Diksha Sundriyal
Secrets and lies come back to haunt the victims and suspects in Netflix’s ‘His & Hers.’ The story begins with an investigation into the murder of a woman named Rachel, a resident of Dahlonega, Georgia. Detective Jack Harper is in charge of finding the culprit, but it turns out that he has a connection to the victim that would make him one of the major suspects. His wife, Anna, a news reporter for an Atlanta news channel, WSK, returns to town to cover the case, hoping it will make her the star of the channel again. While all sorts of secrets about Jack, Anna, and Rachel come to light, one of the subplots focuses on a girl named Andrea, whose death affects the chain of events that lead to Rachel’s death. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Andrea was the Victim of a Perfect Murder
Anna’s return to Dahlonega sparks memories of her teenage years, and flashbacks reveal that she used to be friends with Rachel. The murder victim was the ringleader of a mean girls group, which included Helen and Zoe, who are also brutally murdered. There was another girl who briefly joined their gang: Catherine. At first, she was bullied by Rachel and her gang because they saw her as a loser due to her weight and appearance. At one point, Rachel wonders how Catherine turned out to be like that because her sister, Andrea, is cool. In the first five episodes of the show, it is mentioned that Andrea passed away when she was still a teenager, but no clue is given as to what happened to her. It is in the finale that we discover that she was murdered.
The reason that Rachel liked Andrea is that they were both pretty much the same, even though they were in different years of school. Andrea was a mean girl in her own right, and often, the victim of her bullying was her sister, Catherine. Like Rachel, Andrea made fun of Catherine’s appearance, particularly her weight. This had been happening for many years, but one day, there comes a point when Catherine cannot take it anymore. By that point, she has also been included, in a twisted way, in Rachel’s group, so the meanness and cruelty of her peers seem to have rubbed off on her. One day, the family prepares to go spend the day on the water on their yacht. While leaving the room, Andrea pokes her about her appearance and makes cruel remarks.
When Andrea, who is asthmatic, leaves, Catherine notices her inhaler on the table. To teach her sister a lesson, she empties it out. When she gets to the boat, she hands the empty inhaler to Andrea. The family sets off, and right when they are in the middle of the water, with no access to any kind of help, Andrea has an asthma attack. In a normal situation, her inhaler would have given her the help she needed, and she would have been fine. But thanks to Catherine, there is nothing left in the inhaler, and with no backup, nothing can be done to save her. By the time the boat comes back to land, Andrea is already dead, and no one has a clue that Catherine is responsible for it.
Catherine Had No Guilt for Killing Her Sister
Since Catherine was a teenager, basically still a child, when this happened, one could believe she didn’t actually want her sister to die. One could say that she just wanted to hurt Andrea, and because she couldn’t do it with her words, she decided to pull a prank on her. Just as Andrea picked on her weakness, she decided to pick on Andrea’s. One could believe that when they set off on the boat, Catherine didn’t actually think her sister would have an asthma attack. And when it happened, she was likely eaten up with guilt, particularly because she couldn’t share it with anyone without them hating her.
Years later, when she is believed to be the murderer (having taken over the persona of Lexy Jones), the sheriff shares a detail with Detective Priya that didn’t make sense to him at the time. The cop reveals that he went to Andrea’s funeral, where he saw Catherine crying her eyes out in front of everyone. He felt bad for the girl because, clearly, she was heartbroken to have lost her sister so suddenly. But later, when he went to the funeral home basement to get something to eat, he found her there, eating and smiling as if she didn’t have a care in the world. This struck him as weird because her reaction was the complete opposite of what she’d just displayed. And now, looking at her, it looked like she had won the lottery or something.
This anecdote shows that Catherine wasn’t particularly heartbroken about Andrea’s death. Her act may have started as a prank, but when her sister actually ended up dead, Catherine was actually happy. This meant that she wouldn’t be poked and bullied anymore. Later, she shared this detail with Rachel, who eventually used it to blackmail her when she turned into the famous Lexy Jones. By this time, the audience has already seen how ruthless and vicious she can be, particularly when it comes to Anna, who also has a traumatic connection with her.
