If you spent the weekend binge watching 13 Reasons Why, you wouldn't be alone — nor would you be if you couldn't get this dark teen drama out of your head. The events that led to Hannah's (Katherine Langford) suicide were gut-wrenching — which is why watching Clay (Dylan Minnette) and Tony (Christian Navarro) finding some level of peace at the end of the series was so cathartic. Yet the ending of 13 Reasons Why was still pretty damn bleak: Alex (Miles Heizer) was in critical condition after shooting himself in the head, and picked on Tyler (Devin Druid) was seemingly planning a school shooting to take down his bullies at Liberty High School. Now, a new theory suggests maybe these two events weren't quite as detached as they seemed — and it will totally creep you out.
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In the comments section of an article discussing the possibility of a season 2 about Tyler's planned shooting, a commenter on Refinery29 wrote their interpretation of the ending:
"You clearly missed the ending...[Tyler] took [Alex's] photo and then [Alex] "shot himself." He didn't shoot himself nor is the other kid going to shoot up a school. It looks more like he's killing them and making it look like they're committing suicide."
While I felt sick to my stomach knowing that Tyler had a trunk full of weapons and ammunition in his bedroom, I never thought that he could have already inflicted violence on his classmates. However, it makes perfect sense to consider that Tyler would want to punish his classmates for not only their role in Hannah's suicide in addition to their cruelty towards him. Tyler may have stalked Hannah, but he also loved her: perhaps making her tormentors look like they met the same fate felt somewhat like justice to Tyler.
It's a very Heathers ending, and while I'm blown away by how logical this theory seems, I'm not convinced that 13 Reasons Why would ever actually "go there." At the end of the day, the series is about the teenage experience and all its complications — it's not an inherently violent show, and including a Dexter-esque plotline seems inconsistent. Of course, without a season 2, what really happened to Alex and Tyler is totally up for interpretation.
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