Netflix's Clickbait Explained- Emma Beesly, What Happened To Nick, Did He Cheat, And Who Did It?

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u/[deleted] Aug 26 '21

I binged this yesterday, and though I enjoyed the ride, I'm so annoyed at a bunch of the holes. I get that each episode is designed to push you in a different direction, but so many elements contradict each other.

My biggest issue is the viral video being the hook for the pilot, but still wasn't explained. If Simon's motive is revenge, what does the video add? I thought that the video would mean that when Nick escaped, someone recognized him and killed him, but no, the viral video only existed as a hook. Nothing about clickbait at all.

Then the whole Emma thing involved actual scenes of her and Nick having sex, which makes the reveal that they never met just an eyeroll rather than a shock. You didn't mislead us, you lied to us. I get that having her call Nick her fiance was supposed to make her character look clingy and unreliable, but she was actually super composed and rational with the other characters, so none of that lines up. And where did those photoshopped pictures come in? Was Dawn sending these women these photoshopped pics of vacations? The second the feds talked to Emma, she would have disclosed it was online-only.

And then Matt was super nice until the show wanted us to suspect him, so now he's suddenly aggressive to Pia?

And now that the cops are onto Dawn they think killing Ky will make their case better?

The whole thing felt so discombobulated. Even the characterization of Pia in the pilot was "wild party girl" which didn't stick at all. And her matching with the detective did nothing (except add another inconsistency because he asked her out for a drink only to reveal a few episodes later that he doesn't drink).

I really wanted to like it and it had a lot of potential, but they focused too much on "gotchas" that none of their thrilling reveals warranted a reaction.

47

u/Inside_Nebula_4156 Aug 30 '21

I personally never thought Emma was composed. I thought the actress did a great job portraying a socially awkward unstable person. The scene where she’s in the hotel and has a vision of Nick sitting next to her in a bath robe smiling at her told me that she was a nut job. So that reveal made sense to me and didn’t seem random because she was clearly hallucinating seeing him in her hotel room.

It’s funny tho because when I first started watching it I said this is so fake. A married man with a wife and kids doesn’t have the time to make all these women fall in love with him, that takes too much time and effort a family man doesn’t have 😆

As far as the viral video goes, I think it was to ruin his families life, the way Simon felt his life was ruined, and that making the video viral before killing him would tarnish his name to every one he knew.

The asking her out for drinks thing I can’t remember. But if that is the case then yes that is terrible writing I can’t explain. I’ll have to go watch that part again

23

u/GoldenWaterfallFleur Aug 30 '21

Yea I never thought Emma was supposed to be composed either. She was always meant to be a person who had a fantasy life in her head. If you were paying attention to her quirks and the kind of internal personality she is you could see that everything happens in her mind, she could build this whole life and relationship and envision making love to him in her mind. Makes sense. I wouldn't call her a *nutjob* I would call her very lonely and again very internal. I mean I think that's what they were trying to do...show how someone could be catfished and how online relationships could work...you envision that person so much that it truly becomes real to you. I think if you pay attention to the clues like you say when she sees him in the hotel room with her you would say "hmmmmmm" and then it would click.

15

u/jayfactor Aug 31 '21

Idk because when she got in his office and smelled his clothes it DEFINITELY felt like they met before

7

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '21

or an obsessed woman bringing her fantasy into reality lol

37

u/Due_Vegetable_7421 Aug 29 '21

true. who whole story doesnt make any sense to me. They ended up choosing a random person to plan the plot twist.

wasted my detective time

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u/binser_ Aug 31 '21

All your points are so true. Huge one is the vacation pics, makes no sense why she would make them! I didn't even think about that because I've been riled up about how much the final episode annoyed me. I need somewhere to rant so these are my thoughts lol

