These days, television shows are either hyped to the point where you have a diary date set for months (see: Stranger Things) or quietly land on streaming services, with word-of-mouth slowly building momentum as we absent-mindedly press play, then discover a new gem. BBC One & Amazon Studio’s Chloe (currently streaming on Prime Video) falls into the latter category, and as someone who consumed all six episodes in one 48-hour period, it’s my duty to tell you just how damn good it is.
Chloe follows the mediocre life of Becky Green (Erin Doherty), a young woman who jumps from temp job to temp job as she struggles to care for her mentally unwell mother. Becky seems to have no life outside of work and home, and immerses herself in the social media account of her childhood friend Chloe Fairbourne whenever she gets a chance. Obsessed with Chloe’s seemingly-perfect life, Becky is shocked to see a post one day announcing Chloe’s death, seemingly by suicide. Becky’s obsession with what happened leads to her developing a fake identity names “Sasha” to infiltrate the life Chloe left behind — one where she starts to unravel the perfect exterior and finds not all was as it seemed in her old friend’s world.
The mystery at the heart of Chloe is the driving force of the series, and the pace is smooth and fast. Showrunner Alice Seabright could have stretched this complex story out over more episodes, but keeping the series limited to six maintains momentum. You won’t find any boring episodes in Chloe – everything has purpose, with each episode bringing you closer to the truth, sending you on red herring chases along the way to keep things interesting. This show will keep you guessing, but every wrong turn we take with Becky still leads us closer to the truth.
You may remember Doherty from her scene-stealing performance as Princess Anne in The Crown. Becky is a world away from Anne, and proves that Doherty’s acting talent is anything but limited. She is pitch-perfect as the troubled Becky, making us feel both empathetic and alarmed as we watch this woman walk the finest of lines as she weaves the false world of ‘Sasha’ while simultaneously playing detective in what soon becomes a very dangerous world. This series needed a strong lead to work, and it landed it with Doherty, who vibrates with anxiety as she dodges exposure in Chloe’s world.
It’s also a timely look at how we consume social media, and what we take from it. Becky’s obsession might be extreme, but it’s not too far away from our evening doom-scrolling, where we make judgements about acquaintance’s lives as we hover over their sun-drenched holiday photos and romantic wedding videos. Like in real life, the reality of Chloe’s world is a far cry from Becky’s interpretation of it, and the message
What really works here is the limited nature of Chloe. The plot wraps in episode six, and that’s exactly how mystery-based thrillers should be – the trend of leaving them open to create season after season never works. Even shows like The Sinner and True Detective where new mysteries are introduced each season, crash and burn at some point. Mystery-thrillers work best when they are, at heart, a lengthy feature film run episodically.
So if you’re lounge-bound this weekend and want to immerse yourself in a series, Chloe is it. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Stream Chloe now on Prime Video.
