Season 3 of 13 Reasons Why Was Beyond Confusing, So Let's Recap How It All Ended

Throughout the season, Clay seems like a possible suspect in the disappearance of Bryce Walker, especially in the eyes of the police. After Bryce's body is found, evidence only continues to pile up. Police obtain a warrant to search Clay's home, where the police find phone records indicating that Clay was driving near the area where Bryce was later found dead on the night that he died.

At the assembly where Jessica intends on apologising to the Hillcrest players for what went down at the Homecoming game, Clay is arrested and led out of the auditorium. He gets lucky, however. We learn that Ani's mysterious narration is actually being directed to Deputy Standall, Alex's dad, in a police interrogation room. Ani tells Deputy Standall that Clay had been driving around with her all night on the night of Bryce's death, giving him an alibi. She also tells Alex's dad that Monty may have been the one to kill Bryce, saying that Monty threatened Bryce the night of the game (though, in reality, Monty had been at the house of Winston, the guy Monty hooked up with over the Summer).

Ani claims that Alex had been with Tyler (though Alex was instead at the pier with Jessica to meet Bryce) and though Alex's dad has his suspicions about his son's innocence, he accepts Ani's story. Later, Ani tells her mom that she and Clay are now dating (which is news to Clay, but he goes along with it).

After the joint Liberty-Hillcrest assembly where Clay is arrested, Charlie approaches Tyler and says he'll go to the police to corroborate Tyler's story about Monty's assault. With his help, Tyler works up the confidence to go to the police station and officially file a report about what Monty did to him. Monty is arrested and imprisoned, where he is visited by his father and half-heartedly comes out to him (and his dad is not terribly pleased, to say the least).

Charlie is convinced to plant Bryce's tape in Monty's locker to frame him for Bryce's murder, and Ani later tells Alex's father that Monty is responsible. It is only then that we learn Monty was killed in his jail cell only a few hours before Ani's confession. Knowing that Monty is innocent, Winston confronts Ani, saying Monty doesn't deserve to go down for the crime, but everyone else seems content to pin the murder on him, especially now that he's also dead.

Meanwhile, Tyler holds his first photo exhibit at Monet's after Justin convinces him to do to a show. At the show, Zach apologises to Tyler for everything that happened, and Tyler finds himself surrounded by friends and happier than he's been in a long time.

After Bryce blows out Zach's knee at the Homecoming football game, angry that Zach has "stolen" Chloe from him, Zach goes to the hospital, but he doesn't stay there. Zach later confesses to Deputy Standall that he followed Bryce to the pier and beat him up, stomping on his knees and throwing Bryce's phone into the water. Though he did hurt him, Zach makes it known that when he left the pier, Bryce was still alive. When Zach learns that Bryce died from drowning, it's made clear that Zach believed himself to be Bryce's killer this whole time, though he isn't the one responsible.

At Bryce's funeral, Zach and Chloe are seen sitting next to each other, which seems that these two might develop a romantic relationship in season four.

By the end of the season, we learn that Alex is actually to blame for Bryce's death, though Monty is framed for the murder instead. Deputy Standall feels pretty confident that his son is the guilty party, but he still accepts the story about Monty. Later, when he tells Alex that Monty is being named as the killer, Alex's relieved reaction leaves no room for doubt. Standall burns Bryce's tape and the clothes Alex wore when he killed Bryce to make sure that all of the evidence is destroyed.

Alex may have committed the crime, but Jessica watched it all go down without doing anything, making her complicit. We learn that, on the night of Bryce's murder, Jess calls Alex after she can't get a hold of Justin and has him accompany her down to the pier to meet up with Bryce. At the pier, Bryce gives Jess a tape he made with his confession, as well as an apology for everything he did. Though Jess wants to leave after receiving the tape, Alex attempts to help Bryce up, which only angers Bryce. Alex pushes him into the water, where he drowns, and Jess tells Alex that they have to stay apart to make sure they never get caught. However, once Alex is cleared of the crime, we see Jess join the Standalls for Thanksgiving, so it seems these two might be OK after all.

During the joint Liberty-Hillcrest assembly, Jessica invites all sexual assault survivors to stand up and make themselves heard, and Tyler is not the only one to stand up — Justin stands up as well, shocking Jess. Justin later opens up to Jess about his trauma, telling her how he was sexually abused as a child by one of his mom's ex-boyfriends. He learns from Clay's mom that his mom's most recent ex, Seth, was arrested for parole violations and is going to jail, so he won't be threatening Justin anymore. Justin also comes clean about needing help with his addiction, and his future looks pretty promising.