It currently ranks as the No. 1 show on Netflix with 22 million views this past week alone.
If you’re not watching the stalker thriller miniseries “Baby Reindeer,” remedy that immediately. It’s so compelling that I binged all seven episodes in less than 24 hours.
Inspired by the true trauma of creator and star Richard Gadd, the series follows Donny Dunn, an aspiring comedian who bartends in London. One fateful day, cackling ex-lawyer Martha Scott sits at his bar to order a Diet Coke, beginning a horrific stalking case that causes Donny to look within himself at his own insecurities.
Jessica Gunning deserves Emmy consideration for her chilling antagonist, who instantly joins the list of all-time creepy stalkers from Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” (1987) to Kathy Bates in “Misery” (1990). Rather than an adulterer’s scorned mistress or an author’s obsessed fan, she’s a total stranger who is wildly delusional about the extent of their meet-cute. To steal a few phrases, she’s a cockadoodie presence that’s not going to be ignored, Don.
I don’t know what’s creepier: that she relentlessly messages him around the clock or that she types “Sent from my iPhone” when she’s not even using an iPhone. As her misspelled messages appear on screen, we experience a stream-of-consciousness that feels like a realistic portrayal of mental illness. Gunning even finds a nurturing humanity underneath, calling him “Baby Reindeer” before peering into his soul to ask, “Who hurt you?”
This question becomes the thematic core of the show. The central goal is to explore Donny’s hurt, which is also Gadd’s hurt considering he not only plays the lead actor but also writes the entire series based on his one-man stage show. This semi-autobiographical protagonist is at once a victim and also a willing participant, hesitating to go to the police or seek a restraining order because he bizarrely likes the attention due to his own insecurities.
As the episodes unfold, we realize that this show is about so much more than a stalker, doing a deep dive into Donny’s drug addiction and sexual orientation. To call it “Requiem for a Dream” meets “The Crying Game” would be reductive. Instead, it’s a brave act of self-purgation, detailing his chicken-and-egg confusion over which came first: did his #MeToo predator spark his bisexuality or were these feelings of same-sex attraction always there?
In this light, the most powerful scene is a subway embrace with Teri (Nava Mau), who he met on a trans dating site, but to whom he is scared to show public displays of affection. He peers over her shoulder at the judgmental eyes of fellow passengers before stepping backward off the train car, the doors closing on the love of his life.
Trigger warning aside, “Baby Reindeer” is the rare pop-culture phenomenon that actually deserves to be the show that everyone’s talking about because it’s so well made. Like Netflix’s “Beef” last year, “Baby Reindeer” will likely clean up the Limited Series categories next award season. It may give you nightmares, but you’ll never forget it.
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