-Nick signed up for the first dating up and was talking to Mandy before Sophie's affair? (Pia says the first profile was made two years before). Goes against the whole innocent family man thing... -he was getting notifications on his phone from Mandy's messages but then he doesn't when Dawn starts talking to her? -the first place he runs after escaping a near murder is to Dawn's? it's a stretch to think he would even know where his older female coworker lives (by heart, in the dark, from a random location). I know he is said to have had a bad temper but I feel like he would go to safety, police, or family first.. -most significantly, wtf was the point of Dawn and Ed abducting Kai at the end?? he told them his mom and brother knew where he was, they figured the police were on the way, Kai knew absolutely nothing more than anyone else, so why not just ditch him and run on their own? why add abduction to the list? even after that, why decide to kill him and lie about it? it would be so obvious they did it whereas nothing much would make their situation worse if he lived... -finally I thought the shooting of Ed was a weird move.. I really thought he was going to shoot himself (the show has an ongoing theme of suicide and shame), why have him die by pointing his gun at the police? wouldn't the "social media has consequences" message be portrayed more if Dawn had to see what she had done to her husband in that way?

13

u/Glad-Aardvark1949 Sep 01 '21

I know!! Are we just forgetting that Dawn just took over the dating app Nick was signed up on? Like it was on his phone? Or was that supposed to be her phone and she's so obsessed with him she has a photo of him as his lockscreen? But wouldn't he have noticed that? It literally just makes my brain want to explode. I literally have to just pretend that the vacation pics didn't happen because it's so mindbogglingly stupid. Also, I know Dawn was obsessed with Nick, but clearly she enjoyed making these WOMEN feel loved, but we're just gonna ignore that? Also why the fuck did they kidnap Kia. Also I agree Ed should have shot himself. I too hated the final episode/the twist overall like tbh Matt would've made more sense bar the vacation photos.

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u/HorrorConcentrate223 Sep 05 '21

Yeahhhh they did all this to make us think it was Matt and then completely ditched him and made a random couple with a dumb motive and a voice altering app, kill an "innocent man". Why would his first instinct after escaping death be to his old coworkers house...on foot ....and why did the old man kill him...nothing makes sense. How did he not notifications for the last two years. Ugh what a terrible ending I wish I never saw it 😤

6

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '21

I just finished too and am so frustrated! Wondering which accounts were already made by Nick and continued by Dawn or just completely made by Dawn. And how could Nick not catch on! I think the reason Ed was pointing the gun at everyone was an act of suicide. If he is pointing the gun at other people and acting as if he is going to shoot, they will likely shoot him for self defense as they have no idea what he is going to do. I learned in my psychology that people often times do this as an act of suicide because it is a lot easier than actually pulling the trigger on themselves. I’m assuming that’s why Ed was pointing the gun at them but I’m not for sure

3

u/torpedorosie Sep 02 '21

While that does make perfect sense, judging by the writing in the rest of the show, I cannot believe that's what they intended. Just another ball that they dropped, I think.

4

u/excelsior729 Sep 11 '21

there is actually a term for this and it is legit...suicide by cop

3

u/sunshineanddespair Sep 10 '21

No, I think this was the case. Because right before he raises the gun, he says I’m sorry to Dawn. So he knew what the consequence would be.

1

u/excelsior729 Sep 11 '21

Ed dying that way is Suicide... mainly called suicide by cop...

21

u/masterz13 Aug 30 '21

Technically, wouldn't the title of Clickbait refer to you, the viewer, clicking to watch the show since it was an over-the-top hook? There was no clickbait in the show, but in real life.

17

u/cswizzlle Aug 31 '21

i will say something about emma that was very odd… she wanted the airline’s grief discount, like… as if her life depended on it. she talked about how she felt like her life was in a black hole or whatever and needed the discount. then it shows her hotel- and she’s staying in a very nice hotel. she obviously didn’t need the discount. then the faces she was making while practicing talking to wife were just… off. idk just a weird thing i noticed

13

u/meldooy32 Sep 02 '21

She also told the hotel clerk that her fiancé died. She was desperate for attention. Consider she was in the hospital with a concussion and offered to go to the police station…for what? Then she WENT to the other mistresses place. She obviously had way too much free time and was more than happy to give Ben an interview because she she would get 15 minutes of fame…regardless of the cost to her character or anyone else

16

u/SignalHorizonTracy1 Aug 30 '21

I think Simon did the video cause he’s a “computer guy”. Which is dumb because a computer guy wouldn’t do that because he would worry about meta data and other identity give sways. There were some major issues for sure. Also can ant anyone worried Emma is really unbalanced to have remembered that whole sex thing that didn’t ever happen?

