What’s Going On With Tony In ’13 Reasons Why’?
This post contains spoilers about 13 Reasons Why season two.
Through the first season of 13 Reasons Why, Tony Padilla was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a perfect leather jacket, calmly guiding Clay through the objectively insane psychological experience that Hannah Baker left for him in her suicide tapes. Some fans theorized that Tony is a ghost, because he dresses like he’s from the 1950s, never seems to attend high school and says shit like, “The answers you seek are waiting at the top of the cliff.” He also just seems a little too good to be true: dogged in his quest to fulfill Hannah’s wishes, endlessly patient and compassionate with Clay, dispensing everything from cassette players to free rides to sage wisdom. He’s unflappable.
But in season two, Tony is well and truly flapped! He’s on edge, being evasive with Clay, and on probation for semi-mysterious reasons. I found it hard to focus on a lot of the other threads because I was so distracted by trying to figure out what was going on with him. If things aren’t right with Tony, things aren’t right with the world, is what I’m saying.
Where we left off
The cracks in Tony’s calm were starting to show at the end of season one. In his conversations with Clay about the tapes, he always seemed all-knowing (so much so that Clay at one point dubbed him “unhelpful Yoda”, which, rude). But Tony finally admitted to his boyfriend Brad that he was having real doubts about whether he’d done the right thing by carrying out Hannah’s plan. In the finale, Tony gave a copy of the tapes to the Bakers, and drove out of town with Clay, Brad, and Skye for what looked like an extremely well-earned road trip.
Where season two picks up
What happened on that road trip? We may never know, but at the start of season two – roughly five months on – Tony and Brad have broken up. Tony’s also working on some serious anger management issues and he’s on probation. Whuh?
The first hint that something’s amiss is in episode one: Tony’s none too happy that he’s been called to testify in the civil trial between the Bakers and Liberty High, and when Clay tries to reassure him, he snaps. “You don’t know everything I did, Clay.” In episode three, he admits to Clay that he hasn’t slept for the past two nights because he’s so anxious about testifying. And when Ryan gets called to testify, he promises Tony that he won’t say anything that will make him look bad, for which Tony thanks him.
We truly know nothing at this stage, but what we do know is that Tony’s enrolled in a court-mandated anger management course and that his boxing instructor Caleb is extremely hot. During one of their many conversations, Tony is able to get his mind off the sexual tension for just long enough to reveal to Caleb that Brad broke up with him. But they seemed so happy! What did we miss?!?! And since when does Tony have anger issues?!?!
A few episodes later, Tony reluctantly helps Clay find Justin, who’s now homeless and addicted to heroin, but balks at getting too involved because of his probation. Given Tony’s history of limitless helpfulness, Clay’s bewildered by this, but Justin is maybe 30 percent less clueless than Clay and figures out that Tony is genuinely scared. “My brothers and I, we beat up this guy,” Tony tells him, reminding us all of that scene from early last season that kind of got forgotten because there was no follow-up. Turns out, the guy pressed charges, and it was Tony’s second strike, so if he gets one more he does jail time. But that’s not the whole story either.
What we didn’t see last season
One of the first production stills released earlier this month showed Tony crying in Caleb’s arms beside his wrecked car – and as most fans figured out, he’s not really upset about the car. “What are you scared of?” Caleb asks during that scene in episode nine, and Tony says he can’t tell him. “There are some things that I’ve done that if I tell you…” He doesn’t finish the thought, but thankfully at this point it’s not much longer until we find out WTF is going on. Episode ten focuses on Tony – since he wasn’t on the tapes it’s the first real spotlight episode he’s had – and expands on his friendship with Hannah as well as his history on the wrong side of the law.
Here’s the missing piece of the puzzle: Tony should technically already have a third strike, and this is what Ryan means when he tells Tony he’s not going to make him look bad. While Tony and Ryan were together, Tony beat the hell out of a homophobe who yelled at them in the street, and narrowly avoided being caught by the cops. The only reason he escaped them was Hannah, who hid him at the Crestmont and smoothly lied to the cop who came looking.
In other words, if it weren’t for Hannah, Tony would probably be in jail. And this is why he’s been so scared of testifying, because he knows there’s no way he can tell the full truth about his friendship with Hannah on the stand. She left the tapes on his doorstep along with a note saying, “I know you’ll keep my secret. You owe me.” Ultimately, Tony’s able to get through the trial and keep both his secret and Hannah’s, but he does tell Mrs. Baker the truth about how she protected him.
FYI, Tony also reveals the full story behind his other two assaults: the first guy he beat up was trying to steal his car, and the second was selling drugs to his sister. Still not okay! But okay enough that Tony remains my problematic fave!
The season two finale
By the end of season two, Tony’s right back to his old self, aka the world’s most attentive friend. When Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met” starts to play at the Spring Fling, plunging Clay into silent emotional crisis for obvious reasons, who bounds right across the dance floor to hug him? Obv, it’s Tony. A few minutes later, after Clay’s talked Tyler out of a shooting spree, who pulls up beside them in the nick of time to whisk Tyler away before the cops show up? You know it. It’s Tony - even though he’s still on probation and should probably not be getting involved.
As strange and rushed as this finale felt, it does set up some intriguing possibilities for season three. Given Tony's own anger management issues and compassionate nature, he might be the only person with a real shot at getting through to Tyler. But he's dangerously close to getting that third strike, and if he ends up doing jail time because he helped Tyler escape the cops, I will be furious. This entire show had better end with Tony getting nothing but love and happiness and maybe some kind of fruit basket, alright?
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Crisis Text Line is also available; text REASON to 741741. You can find additional support, services, and resources at 13ReasonsWhy.info.
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