Richard Gadd: "Baby Reindeer"

 The "glue" in a story can be a place; in an Agatha Christie mystery, often, a set of characters in one house dances through various complications, until a climax is reached. "The White Lotus" is also about a setting; without a fancy resort, the people we meet would never have any reason to speak to one another.

Another kind of story, a Bildungsroman, follows a character through multiple journeys. We're not just at a hotel. We might bounce from country to country. The "glue" is the central character, not the place.

That's "Baby Reindeer"--a Dickensian tale, a spin on "Oliver Twist." The central figure, Donny, starts his odyssey with the mother of his ex-girlfriend. The mother has boundary issues, so she allows Donny to be a boarder; she dresses him in the clothing of her own dead son. In turn, Donny shares nothing about his private life, and, in fact, he endangers the person who is being so (apparently) generous to him. This is a bad relationship.

From here, Donny is plunged into a kind of horror story, with a wealthy TV producer. The producer offers fame in exchange for free labor. But the free labor becomes something different; the producer repeatedly drugs and rapes Donny. Because Donny is so shattered and so confused, he does not leave immediately after discovering what is happening. Instead: "I made tea for the man, while he answered e-mails. Two days passed, in this way, and then I went home."

This sets the stage for the third misadventure, with a stalker. Martha is a mentally ill woman who becomes fascinated by Donny, and who sends him an array of text messages, some sweet, some abusive. She is essentially the Glenn Close character from "Fatal Attraction" (some plot twists seem to be borrowed hastily from "FA," without repackaging) -- and the intensity of her bad behavior forces Donny to (at long last) stand up for himself. Donny begins to look bravely at his own self-loathing -- begins to acquire a voice -- begins to "suffer into truth."

That's the story, and it's told in a beautiful, non-linear way. It's told in the way you might tell a story in a bar. You begin with one subject -- but realize you have omitted backstory -- and suddenly you're in an earlier decade, then you're in the decade before that, and then the one before that. It's a treat to see Donny at war with himself, and I can understand why the actor took home an Emmy Award. Finally, there are brilliant lines throughout, lines that seem destined for immortality. "Can I get you a Coke? It's on me." "Good luck spawning if you like to take it up the chufter...." "Say hi to the transsexual...."

I have so much admiration for this script. To Richard Gadd: More, please.