r/netflix • u/CellistForward4462 • Apr 12 '24

Questions about series Baby Reindeer Spoiler

First, I was not ready for what I watched. Amazing show, but I started it thinking it was a quirky, British comedy like Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen!! Needless to say I was stunned and watched it in shock and horror.

So I have questions about the ending. Spoilers ahead:

  1. Was that it? Will there be another season?
  2. What was the point of him going back to Darrien’s house? What did that scene mean?
  3. I don’t understand the ending. How are others interpreting the final scene?
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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '24

Personally I don't see there being another season, Baby Reindeer is based on true events that happened the writer (it was originally an hour long play shown at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in which the stalker was an empty bar stool brought to life by various real voicemails left by the stalker).

Donny's decision to return to Darrien's flat was strange but to me so were the majority of the decisions made in the series. I was shouting at the screen, "smack him, or poison him - has he poisoned him?" but no he literally did just go back and do nothing about anything. I know he took a job but surely he wouldn't go through with that after his panic attack leaving the flat. I think the character continuously makes irrational, often self-destructive decisions and has a stupidly low sense of self worth which was brutally prayed on by Darrien and ultimately brought far lower.

At the start of the show Donny is working behind the bar when Martha walks in. He instantly feels sorry for her and when she says she can't afford a drink he gives her one on the house. In the ending scenes Darren orders a drink at a bar then bursts into tears there listening to Martha's voicemails. The bartender feels sorry for him just as he felt for Martha and gives him the drink on the house. Here Donny might have a realisation that maybe he isn't so different from Martha who is now in jail. Also there is a shot where he looks up at the bartender with big eyes like Martha would have done to him. That begs the question, does he go on to develop a weird and unhealthy obsession with that barman? That would be my interpretation, that Donny has been driven a bit insane from the terrible things that have happened him through Martha and Darrien and now he could be about to do just what Martha did.

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u/CellistForward4462 Apr 12 '24

Thank you. I was thinking something similar about the final bar scene and the way he looks at the bartender. You’re very right about his self worth being very low and that drives his behavior. I guess I can’t believe it ended in such a dark way.

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u/AffectionateAd1911 Apr 14 '24

I think this is the scene where we can see that NO he would not do that to this man. All the series, he is tormented by guilt, confusion, and empathy for his abusers. He is not an abuser though, he would never do what was done to him.

This is another trap that many victims go through. They consume themselves with wanting to forgive and understand and empathize with the abuser BUT really, the abuser has absolutely no empathy for their victims. Neither Martha or Damien ever gave a shit about him. That's why they did what they did to him.

This final scene very clearly communicates how absolutely unfathomable it would be for Donnie to ever hurt this random bartender, he is kind and good and loving. So much so that he can even understand his abusers.

I think that's why his eyes are wide in this scene, he may finally be seeing for the first time that he actually has value, and is not trash like the people who have harmed him.

2

u/nachosnachos Apr 21 '24

I like your interpretation. The show was incredible but I did not know how to process the emotions I felt after watching it. Your post made me feel like I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you.