Clickbait ending explained: Truth behind Nick Brewers’ murder

Clickbait is a drama mini-series focusing on the murder of Nick Brewer (Adrian Grenier) and the many twists and turns involved in the following investigation. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

In the beginning, a family celebration is ruined when Nick and his sister Pia Brewer (Zoe Kazan) get into an argument causing Pia to leave. The next day, a horrific video has been posted online of Nick in distress and holding up signs claiming to be an abuser of women.

There is also a condition stating that if the video hits five million views, the kidnappers will murder Nick. Pia is scrambling around with Nick’s wife, Sophie (Betty Gabriel), trying to make sense of this whole situation.

At the police station, they meet detective Roshan Amiri (Phoenix Raei), who questions the family and begins the search for Nick and his kidnappers. Amiri is aiming for a promotion to the homicide division which makes him all the more invested in solving this case.

Once the video has 5 million hits, an app is developed called geonicking to help track the search for Nick. Members of the public head out in droves crossing out all areas that have been covered. Using the information on this app, Amiri narrows down a location to look for Nick and convinces the department to follow up.

Nick’s body is eventually found and in the hunt for the killer, it is revealed that Sophie was involved in an extramarital affair. This makes her out the be guilty party in this situation and she has to face a lot of hate and criticism for it.

Around the same time, a woman named Emma Beesly (Jessica Collins) shows up claiming to be Nick’s lover from LA. She met him on dating site under a different name and believed they were soulmates and feels truly devastated by his death.

Upon further digging, the police find out that there are multiple profiles of Nick across many dating apps. When Emma learns of this information, she is distraught and chooses to go to the press, contacting a reporter named Ben Park (Abraham Lim), who was the one to break the original story of the kidnapping.

Ben’s main goal is to bag an on-screen role in the news and he’s willing to go to any lengths to achieve that. When his interview with Emma is buried, he does a bit more research to find other victims of Nick’s infidelity.

He learns of Sarah Burton (Taylor Ferguson), a woman who actually took her life because things did not end well between her and Nick. Ben tracks down her brother, Simon Burton (Daniel Henshall) and proceeds to break into his house to obtain any kind of leads.

He procures Sarah’s phone, which has some damning messages from Nick, that are brought to light during his interview with Sophie Brewer. With this new information, the police decide to investigate Simon as the main suspect in the case.

During the investigation, Simon makes a run for it but is eventually caught. He confesses to being the one who kidnapped Nick and posted the video, but swears that he let him go because he realized he wasn’t behind those messages to Sarah.

When Nick’s older son Ethan hears that there might be a chance his father is innocent, he begins an investigation of his own. Reaching out to Emma and the other woman who connected with his dad, he comes to the conclusion that none of them had met him in person. They were most likely catfished by someone else using Nick’s likeness.

With the help of a friend and the metadata from one of the doctored pictures of Nick, they find a location for the supposed catfish. Who was really behind all those profiles? Who is the true killer?

Here is the ending of Clickbait explained in detail:

The veil is lifted

Ethan’s younger brother Kai (Jaylin Fletcher) sneaks into his room and comes across the location of the catfish. He decides to head over there in rage, sneaking out of the house with a baseball bat in hand.

Once he’s there, he’s in for a surprise as the house belongs to Dawn Gleed (Becca Lish), Nick’s colleague from work. She’s a sweet old woman living along with her husband, Ed (Wally Dunn). Meanwhile, Sophie realizes that Kai is missing and informs Pia and the cops.

Ethan realizes where Kai is headed and everyone rushes over there hoping that they’re not too late.

The actions of a lonely woman

With the help of staggered flashbacks, it is shown how Dawn has become disillusioned by her uneventful marriage and misses the feeling of being wanted. She takes advantage of her access to Nick’s personal details and pictures in order to create all these profiles to find some affection online.

When her husband finds out and berates her, she takes out her anger on Sarah, who, in turn, took her own life. This snowballs into Nick’s eventual kidnapping and Dawn and her husband decide to get rid of every trace of her online persona to avoid any suspicion.

When Nick is let go by Simon, he heads over to Dawn’s house because she was the only one he had told about his wife’s affair and that piece of information helped him figure out her identity. He threatens to expose her but her husband rushes in and kills him with a blow to the head.

Justice is finally served

Ed and Dawn take Kai out to their trailer away from the city as a last-ditch attempt at survival. They lock him up in a room while deciding on the next course of action. The police have also been made aware of the property and rush to rescue Kai.

Kai manages to escape with old couple taking chase after him. By then, the police arrive as well and begin looking for the two criminals and their captive.

Dawn is captured by the police but Kai ends up in the hands of Ed. He comes face to face with police and releases Kai after Dawn convinces him to. However, he refuses to face his punishment and raises his gun towards the officers and is shot dead in retaliation.

Clickbait ends with a scene at church where a true memorial service is finally held for Nick. Sophie and Pia exchange a few words and vow to support each other through whatever comes next because that is how family works. They finally head in for the service.


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