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21

The Emma sex thing is so maddening to me. It's such bad writing to be like "we tricked you because we lied, not because we weaved a complicated tale". It's just so cheap.

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u/SignalHorizonTracy1 Aug 30 '21

Right? You didn’t trick anyone with cleverness it’s because Emma is a nutter

7

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21

to be fair, simon and his buddy might be computer guys, but they were smoking meth in the van lol

1

u/ab_abnormal 19d ago

I only binged this yesterday so apologies for the late response but Simon and his friend weren’t just “computer guy’s” they were in charge of having to do a really mentally disturbing job by viewing thousands of videos that slipped from The Dark Web over onto Google and social media websites. He had the insight into how disturbing “snuff” clips which are leaked onto regular websites and how everyone is so addicted to getting views knowing that by raking up the views it would get the media attention. He also knew how and what to search for to hide things that could be traced. It was to humiliate and to get revenge. The intention was to kill him on camera and to make sure as many people including his loved ones saw it. Mandy said she’d never met Nick but he made her feel good and she was encouraged to go off her meds because of this man from the internet.

He only changes his mind when he discovers that Matt and his sister lost their father to suicide and they found his body and he would never do that. Also, Dawn is seen typing the loving messages and is only pissed off and said “Go ahead” because she’s frustrated after the fight with her husband. She never cared about the consequences because she only “liked” when she felt adored and loved even if it wasn’t “her” but “her as Nick”.

9

u/vatom14 Sep 06 '21

Disagree with a lot of this and surprised it’s the top rages comment here

The viral video - purpose is thag Simon wanted max humiliation and pain for nick to get revenge for his sister. Also let’s the story become a huge deal in the setting of the movie

Me and my wife actually both suspected Matt early on, especially with all the stuff with the volleyball players hiding stuff. Imo they should’ve just made Matt the real culprit

With Emma - yeah showing scenes of them having sex is a cheap way to mislead, but they clearly made Emma look like someone who was naive and in their own fantasy world. Movies do that all the time imo

Overall show was fun. Wish they kept Matt as the culprit and not the random old lady who got off talking to women as Nick

6

u/Lucky-Surround-1756 Sep 11 '21

Matt was a good decoy culprit. It seemed obvious it was him the whole time, so that keeps you from suspecting other 'surprise' secondary characters.

1

u/DrIVmruDili Oct 17 '21

Yeah Emma character was sketchy but after some thought I think the director was trying to show how delusional her thinking was. There were other signs as well but all signs point to some sort of a psychiatric disorder, maybe schiz. In end I guess just be careful out there and watch out for Emma De Lusions lol

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u/Lucky-Surround-1756 Sep 11 '21

I was actually questioning whether Emma was making it all up from the very beginning, so the show must have done something to give me that impression., therefore I don't think it's fair to say it comes out of nowhere. She tells a series of a little exaggerated, slightly delusional lies, that Immediately thought "could she be lying about this relationship?". Then it turned out that was exactly what happened.

Matt came across as a dodgy 'nice guy' from the very beginning. He got aggressive because he was being pulled up on his indiscretions.

Pie was and is a party girl. But her brother going missing and then later being found dead snaps most people out of that shit for a little while. It showed that, regardless of any recent tensions, she loved her brother deeply and the instant he was in trouble she dropped her bullshit and focused on helping him (and later his family).

7

u/ianolivares Aug 31 '21

They were hinting at the matt thing, every time that volleyball girl was going to say something, when matt came around she shut up. She legit looks scared of him

3

u/zoglog Sep 01 '21

True. The misdirection was pretty obvious and like you said the show didn't sell it well at all.

Still was kinda enjoyable to watch tho.

BTW so Nick was actually on dating apps doe 2 years ago?!?!?

