This new show from Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd is punishing
Half Man ★★½
Richard Gadd’s 2024 Netflix series baby reindeer It was a heartbreaking, unforgettable debut, and it pushes the trauma, violence, and self-deception beyond its limits in this punishing sequel. Free from autobiographical parameters, Gadd has written a series that straddles the line between grim and repetitive.
This new six-episode series follows the harrowing bond of brotherhood between introvert Niall Kennedy (Jamie Bell) and muscular Ruben Pallister (Gadd, muscle). The story, told over 30 years, chronicles their painful back-and-forth, but both men deprive the audience of self-enlightenment.
The punctuation mark here is brutality. A private scuffle between the pair at middle-aged Niall’s wedding, in which Ruben crashes, ends with a punch that cuts through the classroom where young Niall (Mitchell Robertson) is being bullied in late 1980s Glasgow. When the angry boy returns home, he discovers his bossy new roommate, Ruben (Stuart Campbell), fresh out of juvenile detention. Niall is both scared and ecstatic. Ruben has a volcanic temper but is also a crutch for Niall.
“Toxic masculinity” is an expression Half Man will pull, but Gadd wants to look beneath any labels. While historical details are cursory, the series functions as a period piece, depicting Niall’s newly revealed sexuality as a secret he desperately tries to hide.
With an echo Popular novels by Douglas StuartNiall struggles with the consequences of his actions, afraid that Ruben will find out. Homophobia is normalized in 20th-century Glasgow, and the important point Gadd makes is that even if it isn’t, Niall, a struggling writer, still acts as if it is.
Gadd gives a charismatic, chaos-filled performance. Ruben is not breathing, he is boiling. But he is fixated on Gadd’s physicality and lacks insight until the ritual closes. The barometer is Niall, and Bell not only captures his evasion and panic, but also gradually rotates the perspective, allowing Niall to irritate Ruben and even secretly harm him. Both actors deliver on their roles, but the narrative of Niall’s dynamic with Ruben repeatedly reaching a terrifying breaking point becomes a sort of inevitable ritual.
Gadd can end an episode with a terrific twist, and he has an unnerving style with long, intimate sets that start with the shared teenage bedroom. But there is hardly a piece baby reindeerThere’s a darkly comforting comedy here, and it takes too long for the narrative to find a voice-over that can guide both Niall and Ruben. His focus on the duo is extremely tight; Niall’s inner world as a writer is rarely felt.
Half Man seeks understanding through extremes, but this can also desensitize you to this challenging spectacle.
Half Man Releases on Stan on April 24*
*Stan belongs to Nine, who also owns this imprint.
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Craig Mathieson is the TV, film and music writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X.
