Behind Her Eyes, Netflix Miniseries — Watch It or Skip It?

It’s an intriguing name for a miniseries, I thought.

Images of a potentially blind woman with ESP, (potentially), and a cat-and- mouse-themed plot flashed through my mind as I ruminated over whether this flick was worth a watch.

I had no cause for concern. And there was no blind woman. Really.

Behind Her Eyes is an immensely satisfying psychological thriller replete with twisted mind games, clandestine relationships, and skeletons in the closet. Park yourself on the couch, grab your furry four-leggeds or an SO, and stock up on the munchies. You’ll want to stay in for this one.

Warning: I’ve tried not to give away too much but if you’re someone who really doesn’t want to know, STOP reading now.

A single mother Louise Bardsley — played by Simona Brown plans to meet up with her friend Sophie at the local bar. But Sophie texts her at the last minute to tell her she can’t make it. A disappointed Louise starts to leave but in her absent-minded haste bumps into a man while causing him to spill his drink all over his white shirt. Louise offers to buy him a make-up drink. Big mistake.

Sparks fly between her and the tall, dark-eyed, dark-haired stranger. But aside from a short conversation, and an even shorter kiss, the could-be lovers go their separate ways, the stranger apologising under his breath.

Meanwhile at work the next day, Louise discovers that the man from last night is actually her new boss and psychologist, Dr David Ferguson played by Tom Bateman. Several awkward moments ensue including Louise doing an entire days’ worth of hiding in the toilet.

But the chemistry is hard to resist, especially for David, who “can’t stop thinking about her”. They eventually end up in a full-blown affair supposedly unbeknown to his wife Adele played by the ravishing Eve Hewson.

In a separate incident, Adele bumps into Louise on one of her walks and finding in her a kindred spirit of sorts, decides to strike up a friendship. While she learns that Louise works for David, she doesn’t know that Louise is sleeping with him too. Louise straddles two parallel lives with David on the one hand and Adele on the other. Neither husband nor wife catches on to Louise until much later. Or so it would seem.

As the story starts to progress, less-than-savoury events from the Fergusons’ past start to rear their ugly heads. Facades begin to slip and as the characters start to converge into this big mess of complicated emotions and unravelling secrets, it becomes hard to identify who the real villain is.

Is it David or is it really Adele? A back story about a mysterious fire at Adele’s mansion that caused her parents’ death and another one about an equally-dead friend called Rob she picks up at rehab form pivotal elements in the plot.

Louise comes across as a people-pleaser who genuinely has a good heart on her but keeps getting dealt the raw end of the stick. You want to sympathise with her but you can’t understand how someone can be so gullible.

Halfway through the story, we start to question whether David really is the unhappy husband in a failing marriage he makes out to be or a controlling, narcissistic husband pumping his wife with enough drugs to cause a slow, painful, and certain death.

The lead actors Batemen and Brown, execute their roles as the hapless lovers David and Louise well enough but it isn’t enough to arrest our attention for the entire duration of the series. I can’t help but think that this wasn’t one of Bateman’s best.

Brown shines in parts but jars in others where her attempts at nuanced micro-expressions seem excessive or out of place. For the most part, she does a good job. And she does have such a lovely pair of large beguiling eyes.

Without a doubt, the scene-stealers are Robert Aramayo as Rob and Hewson as Adele. Aramayo shines in every single scene. He does a phenomenal job at revealing through gaze and expression, the torture of a young man who passionately loves Adele but seethes with jealousy at the realisation that she has everything that he wants but cannot. A special shout out to Tyler Howitt who plays Louise’s son Adam who’s all things charming and adorable.

Hewson has a captivating made-for-TV face that the camera just loves. Incidently, I think she has more than a passing resemblance to actor Cillian Murphy. Both have delicate yet full-bodied features that command your attention on the screen. What do you think?

But Hewson does have more than her looks going for her and she demonstrates some serious acting chops especially discernable in the character transitions.

Behind Her Eyes is a refreshingly original story with an even more refreshingly original ending (read: stunning plot twist). It falls just a teensy-weensy bit short on execution. Tighter direction/editing or better casting may have helped. I can’t decide which.

The story is by no means a hair-raising race to the finish line but at just 6 episodes in length, it isn’t that much of a slow burn either. An intriguing story, decent acting, and plot twists you wouldn’t see coming from a mile off, make this miniseries, in any case, one of the better ones out there on Netflix. What did you think of Behind Her Eyes? Lemme know in the comments below!

IMBD ratings: 7.3/10 (7,780 reviews)

My Review: I’m giving this a 7.5/10

Watch or Skip? : Definitely watch if you’re into psychological mind games with surprise plot-twists and metaphysical/supernatural undertones.

*Article first publised on Medium - 24 Feb 2021