Netflix Show Behind Her Eyes Explanation Guessing Game!!! Alright, let’s cut right to the chase, because this is going to be a LONG post, I already know it. My buddy, my pal, Tony… but to you he’s Mr. M… texted me and told me I had to watch the Netflix show Behind Her Eyes. He’s not the first to tell me I needed to watch this particular show. But this time, Mr. M added, “I bet you won’t be able to guess the ending.”
— RECORD SCRATCH —
Wait, what? Pardon me? What was that? You don’t think I’ll be able to guess the ending? Seriously? You literally think that if I were to watch this silly Netflix show, I wouldn’t be able to guess what happens? Alright. You are on. So, yes, now you know my achilles heel… my kryptonite. Just challenge me, and I’ll fall for your ploy every, single, time. Right… well, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to watch an episode at a time… and I’ll post a write up for each episode, and I’ll take a swing for the fence after every episode. Alright? And you’ll all get to laugh at me… over, and over, and over again… as I strike out six episodes in a row. So let’s do this.
But it should go without saying – that if you haven’t watched this show – don’t read this. Well, don’t read past the episode that you have watched anyway. Hell, join me, let’s make it a watch party. Alright, trailer – and then we are straight into spoilers. Top, to bottom, spoilers.
I will say this – I know NOTHING about this show. And I’ll avoid all spoilers like the plague until I get this show completely kicked back. Alright, here we go – Behind Her Eyes – episode by episode, guess-a-thon:
Behind Her Eyes Episode 1 – Chance Encounters
Season 1 – episode 1 – kicks off with Louise (played by Simona Brown) going to meet a friend at a bar, but her friend, stands her up. But, excitingly, Louise runs into (literally) David at the bar, and buys him a drink after spilling his. They have a nice time, share a kiss, and depart when David runs off unexpectedly. The next day though, Louise discovers that she happens to be David’s admin (secretary, admin? what are they called today?). He’s new to the office, and he’s the new psychologist in the group. AWWwwwkward. They decide not to let it be awkward, and to just start over, and not let the weird coincidence rule the day. (hahahaha.)
David though, is married… to a woman named Adele, and Adele we know, has issues. We learn quickly that she spent time at the Westlands Clinic, a therapy home of sorts. She likes to paint fire, and her parents possibly died in a fire. We also learn quickly that David and Adele had to move recently because of Adele… for some opaque reason. They are avoiding something about her, or something she has done. But David is not very keen on his wife, and is really unhappy when she tells him she loves him. Ok, I’m going to start a countdown timer for how long it takes for David and Louise to start their affair, because, DUH.
Now Louise, her son, Adam goes with her ex for the weekend, and she spends it alone. During one of the nights, she sleep walks and finds herself out on the balcony, and it freaks her out because she could have easily gone over. She is constantly having the same dream of Adam getting locked behind a door, and he’s trapped and can’t get out. Louise’s friend though convinces her to let Adam go, and to spend the next month by herself, reinventing herself. Starting over. (Aka, give her the narrative space to start an affair with her boss.) Then, as Louise is delivering her son to school, she accidentally runs directly into Adele, knocking her down. And just like that, Adele asks her to go get coffee together. And that is the end of episode #1.
Current Working Theory: Alright, my first guess, which I texted to Mr. M at minute 20 of episode 1, was that David and Adele were the same person. I mean, like literally. Some sort of a Psycho, Bates, and Bates mom sort of setup. But I immediately realized that we had seen David and Adele out together. They both came into the office together. And then later, they were both at the party together. So that can’t be it. Hrmmm.
I’ve only watched one episode so far… I’ll update with the walkthroughs and the guesses as I have time to watch more.
Behind Her Eyes Episode 2 – Lucid Dreaming
Ok wow. Lot’s happens in Episode 2. Let’s see if we can summarize more this time around! This post will be 15,000 words if I’m not careful. But we have to figure it out, don’t we? Can’t have it beating us, can we?
We kick off where we left off, with Louise and Adele striking up a “friendship” over a cuppa. But we see right away that Adele is lying to David – when he calls there are several things she doesn’t tell him. The date ends with Adele asking to swap numbers. And at first Adele isn’t keen, but this changes quickly. The next day, while Louise is at work, and David is being grumpy, Adele paints a forest on their bedroom wall. It’s obviously a significant forest. A forest with a well in it, and a clock at the bottom.
The next day, Adele and Louise go for a work out together. They laugh, have a good time, and enjoy time together in the spa afterwards. Then Adele invites Louise back to her house – but she hustles home so that she doesn’t miss her call from David. (Which is always at 2:00.) The most important detail is that Adele gives Louise Rob’s journal and promises that it will help with her lucid dreaming. Apparently Adele and Louise have lucid dreams, and they remember them the next day, which – apparently is rare? Huh. okay. We also learn that David saved Adele from a fire that killed her parents. That night, David shows up at Louise’s flat for a “health check”, and they end up sleeping together. Because, of course they did. (Can I mention that song? Waking Up by MJ Cole and Freya Ridings? Holy hell man. Reminds me of the first time I heard Amy Lee from Evanescence sing. wow. Great song.)
