Line #13 Series/BehindHerEyes


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/landscape_desktop764430.jpg]]
2
3	''Behind Her Eyes'' is a British Creator/{{Netflix}} limited series that follows a London secretary as she embarks on an affair with her psychiatrist boss but also develops an unlikely friendship with her boss's mysterious wife Adele. Based on a novel by Sarah Pinborough, the show is primarily a psychological thriller but mixes in other genres later in the piece.
4
5	It stars Creator/SimonaBrown as secretary and single mum Louise, Creator/EveHewson as restless housewife and mental patient Adele, and Creator/TomBateman as psychiatrist David.
6
7	The show has six episodes and premiered on February 17, 2021. It was met with mixed reviews with critics praising the performances but having varied reactions to the twists and turns in the story.
8
9	The show has several notable twists which will be revealed simply by the presence of certain tropes, so beware of SPOILERS.
10	----
11	!! This show provides examples of:
12	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the book, Louise is a pudgy woman with shaggy blond hair in unfitting second hand-clothes. In the series, she is played by Creator/SimonaBrown.
13	* AmbiguouslyBi:
14	** Louise's friend says it sounds like she's shagging both David and Adele and though Louise only feels friendship for Adele, Adele's motives are initially left open.
15	** Rob declares himself gay, but he also develops a strong attachment to Adele that may or may not be romantic. He also shows interest in David.
16	** David is briefly shown bonding with Rob, and [[spoiler: Rob is disappointed to find out that it was just friendliness and David is in love with and very attracted to Adele.]]
17	* AstralProjection: [[spoiler: Turns out this is how Rob!Adele manages to spy on David, Louise, Marianne, and anyone he/she feels is threatening his/her marriage. Real!Adele taught him how to do this, and for her trouble, he killed her and stole her life.]]
18	* TheBadGuyWins: We don't know until the final episodes who the bad guy is, but [[spoiler: Rob is and he wins.]]
19	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Rob!Adele's plan depends on Louise being a good person and wanting to save Adele despite everything.]]
20	* BedTrick: [[spoiler: Rob slept with David several times while possessing the body of Adele and Louise]].
21	* BestFriend: In the present, Adele thinks of Louise as this. In the past, Rob was her best friend.
22	* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Rob is this to Adele; they were best friends in the psychiatric hospital, but he stole her body so he could have David to himself.]]
23	* BigFancyHouse: Adele grew up on a large estate including paintings of her ancestors.
24	* BodySnatcher: [[spoiler: Rob stole Adele's body and life. Her later does the same thing to Louise.]]
25	* BodySurf: [[spoiler: Rob figures out how to jump from Adele body to Louise's body.]]
26	* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Moody, tormented David is very attracted to upbeat Louise.
27	* ControlFreak: Louise finds the way David controls Adele to be sinister.
28	* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: Rob's journal has multiple pages torn out at the end.
29	* TheCutie: Adam is a pretty adorable, normal kid who loves both his parents and wants his mum to be happy.
30	* DarkSecret: Both David and Adele are keeping dark secrets.
31	* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Adele in the present isn't Adele. Rob [[KillAndReplace stole her body and killed her]].]]
32	* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler: Rob. It's never implied that he's evil because he's a homosexual but he is definitely depraved and evil.]]
33	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Rob wins again, killing Louise and taking over her life just as he did with Adele.]]
34	* DownfallBySex: [[spoiler:Louise. If David hadn't been attracted to her, and she hadn't entered a sexual relationship with him, she wouldn't have been essentially killed and replaced by Rob.]]
35	* DreamEmergencyExit: Louise begins to train herself to control her dreams using Rob's journal, including methods to exit the dream.
36	* DreamSequence: The story features multiple dream sequences. Louise suffers from night terrors, often featuring her son in danger. Later, she begins to have more pleasant dreams, some featuring David. In flashback. Rob is able to control his dreams in the same way.
37	* DreamSpying: [[spoiler: Both Adele and Rob are revealed to be able to astral project themselves to spaces they have visited and spy on people. They appear to be asleep, but their souls are not in their bodies. Louise learns to do this.]]
