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Like so many buzzy novels of the past few years by the likes of Paula Hawkins (“The Girl on the Train,” adapted into a 2016 film with Emily Blunt) and Liane Moriarty (whose “Big Little Lies” was a huge hit for HBO, and whose novels “The Husband’s Secret” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” are also being adapted for film and TV, respectively), “Behind Her Eyes” is about infidelity, identity, and the ways we betray each other and ourselves. There’s an entrancing glossiness to this, as this genre often has, and that smooth patina of wealth and prestige is undercut by an intensifying sense of dread, as this genre also often has. And although there are tangible, important differences between these characters in terms of class and social status, the coincidences between them start early, too—night terrors and sleepwalking, anxiety and personality twists—and that shared sense of struggle further develops these relationships. 

Most importantly, even as “Behind Her Eyes” (all six bingeworthy episodes of which drop on Netflix on Wednesday, February 17) gets weird—and trust, it does get weird—what the series never loses are familiar, plausible motivations for these characters. Over these six episodes, which incorporate flashbacks and dreamscapes, they become subject to increasingly strange occurrences, but their ambitions are recognizable in their universality. Everyone wants to be loved, to have a home, to live a comfortable life rather than struggle, to provide the same strength and protection for someone else that they hope to receive themselves. Wouldn’t you do anything to secure that?  

In present-day London, single mom Louise (Simona Brown) is trying to balance caring for her seven-year-old son Adam (Tyler Howitt) with moving on from her divorce three years before. During a rare night out, she crosses paths with a charming Scottish guy who she talks to and laughs with for hours: the classically handsome David (Tom Bateman), who practically sweeps her off her feet. But when they finally share a heated kiss outside the bar, David cuts it off—and the next day, Louise realizes why. It’s bad enough that David is her new boss, the latest psychiatrist to join the office where Louise is an administrative assistant. But David is also married to the stylish, poised Adele (Eve Hewson), who has no idea of the kiss her husband and his assistant shared, and how much further it could have gone. 

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