Part 3
Kayla lost her dad 14 years ago. That’s a long time to carry a hole in your heart. Then two years ago, out of the blue, she gets an email from a woman named Courtney who claims she can communicate with the dead. Specifically, with Kayla’s dad. And Courtney knows things. The brand of cigarettes he smoked. How he liked his cheeseburger—ketchup only. His bologna sandwiches. His favorite ice cream. Little, mundane details that nobody on this earth should know. Kayla says it herself: “Nobody on this earth should really know some of the certain things that she knows.”
Now, put yourself in Kayla’s shoes. What would you do if someone knew things only your dead parent knew? Would you believe? Would you run? Would you do exactly what Kayla did—hold on tight and hope it’s real? I don’t know about you, but I’d be a mess. And that’s the power of this episode. It forces you to sit with that question, and it doesn’t let you off the hook with a simple answer.
The transcript doesn’t give us a clean resolution. Courtney seems sincere. She’s not asking for money—in fact, she sends Kayla stuff. She’s not trying to meet up, which raises red flags for Nev and Max, but she’s also not demanding anything. Kayla is torn, clearly wanting to believe but haunted by doubt. And Nev and Max? They’re unnerved. You can hear it in their voices. This isn’t the usual catfish hunt. There’s no villain twirling a mustache. There’s just a woman who claims to talk to the dead and a woman who desperately wants it to be true.
Compare this to other Catfish episodes and you start to see why it stands out. Season 2’s “Mike and Felicia” had the fake model—classic catfish, clear deception, clear motive. Season 4’s “Miracle and Javon” had the fake pregnancy—emotional manipulation, but still a tangible lie. Season 7’s “Dylan and Ally” was the long con, a years-long deception with a payoff. But this one? The alleged catfish isn’t asking for anything. No money, no gifts, no relationship. That’s what makes it so memorable. It’s not about what Courtney wants from Kayla. It’s about what Kayla wants from Courtney: a connection to her dad.
And that brings us to the ethics. Is Courtney exploiting Kayla’s grief? Or is she genuinely trying to help? The show doesn’t answer. It just shows the conversation. That’s the point. The discomfort is the takeaway. We’re left to wrestle with it ourselves. Maybe Courtney is a con artist preying on the vulnerable. Maybe she’s a true believer who thinks she’s doing good. Maybe she’s something in between. The episode doesn’t judge. It just sits with the ambiguity, and that’s what makes it so unsettling.
I’ve seen every episode of Catfish, and I’ve never seen one that made me feel this way. It’s not just a mystery; it’s a meditation on loss and belief. It asks you to consider what you would do if you were Kayla. Would you meet Courtney? Would you cut her off? Would you cling to every word? I don’t know. And that’s the point.
If you think you’ve seen every kind of Catfish, watch this one—it’ll mess with your head in a way the fake model episodes never did.
Next time, we’re breaking down the Catfish episode where the catfish turned out to be someone in the same room—and Nev never saw it coming.