38	* DreamWalker: Adele and Rob are able to enter each other's dreams.
39	* DreamWeaver: Louise learns to control her dreams with the help of Rob's notebook, and she replaces her nightmares with pleasant dreams.
40	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In the past, Adele had long, flowing, wavy hair. In the present, she has a straight chin-length bob to reflect her new personality [[spoiler:and the fact that she isn't Adele anymore.]]
41	* {{Flashback}}: There are multiple flashbacks to Adele's life as a teenager when she was dating David and friends with Rob.
42	* GayBestFriend: Rob was Adele's when they were in psychiatric care. [[spoiler:But he's also a DepravedHomosexual and BigBadFriend.]]
43	* GenreMashup: It's a psychological thriller, love story, and [[spoiler: paranormal story]].
44	* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler: Rob's evil MO. First, he talks a trusting Adele into a body swap. Years later, he tricks Louise into leaving her body so he can occupy it.]]
45	* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler: Rob uses the body-swapping to do this first to Adele and then Louise.]]
46	* LivingEmotionalCrutch: David has become this to Adele ever since he saved her life, even as it is clear that she wants friends outside their relationship.
47	* LousyLoversAreLosers: David hasn't enjoyed having sex with Adele for a long time, only doing it at her insistence and even then he isn't able to maintain eye contact with her. [[spoiler:This is because it's [[NotRightInTheBed actually Rob]] who is possessing Adele, with the implication his selfish obsession with having David makes him an unsatisfactory lover, as he doesn't truly care about David wants.]]
48	* LoveTriangle: The relationship between Louise/David/Adele is at the core of the present-day narrative. In the past, there was a triangle between David/Adele/Rob.
49	* MadwomanInTheAttic: Louise's friend suggests that David's forcing meds on Adele may be a benevolent version of this, with him simply trying to care for his mentally ill wife.
50	* MeetCute: David and Louise have one of these in a bar when she spills her drink on him.
51	* NiceGuy: David insists to Louise he is this, but she begins to suspect otherwise.
52	* NightmareSequence: Louise has several nightmares, usually about her son, before she learns to control her dreams.
53	* NotHimself: [[spoiler: Turns out there was a good reason that teenage Adele was so different from the woman David married. They aren't the same person. The same cycle begins again with Louise, with only Adam noticing something is not right with his mum.]]
54	* PlaguedByNightmares: Louise suffers from night terrors, which Adele has also suffered from. In the past, Rob suffers from a similar condition.
55	* QuestionableConsent: [[spoiler: Rob!Adele and later Rob!Louise has sex with David multiple times with David thinking he's someone else.]]
56	* RaceLift: Louise's race is not specified in the novel, but she's described as blond and readers assumed she was white. In a case of RaceLift/DiversifyingACast, she's Black in the series, but her race plays little to no part in the story.
57	* RedHerring: [[spoiler: The fire that killed Adele's parents and burned David seems to have been just an accident.]]
58	* SexualKarma: David doesn't seem to enjoy sex with his beautiful wife anymore [[spoiler: because she is [[NotRightInTheBed actually possessed]] by the DepravedHomosexual Rob]], but he absolutely enjoys it with Louise (a genuinely kind, good person).
59	* SleepingWithTheBoss: Both Louise and David know this is a terrible idea, but they can't resist each other.
60	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Marianne's cat wasn't as lucky in the book, getting stomped to death by Adele. The same fate as David's cat, who isn't in the show.
61	* TheStoner: Rob is an unrepentant junkie who does not want to get clean.
62	* TalkingInYourDreams: [[spoiler: In the past, Rob and Adele learn to enter each other's dreams. Louise and Adele practice this as well.]]
63	* ThreesomeSubtext: A lot between Rob, David, and Adele in the past. Adele points out that if it weren't for the IncompatibleOrientation between her and Rob, David should be worried, but even with that, there's a lot of subtext in how intensely Rob says he loves Adele and she's made his life so much better.
64	%%* TwistEnding: There are not one but two big twists in the final episode.

Context Series / BehindHerEyes