What Makes Baby Reindeer Interesting?




There are spoilers in this post, so stop now if you plan to see it.

The show explores unpleasant human emotions. That in itself is novel and demands our attention. Unpleasant emotions are something we like to reserve for the therapist's office, not explore in feature films. Secondly, because negativity requires more cognitive processing, it is harder to forget this show.

No one is heroic. Nobody saves the day. There is no positive resolution. Decisions people make under pressure reveal their true nature. And Donny, under enormous threats to his safety, does the opposite of what the audience has come to expect of our storytellers. Instead of rising up to conquer the evil forces ruining his life, we see a flawed man behaving according to his true self. The audience knows he should run away and tell the authorities, but the self-loathing, shame, and fear he can't face himself won't let him.

It contradicts our taken-for-granted worldview and we want to figure out why. Even the most flawed are worthy of empathy according to the movie. But that's not what our stories have conditioned us to expect. Especially now when the world seems to want more black-and-white, good vs evil clarity. And the movie's ending wasn't the typical "I survived and came out stronger in the end" resolution. Although that feels good to us, the audience doesn't get that clear-cut happy ending which only makes you want to think more about why not, and "what would I do?"

Finally, because the show treats these topics with honesty, the audience gets more detail into the complexities of abuser-abused relationships, trauma and its aftermath, and sexual/gender identity.

The result of all this interestingness is success. Netflix put the show out there without much expectation or promotion. And largely through word of mouth, Baby Reindeer has become one of the most talked about and popular shows on television.

NY Times Review

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