History Series / Clickbait

Family man Nick Brewer (Creator/AdrianGrenier) is abducted after a fight with his sister Pia (Creator/ZoeKazan). After he is seemingly abducted, he appears online with a message accusing him of rape and saying that, at five million views, he's going to die. His wife Sophie (Betty Gabriel) and Pia race to uncover the truth.

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* MasturbationEqualsSexualFrustration: After failing to hook up with Roshan on a sex site in episode one, Pia spends the night masturbating on her couch.

* [[spoiler:Technically all of Nick's "mistresses" are this as well, since none of them ever met Nick in real life and had actually been in relationships with a catfisher.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: In the course of investigation into Nick's kidnapping, it is eventually revealed that Sophie was cheating on him with a fellow teacher at her school. Afterward, it's revealed that Nick subsequently cheated on her as well, seemingly driven to do so by the affair. [[spoiler: Later on, it's revealed that Nick had been cheating on Sophie for years, even before Sophie revealed her own affair. Subverted when it turns out that Nick was never actually cheating at all, and his coworker Dawn was using his pictures to catfish women online.]]

** [[spoiler:Nick attempts to clear his own name after realizing that the catfisher pretending to be him is his coworker Dawn, going to her house and attempting to make her confess to everything. It just gets him killed by Dawn's husband.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Partial example. Ultimately, Nick's kidnapping can be traced back to [[spoiler:Dawn, Nick's sweet, middle-aged female coworker, who stole pictures of Nick from his phone, and used the photos and information Nick told her to catfish women on dating sites. However, things spiraled out of control when Dawn's callous comments lead to one of the catfished women, Sarah Burton, committing suicide, driving her enraged brother Simon to kidnap Nick.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sarah Burton after Nick (or rather, Nick's coworker Dawn catfishing Sarah using Nick's pictures) unceremoniously breaks up with her and who Nick was supposedly one of many of his victims.]]
* FatalFlaw: Nick's end up being his recklessness/impulsiveness and anger. [[spoiler:Though Nick turns out to be innocent of all the accusations against him, his anger issues led to him getting arrested for assault as a teen, and getting into an argument with Pia the night before he disappears, giving credence to those accusations. When Nick is ultimately released by his kidnapper, Simon, rather than returning home or going to the police, he goes straight to the home of his coworker Dawn, who he realizes has been catfishing him. He attempts to force her to go to the police with him to confess, which ultimately gets him killed by Dawn's husband.]]

* ImmoralJournalist: Ben Park chases his story with morally questionable methods, breaking into the homes of both Nick's family and [[spoiler:Sarah Burton, one of the women Nick, or rather Dawn, dated online]]. To add insult to injury, he proceeds to interview Sophie on live TV after said break-in, simply looking to increase his own fame.

* IncestSubtext: [[spoiler: Simon's clearly obsessive over his sister and his KnightTemplarBigBrother vibes reek of romantic feelings for his sister due to his stalking of her via her computer's webcam. It's made only ''marginally'' less creepy by the fact they're NotBloodSiblings, but orphans who grew up together.]]

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Simon towards his sister Sarah [[spoiler:to the point that he decides to kidnap, abuse and kill Nick when she commits suicide when he seemingly dumps her via text. Though he ultimately doesn't kill Nick]]

* MurderByMistake: [[spoiler:Played with in order to mask TheReveal of who Nick's murderer is. Simon kidnaps Nick because of his online relationship with his sister caused her to kill herself and the audience is made to believe that he killed him. However, we learn in the following episode that 1) Simon ''didn't'' kill Nick and 2) Nick's photos were being used by a catfisher on a slew of dating websites and Nick ''never even cheated to begin with.'']]

* RedHerring: Multiple in the course of the investigation of Nick's kidnapping. [[spoiler:Curtis Hamilton, Sophie's affair partner, was the first suspect, and, aside from getting into a brief fight with Nick, had nothing to do with the case. Simon Burton is eventually revealed to have kidnapped Nick, and he is naturally arrested for Nick's murder, but it turns out he actually didn't kill Nick. Lastly, Nick's coworker Matt, who is revealed to have posted revenge porn of a woman from the college volleyball team online, is briefly floated as a suspect due to having Nick's information on his laptop (not helped by his waiting for Pia outside her residence) but it turns out he too had nothing to do with Nick's killing, and had Nick's photos planted on his computer by Dawn. Nick's actual killer is Dawn's husband, who walked in on Nick accosting her and attempting to make her confess to her catfishing.]]
** Ethan's online friend AL, who comforts him throughout after Nick's kidnapping and never reveals any information about themselves, including their appearance. AL turns out to be [[spoiler:Alison, an innocent reclusive girl, who ultimately ends up helping Ethan solving the mysteries behind his father's kidnapping and death.]]

