Dhruv Trivedi
Netflix’s ‘Clickbait’ is a tense mystery thriller miniseries that opens with the kidnapping of Nick Brewer. To make things murkier, a video is then posted online in which Nick holds up placards saying that he is an abuser of women and that he is also responsible for the death of a woman. As the story delves deeper into the serpentine mystery, a mysterious woman, Sarah Burton, appears to have a connection with Nick but is only seen in flashbacks throughout the show. In case you’ve been wondering who exactly Sarah Burton is, what her connection to Nick is, and why we only see her in flashbacks, we’re here to clear things up. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who is Sarah Burton?
Sarah Burton is originally introduced as Maggie Oxley, which is the name she uses on her online dating profile through which she meets Nick (who similarly uses the alias Jeremy on his profile). Her whereabouts and real name are first discovered by the nosy journalist Ben Park, who is following Nick’s story and trying to find as many of his online “affairs” as possible. Ben, however, is soon shocked to learn that Sarah has been dead for 4 months. He then breaks into Sarah’s brother Simon’s house and steals her phone, and gradually, Sarah’s tragic tale unfolds.
What Sarah doesn’t realize is that she is neither speaking to Nick nor Jeremy but to Dawn Gleed, who has used Nick’s pictures to create a fake profile under the alias Jeremy. She continues to fall deeper in love with the online persona and seems happier than usual, even to her protective brother Simon who warns her against falling for strangers on the internet. When things begin to go downhill between Sarah and the person she thinks is Jeremy, disaster occurs.
How Did Sarah Burton Die?
Sarah seemingly suffered from mental illness and depression and found solace in online conversations with Jeremy. She seemed overjoyed when, through their online conversations, he professed his love for her but was then crushed when he became indifferent towards her. This, of course, was because Dawn, who was the person controlling Jeremy’s profile, was by then enamored by another woman and was no longer interested in continuing her conversations with Sarah. Even when Sarah threatened to take drastic measures if Jeremy didn’t respond to her, Dawn (as Jeremy) merely brushed her off and told her to go ahead with whatever she was planning to do. Tragically, this sent the mentally fragile Sarah over the edge, and she committed suicide.
Sarah’s suicide is actually the first in a series of disastrous repercussions of online activity initiated by Dawn Gleed. Sarah’s brother Simon is crushed by the death of his sister and swears revenge on the man who drove her to it. Not being able to find Jeremy, he tracks the pictures on the fake profile, which eventually leads him to the real Nick, who has, in fact, never even met Sarah. Simon then kidnaps Nick with the intention of killing him. The vengeful brother is also the one who films and posts the viral video of Nick that makes the whole case blow up and become sensationalized.
Read More: Suicide Movies on Netflix
