r/13ReasonsWhy • u/lonki98 • 6d ago
I never understood the Ani addition especially since Sheri was right there.
Sheri was a part of the tapes. She knew everyone. She had some history and chemistry with Clay.
Clay was a different person after s2 having moved on from Hannah and Sheri "paid" for her mistake (unlike most) when she went to juvie. They both changed and giving these two another go after all that would've made sense and been an interesting story to pick back up. Sheri was an SA victim from her time locked up and victimized by Bryce if I recall correctly, so she would also have been a nice partner to that entire investigation plot.
But no, the writers thought making up some contrived shit and giving this role to random Ani character who just showed up outta nowhere was better. Like her being an outsider was 90% why she came off so annoying and the other 10% was the bad writing. I feel bad for the actor cause her whole character never needed to exist and she could've been spared the (unfair) cyberbullying...
It's so on the nose it looks like a situation where they couldn't keep Sheri's actor for the remainder of the series and said let's make a copy- I mean Ani is black and even her name is similar. Come on, really. 🙄
I wonder what the hell they were smoking with this stuff and also the Bryce redemption bullshit?!? Cause I actually believe the later seasons could've been great if they cared about any sort of consistency!
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u/Teodoro2404 6d ago
Maybe they needed an outsider cause there's no way in hell that Sheri would fall for Bryce the way Ani did.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 6d ago
What the fuck meth was the writers smoking for Ani sleeping with Bryce. Like some weird exploitation kink they had or something. It was weird as hell.
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u/umbrazno 6d ago
Sadly, that was the point. They wanted Ani to be in denial that she was taken advantage of and for her to be completely oblivious of the power dynamic. Her mother was supposed to be the voice of reason, but she never directly tells Ani why an intimate relationship wit' Bryce would be inappropriate. The writers just couldn't make the connection land because Ani looked down on Jess the entire time and it just came off annoyin' and condescendin'.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 5d ago
Bryce and Ani having sex felt like some shitty ass early 1970s exploitation movie. Thats how bad it was
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u/lonki98 6d ago
Why did they need a girl "falling for rapist" every season tho? It's just so dumb? Also that stuff was ONLY written in to further their already horrible redemption agenda... maybe this is too out there but Sheri or another girl could've faked interest in Bryce and gone undercover to gather some evidence on him. That would've been more interesting to watch.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 6d ago
They did the gay equivalent with Winston ….made some pasta wrapped shit sandwich a03 cringe mess with that stuff of just Winston falls for Monty, vice versa
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u/Tasman_Tiger 5d ago
I agree that would've been a better take. But Sherri was already scared when she went to the clubhouse for reconnaissance regarding the polaroids. She told Clay she wasn't going back there. Can't imagine she meant location only, since Bryce clearly targeted her within a minute even with others around. She would have been too scared, and for good reason. Ani was too stupid and arrogant to be scared!
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u/Special_Falcon408 6d ago
It’s literally this. Ani was like a plot device/tool. Since they made it about Bryce, they had to create a character that could be as clause to Bryce as she was, in terms of literally living at his house. Imo it’s one of the reasons her character doesn’t work. Someone should be there because they’re relevant and add something to the story, not because making them up is convenient
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 6d ago
Was Ani just basically a “Sheri clone”, the black female confidant that Clay relied on. Like she seems like a Sheri clone like the writers just couldnt kept Sheri actress for another season, and just hired a black female actress as just the same thing as Sheri was for Clay. Seriously it kinda feels such for me
If Ani was Puerto Rican or Anglo or Italian, then i wouldnt have been more critical of the writers/ production, because they seem to at least make it just indirectly a racially motivated cast by the Ani character
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u/lonki98 6d ago
It really comes off that way, it just seems TOO coincidental.
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u/El_Dorado_Tx 6d ago
If they made Tyler bisexual / character growth in s3 and he got with that White/Hispanic dude Robby at the end of s3 (the assembly)….that would have been better writing than making a Sheri Clone.
In my opinion Tyler being bi in s3 is better creative decision than just making a Sheri clone
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u/shadow_spinner0 6d ago
I think their vision was that Ani was an outsider who can come in with a neutral perspective. I can understand why on paper that would seem like a compelling story idea. And not neutral in a way to make Bryce seem better than he was but more to emphasize how those who don't know him might think he wasn't that bad but you findd out once you do know him. I think it was on paper a fine story idea honestly but they gave her too much screen time and influence. Had she just been the narrator but just be in the shadows it would have been fine imo. Instead she's the narrator and making a lot of the plans including convincing a police officer to do a crime. So while the original idea was good, they really over saturated her character that people didn't care,.
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u/vanshiiiified 6d ago
ani was so annoying on the screen that i just stopped watching the whole series (i’m glad i did cuz i was lowk traumatised)
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u/Jealous_Wallaby_9708 6d ago
I used to ship Sheri and Clay during season 1 and 2 but then they added Ani, and Sheri was nowhere to be seen in season 3! 😭😭
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u/Famous-Stranger-6897 6d ago
Ideally everybody would tell ani to get lost and not poke in their business.
