Reindeer: No Games

The "Hot New Thing on Netflix" has probably switched out several dozen times since Baby Reindeer wore the crown. But I've only now circled back to see what everyone was talking about in April of 2024.

Baby Reindeer is a seven episode mini-series written by and starring Richard Gadd, who based it on experiences from his own life. As his character Donny tries to break out in the London stand-up comedy scene, a woman named Martha begins stalking him. No one takes the threat seriously... but then, neither does he at first. After all, he's determined to deny there's any problem, since it might mean confronting a deep trauma from his past.

Most episodes of Baby Reindeer are around half an hour long. Between that and the stand-up comedy elements in the plot, you might come to the conclusion that the show is a comedy (if a black one). It certainly comes on that way in the first episode or two. But each installment gets progressively darker, until a powerful and harrowing episode four in the middle of the run, where we finally learn about Donny's past.

This is the point the show has been building to, and from that moment on, comedy isn't even on the agenda. Baby Reindeer becomes an intense stew of shame and self-loathing, sexual abuse, and mental health issues. And when it's all said and done? Expect to have complicated feelings about what you've watched. This ultimately isn't the kind of show you "like." And that's intentional.

I felt like I'd been the victim of a bait-and-switch, and that by the time I realized that, I'd gone too far to give up on the show. This structure seems very suited to the content itself: what ends up being dark and evil starts out seeming light and fun.

I didn't feel like the series wound up saying anything particularly profound. And... how could it? What is there to say about this situation, other than to dramatize it and let everyone see people for how horrible they are, and what they do to others?

I wasn't satisfied by the ending. But what realistic ending could be satisfying? There's no "getting over" trauma like this; it stays with you in ways you may not even realize, and might reassert itself at any moment.

I do know that there's great acting work among the core cast. Richard Gadd has written a story that demands he give an intensely vulnerable performance. Jessica Gunning's performance as Martha is key to the making the tonal shift work. And while the roles that two other characters serve in the plot is better not spoiled, I'll just say that Nava Mau and Tom Goodman-Hill each perfectly inhabit two opposing forces in Donny's life.

Despite how uncomfortable Baby Reindeer made me -- or perhaps because of it (again: that's the point) -- I think I'd give it a B+. But don't watch it if you're not prepared for something dark and traumatic.