ABOVE AVERAGE
A CAPTIVATING TRUE STORY.
I once put myself in a situation where I could easily have become a victim of sexual abuse. I walked out of that apartment thinking this wasn’t what I had planned, it wasn’t really what I wanted. It took a long time for me to even acknowledge to myself that what happened wasn’t OK. While watching the fourth episode of Baby Reindeer, consisting of a series of flashbacks informing us of how the lead character was groomed and raped by a man he admired, I found his dangerous and careless behavior uncomfortably familiar.
Richard Gadd’s experiences in this miniseries are based on real events, but what viewers found most thrilling was the story of how he was stalked by a woman.
Becoming attached to Donny
Suddenly, one day Martha (Jessica Gunning) is there in the bar where Donny Dunn (Gadd) works. Not the kind of woman who turns men’s heads, Martha has a sad look on her face and never orders anything. Donny feels sorry for her, and becomes oddly curious. After she’s treated to a cup of tea, Martha keeps coming back to the bar and there’s a part of Donny that enjoys her attention, because it’s obvious that she’s becoming increasingly attached to him. Things are getting weird, though, and when Donny finally googles Martha he learns of her violent past as a serial stalker. Getting rid of her won’t be easy, however.
A one-man show
A major cultural hit at the time of its premiere, Baby Reindeer was hotly debated and its story spilled over into real life. There was even an attorney in Scotland who recognized herself in Martha and sued Netflix for defamation; at the time of writing, the case has yet to be decided. Gadd based the series on a one-man show he used to do and incorporated many ingredients from his life. Only he and those closest to him will know just how truthful it is. What’s most important is how effective Baby Reindeer is as a thriller-drama, and it certainly delivers.
A compelling watch, with rich doses of humor sprinkled throughout.
As in the case of many other limited series, it’s a challenge to stretch a story out to seven episodes, and there are times when it’s clear that this one could be told more swiftly. But it’s also a compelling watch, with rich doses of humor sprinkled throughout; we are meant to laugh, and feel great discomfort. It’s a balance that Gadd expertly achieves, and it becomes really emotional the more we learn about how damaged he is, which explains why he makes certain decisions that only encourage Martha. Gadd paints himself in the series as a laughably failed comedian; it’s a tortured performance that comes across as either utterly sincere or brilliantly constructed. Gunning is an eye-opener as an Annie Wilkes for our times, but she isn’t here simply to scare us. We feel for her; she may be a tormentor, but she’s also a person in desperate need of help.
Baby Reindeer gets its visual flair from two women who directed it, Polish Weronika Tofilska and Swedish Josephine Bornebusch. Gadd’s background adds depth to the series. Donny dating trans women looks like a fetish at first, but turns into a realistic struggle for self-acceptance. If you are mentally ill like Martha, therapy won’t suffice. But the rest of us will benefit from looking back on our experiences, acknowledge unhealthy patterns and weaknesses, and do something about it.
Baby Reindeer 2024-U.K. 235 min. Color. Created and written by Richard Gadd. Cast: Richard Gadd (Donny Dunn), Jessica Gunning (Martha Scott), Nava Mau (Teri), Tom Goodman-Hill, Nina Sosanya, Shalom Brune-Franklin.
Trivia: Originally shown in seven episodes.
Emmys: Outstanding Limited Series, Actor (Gadd), Supporting Actress (Gunning), Writing. Golden Globes: Best Limited Series, Supporting Actress (Gunning).
Last word: “I would go to bed at night and still hear the echoes of the voicemails. It was almost maddening, hearing the voicemails bouncing around my eyelids. That’s when I thought: if I was ever going to do a show about how awful this experience has been, the first thing I would do would be to take the voicemails and fire them around the stage like an oscillating light display where you would see the words bouncing around. That’s the seed of what later became Baby Reindeer.” (Gadd, The Hollywood Reporter)