The Son
Episode 7 of Clickbait Season 1 shifts the focus once more, this time to Nick’s son, Ethan. After what happened with his Dad, things are awkward around the school campus. His friend Rose blanks him while Kai ends up in a fight with one of the kids there, who antagonizes their family. These issues are eventually discussed at dinner that night, as Pia drops the bombshell about Simon not being the killer. She’s exhibiting doubts about what’s going on and even more so regarding Sarah’s death. Given Nick was the one who found their father after he killed himself, it’s not the sort of threat he’d make. So who’s catfishing Nick… and why? Speaking of catfishing, Ethan continues to talk to his online pal, Alison. They send photos to one another but it’s not enough to shake the niggling feeling that something isn’t quite right here. Not long after, Ethan receives a message from Mandy Harrison. It turns out she and Nick exchanged a lot of messages but never actually met in person. This certainly throws a big spanner in the works and changes what we thought we knew about the guy. Pia gets nowhere with Amiri either, given the police have wrapped up the case, charged Simon and moved on to the next big case. Pia is not ready to move on so quickly though and decides that Emma Beesly is the key to all of this. Ethan eventually calls out Al_2005, questioning whether this is even real. He’s encouraged to head up to a pretty shifty neighbourhood, where Alison is, in fact, real. She definitely doesn’t look in a great way though and admits that she’s currently taking the semester off. She reached out to Ethan originally on the back of what happened to Nick, finding comfort in their grief together. While they talk, Alison suggests that Ethan get in contact with Emma Beesly, especially given the family link. Playing an audio recording of Nick, it’s finally revealed that no, Emma didn’t actually meet Nick. Tellingly, Al records this entire confession. Meanwhile, Pia heads off to visit Tara and asks why she quit the volleyball team. Jenny’s rumour about their fight is completely fabricated too, when in reality Nick tried to keep her on the team. Tara’s issues were actually with an ex, who posted pics of her online while Nick was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tara’s ex? Matt Aldin. Pia is shocked, and takes that knowledge with her to Matt’s office, where she finds explicit photos of Tara on his computer. She also finds different shots of Nick and Sophie too. Elsewhere, Sophie decides to leave town with the kids. Kai is understandably unhappy with this decision while Ethan is stuck in the middle of all this. It’s here he reveals the truth to his Mum regarding the video recording and Emma’s confession. Kai just so happens to overhear all this from the doorway and heads up to Ethan’s computer. In doing so, a message pings up from Alison. She’s found the catfisher’s address. With Kai gone from his room, off with a baseball bat to find the catfisher, and Pia over at Matt’s house, it slowly starts to become clear that Matt isn’t the final puzzle piece in all this. So if Matt isn’t actually the culprit here…who is?
The Episode Review
Where was this drama 4 episodes back?! I get that the show was building up a bigger picture and acting as a bit of a slow-burn but the pacing here, mixed with the numerous twists and turns, makes for a much more compelling show. The shifted perspective to Ethan is a good one and learning that Al actually isn’t a catfisher and instead one of the students with social anxiety is a nice touch too. We haven’t seen an awful lot of the kids this season but this chapter does help to shed light on both Ethan and Kai, rather than feeling like a random shoehorned chapter like the one involving the reporter, Ben. There are a lot of suspects that could be responsible now and the cliffhanger ending will have you itching to press next episode to find out who’s responsible!