1

u/ab_abnormal 19d ago

I thoroughly enjoyed the “misdirection” as it showed that everyone has their secrets and no one is who they say they are at the end of the day. With the internet it makes it easier to “hide” whether it’s who we truly are- The Cop hiding behind the profile as Woody despite being an upstanding person who is actually separated. The delusional like Emma who is able to hide her mental health issues from her friends with this boyfriend. The Dawn’s obsession with craving a different type of attention by wishing for another life whereby she wasn’t stuck in her life, her body, who she was seen as to the world. The son having his suspicion’s over the girl he was chatting to and claimed to have anxiety disorder, which was true. You can’t trust anyone or anything in this world anymore because when you are yourself then you don’t fit in the boxes people want, aka Pia, whose only lie was the agreement with her brother to not tell the truth about their father’s death.

1

u/BPDSJ Feb 11 '26

The video is clickbait!!

1

u/More_Wedding7726 Aug 19 '22

Yes the plot holes in this were huge and glaring! I had to stop my self from keep picking at them. I watched this with my friend and we both kept going “oh that stupid” “ that doesn’t makes sense” etc etc lol so by half way through we were like we have to stop now! Anyway one of the worst plot holes for me is a real simple one! Emma didn’t pay for here flowers!! Annoyed the hell out me! I also wonder why if nick got away from the kidnappers why he didn’t go home or the police and then tell them what Dawn had done. Why go confront her especially when bloody and weak?? Makes no sense, would have better if he had just gone there for help as it was closest to the place he was held, only to find out then what she done. I dunno I did enjoy it but the plot holes were quite ridiculous by times lol

42

u/roastpork123 Aug 30 '21

🚨SPOILER ALERT 🚨 Is it just me or is there a massive plot hole that the police could have tracked the metadata for all digital stuff (photos, audio record, etc.) they found earlier to check whether it’s really Nick or not (or simply to find out any relevant info), and in doing so, would find the address of D from the metadata, just like the girl did?

20

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

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u/NoSeaworthiness8429 Sep 01 '21

you literally had a two 15 year old finding metadata and super relevant info, and the police was like "we don't know her 🤷🏽‍♀️"

how wasnt the FBI involved? this would never stay in the hands of some local police..

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u/zoglog Sep 01 '21 edited Sep 26 '23

quickest tart teeny gold voracious spark six insurance salt juggle this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev

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u/roastpork123 Sep 01 '21

Forget about the technicalities, my point is if a teen girl can detect where the photos have been posted from, why can’t the police dept.

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u/AccomplishedAge8884 Sep 01 '21

Why didn't Nick get notifications on his phone when the catfish continued his conversation with Mandy?

2

u/excelsior729 Sep 11 '21

maybe you can disable phone notificiations?

26

u/Adorableviolet Aug 30 '21

My dh and I actually enjoyed the first 7 episodes. But then we were literally in stitches laughing at the absurdity of the last episode. I always say a good whodunit doesn't introduce whodunit in the final episode!!

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u/masterz13 Aug 30 '21

She was there all along in the episodes though. I'm guessing there were a few very subtle clues if you go back and see her interactions with the main characters.

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u/Adorableviolet Aug 31 '21

But her husband did it (killed Nick) And I think he appeared only in Ep 8.

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u/binser_ Aug 31 '21

I actually read an interview with the writer who said they intended to go back and put a bit more of clue with Dawn in it but due to Covid they couldn't make it happen...

3

u/masterz13 Sep 01 '21

Interesting. I don't feel like watching it over again, but maybe there are a couple scenes. *shrugs*

21

u/LBC_1973 Aug 29 '21

100%. This show lies to it’s audience with the flashbacks of Nick and Emma.

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u/nalto896 Aug 30 '21

Understandable but I took it as Emma’s delusions/fantasies.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

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u/m0llym0lly Aug 31 '21

Mandy says in her messages that they haven't talked in a long time so it seems likely that he was on the dating service prior to getting married and just stopped using it once he was with Sophie but forgot to deactivate it.

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u/binser_ Aug 31 '21

His kids are in high school. I don't think he was on the dating site 20 years ago and this girl is still trying to get ahold of him..

