This article contains statements about sexual assault and harassment. For support, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673 or visit rainn.org.

"Baby Reindeer" is the latest Netflix show based on a true story. Written by, written by, and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, the seven-episode series follows Gadd's fictionalized version of Donnie Dunn as he strikes up a friendship with Martha, a woman he meets while working in a pub. As Donnie tries to protect himself and his loved ones, he is forced to consider his traumatic history of abuse and how it has affected his self-worth (spoiler alert). (This new series belongs to the fictional true crime genre, and Netflix advertises it as such, but it stands out among the deluge of formulaic, "ripped from the headlines" content offered by the streaming giant. This is because "Reindeer Babies" offers viewers a troubling, empathetic, and wholly human portrait of abuse and mental illness, delving into the gray areas of sexuality, masculinity, and attachment that are rarely covered on television, let alone true crime.

True crime is a loaded label in pop culture. Cultural critics have spent years questioning the ethics of the "true crime craze," fostering serial killers to celebrity status, re-traumatizing survivors as their tragedies are dug up and presented on a national stage, and sometimes misrepresenting complex cases while applying them to an easily understood narrative structure The dangers of series that sometimes misrepresent complex events and apply them to And because of streaming distributors seeking to replenish their content, an impressive series that achieves the best that true crime can offer is often less talked about than the most sensational of hits.

"Reindeer Babies" made its quiet debut on Netflix in mid-April, but the early reviews and buzz came from the UK (Gad won an Olivier Award in 2020 for his autobiographical one-man show about the same precarious period in his life). This new series goes even further by dramatizing the actions of the real-life "Martha" in surprising detail. Both the fictional character's unique way of speaking and her frantic, typo-filled emails are drawn directly from Gad's recollections and transcripts. Details like Martha's tendency to mistype "sent from iPhone" at the end of emails to feign ownership, when in reality she is typing on a nondescript, outdated cell phone, are too specific to be made up. (Over a five-year period, Gad received 41,071 e-mails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, and 106 pages of letters from his female stalker.)

It is understandable that many articles have appeared questioning how much of this series is truth and how much is fiction. However, what no amount of fact-checking articles can convey is how "Baby Reindeer" elevates the "this is a true story" disclaimer to another level by highlighting the emotional and moral gray areas of Donnie and Martha as characters. Certainly, Martha's stalking is emotionally and physically dangerous, but from the first moment she appears on screen, she is portrayed as a person, not a boogeyman; at the beginning of their relationship, Donnie (in voiceover, future Donnie recounts incidents that occurred throughout the show ) admits that he indulged his obsessive love for Martha because her compliments gave him confidence as he struggled in the London comedy scene. Even as Martha's behavior spirals out of control, she is portrayed through a sympathetic lens, making Donnie think (and the audience think) that she is clearly mentally ill and in need of psychiatric help. It is also clear (though not explicitly stated) that people like Martha tend to repeat jail and probation sentences without proper mental health care.

Donnie, on the other hand, is far from the perfect, flawless victim that the true crime industry (and the police) usually demands. His over-the-top empathy for Martha, described as both compassionate and "patronizing arrogance," highlights the full spectrum of emotional nuance. Donnie, who narrates the series, spends a large part of the series questioning each of his responses to the stalking, following her home, peering into her windows, and engaging in her fantasies with the misguided purpose of easily disappointing her, as well as his His unflinching honesty leads the viewer through his self-destructive decisions. It is not until midway through the series that the viewer realizes the horror of Donny's lack of self-preservation.

In the fourth episode, "Baby Reindeer" flashes back to several years before Donny met Martha and how he met a successful television writer named Darien during his stay at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. When they meet again in London, they become mentor and mentee, and Donnie considers Darien's interest in him as his ticket to a career in comedy. However, Darien insists that the condition of their friendship is that they do drugs with Donny every weekend, and eventually Darien begins sexually assaulting Donny while he is unconscious. The episode is a visceral depiction of severe sexual abuse and its aftermath, and even after being freed from Darien, Donnie begins to indulge in reckless encounters and relationships in search of "shitty answers." When he unexpectedly falls in love with a trans therapist named Teri (Nava Mau), it is clear that his trauma, as well as his internalized homophobia, has come between them. When Martha came into his life, he was still in the throes of confusion.

"Baby Reindeer" has drawn many comparisons to "I May Destroy You" as a completely candid television depiction of sexual assault and abuse. Gad demonstrated tremendous skill and courage in telling a story that is often not told in public. His program is also the pinnacle of what true crime can achieve when it reaches its full potential. It raises public awareness of predatory behavior and provides survivors with an empathetic lifeline that allows them to know that what happened to them was not because they are bad or broken people.

It would be easy to label this miniseries as Netflix's latest true-crime drama, but that would be disrespectful to the show, which goes beyond the typical true-crime drama formula and tells a story riddled with the complexities and contradictions of real human responses to trauma. If the whole point of storytelling is to introduce scenarios and perspectives that the public has never experienced, to open their minds and evoke empathy, then these troubling stories need to be told. With the dearth of unique and excellent crime shows available for streaming, "Baby Reindeer" is the example of true crime we need.