Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault.
When stumbling upon any fresh stalker fare, comparing it to Stephen King’s Misery is almost inevitable. Netflix’s Baby Reindeer is no different.
The limited series seemingly came out of nowhere, but has wasted no time capturing global attention. Based on writer and star Richard Gadd’s harrowing real-life experiences, Baby Reindeer tells the story of Donny, a bartender who becomes the victim of a stalker after giving her a cup of tea on the house. The innocent gesture gives way to a tidal wave of consequences that no one could have seen coming, and its sheer watchability is exactly why the show has been #1 on Netflix ever since.
Baby Reindeer is not only a classic stalker story, but a nuanced portrayal of victim blaming, mental health, and the multifaceted nature of things that at first seem black and white. All of these elements have attracted viewers to the screen, including prolific horror author King, who had such a strong reaction to the show that he couldn’t help but voice it immediately and en masse. After revealing his initial two-word reaction on X, he contributed an article to the London Times in which he further unpacked his thoughts on Gadd’s explosive miniseries.
Stephen King shares his strong reaction to Baby Reindeer
In King’s op-ed, he gets right to the heart of what’s so special about Gadd’s personal project, namely that Gadd is trying to show that stalker situations aren’t cut-and-dry as you might think. Baby Reindeer isn’t out to paint one specific villain or ⏤ God forbid ⏤ make stalking look sexy. (Clearly You has gotten into the brains of too many viewers.) Both Donny and Martha endure mental struggles throughout the series and are deserving of empathy and understanding, not unlike characters King has written himself. On that note, King shared that he’s relieved his hit thriller Misery came out when it did:
“My first thought was to thank God my novel came first, or people would assume I’d stolen it from Richard Gadd, who wrote and produced the seven-episode series and also stars in it.”
King further unpacked why Baby Reindeer is so powerful, and it’s not because Gadd’s storytelling is necessarily superior to King’s. Rather, it’s an effective storytelling convention Gadd employed that King would argue isn’t as prevalent in most other streaming media:
“Unlike most streaming series’ episodes, which can feel bloated at 50 minutes — or even longer — the episodes of Baby Reindeer, each about 30 minutes, are like short, swift stabs administered by a very sharp knife.”
The thrust of King’s opinion is that Baby Reindeer is not just great storytelling, but one of the best things he’s ever seen ⏤ a mighty compliment to Gadd coming from someone of King’s stature:
“He succeeds, in the utterly amazing penultimate episode, when he casts the shield of comedy aside and tells an audience exactly what has happened to him, including the painful and graphic details of his rape by another man. The struggle between Donny’s self-loathing and his self-esteem in this monologue makes the sixth episode of Baby Reindeer one of the best things I’ve ever seen on television (or in the movies, for that matter).”
We couldn’t have put it better ourselves. At times, Baby Reindeer is an excruciating watch, vacillating between the anticipation of what stalker Martha will do next and its disturbing, unexpected portrayals of sexual assault. The fact that all of this actually happened to Gadd makes it that much harder to watch, but from an artistic perspective, a sense of appreciation has emerged from viewers who have responded positively to the show. It can’t be easy to endure all of those experiences firsthand, but translating that trauma to the screen in an altogether positive way is another task entirely, something it seems most fans of the show ⏤ King included ⏤ would agree Gadd achieved, and with gusto.
In short, Baby Reindeer is well worth the watch, and Netflix subscribers can see all 7 episodes right now. For those who have already seen it and are wondering what to watch next, fear not ⏤ we’ve got you covered.