The episode ends with David returning home late. And Adele is wide awake, facing away…
Current Working Theory: Alright. Episode Two is all about lucid dreaming. Rob’s dreams. Louise’s terrors. Adele’s nightmares. Could it be that this whole thing is a dream? That nothing here is real? Sort of like the film Stay maybe? The whole thing is one big lucid dream? Something involving a coma, or someone dying? That’s all I’ve got with the information that I have. I’m beginning to worry that this final twist will be completely unrelated to the data we have… gah.
Behind Her Eyes Episode 3 – The First Door
AGGGGGGGHHHH!!!! This stupid show is going to end me. Who’s idea was this? TONNNNNYYYYYY!!!! It’s okay, I’m going to figure this show out.
We start off with it being REALLY awkward at work for Louise and David. Worse? Adele asks Louise to go to lunch, but Adele (rightly, for once) ignores her. David shows up at Louise’s house, but after a soliloquy about Louise’ shining, Louise asks David to leave. When David gets home, Adele attempts to have dinner with David, but it devolves into accusations about their past. “Is it happening again David?” What are they not saying!?
Eventually, Louise capitulates and has coffee with Adele. And its during that dinner that Adele tells Louise that David works too hard, carries too much stress, drinks too much. We also learn via Rob’s diary that he figured out when he was dreaming by counting his fingers, and to decide to go through a door. And it was the door that allowed him to create the dreams of his… um, dreams. Eventually, after a bit of a scary encounter with one of David’s patients, and sex on David’s desk, we get a montage about Louise getting closer and closer to both David and Adele. “I deserve to F@#$ up a little for once.” * – Note to self… if I ever say these words, run. Hide. Find cover. And it is after this montage that Louise has a vivid dream wherein she creates a door. Which, when she opens it, she sees Adele inside a room on fire, and she says “Stop”. In the second door, she finds David in a burning room, and he says, “Run.” Hrm. Happy.
One time, after sex, Louise and David are lying in bed, and she asks him about his burnt arm. He tells her that he ran into a house and saved a girl. A random girl apparently. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious how this girl turned out? Don’t you want to check and see?” hahaha. Meanwhile, Adele is not doing well. She goes out to find drugs – leaves her phone behind and comes home with a massive shiner after getting punched by another woman. David and Adele have it out after that – “I can’t look after you anymore.” “We share so much, you and I.” “We share things we can never tell anyone. You can never leave me.”
Current Working Theory: Look – this show is now officially tormenting my soul. Do you see those really intentional words the episode ended with? We share things. We can’t tell anyone? That bit? What are they sharing? LOUISE. WHY? Why are they sharing Louise? And that elusive title – Behind her eyes. What does that MEAN MAN?!? Well, I think the working theory at this point is that both David and Adele are dead? And it is through Louise that they are able to commune, or they are locked? Is this a Whoopie Goldberg Ghost movie?? I disdain this show.
Behind Her Eyes Episode 4 – Rob
<breathing into a bag> mfffle, mfffffffflemfffle. Oh sorry. Gasp. Look, I have it unlocked. I’ve got it now. Okay? Seriously. I get it now. All the secrets of this show are well within my extraordinarily advanced brain. <breathing into bag>. mfffle? Gah. Sorry? You think it looks like I’m not handling this well? Why would you think that? WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE I DON’T GET THIS SHOW? I mean, other than my breathing into a bag, my hyperventilations… ? I mean other than all that?
The episode starts with Louise having a vivid dream with Adam and a perfect pool, and tadpoles. David is over at the grill, grilling lunch for a picnic. Afterwards, David espouses his love for Louise, and tells her that he is the happiest he’s ever been when with Louise. Cut to Adele, who gets a visit from David’s patient, Hawkins. And Adele manipulates him into believing that David beats her, and that she needs help. Hawkins and his parents let David’s boss know – and then his boss calls Adele, and says that David has never hit her. Most disturbing is that we watch as Adele naps and is able to open a door in order to see through Louise’s eyes. Or, at least that is what I think they are showing us. Behind her eyes… hrm. We know that this really upset Adele, these expressions of love for Louise… which is why Adele starts pulling the strings on Hawkins, the gym membership, etc. It’s solely because she can see what David is doing with Louise. Oh, sorry, ahead of myself.
A little later on in the episode, Adele gets the gym staff to call to confirm a guest membership for Louise, but Adele makes certain that David picks up. And now he knows that Adele and Louise have been friends from the beginning. When confronted, Louise tells David she knows he has Louise’s money… and with that David fires Louise. But David’s boss says it’s just a hiatus.
