Baby Reindeer Review – A Chilling Tale of Obsession

Stalking is an incredibly real thing that can happen to anyone, anywhere. The Netflix limited series Baby Reindeer follows the chilling true story of Richard Gadd and a stalker he had in the mid-2010s who essentially ran his life for several years. Gadd plays a fictionalized version of himself named Donny Dunn who struggles with his own self-loathing and trauma that leads up to the events of Martha Scott stalking him. Every role is brilliantly played with stars Nava Mau (Generation), Tom Goodman-Hill (Lewis), Shalom Brune-Franklin (Great Expectations), and Jessica Gunning (What Remains and The Outlaws) as Martha.

Baby Reindeer immediately pulls you into a dark and twisted story that gets increasingly disturbing as the series progresses. There isn’t a single moment throughout that wasn’t filled with dramatic tension that was both excellently written and absolutely ghastly. Even though you can always imagine what will happen next, somehow, it’s always much, much worse than anything you could’ve expected.

“He Who Looks Like a Baby Reindeer”

The trailer, which you can see above, touches on just about every one of the seven available episodes. The underlining notion of the show discusses that regardless of age or gender, a stalker or an abuser can one day walk into your life and turn it upside down. In great detail, Gadd recounts a fictionalized version of his struggles that mimics the very same traumas he endured in his life from sexual assault, the abuse of hardcore drugs, uncovering his own sexuality, and being taken advantage of by someone he looked up to as a mentor; all in his mid to late twenties. This evolves into his inability to form meaningful relationships with those he cares for and move forward in his career as a prop comedian.

Baby Reindeer also goes over how, regardless of the severity of Martha’s stalking, she’s still very much a victim of mental illness. Dunn’s approach to every facet of the story paints an incredibly human picture of how these things genuinely go in the real world. It isn’t as easy as simply going to the police and filing a complaint. It isn’t as simple as asking your stalker to stop. It isn’t as simple as avoiding the places you used to go to or changing your general routines for fear that your stalker will be waiting for you around the corner. The fear is in knowing that in an otherwise safe environment, you’re anything but safe.

Fantastically Told And Extremely Dark

The moment the first episode’s opening scene ends, you’re given a perfect look at the tone of the rest of the show. Gadd’s writing and his portrayal of himself is so incredibly well done that I didn’t realize I had binged the entirety of the show until the final credits began to roll. Regardless of how well done it is, it can also be incredibly jarring to watch as he recounts different anecdotes in his life that got him to this point. I almost skipped the fourth episode entirely as his sexual trauma is portrayed in great detail. However, these moments are necessary to understanding why Donny is doing the things he is doing such as failing to accurately report Martha or engaging with her when he knows he shouldn’t.

Likely the most important element in the storytelling is the notion that the laws surrounding stalkers seem to be very lax, which basically allows perpetrators to continue what they’re doing. You can’t just report someone who is sending you thousands of messages and visiting your places of work every single day. Even when Donny decides to listen to the voices of reason in his life or his inner voice telling him to do something, it never matters. If it’s this difficult for a man to deal with a stalker, it must be unimaginable for women experiencing it.

The Acting Is Second To None

There would be no Baby Reindeer if Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning didn’t play their respective roles. Even Dunn’s trans girlfriend, Teri, couldn’t have been played by anyone other than the gorgeous Nava Mau. Every on-screen character is someone that Gadd interacted with as the events unfold in real-time, helping to closer understand how Gadd feels about their involvement in that moment in his life. Even though Donny is never painted to be a good person, you know how much he cares for those who stuck by him in any capacity by the way Richard Gadd wrote them.

Baby Reindeer is an incredibly chilling tale of love, terror, abuse, and comedy that accurately dissects the lengths that people will go to protect themselves from their shame. It might be a difficult watch for some, so please exercise caution before you begin. You can watch Baby Reindeer on Netflix from April 11, 2024.

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the themes in Baby Reindeer, you can always speak to someone at Victim Connect, National Domestic Abuse Helpline, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline.