This article contains descriptions of sexual assault and harassment. For support, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673, or visit rainn.org.
Baby Reindeer is the latest show based on a real-life story to hit Netflix. Created, written by, and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, the seven-episode series follows Donny Dunn, a fictionalized version of Gadd, as he strikes up a friendship with Martha, a woman he meets while working at a pub. The situation quickly devolves into stalking and harassment on the part of the romantically-obsessed Martha; as Donny tries to protect himself and his loved ones, he’s forced to reckon with a traumatic history of abuse and how it affected his self-worth. (Spoilers ahead.) While the new series falls under the genre of fictionalized true crime, and has been marketed by Netflix as such, it deserves to stand out among the onslaught of formulaic “ripped-from-the-headlines” content put forth by the streaming giant. Because Baby Reindeer gives viewers a messy, empathetic, wholly-human depiction of abuse and mental illness, and delves into gray areas of sexuality, masculinity, and attachment that are rarely explored on television, let alone within true crime.
