The TV series is called Clickbait, which is ironic, because I clicked on the title to see what it was about, without remembering that Netflix tries to trick you: clicking on the icon starts the darn thing playing, instead of linking to more information, like every other streaming service.
But it showed a birthday party, and a guy who I thought was Faly Rakotohavana of Unprisoned saying "This present is from me and Eric." Obviously a gay couple. So I kept watching
Scene 1: It's an old lady's birthday, so the gift-givers are her adult children. The only other male at the table is a middle-aged man, so Eric may be Faly's father rather than his boyfriend. The short-blond-haired Pia gets very upset because the siblings were supposed to go together and buy Mom a bread maker, but they went behind her back and bought her a planter instead.
Mom says that it's ok, she loves the planter, but Pia starts yelling at Eric and the young lady on the other side of the table, probably her sister: "You always do this! You try everything in your power to destroy me! This is the worst night of my life, and it's all your fault!"
"The planter is fine, dear..."
"This isn't about you! It's about how those two hate me so much that they've sabotaged every plan I've ever made!" She runs outside and screams in the middle of the street as a car pulls up. Uh-oh, she's going to be kidnapped.
Cut to Pia walking through downtown Oakland, past a kissing gay couple. Eric texts to see if she's ok: "Sure, I just need to get drunk and hook up to try to forget this awful night!" She drops into a nightclub to dance crazily.
Eric and Faly appear to see if she's ok. Then they dance together.
Update: according to the IMDB, they are new characters played by Enzo Nazario and Kashmir Sinnamon. The director just thought it was a good idea to cast lookalikes of Eric and Faly, and have them ask if she's ok minutes after Eric asks if she's ok.
Scene 2: Drunkenness accomplished, Pia goes into the nightclub restroom, sits on the toilet, and looks at a dating app -- with both men and women as possible matches. She chooses Woody, age 36, .6 miles away. Uh-oh, he's going to stalk her.
They make a date to get a drink right now. She gets up, and -- splash!
Scene 3: Home to bury the cell phone in rice. She then takes some pills, eats yogurt marked "Elli," masturbates to porn, watches cute-cat videos....
Morning: driving to work, more pills, having to take over the phlebotomy for a nurse who can't find a vein: "Pia always gets me the first time," the cute patient Vincent, played by Jack Walton, tells her. I definitely don't want someone as unstable as Pia drawing my blood. He offers her some crazy youtube videos, like "Ghost Dog Caught on Camera."
Then a Vlogger shows a video she received of a guy holding a sign, "I Abuse Women." If it gets 5,000,000 views, he's going to die. Wait -- it's Eric, the guy from the head of the table last night! I thought this was going to be about Pia being stalked by a hookup.
Scene 4: Pia tries to call Nick -- who the heck is Nick? -- but he's not picking up. Then Sophie, either her mother or her sister, but she's in class all morning. So she drives to the University of Oakland, where Nick works, and shows the video to Matt the Volleyball Coach. "Did he come in this morning?" Matt checks: nope.
Next stop: the Balfour school, where Sophie works. Chased by the security guard, into the classroom where Sophie -- who was at the birthday party -- is lecturing on same-sex attraction in Twelfth Night.
Sophie sees the video. "But I saw him leave for work this morning." Ok, Nick is the one they were calling Eric last night, married to the sister, Sophie, with the teen or young adult as their son.
Scene 5: Pia and Wife Sophie go to the police, where they are interviewed by Detective Amiri (Phoenix Raie, who becomes a main character). More details: Eric/Nick is a physical therapist. He took his bike to work. About the sign saying "I abuse women"? "No idea. Eric/Nick would never abuse anyone." Pia seems fully competent today. Last night at the birthday party, she was full-on bipolar and probably schizophrenic.
They go home. Faly's character, Kai, and a teenager named Ethan are watching the video. They say that everybody at their high school knows about it. It's at 300,000 views! Pia tells them "Under no circumstances click on the link." A few won't make a difference in five million, lady.
Left: Ethan is played by Camaron Engels
Scene 6: Pia goes back to her apartment and retrieves her cell phone from the rice. Um...a message from Eric/Nick at 1:25 am. He's sorry about blowing up at the party, and there's something going on that they should talk about. Wait -- Pia is the one who blew up, unless she's an unreliable narrator.
She flashes back to a few days ago, asking Eric/Nick if something is wrong: he's all quiet and brooding.
More misdirection and some butts after the break