** The two sons also get this treatment. The eldest, Ethan takes after his mom and is more withdrawn, non-confrontational, tightly wound. The younger one, Kai, seems to have some of his father's anger issues from when he was younger, exhibiting some mild [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]] upon hearing [[spoiler:their father is dead, vowing to slit the throat of the murderer, and later on decking TheBully antagonizing his older brother giving him a bloody nose.]]

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: After being kidnapped, Nick realizes that [[spoiler:The person who pretended to be him and catfished Sarah Burton was his very own coworker, Dawn, because Sarah and her brother knew that Nick had been cheated on by his wife, a fact that Nick shared with Dawn and nobody else.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:The catfisher, Dawn, who used Nick's pictures to create fake profiles on dating websites and pursued Sarah Burton (who used a fake name herself). She did so not maliciously, but rather out of loneliness and a desire to be attractive like Nick. After a fight with her husband, a furious Dawn angrily and callously ends the affair with Sarah, leading Sarah to kill herself, causing Sarah's brother Simon to kidnap Nick for revenge, kicking off the plot and ultimately getting Nick killed, upending the Brewers' lives, and exposing them to public ridicule and the magnifying glass of tabloid news.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: In the course of investigation into Nick's kidnapping, it is eventually revealed that Sophie was cheating on him with a fellow teacher at her school. Afterward, it's revealed that Nick cheated on her as well, seemingly driven to do so by the affair. [[Spoiler: Later on, it's revealed that Nick had been cheating on Sophie for years, even before Sophie revealed her own affair. Subverted when it turns out that Nick was never actually cheating at all, and his coworker Dawn was using his pictures to catfish women online.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sarah Burton after Nick unceremoniously breaks up with her and who Nick was supposedly one of many of his victims.]]
* ImmoralJournalist: Ben Park chases his story with morally questionable methods, without caring much how it may affect Nick's family.

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Simon towards his sister Sarah, [[spoiler:to the point that he decides to kidnap and abuse Nick when she commits suicide when he seemingly dumps her via text.]]
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Emma gets railed into a dumpster by the Mastermind in Episode 4.

** [[spoiler:Sophie's own cheating partner Curtis Hamilton becomes a suspect once it's revealed she had an affair.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Curtis Hamilton, who was the first suspect but had nothing to do with the case. Also Ethan's online friend Alison, who turned out to be an innocent girl.]]

** The two sons also get this treatment. The eldest takes after his mom and is more withdrawn, non-confrontational, tightly wound. The younger one seems to have some of his father's anger issues from when he was younger, exhibiting some mild [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]] upon hearing [[spoiler:their father is dead, vowing to slit the throat of the murderer, and later on decking TheBully antagonizing his older brother giving him a bloody nose.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Simon, after his sister's death.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:The catfisher who used Nick's pictures and pursued Sarah under the false identity. Because of their deception and callousness, Sarah kills herself which sets off Simon's murderous rampage that gets Nick killed, upends the Brewer's life, and exposes them to public ridicule and the magnifying glass of tabloid news.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Detective Roshan believes he's been passed over for a promotion to Homicide due to his being a Muslim, but De Luca explains that it's actually because of his CowboyCop tendencies. He ends up being promoted after he tones them down.

* RealityEnsues: Detective Roshan believes he's been passed over for a promotion to Homicide due to his being a Muslim, but De Luca explains that it's actually because of his CowboyCop tendencies. He ends up being promoted after he tones them down.

* SocialMediaIsBad: Zigzagged.

* AmbitionIsEvil: One of the major themes in both Ben and Roshan's episodes, though it is much more overt in the former's episode sine [[spoiler:his boyfriend seems to break up with him over it.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Maggie Burton after Nick unceremoniously breaks up with her and who Nick was supposedly one of many of his victims.]]

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Simon towards his sister Maggie, [[spoiler:to the point that he decides to kidnap and abuse Nick when she commits suicide when he seemingly dumps her via text.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:The catfisher who used Nick's pictures and pursued Maggie under the false identity. Because of their deception and callousness, Maggie kills herself which sets off Simon's murderous rampage that gets Nick killed, upends the Brewer's life, and exposes them to public ridicule and the magnifying glass of tabloid news.]]

A MiniSeries that debuted on Creator/{{Netflix}} in August 2021.

* MurderByMistake: [[spoiler:Played with in order to mask TheReveal of who Nick's kidnapper and murderer is. Simon kidnaps Nick because of his relationship with his sister and the audience is made to believe that he killed him. However, we learn in the following episode that 1)Simon ''didn't'' kill Nick and 2)Nick's photos were being used by a catfisher on a slew of dating websites and Nick ''never even cheated.'']]

* CrazyJealousGuy: One of the possible motives as to why Nick was abduted [[spoiler:and murdered. Specifically, that Sophie's once affair partner Curtis killed him after Sophie ended their relationship months ago.]]

* TheMistress: Episode 4 is titled this and appropriately follows [[spoiler:Nick's mistress Emma Beesly as she learns about Nick's kidnapping, goes to San Francisco to see the Brewer family for herself, and finally give whatever information she has to the police and reporters.]]