Clickbait: The New Wild Netflix Drama That Has Everyone Hooked.

SPOILERS: This chilling thriller series will keep you guessing until the very last shocking moment.

With each of the eight episodes depicting the story from a different person’s perspective, the kidnapping and eventual murder of Nick Brewer (Adrian Grenier) is not just one simple straight road of tragedy.

The ‘clickbait’ video that started the whole frenzy around Nick shows him with a bloodied face holding up incriminating signs that read “I abuse women” and “at 5 million views I die”.

Before this video Nick can be perceived as a genuine family man, who is devoted to his wife and is loved by all at the school where he works as a physical therapist. Yet this portrayal is quickly turned on its head as we see the investigation of his death reveal apparent truths about Nick’s private life that not even those close to him had the slightest inkling about.

The truly grasping nature of this series derives from its ability to completely transform the audiences perspective of each character who is close to Nick or involved in the initial crime.

First there is Pia Brewer (Zoe Kazan) who initially seems to be the ruthless sister, holding a grudge towards Nick’s wife Sophie (Betty Gabriel) and unafraid to cause tension. We are then introduced to her party lifestyle and whimsical decision making which implores the audience to think of her as reckless and destructive.

Then we have Sophie, the seemingly devout wife whose demeanour is at first consistently calm and gentle. Some may have even thought of her as a victim to Pia’s outbursts in the first episode.

Emma Beesly (Jessica Collins) is then rushed in to the limelight as Nick’s mistress, and her flashbacks of the two together create an image of an ideal couple who represent love at it’s best.

A couple of episodes later Simon Oxley (Daniel Henshall) is presented as the unstable, grieving brother of suicide victim Sarah Burton (Taylor Ferguson). The audience is made to question whether or not he is capable of the heinous crime that was committed.

Finally Nick’s son Ethan (Camaron Engels) is focused on, and the audience is led to believe that he may not be as innocent as he seems. The constant texts exchanged between him and an unknown stranger can be read with ambivalence as it seems he may be hiding something.

Each character’s perspective is intricately considered in their designated episode, however as the drama unfolds we quickly learn that nothing should be taken at face value.

Throughout the rollercoaster of emotions, it is hard not to take a liking to Pia. We come to see her as the resilient and brilliant character that she is, stopping at nothing to find her brothers killer and ultimately becoming the rock of the family, helping everyone even through the process of her own grief. Towards the end Nick himself reveals the trauma that they had dealt with as children when they found their father who had committed suicide, and were then forced to lie about the nature of his death. This adds more depth to her fiery character as we realise where her recklessness may have stemmed from.

Sophie’s character development is more of a rocky road as we come to learn of her affair. Although Nick is characterised as the disloyal husband, we soon see that in fact Sophie was not faultless herself. However this is not the lasting impression that the audience is left with from Sophie. Throughout the investigation and with the constant pressure from the media, she manages to support her family whilst dealing with the unnerving revelations about her husband that are broadcasted virally.

Sophie is then forced to deal with Emma Beesly, a woman who claims to be Nicks lover as she reveals that she is in a ‘relationship’ with him. Emma is clearly in love with Nick and at first we believe that she is telling the whole truth. Nevertheless the story unfolds further and it is discovered that Emma was just in love with a stranger using Nicks photos as a façade for their creepy ‘game’. Emma seems blameless, but in the end she is revealed as a liar, as she let everyone believe they were in a physical relationship and had met multiple times. But in reality she was just feeding the notion of their pitiful love story in her head as she had never met him and had ultimately been ‘catfished’.

Perhaps the most tragic soul of all is Simon. As we see the playful relationship he had with his troubled sister come to an abrupt and agonising end, his grief becomes overwhelming. We see him disintegrate from a vicious revenge hungry kidnapper in to the delicate despairing brother who has become disconsolate. It is hard not to be convinced that Simon had committed the atrocity against Nick, but we quickly see the merciless side to him dissolve as Nick shares his heartbreaking secret about his Dad’s death that resonates with Simons traumatising situation.

Then there is Ethan’s shady behaviour which takes the audiences’ already tormented mind in another misleading direction. A suspicious exchange of messages with an internet identity again manages to fool the audience in to believing he could be interlinked with his fathers murder. But our doubts are quickly refuted (again) as Ethan uncovers some of the biggest leads in his fathers case. Although it is still true that Ethan has taken risks by trusting this internet personality, it is a risk that pays off as ‘Al_2005' helps to comfort Ethan and uncover the unusual miscreant.

There was not one point throughout this intense series that I was completely sure of who was bad and who was good. Up until the very last minute I was left guessing; I was on the edge of my seat with my heart racing trying not to yell at my screen.

I went from not knowing anything about Nick’s character, to thinking I knew his dark secrets and hating him, and then backtracking and feeling bad for believing everything you’re told and liking him, even wanting to avenge his gruesome murder.

The craft was truly breath-taking.

Typically with mysterious thrillers such as ‘Clickbait’, I would have figured out the killer within the first couple of episodes, not much will be left to the imagination and I will be left bored and trying to find something else to satisfy my puzzle-hungry brain.

But with ‘Clickbait’ I found exactly what I was looking for. Each episode makes you doubt yourself and then has you questioning everything you thought you had figured out all over again; only handing you half stories and leaving your mind to run off in the completely wrong direction.

When a drama can induce such nerve-racking apprehension and has the ability to keep you glued-even forcing you to binge watch it in one day- you know you have found TV gold.

Well done, Netflix. You have an avid watcher who has developed very high expectations!