"Behind Her Eyes" and the batshit banoodles ending
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Y’all know that the easiest way to get me to watch something is to tell me it has a bonkers ending or a ridiculous twist. And that is exactly why I watched all six episodes of the Netflix miniseries Behind Her Eyes over the weekend. I was absolutely not disappointed in receiving a ridiculous twist, but HOO BOY it’s fucking stupid. I could not stop laughing throughout the final two episodes. I’ll include some spoilers later on in this, but I’ll give you fair warning.
Based on Sarah Pinborough novel, the set-up of Behind Her Eyes initially seems like your typical love triangle thriller: Single mother Louise (Simona Brown) meets the handsome David (Tom Bateman) at a bar and they share a kiss before he runs off — but uh oh, turns out he’s her new boss AND he’s married to the beautiful Adele (Eve Hewson)! To make matters more complicated, Louise ends up meeting Adele accidentally and they form a secret friendship as well, and soon Louise finds herself split between them and wondering what each one is hiding.
The first four episodes build the tension fairly well, and it’s clear something’s not quite right with Adele. The main story is intercut with flashbacks to a teenage Adele in a mental health facility following her parents’ death in a house fire (David had been driving by at the time of the fire and saved Adele). Teen Adele makes friends with another patient, Rob, a young gay man who comes from a much lower economic situation than Adele — she teaches him how to lucid dream to help control his night terrors.
In the present, it’s clear that Rob has been missing for quite some time, and Adele gives Louise his old journal from the facility and also teaches Louise the same thing. It’s not quite clear why Rob is such a big part of this story for several episodes, other that we can tell Adele was a much livelier and delightful presence in her teens, and that something changed after his disappearance.
And then, in episode five — OF SIX, mind you — shit gets bonkers.
🚨🚨🚨Okay, for real, spoilers to follow — if you’d rather experience the twists for yourself, stop reading now. 🚨🚨🚨
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In episode five, we discover that once Adele and Rob got really good as lucid dreaming, they were able to ASTRAL PROJECT. Yeah, out of nowhere (it could be argued the lucid dreaming was a lead-up to this, but come on), the supernatural is brought into this. And yes, in the present, Louise realizes she can astral project, too, and that Adele has been using this power to spy on her and David — essentially, she’s been aware of their affair the entire time and has been manipulating the entire situation.
OH BUT WE’RE NOT DONE.
David reveals to Louise that he returned to Adele’s estate one morning to find her distraught — she and Rob had done heroin the night before, but Rob had overdosed, and in her panic, she’d thrown his body down the well. Since nobody knew Rob was there, she and David decide to never tell anyone and put it behind them. But now, David just wants away from her, and decides to go back up to Scotland to tell the police everything.
When Louise reveals to Adele what David is doing (stupid, stupid move), Adele writes a suicide note, confessing to the entire crime and absolving David, texts Louise a goodbye message, shoots herself up with heroin, and sets her house on fire. For some reason, Louise DOESN’T call the fire department, but instead runs to the house herself (STUPID). She decides to astral project herself into the house (why??? ) and when she gets up to Adele’s room, her spirit enters Adele’s body.
HOWEVER, Adele has also been astral projecting, and takes the opportunity to take over Louise’s body. She walks inside, where Louise-in-Adele’s-body can’t move because of the heroin, and reveals that she plans to take over Louise’s life now. Louise-in-Adele dies of an overdose, and Adele-in-Louise drags her body outside and puts on a convincing performance for the officials.
AND THEN we flash back again to teenage Adele and Rob deciding to switch bodies. But turns out Rob has pulled the same thing — he’s given his own body some heroin, and when Adele enters his body, Adele-as-Rob can’t move, and Rob-as-Adele shoots her up with more heroin, killing her. So it turns out that Rob has been inside Adele’s body this whole time, and has been doing whatever it takes to keep David.
And it works! Rob-as-Louise marries David, who is none the wiser that anything’s changed, and the only one who suspects anything is off is Louise’s son, Adam, who is too scared to say anything. THE END.
I almost appreciate the absolute gall of this ending. It is a big-ass swing and really just goes for it. But you can’t introduce a supernatural element to your story in the second-to-last episode!! Lucid dreaming might be an actual thing, but astral projection is not (some might disagree with me on that point but I’m not buying it). Craig watched the first few episodes with me but then had to do some work, and when he came back in later, he found me laughing and saying, “This got so fucking stupid.”
That said, Eve Hewson is EXCELLENT as Adele, both in the main story and in the flashbacks, and she totally owns all of the sleek, flowing, mostly-white garments her character dons throughout the entire series. And I’ll give it to this series that I was never bored. I was just… in awe of the audacity.
Behind Her Eyes is on Netflix. I’ve seen all six episodes.
That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat
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