As the second episode of Baby Reindeer begins, Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) questions why he just did that. He contemplated unfriending her many times, but he always stopped himself. Donny argues there are two sides to every story and Martha might be ill. Then, Martha (Jessica Gunning) started commenting on all of his photos including those dating back to when he opened the account. Martha messages him to ask if they’re official after the best date ever. She begins asking whether there’s someone else. Donny closes his laptop. Next, Donny has a date with Teri (Nava Mau) who wants to know more about him. Donny says he met Teri by signing up to a trans dating website using the name Tony.
He never expected to fall in love. Donny talks about Teri and how he worries about bumping into someone with her. Instead, he kept their dates to a dim cocktail bar on the edge of town. Donny claims he always meant to tell her about Tony, but he kept putting it off as he fell for her. Martha sneaks up on Donny outside his workplace. She asks who he’s been texting and whether it was Keeley. Donny says she is just an old friend. Martha believes he’s single. Donny begins worrying that Martha will find out about Teri so he decides to keep Teri away from Martha. Teri looks at the messages from Martha and asks why she calls him Donny. He makes up an excuse. Teri questions why he hasn’t reported this. Donny explains he doesn’t think it’s that much. Teri wants him to shut it down or she’ll come to Camden and visit Martha.
Martha complains when Donny arrives at the pub late. He tries to make her pay for her drink, but he stops when she begins crying. Donny blames the age gap and having kids. Martha says this world only takes before leaving. That night, Martha flooded his email trying to prove she can still have kids. In her eyes, there were no more excuses. Martha would come to the bar early, follow him around, and talk endlessly about their future together. She has tickets to his competition so she’s coming to come and empty her lungs. Donny barges in and tells Gino (Danny Kirrane) and Greggsy (Michael Wildman) that they need to bar Martha. While Gino is looking at his phone, he messages Martha back asking for butt sex.
Gino believes she’ll see it as a joke. Later, Donny calls Jason to see if he can move his semifinal to another date. After the call, Donny snorts drugs. He meets Teri who says she picked the gayest club possible. Teri says he is much different. Donny reveals his name. He panics and rushes to the bathroom to snort more drugs only to drop them in the toilet. He returns to Teri who tries to make sure he is okay. Teri believes he is enjoying this. She Googled Martha and found out she has been to jail. Teri suggests he’s keeping Martha around because of what she gives him. After they kiss, Teri asks Donny to come back with her tonight. He agrees. Donny gets worried on the subway.
Teri notices that his hands aren’t calloused enough for a builder. Teri asks for a proper kiss. Donny is concerned that people are looking at them. He steps off the subway and it leaves with Teri. On his way back, he finds Martha waiting for him. She calls him filthy because she’s never taken it up the butt. She might make concessions for him though. Donny urges her to go home. Martha claims men who don’t fancy her are either blind or gay. He says he’s not gay. Martha tells him to stop pushing her away. She can help him with the person who hurt him. Martha suspects it’s a man. Donny doesn’t want to talk about it so he’s going to leave. Martha refuses and keeps touching him. Donny gets upset and walks away only for Martha to follow him. She pushes him against the wall and plays with his penis.
Martha listens to his heartbeat and says she’s making him beat.
Baby Reindeer Review
The opening episode of Baby Reindeer had potential because the story was fresh and Donny could at least be viewed as naïve. There was still some sense of likability there, but that has been destroyed in episode two. The character has become completely unlikable to the point that it’d be okay to see Martha drown him at the end of the episode.
There’s really no nice way to put it, especially if this farfetched story is legitimately true, but Donny is an imbecile. There’s no other way to put it. That might’ve been an attempt to make the character humorous, but it’s only created one of the most annoying characters in recent memory.
This will likely continue to become more and more outlandish until something finally snaps and brings everything back to reality. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to genuinely care about what happens to anyone in this show and we’re only two episodes in.
This episode was a mess and deserves a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Baby Reindeer can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss Baby Reindeer with others at the Reel Mockery Forum.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
The extra commentary on how “Donny” dealt with being stalked is disgusting. Especially considering the author of this summary seems to clearly know the show was based on a true story. It is 2024 and we are still victim blaming and telling victims what their “normal” response should have been. SA and harassment aren’t normal. Stick to the recap. This writing is poor and will require your absolute focus to clean up all of the grammatical challenges. You don’t have the bandwidth to offer your useless opinions as well.
That’s your opinion and that’s fine. I am sure not everyone will agree with you or me. Please continue watching and finish the series before deciding though. That’s what I intend to do before making a final judgment on the series as a whole because it’s way too early to say.
When Gadd decided to make a whole career around this “story” and commercialize it, I think that opened the door to criticism. His whole comedy show is based around this. I am sure the Netflix paycheck will help with the coping process.
Please make it that far and come back with an updated opinion. Thank you.