani: "Would you take her money? I mean, it's not just about me."
- Tony: "You have to stop worrying about them now. You and me, we do for Clay, for Jessica, for Alex, for all of them, without question. But what happens to them if the shit comes down? And what happens to us? They have parents who are citizens. It's different for us. Tell me I'm wrong."
- Ani: "So what? You drive away? Leave Clay standing on the curb? He's your ride-or-die."
- Tony: "I don't know. He showed up for Tyler, but...I don't know him anymore."
- ― Ani and Tony
“ | The whole school is, like, on edge. Has been since the lockdown. And it feels like, the things that were starting to crack a little bit before, are now falling right down on our heads. | ” |
— Clay narrating |
- Tyler: "You said from the beginning if we trusted each other, everything would be OK."
- Clay: "I did."
- Tony: "Shit got complicated, Ty."
- Tyler: "But it's not actually. It's... I mean, all you have to do is have faith in your friends, right? You two taught me that. Or did you forget?"
- ― Clay and Tony apologizing to Tyler
- Jessica: "Why didn't you say anything?"
- Alex: "Well, I'm saying something now. Maybe Clay's right, maybe we should call a meeting."
- Jessica: "I tried. Turns out I've pissed off everyone in my life, so I guess this is the meeting."
- Alex: "Well, makes sense. It always has been you and me. What should we do?"
- Jessica: "I don't know."
- ― Jessica and Alex about their friendship
Trivia[]
- This episode explored police brutality and racism, shown during the fight between Justin and Diego. When a SRO arrived, he told Justin (who is white and started the fight) to go back to class while shoving Diego (who is latino) against a locker and arresting him, while rhetorically asking him "Another Mexican kid picking a fight?". This incident led to The Student Riot.
Multimedia[]
Soundtrack[]
Song | Artist | Album | Scene |
---|---|---|---|
Theme Song: "Oh In This World Of Dread, Carry On" by Eskmo | |||
"2020" | Maserati | Enter The Mirror | Clay has a dream about Alien Killer Robots. |
"Black and White" | Parquet Courts | Sunbathing Animal | The students start a riot; Zach and Alex destroy the school |
"The Modern World" | The Jam | This is the Modern World | The students start throwing things at the police; Zach and Alex destroy the principal's office. |
"Sundown" | Gordon Lightfoot | Sundown | Matt sings at the kitchen table; End credits |
Original Music[]
Song | Artist | Album | Scene |
---|---|---|---|
"Justin" | Eskmo | 13 Reasons Why (A Netflix Original Series Score) | Justin tells Jessica to leave after she finds him shooting up in an ally. |
Images[]
References[]