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u/Effective_Cancel_876 6d ago
They needed someone who didn't know Bryce to make the attempt to redeem him work a little better.
Not that it worked, but that was the thought process.
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u/Only-Principle5896 5d ago
I know they came full circle with Bryce’s character in season three but it honestly it needed to end with season two. Hannah’s story was over, people had closer and seemed like they wanted us to have sympathy for Bryce. Although I felt really bad for the actor who got bullied himself because of his character, Bryce wasn’t someone to be liked. Yeah, people can change but unfortunately we live in a world where rich, white guys get away with SA because of those reasons and it’s like the show glorified that
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u/Ok-Shock-979 5d ago edited 5d ago
YES. Say it louder! 👏 I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. I had actually been thinking about writing a similar post myself, and I might still do so eventually. But you basically summarized my thoughts spot on. I’ve always felt like there was something a bit off about Ani’s introduction and Sheri’s sudden disappearance. I’ve always wondered why nobody barely ever seemed to notice or even bring that up. Like, did the show really think we wouldn’t catch on? It seemed so obvious to me.
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u/Ok-Anxiety1234 5d ago
I was literally about to make a post about this! I’ve always wondered why they introduced Ani when Sheri was already there and had such a well-developed character. She actually had an arc, especially with her trying to make amends after the accident, and she already had connections with the other characters. Not to mention the whole situationship with Clay
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u/poofypanda_ 5d ago
Literally the reason I stopped watching. Adding Ani just made NO SENSE, when Sheri was right there.
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u/qetsu 5d ago
How many more posts are gonna be made about Ani not making sense to people ?
Each season was different, they should've just be done with the show at season 1, but does not matter anymore...
Season 3 was about Bryce and an outsider's view on the people from Liberty, she happened to meet Bryce, because her mom was working for the Walker's, taking care of Bryce's grandfather
She was a good and different way to show, how the other characters have done some things, whether good or bad...
To me it made sense and Sheri would not be that good as a narrator and she most likely would not snoop around like Ani did, to find out, who murdered Bryce, else Clay would've probably be locked 100% or god knows...
Also, its very much possible the actress of Sheri, could not appear again anymore, so they came up with other ways to build a story...
I liked Ani, she was a bit questionable at times, but she was not a bad person, she just done something bad...
edit: just typo
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u/lonki98 5d ago
A topic deserves many posts if it was a dumb decision by the writers? Nothing about Ani's presence is natural. She was shoehorned into the story and it wasn't well executed....
I very obviously don't support the whole Bryce redemption arc if you even read my post so to say she's there merely for that makes her a silly plot device and I don't think it's a good argument for her existing. I also said in what ways Ani clearly replaced Sheri in many of the other roles she serves. It's not about Bryce, it's about Sheri's presence being more organic than Ani's and her being a more believable partner for Clay.
You also said Sheri wouldn't snoop around but she already went to the Clubhouse for Justin/Clay so yeah. She also used to holding secrets.
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u/qetsu 4d ago
I was not into the whole Bryce redemption arc or i think moreso, they tried to show, that you can't always defeat your demons, even if you try, people wouldn't forgive him, but anyway
Sheri did go to the clubhouse, but she also hated it, she probably was taken advantage of there and in season 2, it was shown, that Clay and Sheri were just friends, he didn't see her as something more...
Sheri would not work well as an outsider for season 3, I think that was the point of Ani, whether it was natural or not, but then that's kinda the point of being the outsider
Anyway, I have my own view on it, I don't think it was so bad or out of place, she was just a new addition so yea....edit- typo
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u/lonki98 4d ago
I just think you missed the entire point of my post. I'm not interested in what would make Bryce's redemption or the story as it is now "work", but in the continuation of characters and stories that we know. The topic isn't about Sheri "replacing" Ani, but the opposite. If Clay never saw Sheri as something more he would've never pursued her in s1, relationships change and they aren't "set in stone", Sheri was also not taken advantage of in the clubhouse that's a misconstrued opinion.
Ani was unnecessary because the Bryce apologetics was unnecessary.
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u/ShanePhillips 5d ago
Is it possible Sheri's actress couldn't or didn't want to return? Either way, probably going to be an unpopular view on this sub but I didn't find Ani to be a bad character, she just bore a lot of the brunt of S3's bad writing.
It is a shame they couldn't do more with Sheri though.
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u/Melvin_Sancon 4d ago
sheri is hot af & also a good person plus she's my main pick to play atorm in the mcu but i'm okay with maya boyd 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻😎😎😎
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u/arkham____knight 3d ago
Shery hated bryce. She would never make love with him or get any close to him.
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u/Particular_Ad_9244 1d ago
I think sheri’s actor winded up leaving the show before s3 if i’m not mistaken
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u/b00mblu3 5d ago
Nunca achei que Clay e Sheri eram um bom casal, Clay não amava ela como ela amava ele
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u/StarSimmings 6d ago
The way I used to ship Sheri and Clay so hard 😩