The Netflix thriller His & Hers, starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, is much more than a simple whodunit. Since its release on January 8, 2026, viewers have been talking about how the show expertly manipulates and unsettles its audience. The series, based on Alice Feeney’s 2020 novel, uses its story of a fractured couple investigating murders in their hometown to constantly make you question what you think you know.
The show’s central tagline warns you of the game it is playing: “There are two sides of every story. Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying”. While this sounds like a promise of fairness, the show uses it as a trap. It does not present two equal sides of the truth. Instead, it shows two distorted, edited versions of events, forcing you into a state of constant suspicion. You are never given a solid foundation to stand on, which is the core of its unsettling power.
How the Show Builds Distrust from the Start
From the very first scenes, His & Hers plants seeds of doubt. We meet Anna Andrews, a news anchor, in a frantic state in her apartment, chugging wine and hiding something. Shortly after, a body is discovered. The show directly links these two events in your mind, making you question Anna’s innocence immediately. Her estranged husband, Detective Jack Harper, is no more reliable. He is put in charge of the murder investigation of a woman he was secretly having an affair with, creating an obvious conflict and making him a prime suspect from the police’s own perspective.
The show’s structure deliberately withholds critical information. In one key moment, Jack arrives at a crime scene. The audience is primed to see his reaction to the victim’s bodyโa reaction that would be very telling about his guilt or innocence. Instead, the show cuts away to Anna’s storyline, denying you that crucial piece of evidence. This isn’t an accident; it’s a tactic. The story is built on selective omission, not outright lies. You are given enough information to form a theory, but never the full context needed to be sure you are right.
The Weaponization of Character Archetypes
His & Hers cleverly uses character archetypes against the audience’s expectations. Anna is a journalist, a profession we often associate with seeking the truth. Jack is a detective, a figure of law and procedure. The show sets these two “truth-teller” archetypes against each other, but rigs the game so neither can be trusted.
Anna’s narration frames much of the story, but her perspective is explosive and emotionally charged. Jack’s actions are subjective and often ethically questionable as he scrambles to hide his affair from the investigation. This forces viewers into a tiresome middle ground where everyone seems guilty. As one analysis notes, “When your default turns to suspicion, the series may turn you where it likes”. The characters you are conditioned to rely on for clarity become your greatest sources of confusion.
The Ultimate Twist and the Role of Prejudice
The finale’s major twist reveals the killer to be Anna’s mother, Alice, who had been presenting herself as a frail woman suffering from dementia. This revelation is the show’s most direct commentary on audience manipulation. The series knowingly uses societal prejudices about who can be a threat. An older woman, particularly one coded as confused and non-threatening, becomes the perfect disguise.
The show challenges viewers to consider why they never suspected Alice. It argues that the audience has been fooled not by a false clue, but by their own unconscious biases about age, gender, and perceived weakness. The “frailty” was part of the cover story all along. Alice’s own confession letter lays it bare: “No one expects a woman to be a serial killer. Add the sin of old age, mistake determination for dementia; there I am, the picture of frailty”.
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Leaving Viewers Without Clear Resolution
The final act of audience manipulation is the show’s refusal to provide clean closure. Even after the killer is revealed and a year has passed, showing Anna and Jack reunited and expecting a child, the truth creates a new prison. Anna discovers Alice’s confession letters but must decide whether to tell Jack that his sister was murdered by her mother. Their happy ending is built on a foundation of a terrible secret.
The series ends not with resolution, but with a haunting, silent exchangeโa look between Anna and Alice that speaks volumes. You leave the story with the unsettling feeling that the narrative is still rearranging itself in your mind, denying you the moral and emotional solace a typical mystery provides. This lingering doubt is the final, and perhaps most effective, way His & Hers maintains its grip on the viewer.
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