Louise goes to visit Adele, but it seemed that Adele might be dead? So Louise breaks in, and when Louise wakes Adele, we watch as 3 or 4 different iterations of herself wakes, and then she wakes? Was the editor just likening this sleep to previous naps? Or were they sleeps within sleeps within sleeps? You know? I think it was the former (please don’t tell me Inception is happening here too. But maybe? Could she be using the drugs from Hawkins to start opening doors, within doors, within doors? And that is what we watched as she worked her way back to the surface? Nahhhhhh.) Maybe she just uses the drugs to stay under longer, and to watch more of what is going on around David, through Louise… and maybe others?
Throughout the episode, we watch as, after Rob and Adele are released from the Westlands Clinic, Rob comes to visit Adele at Fairdale estate, the family home. While there, she takes Rob into the woods and shows him the well. “I dreamt of crying all of my sadness into it and sealing it up.” I really think this one detail is critical. This is the key. Right here. This is all of it.
Love that the episode ends with Mozart’s Requiem… specifically the Lacrimosa. One of the greatest pieces of music ever written. But, it’s a requiem… a music processional for the dead.
Current Working Theory: Adele has the ability to select a host, and view their thoughts. These people shine – and she can see them in advance as to who she will be able to manifest through. Similarly, David is attracted to people that shine – that can manifest vivid dreams and be a vessel for Adele’s voyeurism. This is the right answer demmmit.
Behind Her Eyes Episode 5 – The Second Door
Adam comes back and Adele talks with her friend”Maybe she is proper crackers? You know, Jane Eyre in the attic stuff.” But Louise is worried about Adele… because of course she is. And when she sees the office key on her keyring, she decides she’s going to find Adele’s file that David keeps at the office. And after a cursory glance, she takes it Adele. She wants Adele to have control over her own life again. And Adele comments that it all goes back to Rob. Adele tells Louise that she thinks that David killed Rob, and that he is probably still there at the estate.
We also see Louise do her first controlled – what? Teleportation? Remote viewing? Über active dreaming? She sees that her son has knocked over a drinking glass from the other room as she was sleeping. Afterwards, David shows up at Louise’s flat, and he demands the Adele files back. But Louise had given them to Adele already. And so David goes home and tells Louise that he wants a divorce. Now think about this for a moment. Your wife has some method for watching your every move, and anticipating any direction you are going to go. You don’t know how she can do this. But you know she can. Do you tell her you want a divorce? Or do you just pack up and run like hell? The only thing that solves this particular psychological conundrum is physical distance. But maybe that’s just me.
Cut to Adele and Rob experimenting with their active dreaming. And we watch as their souls, or spirits? meander away, and skitter throughout the manor. “Astral projection is a term used in esotericism that assumes the existence of a soul or consciousness called an ‘astral body’. And with that, Rob and David meet, and Rob’s duration on this planet earth gets shorter and shorter. From there, Louise begins investigating the details about Rob (contacted his family), the fire (contacted the lead investigator on the case)…
But most importantly, while reading Alice and Wonderland to Adam – she falls asleep, and manages to astrally project herself across the hallway to her neighbors flat. After waking up, she goes over there under the pretext of getting some coffee for the morning in order to find out what her neighbor was doing what she had see in the dream. And with that, Louise realizes that Adele had been lying all along. That she knew things because she had been astrally projecting herself into David’s life… she had seen who his admin would be, and forced the meeting in advance. She had been manipulating Louise from day on
Current Working Theory: Well, we know pretty solidly that Adele has been astrally projecting herself from the beginning. We also know that Adele was traveling the night the manor caught fire. We also know that David isn’t to blame for Rob’s death. Because we are not that stupid. The middle episodes worked too hard to paint David as the bad guy, which means he’s the good guy. So, the question is, did Adele murder Rob? And if so, was it an accident? Or if it was intentional, why? What motive would she have for killing Rob? And the only thing I can think of is that she murdered Rob, to lock David in to marrying her… and forcing him to stay in perpetuity. That’s my guess for ep6. Hrmmm. We shall see.
Behind Her Eyes Episode 6 – Behind Her Eyes
Louise begins investigating their past, and goes to meet with Marianne, the woman that didn’t press charges earlier. We learn about how Adele threatened Marianne after David and Marianne began chatting at her coffee shop. Adele even trashed her home, and painted the word “slut” on one of her walls. And ultimately, Marianne told Louise to get away from the two of them as fast as she can.
