Monty de la Cruz

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Scrappy

Full Name

Montgomery de la Cruz

Alias

Monty

Origin

13 Reasons Why

Allies

Bryce Walker †
Zach Dempsey
Justin Foley †
Alex Standall
Charlie St. George
Jeff Atkins †
Chloe Rice
Scott Reed (all formerly)
Taylor and Kenneth
Luke Holliday
Winston Williams (lover)
Diego Torres
Ramon Ordonez
Coach Kerba
Coach Wlodimierz

Powers / Skills

Brute strength

Athleticism
Fighting prowess
Intimidation

Goals

Protect Bryce Walker from prosecution for his crimes and silence his victims (mostly succeeded).

Cover up his homosexuality.
Protect himself from his abusive father.
See to it that the Liberty Tigers win the football season (all failed, thankfully).

What failed with the character?

Comes off as a one-dimensional and comically stupid evil jock who later gets undeserved sympathy that falls flat due to his many crimes, especially the infamous mop scene.

Saving Graces

His sheer stupidity is kinda funny to a degree.

Type of Scrappy?

Unintentionally Unsympathetic Rapist

“	Ty-Ty, nothing happened to you that hasn't happened to a hundred guys. It's nothing. Get over it.	„
	~ Monty refusing to apologize for raping Tyler, somehow becoming a "tragic and three-dimensional character" later.

“	That wasn't sexual assault... I was messing with him.	„
	~ Monty de la Cruz justifying his rape of Tyler to his father and being played for sympathy in the exact same scene.

Montgomery "Monty" de la Cruz is the secondary antagonist of the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why. Starting off as a more insensitive and easily annoyed bully but relatively harmless, his sociopathic nature becomes apparent by the second season, where his crimes become more abhorrent, some even lethal. In spite of that, he was written to be more sympathetic in later seasons as he is revealed to act homophobic as a result of his father's abuse.

He was portrayed by Timothy Granaderos.

What Makes Him a Scrappy?[]

In earlier seasons he was considered by some viewers as a generic jerk without likeable characteristics. While he was intended to be unlikeable, there were still some people who noticed that Bryce in comparison had a small level of charisma that Monty lacked, which in their eyes made the former more interesting.
Many fans do not like the scene where he brutally beats Tyler Down and uses a mop pole to sodomize him, feeling it was unrealistic and done for shock value purposes.
A major criticism he receives is that in season 3 the show attempts to use him struggling with his sexuality and having a relationship with Winston Williams to make him sympathetic. Most viewers think that it doesn’t work due to their relationship being toxic since Monty beated him up to hide his sexuality. The sympathy he receives is also considered to be inconsistent with his previous characterization of lacking redeeming qualities.
The scene where his father spits in his face for being gay is criticized for trying to make Monty sympathetic and shifting the blame for his actions on his father, since while the latter was a terrible person, he’s not responsible for his son’s actions.
The biggest criticism he receives is that the show tries to treat him being falsely imprisoned for Bryce's murder and then being killed for sympathy, which many viewers think feels forced since Monty didn’t feel remorse for any of his crimes.
- He’s technically the main reason for the criticism towards season 4, since the show added new characters to make him sympathetic. Other than feeling like the sympathy is forced, viewers think the new characters are also forced and feel like they contradict Monty’s previous characterization. The viewers tend to point out that it was never stated he had a sister and that he was shown to be disliked by the other jocks, which made them see the inclusion of Estela and Diego as forced.
The fourth seasons is also criticized due to characters like Tyler (who he raped) and Alex (who he tried to convince to commit suicide) feeling sympathy for him, which many viewers consider unrealistic and offensive.

Trivia[]

He was planned to be a Hate Sink by the original director, but after his sudden death and Timothy wanting his character to have a sympathetic arc, this ended up changing. If they continued with the director's concept, it’s not clear if he would still be a Scrappy since his main criticisms are due to his sympathetic arc, although he already received some criticisms before that.