Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Netflix’s miniseries, Clickbait.
Sometimes, you come across a television series that simply has to be watched from start to finish in the shortest amount of time humanely possible. Netflix’s latest thriller Clickbait is case in point.
The eight-part mini series follows the kidnapping of a man and the subsequent ransom video released upon his capture. It is witnessed in horror by those closest to him alongside the rest of the world. While the premise appears straightforward in true ‘whodunnit’ style, the narrative is filled with shocking twists and turns—so it’s no wonder that everyone is talking about it.
Clickbait is also a spectacle in itself given its stellar cast list, with the likes of Entourage’s Adrian Grenier and the beloved Zoe Kazan leading the pack.
Whether you’ve already watched it in full or just can’t wait to find out, we’ve delved into *that* shocking twist of an ending for full clarity—and yes, it’s just as darkly clever as you’d expect.
What is the synopsis of Clickbait?
Clickbait follows the story of Nick Brewer (Adrian Grenier). A seemingly normal family man living a seemingly harmless life. Then, hell breaks loose after he is kidnapped and forced to film a ransom video with a series of cue cards which explain that when the video reaches five million views, he will die. Subsequently, the cards claim that Nick is responsible for a murder, and that he hurts women.
Throughout the show, we get a decent snapshot of Nick’s life. He’s a family-orientated guy with plenty of love for his kids and sister (played by Zoe Kazan). But as the narrative begins to unfold, we learn of his connections to suspect characters.
Nick is killed early in the piece, with his body found at the end of episode two—but still, we don’t get a full explanation as to who was behind the abduction and murder until the very end.
Clickbait‘s ending explained
Strap in, this is a long one. So Nick’s kidnappers are eventually revealed to be Simon and his friend Daryl. Their reasoning for the crime? Simon was the brother of a woman who had supposedly struck up a virtual romance with Nick before she committed suicide.
But there’s a catch—it turned out she hadn’t been communicating with Nick at all that whole time. She’d actually been speaking to someone impersonating Nick. When this information is finally revealed, Nick is set free. Off he goes into the dead of the night.
But Nick was still killed right, you ask? His dead body was found. Riddle us that, Netflix.
Here’s the next part: After being set free, Nick works out who it was that impersonated him (and moreover, the person who was actually responsible for the death of Simon’s sister). It turns out it was the seemingly sweet character, Dawn. Bored and desparate for an outlet, she’d been impersonating Nick for quite some time to a whole bunch of women and struck up multiple online relationships with them (to be clear, Nick never had an affair).
But herein lies the next plot twist, when Nick discovers it’s Dawn who is responsible for it all and confronts her—she doesn’t kill him either.
Nope, then comes in Ed. He’s the husband of Dawn who is disgraced, but determined to cover up the crimes of his wife. So when Nick confronts Dawn and threatens to expose everything she’s done, Ed kills Nick with a hatchet.
That‘s why Nick’s body is found, despite being set free from captivity by the original kidnappers.
A mind-boggling, brilliant journey, the above is proof enough as to why the show has shot to viral success since its release on Netflix in August. We’ll just be sitting here unsure what to do with ourselves until the next adrenaline-filled thriller drops.
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