As the finale of Kidnapped begins, viewers are shown video clips of news reports. Adrian (Nigel Lindsay) asks Chloe Ayling (Nadia Parkes) how she’s holding up. It’s the last week of the trial. After the verdict, everyone will see what Lukasz is and what he did to her. Chloe wants to get back to work. Adrian is going to help her with a career, but she cannot return to glamor modeling. He has one idea and offers to set up an introduction for her. In court, Lukasz Herba (Julian Swiezewski) says he met Chloe on Facebook in March 2015. He claims they visited her in London and had dinner together. After the visit, the friendship only continued on Facebook. Lukasz says Chloe had seen a film and thought it could be useful to make her famous.

Chloe meets Ashley to talk about being on Celebrity Big Bother’s The Eye of the Storm. Ashley (Michelle Asante) says they’re looking for cast members who were caught up in a media scandal. Chloe doesn’t think what happened to her was a scandal. Adrian argues it was a witch hunt. Ashley suggests she could use this to reintroduce herself. Lukasz says they met in Paris and he told her about his plan for faking her abduction. She didn’t agree because she didn’t like the place he rented. Lukasz came up with a better plan and wanted to make a lot of money. He says Chloe wore handcuffs to take photos that were never taken. Lukasz claims the balaclavas never existed. He says they drove to the Turin residence together in a vehicle. Lukasz explains that they went out several times to buy items, but Chloe usually stayed in the car.

Lukasz says they decided to put an end to it because the media didn’t seem interested in the case. He alleges that Chloe did the math to find out how much she could earn from the kidnapped. Lukasz was convinced she’d share the money with him. Chloe complains about his story to Francesco Pesce (Lorenzo Richelmy) when he calls. She hopes no one believes him. Francesco reminds her this is a process although he’s convinced it’ll work out. A neighbor, Pellegrino, is questioned about living close to the Turin residence. He says he saw the man and woman together. They seemed like they knew each other. A man working at a local store is also questioned. He remembers Lukasz being with a woman once. He thought they were a couple. Chloe is harassed and accused of letting an innocent man go to prison. She goes home and looks at the latest news reports before calling Adrian.

She delays meeting the rest of the Big Brother team. Bea (Christine Tremarco) comforts Chloe. The boys down the road harass Chloe at night. She tells Bea not to call the police. The court watches Chloe’s video deposition. Chloe goes to a salon. While she’s there, she sees a magazine with her story in it. Lukasz is asked about injecting Chloe with Ketamine and sending her photos to Phil. Lukasz claims she was conscious and posing at the time. He tells Prosecutor Storari (Sergio Romano) that Chloe injected herself. When asked where she injected herself, Lukasz changes his mind and says it was in powder form and she snorted it. He’s asked about Michal. Lukasz says he thought it was real at first. Storari asks why Michal didn’t ask why the victim was sitting and chatting with the kidnapper.

Lukasz says his brother already started asking questions, but he told him that everything was under control and he knew the girl. Storari catches him in a lie. He also notes the marks on Chloe’s wrists. Lukasz has to admit that Chloe wore handcuffs. Then, emails between Lukasz and Michal are read in court. They talk about cleaning the trunk because her hair cannot be found. The email also mentions removing Chloe’s handcuffs. Before long, the prosecutor asks for a psychiatric report because the versions Lukasz tells are absurd. Chloe learns the request was denied because the court believes Lukasz to be cognitive. In 2015, Lukasz friended Chloe on Facebook and built the Black Death website. In April 2017, Chloe met Lukasz for a photo shoot in Paris that was canceled at the last minute. A month before the abduction, Lukasz told Michal to buy a big travel bag and he knew what for.

The judge continues going over the evidence against Lukasz and Michal. A conversation between Lukasz and his mother from prison further incriminates Michal. During the call, Lukasz asks her to tell his brother to delete all of his received messages and empty the bin. In his online publications, Lukasz described himself as a professional killer and former Mossad agent. Lukasz is found guilty of kidnapping and extortion. He’s sentenced to 16 years and nine months. Chloe learns about the verdict. She’s told Lukasz is going to prison for a long time. Some people still doubt Chloe’s story even though her kidnapper was sentenced to prison. Chloe’s mom tells her to be herself before she goes on Celebrity Big Brother. She records a promo for the show. Despite the change, it appears Chloe still can’t forget her kidnapping.

In 2018, Chloe was the second contestant to be evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother House. In 2019, a court of appeals reduced Lukasz’s sentence by 4 years and 8 months for treating Chloe “compassionately”.

 

Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story Review

The finale of Kidnapped pretty much did what it needed to do and not much else. The series started exceptionally strong with the retelling of the kidnapping, Chloe’s time in captivity, and Lukasz’s mind games. Everything after that was a bit of a formality, but that seems to be the case with most shows based on true crimes.

Nevertheless, the first three episodes were strong enough to draw me in and make me want to finish the entire thing. The performances were solid from each member of the cast, especially during Chloe’s kidnapping and captivity. Although the story focuses solely on Chloe Ayling, it still has a message that should resonate with almost everyone.

After all, this could happen to anyone and they could find themselves at the center of a media storm being wrongfully accused of something or another. The series wasn’t bloated and had very little filler. With 30-minute episodes, it always got straight to the point and never became exhausting.

It’s easy to appreciate that Kidnapped simply told the story without adding anything political which is pretty rare nowadays. It was a good watch even if it did begin to sputter near the end. The finale scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Kidnapped can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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