’13 Reasons Why’ Season 3 Ending: What Was Alex’s Dad Burning?

Fans have a lot of theories and questions about the ending of 13 Reasons Why Season 3 on Netflix. But one of the biggest questions involves a scene that shows Alex’s dad burning something. Does he know the BIG secret? What was he burning? Read on for details.

This article has MAJOR spoilers for Season 3 of 13 Reasons Why, including the ending and the revelation about who killed Bryce. 

In the 13 Reasons Why finale, we see a scene where Alex’s dad, Bill Standall, is burning something. He throws something in a paper bag into a trashcan and sets it all on fire. This is right around the time he also had a mysterious scene with Alex that may or may not have indicated that he was in on that big secret.

During the scene, it looked like Bill was burning a pair of jeans, a shirt, a jacket, and a blue flannel top.

The flannel top is especially obvious in the scene where it’s burning.

And it’s this flannel top that holds the clue about what Bill’s burning. Some fans think it’s Monty’s top since he was wearing a flannel top on the night that Bryce died.

But it’s actually more likely to be Alex’s shirt. Check out what Alex was wearing the night that Bryce died.

His clothes match what Bill was throwing away, especially the flannel shirt. If you look closely in these brightened photos above, you can see that Alex was wearing a blue flannel shirt the night Bryce died, just like the shirt that Bill is burning. You can only see glimpses of it in the photos above, but if you rewatch the scene you can see the shirt better.

This also answers the question about whether or not Alex’s dad knew that it was his son who was responsible for Bryce’s death. I don’t think he knew all along, but he ultimately did figure it out. And just like Alex’s friends, he decided to cover for his son. Since Monty had already died and thus pinning the death on him wouldn’t cause harm to an innocent person, Bill must have decided that was better than sending his son to jail.

Remember, Bill had a scene with Alex where he said something cryptic in that same final episode.

He talked about finding Alex on the bathroom floor after he shot himself and he said that he wished that bullet was in his head. Then he asked Alex, “Do you understand?” And crying, Alex said yes and they hugged.

More than likely, he was telling Alex (without spelling it out) that he knew Alex had committed the murder and he would risk his own safety rather than see Alex die. He would take a bullet for Alex any time, anywhere. Knowing that Bryce’s blood and other DNA evidence would likely be on Alex’s clothes from the night of Bryce’s death, he burned his son’s clothes in case anyone asked questions later.

It’s not impossible to think that someone might. Weapons were just dredged up from the river, and Winston knows that Monty was with him and could not have possibly killed Bryce. So just to be on the safe side, Bill has destroyed the evidence that could link his son to Bryce’s death.

READ NEXT: ’13 Reasons Why’ Season 3: Viewers Aren’t Loving the New Narrator Ani

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