It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. A woman enters a bar, orders a drink but cannot afford it. The boy behind the bar thinks it's sad and doesn't make a fuss. It's on the house, he says. She then stalks him for six months. Everywhere, anytime, physically and mentally. An obsession gets out of hand.
It didn't take long for the British Netflix series Baby Reindeer was a hit. Within a few days of its release on April 11, millions of people watched and the series also shot to first place in the Netherlands in the top 10 of the streaming service's most viewed titles. The series is based on the experiences and two theater shows of Scottish actor, comedian and writer Richard Gadd, who himself plays the leading role.
Is the hype justified? Yes. Baby Reindeer is a brilliant, fascinating, chilling story about all trigger warnings of our time. Victim blaming, manipulation, date rape, grooming: everything is compressed. Without it becoming unbelievable. It is oppressive, every minute. Especially episode four.
Gadd said to the American Today Show that stalking is often presented in films and on television as something sexy, mysterious. The normal person with an edge. Think of Cape Fear, Fatal Attraction or Single White Female. “But,” he says: “Someone who stalks is mentally ill. I wanted to show the deeper layers that I otherwise never see on television. It's the story about a stalker, but turned upside down.” Figures from Statistics Netherlands (2020) show that six percent of people aged sixteen and older have been stalked by an ex-partner, the vast majority of whom are men. Only a small proportion of perpetrators are convicted.
Empathy as encouragement
Gadd plays Donny Dunn, a struggling (and not very funny) stand-up comedian who works in a pub to make some money. He lives, for his status as loser to make it even bigger, with his ex's mother. One day Martha (Jessica Gunning) enters his pub. She is fat, seems lost and has no money on her. Donny is one pleaser: he flirts a bit and doesn't want to hurt her by rejecting her. But Martha sees the empathy as encouragement and is committed to Donny. 'Reindeer' is her pet name for him. From then on, she comes to the pub every day, sends dozens of short emails and sits outside his house in a bus shelter for hours, even when it is freezing.
Donny becomes disorganized. His performances go wrong, his relationship with the trans woman Teri (Nava Mau) does not deepen and he is unable to break contact with Martha – even though he knows she is bad for him. You're addicted to the attention, Teri shouts. Even when he finally reports it to the police – only after six months – he does not dare to be honest about Martha. Why?
That's what's intriguing about it Baby Reindeer: as a viewer you don't understand why Dunn doesn't intervene. You also constantly wonder who your sympathy should really be, the perpetrator or the victim? Doesn't Dunn also provoke it a bit himself? No, you think, the victim should not be blamed. The series asks moral questions, at a high pace, without effect. Gradually you start to understand that Dunn is hiding something much bigger. Something that prevents him from loving himself, let alone Teri. Baby Reindeer is an important series that you will think about for a long time – and want to talk about.
#39Baby #Reindeer39 #brilliant #important #series