Baby Reindeer Fans Should Watch This Critically Acclaimed Comedy-Drama

Summary

• Baby Reindeer
  and
  I May Destroy You
  bravely tackle personal trauma with humor & emotion.
• Both shows shed light on victims’ struggles with reporting assaults to the police & finding closure.
• Baby Reindeer
  and
  I May Destroy You
  differ in the protagonists’ starting points & approach to seeking justice.

As soon as viewers caught wind of Baby Reindeer, the Netflix black comedy drama-thriller took the internet by storm. Created by Richard Gadd, the story is based on his real-life experience of being stalked by a woman and sexually assaulted by a prominent TV writer. The most astounding thing about the show is that Gadd stars as a fictional version of himself, reliving his trauma in the bravest possible way. But he isn’t the first to do it.

Back in 2020, Michaela Coel received widespread praise for her black comedy-drama that features a similar theme. I May Destroy You, which earned nine Emmy nominations and won two, including Outstanding Writing for Coel, is about a young woman who wakes up after a night out with friends, unable to recollect what happened. Slowly, through bits and pieces of her memory returning, Arabella (Coel) realizes that she was sexually assaulted. This really happened to Coel, and she, too, plays a fictional version of herself telling a similar story of her ordeal.

Baby Reindeer and I May Destroy You Were Cathartic for Both Creators

Both shows are British and star their respective creators, who are reliving their personal trauma in an emotionally draining yet also humorous way on the small screen. Both situations involve sexual assault, chronicling how the two protagonists deal with the aftermath of the events and come to terms with them in the best ways they can.

In I May Destroy You, one of the best British miniseries, the harrowing assault occurs after Arabella spends a night out drinking with her friends, taking a much-needed break from writing her second novel. With Baby Reindeer, Donny Dunn (Gadd) is groomed by a well-known TV writer. Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill) brings Donny to his home under the guise of helping him work on his writing and improve his comedy, even suggesting that he might be able to help get him work writing for television. But the nights turn into drug-fueled evenings where Darrien takes advantage of Donny while in his most vulnerable, not to mention physically helpless, state.

Gadd tells British GQ that “the only way to get through these negative emotions is to tackle them head-on. Coming clean about the sexual abuse I went through,” he adds, referencing his one-man play Monkey See, Monkey Do that predates the series, “was more helpful than any therapy.”

Coel, meanwhile, told Variety that watching the episodes was an emotional process for her and “another form of catharsis in itself.” She said in her 2018 MacTaggart Lecture, quoted in Vanity Fair, that it was therapeutic to write about the situation and “actively twist a narrative of pain into one of hope, and even humor.”

How Baby Reindeer and I May Destroy You Are Similar

Along with the general premise and the fact that both shows served as a form of cathartic art for their creators, Baby Reindeer and I May Destroy You share other similarities. These relate to both the injustices the victims faced when reporting their crimes to the police and their ways of coping with the trauma and finding some semblance of closure.

In both shows, the victims go to the police. Although Donny only reports his stalking, he never reports the sexual assault from Darrien. This is mostly because of his feelings of shame, but given the lack of action he gets after reporting his stalker Martha (Jessica Gunning), he likely also has little faith that anything will be done about it anyway.

There’s an interestingly similar situation in I May Destroy You when Arabella’s friend Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) visits a man he connects with on a gay dating app and the encounter turns violent. Kwame tries to report the incident, but like Arabella’s experience, the police don’t take him seriously.

Gadd told The Guardian that while he has met good police officers in his life, he recognizes a systemic problem. “I can think of so many examples,” he said, “where something’s been reported, ignored, reported, ignored, and gone on to have some very severe consequences. I did feel it when I was reporting stalking. I did feel the pinch, shall we say.”

Coel echoed those sentiments to Variety back in 2020, also recognizing that while the police are usually trying to do their best, we need to decide as an audience if that “best” is enough. Finally, both shows end with the victims coming to terms with their assaults, though in different ways. Both seek revenge and retribution for the things that were done to them, even if they can’t get it from the police. Arabella imagines all the ways she can get her rapist back, while at the end of Baby Reindeer, Donny goes so far as to visit Darrien to confront him, only to end up accepting a job to work with him instead. In his British GQ interview, Gadd said:

“It was showing an element of abuse that hadn’t been seen on television before…the deeply entrenched, negative, psychological effects of attachment you can sometimes have with your abuser.”

The two shows end on different notes, with the protagonists in different places. Arabella uses the experience to help her complete her second novel, which launched with great success. Donny’s shining moment is far darker: during a comedy competition, he has a public breakdown where he reveals everything that happened to him and discusses his feelings of self-loathing and hatred. A recording of the confessional posted to social media goes viral, and Donny becomes a huge sensation. None of this erases the trauma of the two brave victims, but it suggests they are both in a place where they can finally move on in a way that works for them.

How Baby Reindeer and I May Destroy You Are Different

Alongside the striking similarities between the two shows, there are notable differences that set each one apart and take the stories in different directions. The initial state of mind of the two protagonists begins much differently. Arabella is at the top of her game, hot off becoming famous for her first novel and being celebrated as a Millennial icon. Conversely, Donny is at one of the lowest points in his life. He’s taking odd comedy jobs wherever he can get them and is desperate to win a comedy competition he hopes could be the start of positive change. He’s struggling financially and emotionally, still trying to hit the status Arabella has already achieved.

There’s also a different relationship with the people who contribute to their trauma. In Baby Reindeer, Donny has sympathy for his stalker, in part because he understands that she’s mentally ill and not purposefully malicious. But it’s also because he encountered her not long after his assault; her actions don’t seem so heinous in comparison. “Stalking is a mental dysfunction,” he told British GQ. “It’s an illness and I wasn’t dealing with someone who felt calculated or insidious. I felt I was dealing with someone who was vulnerable…someone who couldn’t stop because they believed what was in their head.”

He adds that while what Darrien did was “perniciously evil,” Martha’s behavior “came from a place of deep vulnerability.” Arabella, in I May Destroy You, also deals with an evil individual for whom she rightfully has no sympathy, but she doesn’t encounter her own version of Martha as a distraction; instead, she relies on her friends for moral support.

I May Destroy You also touches on issues of race and racism. There’s perceived intolerance in Baby Reindeer as well, but it relates to the trans community. This is particularly with Donny’s shame in falling for trans woman Teri (Nava Mau) and jealous Martha’s rageful attack and insulting remarks against the woman who gets caught up in the mess. The biggest difference between the two shows, however, is that Arabella takes steps to try and get justice for her sexual assault, whereas Donny keeps that information close to his chest, only ever discussing it when he finally breaks down in front of a live audience.

Watch I May Destroy You Next

While a short mental break might be needed after absorbing everything in Baby Reindeer, I May Destroy You is a similarly enthralling series that blends dark humor with troubling true events. It’s a thought-provoking, meaningful story that deserves just as many accolades. It has been four years since I May Destroy You started streaming, but it’s worth unearthing.

Both Cole and Gadd are incredibly brave souls who have proven that tough topics can be handled in an emotionally heart-wrenching, deeply honest way. Both shows creatively and poignantly turn trauma into thoughtful and significant works of art, not just surface-level, shock-value entertainment. Stream I May Destroy You on Max, and stream Baby Reindeer on Netflix.