Warning: this article contains spoilers from “Baby Reindeer,” as well as references to sexual assault.
When the trailer for Netflix's new series “Baby Reindeer” was released in early April, it looked like it would be your average comedy-drama, a lighthearted tale of a comedian with an annoying stalker.
And therein lies the first masterstroke of the Scottish comedian Richard Gaddthe writer, producer and star of “Baby Reindeer”.
With the audience subconsciously primed to expect one thing, when people watched the series it took their breath away like a punch to the stomach.
“It's brutal, disturbing, disturbing and probably one of the best series Netflix has produced in a long time,” someone commented under the English trailer on YouTube.
Between its release on April 11 and the 21st of that month, it reached number one on the charts. the most viewed on Netflix in Mexico, Argentina, Spain and Chileand accumulated 63.2 million hours played worldwide.
Since there wasn't much publicity for the series beforehand, many viewers came to the story for the first time, unaware that the seven-part series is actually autobiographical and based on real events from Gadd's life.
The story in real life
In 2015, a woman walked into the London pub where Gadd worked and, after offering her a cup of tea, struck up a conversation with her.
From then on, for three years, she harassed him, going incessantly to his work and then to all his comedy shows.
Later he got her email, sent him more than 41,000 messagesand once he got her phone number he let her 350 hours of voice messages.
She sent him unwanted gifts (she called him “baby reindeer” in reference to a stuffed animal from her childhood that he reminded her of) and made false criminal complaints against his family to the police.
When Gadd went to the police, they initially did not help him.
Martha, as Gadd names the stalker in the series, and played by Jessica Gunningis shown to be a malevolent presence as he suffocates Gadd's existence virtually and in real life.
She appears to abuse him while he is on stage, brutally attacks Teri (Nava Mau) – the girl he is dating – and sexually assaults him while he is walking home one night.
Martha is never portrayed as a caricature, but rather in a more nuanced way as a person who is clearly struggling with mental health issues.
“Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she is not well and the system has failed her,” Gadd told The Independent.
Donny, Gadd's name in the series, shows compassion for Martha for this reason, but also seems intrigued and almost flattered by her interest at first, which begins to explain some of his strange initial interactions with her.
He invites her out for coffee, follows her home, and sometimes seems to indulge her fantasy that they will one day be together.
Gadd acknowledges that he actually made mistakes. “I did a lot of things wrong and made the situation worse,” he told Guardian.
However, in one of the most powerful and brutal moments on television this year, episode four goes back in time and reveals the main reason for Donny's confrontational behavior towards Martha: He is just as vulnerable, having previously been raped by a man he considered a friend..
The episode unfolds with growing dread as they introduce Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill), a television industry writer who offers to help Donny reach the highest levels of the comedy world but instead, He fills him with drugs.
As Donny passes out in his apartment, Darrien sexually assaults him for the first time.
In another shocking scene, Darrien rapes him.
The shame and disgust Donny feels seep into all areas of his life, and the rest of the episode chronicles his vivid descent into sexual recklessness caused by PTSD.
Once again, this story comes from Gadd's own life.
The brilliant series that remembers
The aftermath of sexual assault has rarely been shown so raw and visceral on television, and Gadd is bravely open and honest about the devastating experience, and skilled at translating the complexities of the situation for a television audience.
In some ways, “Baby Reindeer” is reminiscent of the 2020 series I May Destroy You Michaela Coel's genre-defining (“It Could Destroy You”), which also fictionalized her real-life rape at the hands of a stranger, and the terrible psychological toll it took on her.
Both series offer a uniquely powerful perspective by presenting their writers with a story based on their aggression.
“Sharing traumatic experiences in a supportive environment can facilitate 'cognitive processing' of the event, allowing people to make sense of what happened and integrate it into your autobiographical memory“says psychologist Emma Kenny about this form of creative expression.
In both shows the characters' journey with their trauma ends on an ambiguous note.
Arabella, Coel's alter ego in I May Destroy Youhe imagines the different ways he would react if he came face to face with his rapist, but ultimately he never gets that chance.
Donny visits Darrien towards the end of “Reindeer Baby”, presumably with the intention of confronting him about the rape.
Darrien pretends nothing is wrong and quickly reasserts his control over him again.
“Abuse leaves a mark. Especially abuse like this, which is repeated with promises. There is a pattern where many people who have been abused feel like they need their abusers,” Gadd told GQ.
In the series, Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison, although Gadd has not revealed exactly what happened to her in real life.
“It's resolved. I had mixed feelings about it; I didn't want to throw someone who had that level of mental discomfort in prison,” he responded to The Times.
Certainly, Gadd has used his trauma here to the most notable end: create four hours of heartbreaking televisionin which he has broken down and analyzed his horrific life experiences in a way that is deeply insightful and moving.
As Kenny says, the popularity of “Baby Reindeer,” as I May Destroy You Before, it can have positive effects when it comes to other people who face harassment and aggression in real life.
While at many points it becomes very difficult to watch, it is ultimately a privilege to accompany Gadd as he attempts to make sense of who he is, through what must be the most extreme form of therapy imaginable.
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