Time to get this over with.
Who Is He?[]
Bryce Walker is the overall main antagonist of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. He is a serial rapist who sexually assaulted Hannah (which indirectly led to her death), Jessica, Chloe, and approximately a dozen other girls.
Why Doesn’t He Qualify?[]
In the first two seasons, Bryce is presented as an inhuman monster who rapes without any remorse. But get this—- in season 3, he randomly gets a huge chunk of redeeming qualities out of thin air. To start with, he is visibly crushed when his mother basically tells him that she doesn’t care about him. Then, he gets bullied at his new school. While this is nothing compared to everything he’s done, the bullying is still played for sympathy.
Bryce forms a genuine friendship with Ani. She acknowledges that most people see him as a monster, but there’s still good in him.
Throughout the season, Bryce starts to feel remorse for his actions, and he does everything he can to make amends. He tries to apologize to the people he hurt multiple times, and he even makes an apology tape for Jessica. There are scenes where he would flat-out break down out of guilt. When he listens to Hannah’s tapes, he cries out of remorse and laments that he should be dead instead of Hannah.
Bryce also has several “pet the dog” moments with his mother. For instance, he defends her when his grandfather insults her, and he volunteers to help his mother paint the walls in the house and has a play-fight with her when he spills some of the paint on accident.
He is also horrified when he finds out that Monty raped Tyler with a broomstick. He vows to protect Tyler and threatens to report Monty to the authorities if he ever goes near Tyler again.
Bryce defends Justin from Seth several times as Seth has been holding a grudge ever since Justin stole his money.
We are also supposed to feel sympathy for Bryce in several other various scenes, such as when he was dumped by Chloe and when his father left him.
In the end, as horrible as he was, pretty much every characters acknowledge that he didn’t deserve to die, and his death is mourned as a result.
Conclusion[]
(sigh) Yeah, cut.