Recently, a Netflix Original mini-series has been released based on the novel Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. In just six episodes, this underrated thriller manages to capture many problems in today’s society, goes beyond the boundaries of reality and explores concepts like lucid dreaming and astral projection and ends with a crazy plot twist at the end (it might just be the craziest one to exist). Now, let’s dive into the madness behind this production.
It starts in London with Louise, a single mother and receptionist. She meets a man named David at a bar one night and they instantly connect. When she goes to work the next day, she finds out that David is her new boss… and he has a wife, Adele. On top of falling more and more in love with David, Louise becomes close friends with Adele, as Adele helps her with her night terrors. As Louise goes on with this love and friendship, she uncovers more about both David’s and Adele’s past and that their marriage isn’t so perfect. What you will discover while watching this show will truly shock you.
One of the great things about this mini-series is how they deal with a lot of current issues such as mental illness and substance abuse. Ironically, David, a psychiatrist, is married to Adele who was once in rehab for the grief of her parents’ death. At that rehab centre, Adele meets Rob who ends up becoming her best friend. Rob suffers from night terrors, like Louise, as well as heroin addiction. Rob teaches Adele how to use lucid dreaming to help with the night terrors, who then teaches Louise. Although mental illness is not explicitly talked about in the show, it is what defines most of the characters in the show, as well as justifies some of their actions.
As mentioned before, this show touches on astral projection. Derived from Esotericism, astral projection is considered to be an “out-of-body experience.” Essentially, in astral projection, your soul leaves your physical body, and it starts to travel the outer world, but there are certain conditions to it. In order to successfully astral project, it has to be somewhere you’ve been before and will only work if you suffer from night terrors or sleepwalking (at least those were the conditions included in the show). It may feel like something very spiritual and almost unrealistic, but it plays a big part in the show.
As if love affairs, drug abuse and soul-practices weren’t enough for one show, remember that Behind Her Eyes looks at them all in the span of just six episodes. This show was greatly executed and deserves way more recognition. This show might not be something you particularly relate to, but the plot is still quite interesting and it is seriously worth watching for the ending plot twist. While watching the show, try observing minor details because it all adds up in the end, and that is the magic of this thriller.