Suicide Or Murder? Alex Standall’s Fate In ’13 Reasons Why’ Explained

Here are all the signs to finally settle whether Alex Standall’s fate in 13 Reasons Why was a suicide or a murder.

13 Reasons Why has become a huge hit over at Netflix despite the many opinions on the series’ take on suicide and graphic scenes. An adaptation of the New York Times best-seller book, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, the series follows the story of Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), a girl who committed suicide and left behind 13 tapes explaining the reasons for her action.

However, while everyone kept their eyes and hearts on the protagonist, Hannah, we failed to pay attention to the other character that would suffer a most tragic fate at the end of the story: Alex Standall (Miles Heizer).

Alex Standall’s biggest role in 13 Reasons Why is ruining Hannah’s friendship with Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe). And throughout the series, it can also be noted that Alex felt immense guilt regarding Hannah’s suicide. At the end of 13 Reasons Why, Alex ends up floating in the pool, (almost?) dead from a gunshot.

Alex’s fate in 13 Reasons Why, however, has left a lot of fans debating. Well, one subject of debate is whether Alex dies or lives after being rushed to the hospital, which has, in turn, left a lot of people asking for a Season 2. But the bigger subject of debate is whether Alex ending up in the pool is an attempted suicide or a murder.

Teen Vogue reports that this comes after a fan suggests that Alex could have been murdered by Tyler Down (Devin Druid), 13 Reasons Why‘s resident creepy guy.

The fan theory (via Tumblr) elaborates.

“Alex doesn’t shoot himself.

I feel like a f***ing idiot because someone just explained to me that alex doesn’t shoot himself, Tyler shotos him! That’s why Tyler had a gun and that’s why he takes Alex’s picture down from the series of pictures he had hang up. He’s killing them in order.”

Now, this particular scene has many 13 Reasons Why fans fighting.

So one, he has a lot of guns. He is planning to use these on his schoolmates, but is Alex part of his targets?

And two, did Tyler take down Alex’s photo because he was planning to eliminate him first, before everyone else? Or did he take down Alex’s photo because he is actually removing him from his hit list?

While a lot of people are convinced that Tyler could be the man behind Alex’s murder (or attempted murder, if he survives), another 13 Reasons Why fan, Livyyyy, argues the following in response to the Tumblr post.

“If they wanted us to think Tyler killed Alex then they would not have had the flash back to where Alex sticks up for Tyler in the halls when Monte was bulling him.

“Yes, Tyler is going to be a school shooter but the whole point of the flashback and Tyler ripping Alex’s picture down was to show us to be kind and do something when you see bullying happening in the halls. And because Alex did that for Tyler, Tyler changed his mind about the list of victims he’s added up.”

Well if you’re feeling conflicted as to whose side will you be on, Buzzfeedpoints us in the right direction—and honestly, it’s pretty much convinced us to believe that Alex did commit suicide at the end of 13 Reasons Why.

One, that that eerie scene where Alex is shown floating in the pool pretty much mirrors Hannah in the bathtub.

Two, that he has shown immense guilt over Hannah’s suicide.

And three, most importantly, is that one particular scene before he is rushed to the hospital, where it shows that he has cleaned his room—in fact, even his dad complimented it. Looks like cleaning his room isn’t something Alex does often.

Well, guess who else cleaned their room before they committed suicide: Hannah. Hannah did the same thing before she ended her life.

In fact, this is not just a coincidence or some artistic juxtaposition of Alex and Hannah’s suicide. Apparently, according to medical professionals from the Cleveland Clinic and WebMD, some people who are about to commit suicide will make preparations by cleaning their room or house before the suicide.

“Making preparations: Often, a person considering suicide will begin to put his or her personal business in order. This might include visiting friends and family members, giving away personal possessions, making a will, and cleaning up his or her room or home.”

Looks like after bearing the guilt of Hannah’s suicide, Alex Standall did kill, or try to kill, himself towards the end.

Are you hoping for a Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why to find out about Alex’s fate?

[Featured Image by Netflix]