Summary
Any doubts as to whether Nick was a good guy seem to be squashed by the journalist’s findings in the latest episode. Plus, “The Reporter” introduces a possible new motive for killing Nick.
This recap of the Netflix series Clickbait episode 5, “The Reporter,” contains significant spoilers.
From the reveals in the last four episodes, Clickbait has told us that Nick was a serial cheater; but was he a murderer? Episode 5 of Clickbait starts with Emma’s claim that Nick was going to leave Sophie. Meanwhile, journalist Ben Park is thrilled at interviewing Emma. His boss Dakota, though, wants an interview with Sophie. That’s when Ben will hit prime time, so she says anyway.
Clickbait episode 5 recap
Clearly desperate to make prime time, Ben sneaks into the family home by posing as a delivery man. After Pia and Sophie spot him, he tells them that Emma is talking to the press. He tells them to be Nick’s voice. Det Amir decides to allow the interview to go ahead; he thinks it may flush out the killer.
Ben next decides to visit Nick’s workplace to see if Nick had hurt any students. He learns from Jenny that Nick argued with a fellow student, Tara Wilson (Grace Quealy), who then quit the volleyball team a week later. He tracks down Tara, but she doesn’t reveal anything except “Jenny doesn’t know shit”.
Returning to the office, Sophie is there, and she has an attorney. Sophie is threatening to sue the news channel after Ben gained access to her home under false pretenses unless the interview with Emma gets stopped. Whilst Dakota states that there is no way the Emma interview will stop, if Sophie did an interview, it would reduce the importance of Emma’s interview. Sophie reluctantly agrees. Bad news for Ben, Jeannine (Kate Lister) gets the interview.
With help from his boyfriend Cameron, Ben finds one of Nick’s deactivated dating apps. It leads him to Maggie Oxley. Although Maggie turns out to be a cat, he eventually finds the woman he is looking for, Sarah Oxley (Taylor Ferguson). But she died a few months ago. Instead of reporting the lead to the police, Ben decides to keep the information to himself.
Tracking the story, Ben sneaks into an apartment that belongs to Sarah’s brother Simon (Daniel Henshall). Simon returns, and Cameron is unable to warn Ben before Simon spots him. Ben is chased by Simon before Cameron can successfully drive them away. Ben? He loves it. Cameron, on the other hand? He’s mortified. “Your reaction is what scared me, there are other human beings on the other side of your stories”, Cameron tells Ben before deciding to stay with his parents.
Hacking into Sarah’s phone that he stole from the apartment, Ben finds messages from Jeremy, who ended a relationship with her. Taking the information to Dakota, Ben states that he will take the story to another channel unless he is the one who gets to interview Sophie. Ben gets exactly what he wants.
Ben’s hit the Prime Time. He’s all sass as he heads to the interview. Questions are raised about Nick’s possible violence and affairs and his emotional abuse towards Emma. But the interview turns heated when using the information he had found on the phone, Ben tells Sophie that the other woman, Sarah, had taken her own life, and the final conversation between Nick and Sarah is pretty damming. After reading the conversation Sophie decides to storm out of the interview.
After the interview, Ben returns to his flat, and Cameron is there. So Ben states that with his job, there’s collateral damage, aka people. Cameron is disgusted and tells Ben to hold himself to a higher standard. As Cameron leaves, Ben acts the tough guy. But as soon as Cameron is gone, Ben breaks down.
The ending
The interview airs on TV. A reenactment of the conversation between Nick and Sarah gets played. Clickbait reveals that in the final conversation before Sarah’s death, Nick told her to “do it, go ahead I don’t care”. If we take the ending at face value, it seems that Nick’s cruel messages led to Sarah’s suicide. Maybe the YouTubers were right and Nick’s death was a revenge killing.