Now, we cut backwards to Rob, David, and Adele at Fairdale Estate – the trio have a delightful time together. Rob and David get on exceptionally well, laughing and carrying on. But it is all so extraordinarily naive of Adele and Rob. (Quick story, I actually lived this story out a bit while at college. I haven’t told this story before, not here at least. But I was attending school up in the Lake District of England… all the students lived, literally in a manor (some could even call it a castle?) like the Fairdale estate. Don’t believe me… here is a photo:
Anyway, a guy named Adrien and I, were both interested in this lovely gal. And she was certain we could all be the best of friends. And actually, he and I were close before we met her. So, sure. Okay. But I liked this gal, and it was abundantly clear that Adrien also liked her. So it got all kinds of cutthroat. And yeah, she’s now my wife. But, we couldn’t astrally project… so in that way, it was a little different I suppose! hahah.) Anyway, while David and Adele are making love Rob projects… because of course he does.
After the fire – David leaves for a day, and Adele is talked into trying Heroine with Rob for the first time. Well, Rob overdoses (ok, so I was wrong about Adele killing him… sort of. Well, no, I think I could maybe convince a jury I was partially right?) and Adele panics, and hauls his body to the well. And when she tosses him in? David’s watch falls into the well too. hahaha. Accident my arse. Well, Louise contacts David, and they talk, and he tells her about Rob… and about the letter she wrote to the police detective the investigated the fire. Well, after, Adele calls Louise and admits that she was watching David and Louise all along, and she admits that she wanted Louise to choose her over David. She wanted to be the one that Louise loved the most. Which, to be honest, she almost pulled off. But when Louise tells Adele that David has gone to the police to tell them the truth – Adele flips out. She decides she’s going to end it all… or does she?
Adele contacts Louise – letting Louise know that she now knows how to fix it. Obviously, she is going to kill herself, and so Louise sprints to Adele’s house as quick as she can. But not before Adele starts a fire in the house. Louise, unable to get through the front door, decides she will astrally travel to Adele… and what? Wake her? The only problem is, instead, Adele takes over Louise’s body, forcing Louise’s spirit to take up residence in Adele’s body. Then, Adele(via Louise) gives Louise(via Adele) an overdose, and kills her. In all appearances, it looks like Louise has attempted, desperately, to save Adele’s life. But instead what has happened is that Adele used Louise’s body to kill Louise while in Adele’s body. Make sense? You kind of need to make sure you get that part, so maybe read this paragraph a second or third time?
Why is that important? Because that isn’t actually what happened at all! hahaha. When we narratively are told about the day the Rob died, we learn that actually, Rob did a similar thing to Adele. They go out to the woods, and they astrally travel – then on a lark – they switch bodies. But instead of it being a bit of fun, Rob(via Adele) refuses to leave her body. He/she, then gives him/her an overdose, and tosses him/her into the well. Pronouns aren’t clear enough. Rob, in Adele’s body, administers a lethal overdose to Adele while she is in Rob’s body. And the Rob, via Adele’s body, toss Adele, while she is Rob’s body, into the well.
Now, let’s redo that paragraph above, the one I wanted you to be sure you understood. And let’s correct it with the knowledge we now know about Rob.
Adele(Rob) contacts Louise – letting Louise know that she(he) now knows how to fix it. Obviously, she(he) is going to kill herself(himself), and so Louise sprints to Adele’s(Rob’s) house as quick as she can. But not before Adele(Rob) starts a fire in the house. Louise, unable to get through the front door, decides she will astrally travel to Adele(Rob)… and what? Wake her? The only problem is, instead, Adele(Rob) takes over Louise’s body, forcing Louise’s spirit to take up residence in Adele’s(Rob’s) body. Then, Adele(Rob via Louise) gives Louise(via Adele(Rob)) an overdose, and kills her. In all appearances, it looks like Louise has attempted, desperately, to save Adele’s life. But instead what has happened is that Rob who was using Adele’s body, jumped, and used Louise’s body to kill Louise while in Adele’s body.
Sort of gave me a headache writing that. But it’s glorious stuff. The long and short of it? Purely spiritually speaking, Rob took over Adele’s body and used it to kill Adele. He then locked David into a relationship with him based on fear of being found out and caught. And every time David looked to leave, Rob would attack the woman he was interested in. And when David became interested in Louise, Rob took over Louise’s body, murdered Louise, and made Rob think he was starting a new life, finally rid of Adele (Rob). Right?
Netflix Show Behind Her Eyes Explanation Guessing Game!!!
So, did I win or lose this particular game? I totally beat Tony! Yes! No. Not even a little bit. Oh I lost. I definitely lost. I did guess that Rob and Adele would switch about 3 minutes before it happened. And I was hoping that the show would just show it as possible, and then they would go back. Then when Adele took over Louise’s body we would have had precedent to understand, but not an actual switch. I then planned to posit it was Rob all along. But the show quadrupled down, and carried Rob through definitively and brilliantly. Well done. Well done. But yeah, I did not figure this one out even a little bit. So thanks for playing along. And joining me on my obsessive compulsive romp through Behind Her Eyes!