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Baby Reindeer Review

Baby Reindeer is a British comedy drama television miniseries that premiered on Netflix in 2024. It’s such an intriguing, psychologically complex series.

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“I knew she was mad, and I knew she was dangerous,

but she flattered me. That was enough“

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The series is about a man having to deal with a female stalker. Starring Richard Gadd, the show was also created and written by him. Through this series Gadd tackles his own experiences in the standup comedy profession and in his personal life, thus making this series very autobiographical and intimate, though obviously we cannot really know just how much of it if any was exaggerated for dramatic purposes.

Richard Gadd’s Donny is such a complicated man. Gadd really needs to be applauded for actually delving deep into his own struggles and not just putting all of the blame on his tormentor(s). Although I found his actions frustratingly terrible at all points, there lies the main strength of this show – it is all about how messy life decisions can be for some people and just how easily they can ruin their own lives if their mental struggles are not dealt with properly.

Donny needs validation and he has serious self-hating issues. He also lacks self-respect and self-confidence. This eventually led to him being raped multiple times and being stalked as well. Gadd’s performance is quite good and the series felt like a deeply personal message show that is all about how complex human relationships can be. His speech in the excellent penultimate episode doesn’t victim shame, but still importantly depicts that the victim-assailant dynamic can be more complex than initially seeming.

But thankfully it doesn’t let Martha off the hook either. Yes, she is a damaged woman, but what she did is still inexcusable. The show is at its best when it’s dealing with their complicated dynamic. Jessica Gunning is a revelation on this series as she looks and sounds exactly the part and she killed it, delivering such a powerhouse performance that echoed in its best moments Kathy Bates from ‘Misery’.

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Baby Reindeer also deals with transgender dating in a surprisingly nuanced and realistic manner. The subject of rape was also very well handled and those scenes were definitely quite disturbing. The tone employed here is definitely problematic and uneven at times, but still I appreciated its effective black humor, especially in the first half. The second half became much more dramatic and hard-hitting emotionally. The finale tied things up a beat too neatly for my taste, but that penultimate episode was heart-wrenching and ultimately the best of the bunch.