'Behind Her Eyes' chilling ending explained as Netflix series leaves viewers with goosebumps

Behind Her Eyes has certainly got Netflix viewers talking – I mean, what even was that ending?

What started as your bog-standard thriller meets ménage à trois quickly devolved into a supernatural horror. The gateway? Astral projection.

If you're also confused as to how we got here, you're in the right place. Let's break down the series' shock twist, but first, a recap...

Behind Her Eyes is one of Netflix's latest miniseries (Credit: Netflix)

Behind Her Eyes recap

It all begins with Louise, played with Simona Brown. The mother-of-one is a receptionist working in a psychiatrist's office, and before starting her new role, she locks eyes with a handsome stranger in a bar, David (Tom Bateman). They kiss, only for her to quickly realise that he's her new boss... and that he's married.

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Louise, who clearly has a nose for trouble, strikes up an unlikely friendship with David's enigmatic wife, Adele (Eve Hewson), all while starting an affair with David.

The two women bond over their shared history of night terrors, with Adele promising to help her get them under her control. Louise starts to notice that her new BFF appears to be heavily medicated, and that her illicit lover is very controlling of his wife.

Behind Her Eyes stars Simona Brown, Eve Hewson and Tom Bateman (Credit: Netflix)

Adele's stay in the psychiatric hospital

The episodes are punctuated with flashbacks to Adele's stay at a psychiatric hospital, following the death of her parents in a fire that her then-sweetheart, David, saved her from. During her time at the institution, Adele forges a fierce friendship with a gay Scottish man, Rob (Robert Aramayo), who is undergoing drug rehabilitation, rather unsuccessfully.

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By the fifth episode, it becomes apparent that Adele has been manipulating Louise by leading her to believe David is abusive and controlling. But Louise starts to doubt Adele, and begins digging into her past. Louise and David unite with the knowledge that Adele is really the villain.

Now, this is where it gets complicated. We also discover that Adele was responsible for covering up the "accidental" drug overdose of her friend Rob. In doing so, she implicated David, and this is why he's never been able to leave her. Wanting to end the toxic love affair once and for all, David plans to travel to Scotland to come clean to the police and reveal how Rob really died.

The six-part limited series landed on Netflix earlier this month (Credit: Netflix)

Astral projection

Remember those night terrors? Well, Adele's solution to them was astral projection, which she teaches Louise.

This is the process of leaving your body and travelling as an unseen spirit. At one point, we see Adele enter Louise and swap bodies with her for a short while. Bear with me here.

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Then, another flashback to Adele, David and Rob at her family's castle. The three clearly are clearly enjoying each other's company as they make dinner together, with Rob taking a particular shine to David. That night, Rob decides to astral project into his friends' room and watch them have sex. You guessed it - Adele also taught Rob how to leave his body and travel as a spirit.

The show quickly turns into a thriller involving the concept of astral projection (Credit: Netflix)

The suicide attempt

Knowing that Louise and David are onto her and that time is running out, Adele stages a suicide attempt. Louise, being a good person, gets wind of it and rushes over to her home. She's unable to enter the house, and is left with no option but to astral project inside and gain access that way.

This is where it gets all sorts of crazy. While Louise's body was vacant, on the doorstep outside, Adele's essence travels and takes over her body.

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Let's unpack this a little. So, Adele is in Louise's body, and Louise is in Adele's body, but she can't move as Adele had previously injected herself with heroin. "You don't get to take him from me, Louise," she tells her from Louise's body as she prepares a lethal dose of heroin. She injects it into Adele's arm (really, Louise) and kills her.

Adele, who is in Louise's body, then covers up her tracks by pulling "Adele's" dead body down to the front door, and shedding some crocodile tears. We see her return Louise's house and start to practice her mannerisms. Very creepy indeed.

The show flashes back to Adele's time in a psychiatric hospital, and her friend Rob (Credit: Netflix)

Behind Her Eyes' shock ending explained

Viewer, it doesn't end there. We flashback one last time to a young Adele and Rob. After David had left, Rob convinces Adele to astral project and swap bodies. Adele is wary, and rightly so.

It was all a trick so that Rob could claim Adele's body and life for himself. You see, he had grown jealous of the life that Adele was starting to build for herself and David. So, he kills Rob (really Adele in his body) with an overdose of heroin, and drops his own dead body down a well. So, the Adele that we were introduced to in episode one was really Rob all along.

In the present day, Louise – who is really Rob – marries David. He's got away with it again!

In a truly sinister final scene, we see "Louise" and David driving in a car with Louise's young son, Adam. When "Louise" suggests a Caribbean cruise, her son reminds her that she doesn't like boats. She turns, looks at him, and says: "Maybe I've changed". Credits roll.

Viewers have a lot to say about the show's shock ending (Credit: Netflix)

Behind Her Eyes' director on that twist...

What a wild ride, eh? Luckily, director Erik Richter Strand has addressed the miniseries' "gut punch" of an ending.

Shedding some light on that spine-tingling final scene, he told Entertainment Weekly: "[It's] a really bleak, hard, gut-punch of an ending that can really get you angry. I think it did for a lot of people. Even though it's clever, it's also really horrifying.

"We tried in the show to find the right balance of leaving the audience gut-punched but not like, 'Oh my God, what's going to happen?'

"It sort of says, 'Here I am with the man of my dreams, and he's married me and now we are off to our new adventure, but then there's this kid.' Then she looks at him and it's like, 'Well you know what they say, accidents happen to children all the time'.  You know that Rob may have won the battle, but is he going to win this lifelong war of keeping this facade up for a second time?"

Viewers tuning into the series at home have said the ending left them with goosebumps.

One wrote: "When I say that the ending left me in tears and goosebumps...Behind Her Eyes on #netflix IS SOOOO BRILLIANT MY GOODNESS."

Another added: "Don’t watch Behind her eyes on Netflix .... unless u wanna freak out for a couple of days."

Behind Her Eyes is available to stream on Netflix now.