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  • Catharsis Factor: After being unable to bring himself to stand up to her for almost two episodes, seeing Donny finally trying to make Martha leave him alone before outright blowing up at her after she attacks Teri is very satisfying, even if the damage has already been done.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Many fans expressed desire for Donny and Teri to reunite, since Teri is a popular character due to her charm and intelligence.
  • Funny Moments: The Running Gag Of Martha's iPhone, or lack thereof. Donny points out in his inner monologue that every email he gets from her has the signature "sent from my iPhone", despite her not even having a smartphone. When he follows her to her apartment to find out more about her, he sees her typing an email to him on her laptop, and sure enough, it has the signature. There is also VERY undeniable Black Comedy at her becoming worse and worse at keeping up the iPhone act the more unhinged she gets, as in later episodes, not only does she type the sentence incorrectly, but even just typing "iPhone", or infamously, in the final episode, "iphoen", which has become a meme among fans.
  • Misaimed Fandom:
    • Addressed directly by Richard Gadd and others involved with the show – because the show is based on true events from Gadd's life, including very tragic events like being stalked by an older woman and raped by a mentor, many fans have speculated on the identities of who might be the real-life counterparts of Martha and Darrien. Gadd has had to denounce such speculation numerous times and state that he will never reveal the identities of those on whom he based such characters, and one playwright had to file criminal charges due to a smear campaign resulting from speculation that he was the inspiration for Darrien.
    • A woman who claims she was the inspiration for Martha has also been coming forth to the media, including booking an appearance on a UK talk show. She argues that the Martha character is inaccurate and filed a lawsuit against Netflix for defamation because the series is presented as a depiction of true events.
      • The Daily Record even posed photos of the woman at a bus stop like in the show, for their articles. Fortunately, in a sudden jolt of common sense, the Record decided not to publish them. Makes you wonder if they even watched the show.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • In the first episode, Martha is clearly unwell but her biggest flaw is being annoying. In the second episode, she crosses the MEH hard when she sexually assaults Donny, and she doesn't really come back to a point of sound morals after that.
    • Darrien crosses it the first time he assaults Donny, although one might assume he's done this with others before.
  • Narm Charm: Both in-universe and onscreen, Donny's act, especially the "Donny Dunn" dance, is this to a T.
  • Realism-Induced Horror: Not only is the story based on Gadd's very own experiences with rape, sexual assault, and stalking, but anyone who has been a survivor of all three can tell you that this show doesn't sugarcoat the reality of any of them. The show is especially popular among male sexual abuse survivors, who have said everything about the depiction of what happens after such an event is extremely accurate.
  • The Woobie:
    • Donny Dunn spends the better part of a year and a half being continually stalked, harassed, and assaulted by a mentally unbalanced woman. He makes some horrible mistakes throughout the ordeal, but many of his bad decisions are driven by him ultimately being a very empathetic person who recognizes trauma in other people. Not to mention the mountain of other horrible problems he's already enduring in his life, such as him being a severely struggling comedian, being a closeted queer man, and him being a survivor of rape.
    • Teri is an otherwise ordinary, well-intentioned woman whose life is completely upended by her new boyfriend's stalker, at one point being physically assaulted by said stalker who yells triggering/transphobic and racist remarks at her (although she doesn't even know Teri is trans). This is in addition to her boyfriend being a closeted bi man with internalized homophobia.

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