"I think it's very much a combination of both. I don't think that anyone in the world can ever justify what Tyler did to Hannah: Taking away her privacy, making her feel forever uncomfortable in her own home, it's a horrible thing to do and I would never condone it and the writers never condone it. There's nothing Tyler could say [or do], including being in love with this girl, to justify it. At the same time, he's getting so much from everyone else. There are people who have done such incredibly terrible things... It's really interesting that he alone takes on so much of the blame from everyone else. It's almost like the other characters need a place to cast their blame to cleanse themselves of any. Tyler is kind of the one taking all the blame and hatred and regret that they have. He's taking it all on. What that does to him is it eventually does to Tyler what happened to Hannah in the beginning. He's taking so much bullying that it's taking him beyond his breaking point. But [unlike ] Hannah, Tyler may not be so self-destructive as he is just destructive."