REVIEW: ‘Chloe’ Never Stops Twisting

CONTENT WARNING: Chloe deals with suicide and domestic violence.

An obsession, a suicide, changing identity, and a whole bunch of tension spread across eight episodes, Chloe is a trip and a half. A co-production between BBC One, Mam Tor Productions, and Amazon Studios, Chloe is created, written, and directed by Alice Seabright and stars Erin Doherty, Brandon Micheal Hall, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Billy Howle, and Jack Farthing.

A thrilling drama, the series follows Becky Green (Doherty), who is obsessed with stalking her childhood friend Chloe Fairbourne’s (Poppy Gilbert) perfectly curated social media presence. The obsession is one that isn’t played as cute, ever. Instead, the tone is immediately set as something deeper, whether it’s jealousy or something more hidden in the past. By stalking Chloe’s feed, Becky sees her charmed life, her adoring husband, and her circle of high-achieving friends. The perfection lies in stark contrast with Beck’s life, where she cares for her mother, who has early-onset dementia and is struggling to get by both in love and life.

When Chloe suddenly dies, Becky assumes a new identity and infiltrates the enviable lives of Chloe’s closest friends to find out what happened to her. Through her alter-ego Sasha, Becky becomes a powerful, transgressive heroine that she’s only dreamed about before. A popular, well-connected “someone” with a life–and loves–that are far more exciting and addictive than the “no-one” she is. However, the pretense soon obscures and conflates reality, and she discovers Chloe’s real-life was not what was portrayed online. As Becky gets deeper into her con and Chloe’s inner circle closes in, she risks losing her identity and her life completely in the game she is playing.

Chloe is a series of misdirections, shattered genre expectations, and an unraveling mystery that heads into the deep dark of interpersonal relationships. The nature of the series also means that going into it with as little revealed as possible is the best way to watch it. With moments that made me gasp and threw me over the edge, there is a complex moral dilemma with rooting for our lead.

Becky is trying to figure out what happened to her old friend, but the way she follows this path is borderline terrifying, at least in the beginning. For about half the season, Becky isn’t just unlikeable, but she’s outright scary. Her ability to manipulate and lie as Sasha, peaking into the grief of Chloe’s friends, is an unsettling type of voyeurism. It’s the turn in the last third of the season as the truth behind Chloe’s suicide comes to light that she begins to become sympathetic. As the danger she’s in rises and the closer she gets to being discovered, the story only gets better.

To be entirely honest, the first couple of episodes of the series are slow. They’re weird and interesting, but the pace makes it hard to be completely immersed. However, once the series picks up, it doesn’t stop moving forward quickly as the lies build on each previous one.

The success of Chloe is thanks to the way that Alice Seabright builds tension and reveals secrets. That said, it’s Erin Doherty’s chilling and vulnerable performance as Becky/Sasha that makes this series stand out. A must-watch for audiences who love mysteries and thrillers, Chloe is yet another hit for Prime Video in 2022.

Chloe is streaming exclusively on Prime Video now. 

Kate Sánchez

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles.