🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

In I See You, a 2019 horror thriller by Adam Randall that’s now streaming on Netflix, Detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) and Dr. Jackie Harper (Helen Hunt) are going through a difficult time in their marriage. Jackie cheated on Greg, and now their son, Connor (Judah Lewis), knows — and he’s pretty angry. But soon Jackie has other concerns… like where did all her silverware go? Why is her TV turning on and off by itself? And what does any of this have to do with the missing kids’ case Greg is investigating? Read on to find out how all of the mysteries unravel. 

What happens in I See You?

Years ago, Greg and his partner, Ray Spitzky (Gregory Alan Williams), investigated a case that led to the conviction of a man named Cole Gordon, who was found guilty of murdering six boys. Gordon kidnapped two others, who were later rescued. His MO was to leave a green pocket knife beside each body. Now, 15 years later, two more boys have gone missing — and a green knife is found near one of the boy’s last known whereabouts. But wait, Gordon’s locked up! 

So Greg is put on the case… but he’s a bit stressed. He and Jackie are attempting to put the pieces back together after her infidelity. Plus, a bunch of weird stuff is going on at the Harper house. 

Over the course of a few days, one of their mugs ends up on the roof, the silverware disappears, pictures on the wall go missing, their hamster escapes, the record player starts playing out of the blue, Connor gets a mysterious message on his computer about “phrogging” and Jackie’s lover Todd (Sam Trammell) ends up dead in the basement. Unfortunately, Jackie thinks her son killed Todd, and calls on Greg to help her. The pair, knowing how bad it will look to have Jackie’s lover dead in their home, drive the body out into the middle of nowhere and bury it. But before we get into the rest…

What is phrogging? 

Phrogging is the act of secretly living in people’s homes, typically one after another, leapfrogging from one pad to the next (hence the term phrogging). Those that love the No Sleep subreddit or Jezebel’s annual reader-submitted scary stories will be familiar with the trope: Someone notices food missing or strange sounds they can’t quite pinpoint. Eventually, they figure out it’s a person living in their crawl space or attic. It’s super creepy. And while the phrogging in I See You is fictional, it does occasionally happen IRL. 

How does I See You end? 

After we see all the ominous goings on in the Harper household, the movie flashes back to a few days earlier: Phroggers Mindy (Libe Barer) and Alec (Owen Teague) sneak into the house. Mindy is a very by-the-book phrogger — her main goal is to live rent free without being seen or heard. Alec, on the other hand, is a bit of a loose canon. At first, he abides by the rules, but then decides to mess with the Harpers. He even dons a pretty scary frog mask while creeping around the house. Alec’s responsible for all the strange behavior mentioned above… except for killing Todd. 

While Alec does leave a mug on the roof that falls off and hits Todd in the head, it’s jealous husband Greg, not Alec, who murders Todd — which Mindy witnesses. As she runs to tell Alec, she finds him tying up Connor. She threatens to call the police, but Alec knocks her unconscious before attempting to flee with her in the Harpers’ car. Except Greg — who has just found Connor tied up and leaves to allegedly find out who did it — ends up driving the car, with Mindy in it, to the woods. Mindy, who’s read the news about the missing boys, wakes up and sees one of their jerseys in the car… along with several green pocket knives. Wuh oh. 

Realizing Greg’s the kidnapper, Mindy sneaks out of the car, attempts to call 911, then finds a trailer with two missing boys in it. Unfortunately, Greg walks in and smothers her, takes her back to his house and, upon waking her up, shoots her and stages the scene to evade any wrongdoing. Alec sees her dead body, tussles with Greg, then ends up shooting him. It turns out Alec showed up at the Harpers with a purpose: revenge. In a flashback, we see that he’s one of the kidnapped boys from 15 years earlier who managed to survive. It wasn’t Gordon after all: It’s been Greg all along. 

Jackie and Connor, who were at the hospital getting Connor’s injuries checked out, arrive back at home to find it surrounded by police cars. Greg is dead. Justice has been served.