Baby Reindeer is a 2024 Mini Series that aired on Netflix about Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd), an unsuccessful comedian who extends a moment of kindness to a mentally unwell woman called Martha (Jessica Gunning). However, when Martha starts stalking Donny, it places him on a collision course with some dark memories from his past.
It is, tragically, Based on a True Story of Gadd's life.
Tropes
- Abhorrent Admirer: Occasionally played straight. The deconstruction of this is, arguably, the whole point.
- Affably Evil: A very dark example when it comes to Darrien, who always acts like an ordinary and understanding person even as he's psychologically abusing Donny.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear in Donny's final meeting with Darrien if Darrien remembers that he sexually assaulted Donny and is simply implying he doesn't remember to avoid a confrontation, given that Donny spoke graphically about being raped. If one believes that he was telling the truth, it's left ambiguous if he doesn't remember due to the huge amount of drugs he taking, or if it's a But for Me, It Was Tuesday situation.
- Bittersweet Ending: Donny's parents accept that he was raped and show unquestioning sympathy and acceptance for him. His life improves significantly after he moves back in with Keeley's mum, and his career also sees a breakthrough. Martha is found guilty of stalking Donny and Donny is granted a restraining order, finally giving him some vindication for Martha's vicious stalking campaign. On the bitter side, Donny doesn't end up with Terri or Keeley, Darrien never faces justice for raping Donny, Donny feels sympathy for Martha, as he recognizes she needs major help that she still won't and can't get, especially from prison, and Donny has still been through a long and painful ordeal.
- Blatant Lies: A very dark example. Martha lies blatantly to Donny's face about her life, claiming to be friends with politicians and showing him clearly photoshopped pictures. One of the early signs of her mental illness is the extent to which she believes her own lies.
- Bookends: The story starts and ends with someone receiving a free drink from a sympathetic barman.
- Broken Pedestal: Donny is raped by his absolute icon, Darrien.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The story goes from (still dark) Cringe Comedy to disturbing drama during the fourth episode.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Donny ends up with neither Teri or Keeley, though Keeley does help him out at the last minute.
- Nested Story Reveal: The final episode reveals that the story, at least in theory, was created after Donny deleted the information about Martha following her conviction, and tried to write about what he'd been through.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Inciting Incident is Donny giving Martha a cup of tea for free, after she comes into the pub looking upset. From that moment, she becomes obsessed with him and stalks him relentlessly.
- Painting the Medium: Every Episode Title Card is a text or email from Martha, ending with the Title Drop of "baby reindeer", as that is her nickname for him.
- Rape and Switch: Discussed. Danny has a girlfriend, Keeley, when he's raped by his would-be mentor, Darrien, a man. He discovers that he's attracted to men (and trans women) in the aftermath, and struggles with knowing if he is this way "because" he was raped by a man or not, or if he asked for his rape due to his sexuality.
- Rape as Backstory:
- Episode 4 reveals that Donny was raped by a would-be mentor, Darrien.
- Episode 7 has Donny's father Gerry responding to Donny's disclosure of his sexual abuse by saying "I was raised in the Catholic Church", essentially confirming that he was molested as a child, probably by a Pedophile Priest.
- Running Gag: "Sent from my iPhone." Martha does not have an iPhone, and yet signs every single message (of which there are thousands) with "sent from my iPhone." As she becomes increasingly unstable, she makes increasingly egregious spelling mistakes, but she never stops writing it.
- Stalker with a Crush: Martha becomes obsessed with Donny and sexually harasses him with messages, going so far as to grope him by the canal.
- Tragic Villain: Martha is a mentally unwell woman who is stalking Donny, violently attacks his girlfriend (being very transphobic), and makes them all feel very unsafe. However, Donny finds out that she is highly educated and clearly had some kind of complete mental breakdown earlier in her life that caused her to be this way.
- Trans Chaser: Donny has a profile on a trans dating site but is deeply ashamed of it.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Aside from the opening couple of minutes of Donny reporting Martha for stalking him, Episode 4 is a flashback that shows Donny's life before that, specifically his rape by a would-be mentor and his drug addiction.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Donny regards Martha as one in-universe, as she is clearly violent and disturbed and causes great stress to Donny and his loved ones, but she has gone through a great deal of pain in her life. He shows sympathy for her even after she sexually assaults him.