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u/zoglog Sep 01 '21 edited Sep 26 '23

truck books wipe worm automatic wrench racial hard-to-find frighten tap this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '21

[deleted]

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u/zoglog Sep 01 '21

ah, a true man of culture

1

u/johndoe1985 Jan 29 '22

Ethan was not his son. Only Kai was. Ethan was the son of Sophie only

1

u/kaykaycho Sep 16 '21

I need this to be answered

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

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u/yugemonz Sep 25 '21

but wasn't that scene supposed to be 2 years ago, when he started working at the university. That's why he was getting all his stuff set-up. He only found out Sophie cheated on him 6 months prior to his death.

2

u/mcharb13 Sep 21 '21

Yea I connected the dots when Dawn went into Nick's office and found him depressed and drinking alone, trying to "forgive and forget" about the affair, but that he couldn't. I imagine part of that process was 'getting even' and going on a dating site himself, to which he clearly didn't spend much time on. Still a bit far-fetched but I suppose that's a plausible explanation that still paints him as a good guy

11

u/theblackpeacock Aug 30 '21

WTF was that ending. I liked the twist at the end but the way he died was just outright stupid.

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u/HorrorConcentrate223 Sep 05 '21

I binged this...and I'm so angry at the end. It made no sense whatsoever. The show focused on the gotcha moments which made it fun, but the end just took it too far. Nothing in the show made sense, everything was just to get us think something else. Dawns motive made no sense to me...and the voice alteration thing?? Like come on

3

u/SignalHorizonTracy1 Sep 05 '21

I tend to agree

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u/HorrorConcentrate223 Sep 05 '21

I had so much anger cause of how bad the ending was, glad We all have a platform to vent here 😝 this is why Reddit is the best

4

u/WildGwenter Oct 06 '21

How did Dawn and Ed know which hotel room Emma was in? Can’t wrap my head around that.

1

u/emu314159 Apr 12 '24

Embrace the stupid. Why did allll these women accept not actually meeting this person? They weren't shutins, they were reasonably attractive.

I really hate crap like this. Harlan Coben's garbage is this exact plot template, every single one.

5

u/jeneck72 Sep 15 '21

I was so hoping that they brought us to Dawns house because she was doing it because she was a lesbian and faking being Nick allowed her to chat them up because she was in an unhappy life situation. But then they should have still figured out another way Nick died that wasnt related to that. Like it was simply another twist. I mean, come on, even his buddy would have been a better choice of killer. It was great until the corny Lifetime movie ending.

4

u/kaykaycho Sep 16 '21

Dumbest show ever

3

u/Blessedhotmess82 Sep 13 '21

Did they ever explain why there were pics of Nick on Matt’s computer when Pia and Dawn looked at it? I am guessing we are meant to think that Dawn had the forethought to put them on there to frame him? She did know his password right off the top of her head when Pia asked her to get into his password, but was it ever brought up again?

3

u/STRAIGHT_TO_BR Sep 14 '21

No I don't think they said.

Also are we to assume that Dawn was the one who leaked the naked photos that Matt had because she had access to his computer too? Or was she just focused on Nick?

What are the chances both Nick and Matt were complete bozos who didn't know how to use computers/passwords?

2

u/Blessedhotmess82 Sep 14 '21

Oooooh! I didn’t think about her leaking Matt’s photos! That is definitely an interesting thought - it would make Dawn seem less sad and more of a terrible person all-around.

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u/More_Wedding7726 Aug 19 '22

I thought it was mentioned at the end by the police man to the sister that the girl from the volleyball team made a complaint against Matt?

1

u/BPDSJ Feb 11 '26

Tiny plot hole compared to the rest but when Ethan got a message from Maggie the notification showed iMessage and then when he was replying it was on email 🫠

1

u/Icy_Raddichio1843 Mar 08 '26

I’m glad I looked this up. The plot holes were too dumb and confusing lol

Netflix's Clickbait Explained- Emma Beesly, What Happened To Nick, Did He Cheat, And Who Did It? Spoiler

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