Baby Reindeer: the true story behind the current series

Calling it the series of the moment is probably an understatement, because Baby Reindeer will be talked about for a long time to come, especially after Fiona Harvey's interview with Piers Morgan, where we presume to hear a new version of the true story behind this series.

Before talking about it in depth, let's do a little excursus on the series.

Baby Reindeer, still at the top of the Netflix charts, tells the true story of Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd), an aspiring comedian who decides to move to London to pursue his dream. What he finds, however, is a work alternative in a bar, where, unfortunately, he meets Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning). Donny's sweetness leads him to offer her a Diet Coke, which immediately triggers Martha's obsession, which will go beyond the limits of stalking and harassment.

What we see on stage, however, is not a simple actor, but the true victim of the story who, way back in 2015, was stalked by Fiona Harvey. We know this right away, and this makes us immediately identify and empathize with Donny.

Baby Reindeer: we comment on the Netflix series

A miniseries that on the one hand makes us immediately feel the emotions felt by Donny. It's impossible not to, especially if you look at it knowing what's behind it all. On the other, thanks to an indelible performance by Jessica Gunningleads us to hatred for the character, to compassion, to sorrow, then again to hatred and finally again to sadness for a person who, we come to think, almost doesn't deserve what he suffers. Instead, yes, he deserves it, but we still feel that empathy that leads us to justify his actions. Maybe because she was truly repentant? We don't believe that much anymore. Only because Gunning was so masterful as to make us believe that perhaps, being a woman who stalked a man, she can be justified.

And here we come to the beauty of the series. A gripping tale that unfolds between time jumps narrating Donny's story of abuse; devastating, to the point of feeling like we were the victims of the story, to the point of understanding that the worst for Donny was already over and that perhaps Martha was the worst evil. We are truly disturbed by what Donny says, but what we see is a normalization of a reverse molestation case. Accustomed to seeing mainstream series in which a man is always the bad guy, this time we are taken aback, as is the policeman Donny turns to.

“A man's threat is physical, it carries more weight.”

These are the agent's words that immediately freeze any spectator. Or at least those who watch the episodes with some knowledge of the facts. But no, it's never like that. Martha's threats went from verbal to physical, when her mental instability became an obsession bordering on madness, harassment arrived, as did physical violence.

We are probably not ready for this discussion, so we will stop here, but not before stating that not only women should be afraid. For us it happens more often, every 72 hours there is the risk of hearing another name on television, but this also happens; enough physical justifications: an unstable woman can be capable of throwing acid in someone's face just as a man can be.

Baby Reindeer: Fiona Harvey and “her” true story

Despite the anonymity of the stalker's real name, a few rounds on social media were enough for fansr understand what it was about Fiona Harvey. Thus, the woman's old posts and tweets towards Richard Gadd were easily found, which immediately triggered Fiona's response, who lashed out against the series, announcing her willingness to take legal action by claiming that everything told is false.

Here it is Piers Morgan he then invites her to an interview, where clearly there will be no shortage of those we will call today “Plot Holes”.

First of all, due to various death threats from some social users, Fiona claims to want to tell the truth about the story with Richard, who only decided to publicly humiliate her (in the woman's words). The emails sent “were only a handful”, what we see in the series that Fiona says she hasn't even watched is absolutely not true. It's a shame when you then say that the transposed story has only two things that are true: iThe name of Richard Gadd and his work as a bartender.

And he continues: Fiona and Richard would have only seen each other twice, there would have been no Diet Coke offered by the boy who, moreover, would have interrupted her during lunch. The obsession was Richard's, Harvey claims.

I am not a stalker, I have never been in prison, I have not received injunctions or interdicts. This is simply complete nonsense.

With these words he desperately tries to defend himself, continuing to maintain that he only sent about ten emails, no voice messages nor, much less, text messages, just a letter. It's a shame that he then admits to having multiple email addresses and 4 telephones, because he wants to “keep people on different addresses and numbers”.

There are many contradictions that Fiona Harvey brought into the long interview with Morgan, who she does not fail to define as a “bully” and an “idiot” as soon as she left the show.

We will probably never know the truth, but it will be enough to see if Fiona Harvey will really take legal action against Gadd.

In any case, if you haven't seen this series yet, go and catch it on Netflix, because there might not be much left given the current situation.

Rating: 10 cum laude. It's something that is rarely seen on screens, the humanization of the executioner, not a Stockholm syndrome, for having made Donny discover himself, consecrates this series as a special product that tells us something clear as day: not be ashamed of yourself, never… face your fears and never think you are wrong.

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