Clickbait (2021)

 

After fighting with her brother Nick at a family dinner, Pia Brewer storms off for a night on the town, during the course of which she accidentally drops her phone in the toilet, rendering it non-functional until she is able to dry it. She still hasn't done this yet when, during the next day, a patient at her workplace shows her a video of Nick visibly beaten and holding up a card that says "I abuse women." He then holds up a different card that says "At 5 million views I die."

Neither Pia, nor Nick's wife Sophie, believe the allegations from the video.  They contact the police and a race begins to try and find where Nick is before the video's view counter - which grows with improbable speed - reaches its grim target.  In the course of the investigation, however, all kinds of secrets are going to come out.  Could one of them include that Nick was not the man they believed him to be?

Clickbait is a well-made and well-acted mystery-drama.  Each of the eight episodes is told from the perspective of a different character with a different viewpoint of (and interest in) the case.  This allows new information to be revealed in a variety of ways, or old information to be presented from a new angle.  It's a clever device that helps sustain the mystery and - with one notable exception - to do so in a way that feels natural.

That one notable exception is why I can't whole-heartedly recommend the show, despite its many positive aspects.  It's a particularly egregious and manipulative bit of writing aimed at deceiving the audience about the truth, and it irks me when works of fiction deliberately lie to the audience.  It's not a clever mystery if it only stays mysterious because you didn't give the reader/viewer the correct facts to solve it.  Clickbait had the misfortune that I saw it shortly after I read The Wife and the Widow, which is a mystery that gives the reader everything they need to piece the story together, but ingeniously makes it easy for said reader to miss the hints.  In comparing the two, it's hard not to see Clickbait's narrative manipulation as a cheap trick.

Still, other than that one sour note, this is a very well orchestrated mystery show.  If that's your sort of thing, check it out.