The Internet Isn’t Buying Bryce Walker’s Redemption Arc in "13 Reasons Why"

Trigger warning: This article discusses rape.

13 Reasons Why, like so many of its characters, refuses to stay dead, even after its main story has ended.

So, for Season 3, the showrunners decided to come up with a murder mystery for viewers to ponder, revealing that serial rapist Bryce Walker had been killed off sometime after the Season 2 finale.

When the trailer debuted, it sounded like bad news for actor Justin Prentice, his character having been killed off screen. But as viewers of the Netflix series recently discovered, there’s actually a lot of Bryce throughout S3. The problem, however, is that the show tries to give the sexually violent character a redemption arc via flashbacks, making his eventual cause of death somewhat bittersweet.

And though it is, in theory, a complex and thoughtful way to approach the psychological causes of his actions and the cycle of violence it wrought, in execution it... uh, wasn't.

And it seems that most viewers weren’t buying what 13 Reasons Why was selling.

You can find examples on Twitter of fans finding themselves sympathising with Walker, but many more are expressing the following sentiment:

OK im watching the 3rd season of 13rw (im currently at ep10) and i can’t help but wonder...

why are they trying to make me feel bad for bryce walker? trying to paint him as someone with regrets? how is that a good idea. it’s like they are going for the redemption arc with him pic.twitter.com/JsIp5u2OC2

— MOTIVATED MAXX *** 🍒 (@petty_lux3) August 27, 2019

Okay but also why are we making Bryce Walker so likable???

— CΛLE (@CaleCramer) August 28, 2019

I had ABSOLUTELY no sympathy or empathy for Bryce Walker

— Gerard Thompson ✍🏾 (@GTtheARTIST) August 28, 2019

Why did 13 reasons why try to undemonize Bryce walker??? Smh

— raven shai peltier (@PeltierRaven) August 28, 2019

Me crying watching Bryce Walker funeral #13ReasonsWhy pic.twitter.com/OOX1O1Uehm

— 19TH (@AaronS_16) August 28, 2019

13 Reasons Why season 3 functions off the idea that I give a shit about Bryce Walker

— Lee (@luke_warm_mess) August 28, 2019

I’m on the third episode of 13 Reasons Why and if they’re trying to make me feel sympathy for Bryce Walker, it’s just not happening

— ceraxes of the skies (@CeraxesS) August 28, 2019

Am I supposed to have sympathy for Bryce Walker? Not gonna happen. #13ReasonsWhy

— grumpy spice (@aaronghanistan) August 28, 2019

When 13rw s2 tries to get you to sympathize with Bryce Walker pic.twitter.com/NhDSomHClw

— Zen (@zenmorrison96) August 28, 2019

HANNAH BAKER DESERVED BETTER

JEFF ATKINS DESERVED BETTER

TYLER DOWN DESERVED BETTER

BRY- nah but the actor does because he's NOT BRYCE WALKER IN REAL LIFE

— 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 ♡ (@colbysvegas) August 28, 2019

And so on.

For his part, Prentice has only shared a message on social media encouraging people not to giveaway who actually did the deed.

Who killed Bryce Walker? @justinprentice has one parting wish... if you know the answer, don't spoil it for your friends. pic.twitter.com/i7EyCnrd7i

— 13 Reasons Why (@13ReasonsWhy) August 23, 2019

Don’t worry, we won’t do it either, mostly because, well… it’s a whole thing. (We didn't guess correctly at all.)

JUST FOUND OUT WHO REALLY KILLED BRYCE WALKER AND OMFG I HATE THIS SHOW

— ambo (@Ambo2lit) August 28, 2019

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Header Image: Netflix