Before the shocking, twisted ending of Behind Her Eyes, the audience had many misconceptions that the show led them to believe were true. For one thing, everyone believed Adele was simply a woman driven by a desperate need to hold on to a husband who no longer loved her. Louise was the woman in between, who just couldn’t walk away even when danger was staring her in the face.
The two women became friends and even though their friendship was built on a foundation of lies and deceit, they got along quite well. At first glance, they both seemed like different people. But, underneath the surface, they had some things in common and they saw a piece of themselves in each other, which drew them together. Although the finale revealed that Adele was Rob all along, she was the only version of Adele the audience got to know well enough to compare with the other characters.
Similarities: Lonely
Apart from David, Adele didn’t have anyone else in her life. This was partly because the couple had recently moved to a new neighborhood, but mostly because Adele was so consumed with David that she didn’t make an effort to foster any other relationships. Louise had a similar situation with her son Adam, although she had a few friends, such as her neighbor and her best friend, Sophie.
While it initially looked like Louise befriended Adele out of pity, as their friendship continued it was clear she also enjoyed Adele’s company and it filled a gap she had in her life. Especially when Adam was in Paris and she had no one else to spend time with.
Differences: Naive Versus Manipulative
The end of the show had some pretty intense revelations for Louise. All along, she fell for Adele’s act and lies, believing everything she said without a single doubt. She never questioned anything Adele said or did until it was too late, from insisting on keeping their friendship secret from David to implying that David had murdered Rob.
Adele, on the other hand, orchestrated their entire friendship, right from their “accidental” meeting. Thanks to her astral projection abilities, she knew all along that David and Louise were having an affair and befriended Louise to get close to her and manipulate her until she had David back all to herself.
Similarities: Secretive
Both women kept secrets from each other, despite being friends. Louise was sleeping with Adele’s husband behind her back (although Adele knew that already), and Adele kept plenty from Louise. That included her heroin addiction, the fact that she was spying on Adele and David, and most importantly, the fact that she wasn’t Adele at all, but actually Rob.
On the surface, they seemed like they trusted each other, even with things they wouldn’t share with anyone else. But underneath that thin veil of trust was a thick layer of disillusion as they both kept very dark secrets from each other.
Differences: Impulsive Versus Calculating
When Louise decided to have an affair with David and a friendship with Adele, she went in with a come-what-may attitude, which was just reckless. She didn’t take time to think about any repercussions she might face in the event of a fall-out, especially career-wise since she was sleeping with her boss. She also carelessly broke into her workplace when she’d been suspended and stole a file, which was captured on camera and could have gotten her into a lot of trouble.
Unlike Louise, Adele calculated every single move she made, anticipating consequences and drawbacks as well. When she found out David and Louise were having an affair, she didn’t immediately confront them. Instead, she cooked up an elaborate scheme to cause a rift between them, while presenting herself as the innocent woman being unknowingly cheated on.
Similarities: Protective
Adele was very protective of her relationship with David, to the point of being obsessive. The penultimate episode even revealed that she got jealous of a woman who showed him kindness when she saw him looking miserable, and threatened her to stay away. Louise exhibited similar traits with Adam, David, and even Adele.
At first, she was protective of Adam, not wanting to share him with her ex-husband and his new partner. Later, she was protective of Adele when she believed that David was abusing her and had also killed Rob. Once she discovered how manipulative Adele actually was, she wanted to protect David instead, pleading with Adele, to tell the truth about Rob’s death and set him free.
Differences: Kind Versus Cruel
While she had her shortcomings, Louise was mostly kind. She was nice to Adele, offering her companionship even though she was uncomfortable about it at first. She was also understanding of her ex-husband wanting to build a relationship between their son and his new partner, even when it felt like she was being replaced.
Adele, however, only pretended to be kind to manipulate people and further her own agenda. Apart from the fact that she threatened Marianne, she was also responsible for Rob’s (real Adele’s) death and Louise’s as well.
Similarities: Selfish
When Sophie advised Louise to stay away from Adele and David, she got angry and insisted that it wasn’t fair that she always had to do the right thing and think about others all time. She pursued an affair with David because she wanted to be selfish for once and kept seeing him even as she was building a friendship with Adele.
Adele, too, wanted David all to herself, no matter what she had to do to keep him. She lied to everyone to serve her own interests and needs and threw Louise under the bus so David would turn against her and focus on her instead.
Differences: Nurturing Versus Neglectful
For all her faults, Louise was a good mother to Adam. She paid attention to him and put aside her insecurities so he could be happy by letting him go on a trip to Paris with his father. Even when she was dying, he was the first thing she thought about as her last word was “Adam,” when she realized she’d never see her son again.
Once Adele (who was actually Rob) killed Louise and took over her body, Adam sensed that there was a difference in his mother. In the last few minutes of the finale, it was clear that she didn’t care about Adam at all from the way she addressed him and talked over him. Most fans were even worried about Adam’s fate when the season ended.
Similarities: Intelligent
The level of subterfuge achieved in Behind Her Eyes could only be pulled off by intelligence of supreme levels. Adele’s cunning manipulation of David and Louise is evidence of this. She managed to keep David fooled for the better part of 10 years into believing that he was married to the real Adele, although the state of their marriage showed that something was off.
And she had Louise wrapped around her finger for most of the season. Louise eventually figured out that Adele had been lying all along and spying on her. Even though it took her a while to catch up, it showed she was pretty smart to see the real Adele underneath the lies after knowing her for only a short time.
Differences: Trusting Versus Cynical
Louise trusted easily, to the point of naivety. She trusted that Adele just wanted to be friends until she discovered that she’d been playing her all along. Once she started having doubts about Adele, she started trusting David again and went to talk to Marianne about Adele, who also told her story that could have been false, but she trusted that anyway.
Adele was suspicious of everyone, so much that it made her paranoid. Her paranoia led to her breaking into Marianne’s home and trashing it, spying on David and Louise, and hatching elaborate schemes to control everyone and everything.
