Netflix fans still can't stop thinking about 'biggest plot twist ending' years later

Netflix viewers still can't get over the ending of a thriller which aired nearly five years ago. Premiering on the streaming platform in February 2021, Behind Her Eyes is a psychological thriller based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Sarah Pinborough.

The six-episode series starred Tom Bateman, Simona Brown, Eve Hewson and Robert Aramayo, and ended with a huge twist.

The psychological thriller began with a lonely single mother, Louise (Simona), beginning an affair with her new boss, David (Tom). However, she's further pulled into his world when she sparks an unlikely friendship with his wife, Adele (Eve).

What begins as a love triangle soon turns into something far darker, as secrets unravel and the series takes a fantastical turn.

The controversial storyline erupted when Louise and Adele begin to bond over their nightmares, with Adele coaching her new friend to take control of her dreams, practicing the out-of-body experience of astral projection.

Flashbacks leave viewers learning that Adele once escaped a house fire that killed her parents, served a stint in a rehab facility, and has been able to spy on people around her as her non-physical self travels around the world.

At one point in her life, Adele taught her friend Rob, an addict she knew in a past life, about astral projection, while he falls in love with the life she leads, even convincing her to "temporarily" swap bodies with him.

Fast forward to the present day, when Louise turns on Adele and seeks to secure a future with David, Adele sets her own house on fire and attempts to overdose on heroin.

Louise runs to the house in an attempt to save Adele, and astral projects herself to see what is happening inside. But while her body lays unconscious outside, Adele's astral projection burrows itself inside it, leaving Louise's consciousness stuck outside.

But in another shocking twist, in the show's final scenes before the credits roll, viewers discover that Adele wasn't really Adele in the first place. In fact, after she had once taught Rob about astral projection, he tried to steal her life and take over her body, and has now done so with Louise's.

A flashback shows how Rob had injected himself with heroin so that when Adele's consciousness was inside his body, she'd be immobilised and trapped. Rob (inside Adele's body) then kills his own physical body with Adele's soul inside, continuing to live life in her body instead.

Viewers were left beyond divided by the ending, with several admitting they "hated" the twist. Years later, some still can't stop thinking about the plot twist, as one wrote on X recently: "When I tell you I couldn't sleep for like a week."

Another wrote: "The craziest part was how the twist is revealed in like the last 4 minutes. I wasn't ready."

Someone else defended the show, saying: "This is one of the best shows ever made and it needed a season 2 but Netflix abandoned their fans. A disappointment."

Another echoed: "This series was soooo good!!! Finally something different and unpredictable was released."

"This series was insane," someone else wrote, as one agreed: "This show haunted my dreams. A twist for the ages."

On Reddit, viewers were less convinced, as one said: "Hated the ending more than I have ever hated any media."

"It was terrible," another agreed, as someone else said: "I completely agree. The ending was SO DUMB and unrealistic and completely ruined the show."

Another said: "Stupidest ending ever. I thought the show was pretty good until the last episode, then it all the sudden turned into an episode of Goosebumps. I could not think of a dumber, hokier ending. The thing is, if they had set the show up differently- emphasized the supernatural element etc. they might have pulled it off. The plot itself makes for a fine horror movie. It wasn't a horror movie though, it was a psychological thriller where they basically crammed all the stuff about astral projection for completion. Totally lazy, made the entire show a disappointment."

Someone else said: "I agree, so disappointing after really enjoying the show. Now I wouldn't recommend it."

Simona previously discussed the "unsettling" dream sequences, saying: "I don't think it is American Horror Story scary, but more unsettling and strange."

She added: "I think it's quite dark to watch but not disturbing."

The actress elsewhere told Metro that she was "completely floored" when she first read the script. "I called my mum and said, 'you won't believe what happened' and she was like 'no way!' and I was like 'yes, girl'. It twists and then it twists again and you're just left mangled."

Behind Her Eyes is available to watch on Netflix.