Things That Behind Her Eyes Fans Only Notice During A Rewatch
Contains spoilers for Behind Her Eyes
Dark secrets and lies abound in the Netflix limited series Behind Her Eyes, based on the best-selling novel by Sarah Pinborough. The genre-bending series combines science fiction and mystery thriller as it tells the story of Louise (Simone Brown), a single mother who has an affair with her boss, David (Tom Bateman), and unintentionally befriends David's troubled wife, Adele (Eve Hewson).
It isn't until the final episodes that we discover the story's shocking twist — Adele has the ability to astrally project, allowing her soul to leave her body and travel wherever she wishes. In flashbacks of Adele's past, we meet Rob, a close friend and drug addict who envies Adele's seemingly perfect life. When Adele teaches Rob the art of astral projection, Rob takes advantage of the opportunity to exchange his soul with Adele's and then murder her while she is in his body. Talk about an extreme case of stolen identity.
This highly unique and suspenseful series kept its viewers guessing until the end, yet all the signs and clues are hidden in plain sight for those who know what to look for. Here are just a few of the things fans might notice when they give Behind Her Eyes a second viewing.
The color-coded clues in Behind Her Eyes
Now that The Sixth Sense has been out for quite a while, most people know about M. Night Shyamalan's big clue of red things symbolizing the supernatural. Behind Her Eyes has its own "colorful" hints to show that something is amiss.
As the big plot twist is revealed that Rob is in Adele's body, we discover that Rob's soul is blue. There is a blue haze surrounding the view when Rob spies on David and Louise, and a blue night light in Louise's son Adam's bedroom that indicates that he is watching. We also see several moments where Adele is either wearing blue or there is something blue in the shot, such as the flowers she is arranging when David comes home.
Louise also takes a page from Adele's (or Rob's) book and learns how to astrally project. Louise's soul color is green, and from the beginning, we can see her frequently dressed in the same color — even her apartment is painted green. Although Louise wears yellow when she controls her dreams, we still see the bright green of the grass and in the beautiful nature that surrounds her.
A soul's eye view
Even in the beginning there is a pretty big clue about Adele's supernatural ability and how she is always watching. In the first episode, there is a scene where Adele lies down in bed and begins counting her fingers. The shot cuts to the well in the forest and then to Louise walking into David's office. As Louise opens the door, the camera looks down on her from above — a hint that she is being watched by Rob's hovering soul.
There are several other shots that are the same, including scenes of David and Louise in his office. This proves that Adele did indeed know exactly who Louise was when she literally bumped into her outside of Adam's school and asked her to have coffee. After Adele visits Louise at her home and takes a thorough look around, this enables her to spy on David and Louise when they later meet for a tryst, and again there are camera shots from above. Watching these episodes again with this in mind makes things all the more unsettling.
Adele's heroin use
In episode 3, "The First Door," Adele rummages through a closet to find a box that's been hidden away, which she then opens and smiles when she looks inside. Later, she gets a black eye while walking through a sketchy neighborhood, which has serious consequences for David in a later episode. It's finally revealed what's inside the mystery box — a drug kit for heroin.
In the flashbacks, it's shown that Rob is a heroin user. It's assumed that Adele picked up the habit from her friend, perhaps to cope with the crumbling of her marriage to David. But in the final episode, Adele gifts the ornate box to Rob to keep his paraphernalia safe, and Rob calls the gift "something to remember you by." This phrase becomes even more significant after what happens later when Rob takes over Adele's body, and it explains that Adele's drug addiction is actually Rob's.
The proof is in the pudding
Adele makes many futile attempts to rekindle the love between David and her. One of the things she does is cook her husband a delicious meal that is waiting for him when he returns home, which he often refuses. Although this might seem like a simple gesture, there is more to it than meets the eye.
In one of the flashbacks with Adele, Rob, and David together at the castle in Scotland, Rob cooks for the three of them. As he charms the young couple with his wit and skills in the kitchen, a moment passes between Rob and David that's difficult to miss. It's clear in that moment — and in the conversation between Rob and David when they are alone after dinner — that Rob is attracted to David. Since David appeared to be so impressed by Rob's cooking in the past, it stands to reason that Rob hopes to win David over with his culinary prowess once again.