Based on a True Story (2025)

• 59 Metascore
• 2023-2024
• 2 Seasons
• Peacock
• Comedy
• TV-MA

• Watchlist

  Where to Watch

A realtor, a former tennis star, and a plumber seize a unique opportunity to capitalize on America's obsession with true crime.

Season 1

Season 1
Season 2

Episode 1

The Great American Artform

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 44 mins

Due partly to work setbacks, Ava and Nate are at a crossroads of their lives and their marriage, they each secretly pondering going outside of their marriage, either in the form of an affair or a complete break. This situation is only exacerbated by having those proverbial midlife crises, and their house literally falling apart in front of their eyes with no money to fix those problems. With those work issues, true murder aficionado Ava wants a side or her next main gig to be a podcast on her latest fixation, a serial killer coined the Westside Ripper. This issue hits a little too close to home when Nate divulges that he recently met who is assumed to be the Ripper's latest victim. But initially having tossed out Ava's idea as ludicrous primarily as a way to make money, things turn on a dime when they have a spin on the issue: what if they truly know the identity of the Ripper?

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Episode 2

BDE

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 29 mins

Nate's confrontation with and proposal to Matt doesn't turn out quite the way he and Ava wanted, which leads to a growing rift between husband and wife about how to proceed from here with the assumption that Matt doesn't know of Ava's involvement in or knowledge of the proposal. Their friends can also see a change in Nate, who may not be able to hold it all together as he fears for himself and Ava as they wait for the deadline Nate had set for Matt to respond and as others come to Nate's attention as knowing his connection to both Chloe and Matt.

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Episode 3

Who's Next

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 29 mins

Matt decides to take charge of the project with Ava and Nate, and knowing their personalities what their supposed strengths but more their weaknesses, especially as individuals, are, which he can exploit for his own desired end. Ava and Nate will have to decide how much to push back in having a clear idea of what they want to do. Having Ava as a known partner provides no comfort to Nate in having her at risk. But Nate will also discover that others may be at risk, despite his and Ava's stipulation that there are to be no more murders, among those in jeopardy being Nate himself in a slightly different vein in Matt having used him as an alibi in a story to the police, Nate not believing he being able to lie about said alibi if asked by the police. What Ava and Nate also believe puts their planned schedule at risk is the Lipinski Sisters, of the Sisters in Crime podcast, having announced their next season which will be dedicated to the Westside Ripper.

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Episode 4

The Survivor

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 26 mins

Ava, Nate and Matt are attending CrimeCon in Las Vegas in large part for Ava and Nate to learn from those in the business, stemming in large part from the seeming failure of their first installment of the podcast. Beyond the convention itself, Ava and Nate reminisce about past trips to Vegas in trying once again to get their somewhat stalled marriage back on track. While Ava can geek-out with all the other true crime fanatics at the convention, a more worried Nate fears that he, as he puts it, sold his soul to the devil for nothing referring to that failure. They decide they need to learn from the most successful in attending the Lipinski Sisters' session. One of the speakers at that session colors the nature of the rest of their stay in Vegas: Dahlia Stone, the purported "one who got away" from the Westside Ripper and who is publicizing her book about that experience. While he promised to Ava and Nate no more killing, Matt may be tempted to commit one more murder, namely of Dahlia, regardless of if she really was one of his victims. If she was, he may want to finish what he didn't finish the first time around. And if she is lying about being one of his victims, he may be angry about she profiting off his back with those lies.

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Episode 5

Ted Bundy Bottle Opener

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 28 mins

With Dahlia Stone's death, Ava begins to spiral in fearing being implicated in the death by being associated to the murderer. Nate, however, is the calming factor in this instance in heeding Matt's warning, upon he vowing that he didn't kill her, that they can't act irrationally, such as running as Ava wants, to bring attention to themselves. Regardless, Ava and Nate can't be certain that Matt is telling them the truth. Trying to relax as per Matt's suggestion, Ava and Nate allow Ruby and Carlos and a few mind altering substances to overtake their stay in Vegas. As Matt begins to wander around CrimeCon, he begins to learn just how much others are cashing in on his notoriety, which may fuel his anger to kill again. In the process, what he learns for his own benefit is that the Westside Ripper has to remain current and relevant.

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Episode 6

I Love You, Buzzfeed

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 30 mins

Ava, Nate and Matt are on a high following CrimeCon and Matt's stunt which has led to Based on a True Story getting millions of downloads, further leading to potential millions for them and a sense of financial freedom that Ava and Nate haven't felt in quite a while. While Ava and Nate are now happy with the trajectory of the project, Matt wants more, implying in making it more successful that he wants to break his vow of no more killing. Out of an outward sense of supporting their cause, Ruby and Simon invite a wide array of friends and friends of friends to the silent charity auction they are hosting at their house, Ruby who invites Matt through Ava and Nate, and much to Ava's surprise Carlos who Ava sees as Ruby flaunting her affair in Simon's face. But as the party progresses, things have the potential to go off the rails, not only with Matt and Carlos being there and the implications of their presence, but in Nate's fixation on the dog he and Ava gave to Simon and Ruby because they could not afford holistically to keep him, a dog that Simon obviously adores but that Nate now wants back in their new financial situation, but more importantly with Ava unaware that she lost her burner phone in Las Vegas, it which is now in Ruby's possession.

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Episode 7

National Geographic

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 23 mins

Ava, Nate and Matt have to regroup following the very public and vocal backlash against the podcast which has led to the major platforms refusing to broadcast it. These problems have led to Ava and Nate's marital problems resurfacing, including they coming face-to-face with the primary extramarital sexual fantasies each has, Ava with her client Ryan, and Nate with Ruby, the latter arguably more present in Ruby knowing about the podcast and wanting an "in" especially with her own problems with Simon and he having driven Carlos away. They have to decide how and if they move forward, and if they will include Ruby and her idea. Regardless of Ava and Nate, Matt, using the info from his contact at CrimeCon, is feeling the want to keep the podcast fresh by including new content, which in practical terms means killing again, which in turn brings up that as a need in his life.

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Episode 8

The Universe

Thu, Jun 8, 2023 23 mins

Ava and Nate are in a tailspin with the dead body of someone they know literally placed on their doorstep by Matt, and while he does have a compulsion to kill and in his mind killing is for the good of the podcast in the direction he sees it going with or without Ava and Nate, Matt believes he did have good reason for killing this time. Leaving the body with Ava and Nate is arguably to demonstrate to them that he is the one in control regardless of what they may believe. Disposing of the body, while already difficult for Ava and Nate, is made even more difficult in the position Matt places them in in they needing to show their friends that everything is normal in their lives. The one upside may be they coming together to deal with the situation as husband and wife, especially important in they imminently becoming parents for the first time.

Where to Watch