If your social circle is anything like mine, then you will know that the royal interview was not the only thing on everybody’s mind these past couple of weeks. Behind Her Eyes, the new six-part Netflix series based on the 2017 novel by Sarah Pinborough, is a psychological thriller about three people who end up engaged in what can only be described a bizarre relationship with each other.
Behind Her Eyes has crawled its way into many a group chat and social media conversation, and to an extent I can see why but that still didn’t keep me from feeling a bit disappointed, for lack of a better word. Admittedly, this series won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but that shouldn’t necessarily put you off from diving into this psychological thriller series.
The series starts off with a young woman Louise who finds herself at a bar talking to a handsome Scottish stranger she just met and who has that brooding, mysterious air about him that gets romanticised in every novel or film these days. Simply because it allows him move in-between awkwardly charming to plain rude and obnoxious throughout the entire series with the audience still feeling empathetic towards him at times. To no one’s surprise Louise can’t seem to stop thinking about this handsome stranger who in less than 24 hours turned out to be her new married boss, Dr. David Ferguson.
We’ve all seen this storyline before. They get awkward around each other on the first day, he gets the old classic ‘my marriage is complicated right now’ excuse out, they shake hands, promise to start over and just pretend to forget their first encounter and call it a day. Skip-forward one or two episodes and they’ve fully engaged into an affair.
As the series initially focuses a lot on the sexual tension between Louise and David, we then get introduced to Adele, Dr Ferguson’s enigmatic wife. At first glance, Adele seems like the cliché rich housewife, walking around in this enormous house as if all she owns are white silk pyjamas and robes, and who’s clearly unhappy in her marriage to David.
What becomes evident though, is that out of the two in that marriage, she is definitely the only one who seems to be making an effort to save it. I’m all for going for what you want but even I have to say all those scenes where she would say ‘I love you’ at the end each phone call only to be met by her husband’s silence, probably made, not just me but a lot of people watching it feel slightly awkward, to say the least. From early on we get the indication, that this isn’t the first time their marriage has been on the rocks and Adele almost seems to have a routine in place. She quickly manages to ‘bump’ into Louise by accident and they become friends. Yes, friends. In Louise’s mind she says to herself so what if she indulges in this ‘flirtation’ with David while also befriending Adele at the same time.
I do have to admit that Eve Hewson, the actress who plays Adele, has got that fascinating ambiguous side to her that makes it really hard to read her or understand what her actual feelings and intentions overall are, which is what at first made me quite intrigued and feel almost as if I was getting into the storyline. They say all good things come to an end and looking back at it now, I can safely say that once I found myself skipping the dream sequences, I knew this wasn’t for me.
The surrealist dreams and hallucinations, or what Louise referred to as her ‘night terrors’ fell a bit short at times. Having watched the entire series now, I do understand the idea behind them and how, some might say, it made sense in the end, but overall, I wasn’t’ sold. It allowed for the series to play with a certain sci-fi element which I generally don’t mind. The difference is that in Behind Her Eyes, it felt as if it simply got thrown into the series, no explanation whatsoever. Now bear in mind, I have not read the novel but I can imagine from past experiences where I’ve read the book before watching the screen adaption, that the book delves into this a lot more.
Now I’ve made a conscious choice to not go further into things or talk too much about other important side characters such as Rob, Adele’s heroin-addicted rehab confidante, who we only get to see in flashbacks scenes with a younger Adele. While in my opinion Behind Her Eyes, is a series that I believe to have been overhyped, I do think for a lot of people it makes for an engaging watch. At times you will get confused, impatient and even disappointed but if you’re anything like me and curiosity is getting the best of you, then you might as well take a few hours and find out for yourself what lies Behind Her Eyes.
Author: Patricia, Customer Services
