As the third episode of Baby Reindeer begins, Donny (Richard Gadd) says he blocked Martha on Facebook and took some time off from the pub. His ex-girlfriend’s mother checks on him. She lets him know that he can still bring people back there. Donny claims she ditched him on the way home. Donny decides to visit Teri (Nava Mau) so he can tell her the truth. He says it helped him ease into it. Teri calls him sick. Donny tells her about his job and how he wants to be a comedian. Teri hopes he isn’t doing this for material. Although he denies it, Teri doesn’t believe anything he says. Donny gets kicked out. On the bus, he changes his name and occupation on the transsexual dating app.

When he returns, he finds everyone drinking and hanging out. He is introduced to Beau who is a painted by trade. He is shocked to find Martha (Jessica Gunning) there, but she’s calling herself Shelia now. Donny begins detailing his relationship with Keeley (Shalom Brune-Franklin) and how he moved in with her mother. When Keeley moved out, Donny found himself married to her mother, Liz. Then, her eldest son died in an accident. Donny wonders if he became an extension of her son. He grew to value Liz’s presence in his life. Keeley agreed to let him stay as long as he didn’t bring chaos to Liz’s door. In the present, Donny tries to end the party and get rid of Martha. Instead, Martha ends up agreeing to stay the night. In private, Donny tells her she should leave but she refuses.

He asks her to stay away from the cooking house and this house before threatening to call the police. Martha walks out. When Donny makes it to his room, he finds a picture of Martha in her bra and panties. Donny decided to speak to her again before going to the police, but she never showed up at the pub. As he is on the bus, he sees Martha waiting for it so he tries to hide. He goes inside and sees her still sitting at the bus stop. Donny looks again. She’s gone but he hears the doorbell. It turns out to be Keeley who says his girlfriend is a psycho and this is serious. Martha keeps contacting her on Facebook. Keeley is convinced he did something to cause this. She threatens to tell her mom if Martha keeps pestering her. Donny says Martha would be at the bus stop when he went to work and got back.

Soon, he noticed a change in her when she just started staring at him. One night, he stops to check on her. Donny admits he begins feeling empathy again. He goes outside and offers to drive her back to her place. Once he gets her home, he makes her a cup of tea. Donny finds multiple phones in her kitchen drawer. Then, he tries to get her to stop from staying at the bus stop. He gets upset because she’s not listening to him. Donny says he is breaking up with her. Martha insists she wouldn’t do anything to harm what they had. In the morning, Donny looks outside and notices that Martha is not sitting at the bus stop. He goes to the meeting about the semifinals and receives instructions from Jason. Donny thought nothing was in his way until Teri arrived at the show. Teri says seeing him fail might give her closure.

The host messes up his introduction and makes him sound like a pervert. Then, his comedy show is not great. He recovers a little until he hears Martha singing at the back of the room. She tells everyone that she’s Donny’s ex. She calls him he’s shite. Martha gets upset when Donny calls her a stalker. She tells everyone that he’s been begging for her butthole. Donny asks someone to get her out, but it’s already too late at that point. Martha screams all the way outside. Donny throws things around backstage. Teri comes to check on him and says she wants to meet Martha. Teri explains she’s a therapist and she can get through to Martha. They hear a knock. They hurry to escape only for Martha to follow them. They get away and make it to the pub.

Donny pleads with Teri for one more chance. She joins him for a drink and they talk about the gig. Teri saw that he changed his profile and she thought that might be worth something. Donny asks if she can see past what he did. Teri says probably not. It’ll be the baseline for every argument they have from now on. Martha questions who the skank is. Donny tries to calm the situation, but Martha keeps getting more upset. Martha argues that Teri doesn’t belong in her country. She’d sink their boats on the horizon if she had her way. Martha eventually attacks Teri and yells that she looks like a man. Donny yells for Martha to get the heck out of there. He tells her she’s insane. Donny threatens her and tells her to get out of his life.

 

Baby Reindeer Review

The third episode of Baby Reindeer took several side trips while putting the main story on the back burner. For instance, we learned about Donny’s ex and his ex’s mother. It feels like they’re just adding unnecessary things to make the season as long as possible even if these stories aren’t integral overall.

Besides the addition of Martha, the comedy show scenes aren’t that compelling. It’s easy to agree with Martha’s assessment during those scenes because Donny can be very annoying. It doesn’t help that the character is very unlikable to begin with for a number of reasons. The story doesn’t ring true despite this being billed as being based on a true story.

It’s like bits are scattered throughout just to satisfy every political talking point and those are quickly overshadowing the entire stalker story. Lots of boxes are being checked even though those things add very little to the story and only devalue the core message here. This would’ve been more impactful if at least one of the characters were somewhat tolerable.

It’d also help if it was more grounded. It’s okay but it could’ve been a few episodes if it had just gotten to the point. Instead, it’s just trying to tell certain people what they want to hear. Generously, this episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Baby Reindeer can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.