Out of all the characters, Devin Druid’s Tyler has received some of the strongest development on 13 Reasons Why. Can we give it up to him for Season 3?

While 13 Reasons Why is a controversial show and gets a lot of negativity, there are a lot of strong storylines woven in. One of the strongest has been in Season 3, with Devin Druid’s heartbreaking but astounding performance as Tyler.

There are some spoilers in this post if you haven’t got up to Episode 8 of the season. This is just your fair warning before we get into the reasons Devin Druid most definitely needs all the awards this season!

At the end of Season 2, we saw one of the most horrific attacks on the show. While some claim that it was only for shock value, it actually comes from a place of horrifying reality. This is a topic that never really comes up. If you look at all TV shows, it’s women who are raped.

Yes, that’s wrong, but there’s an underlying issue with showing it (and I’m done with shows and movies that use any type of rape purely as a plot device). The lack of focus on male rape brings up the idea that it doesn’t happen, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It does happen. Attacks like what happened in 13 Reasons Why do happen, but people don’t talk about it.

13 Reasons Why [Explicit] (Season 3)Male rape is this taboo subject that is avoided. And yet, 13 Reasons Why has been daring and confident enough to deliver it. More importantly, Devin Druid and Timothy Granaderos have been confident enough to show both sides of it—the victim and the attacker who believes he hasn’t done anything wrong.

Throughout 13 Reasons Why Season 3, Devin Druid has been the shining star in every single one of his scenes. Even when he’s just in the background, he’s kept the performance going. You can see him pulling back, even when nobody else notices it. Tyler’s reactions around Monty have been everything you’d expect after the brutality of the attack and more.

Yet, it’s not all been nerves. We’ve watched Tyler grow considerably as a character this season. In Episode 4, he admitted that he didn’t want to kill himself anymore. He had something to live for. He was moving forward and he gained the confidence to demand an apology from Monty. While he never got it, this step was crucial for the next stage of development.

Episode 8 delivered one of the most heartbreaking but necessary scenes of Tyler’s storyline, and Druid nailed it every single step of the way. He opened up to Clay about the attack. From the stuttering to get the initial words out to that hug for dear life at the end, Druid pulled it out of the bag. That one scene was mesmerizing and it’s going to stand out for years to come.

I just wanna give Tyler Down one big ass hug , he’s the sweetest and most well developed character on 13 reasons why and @DevinDruid his portrayal of Tyler GAVE ME EVERYTHING GIVE THIS TALENTED MAN AN EMMY (p.s he made me cry almost every scene I saw him in) pic.twitter.com/cMDWQDWKwh

— Marrsai Aleese (@Mynamesmarrsai) August 26, 2019

If Devin Druid isn’t even nominated for an Emmy (he deserves to win) in 2020, then it’s going to be a travesty. Someone give him all the awards!

What did you think of Devin Druid’s performance in 13 Reasons Why Season 3? Share your thoughts in the comments below.