Half Man

Baby Reindeer became an overnight sensation when it was released on Netflix in 2024. A semi-autobiographical drama about creator Richard Gadd’s experiences with a stalker, the Emmy-winning miniseries tackled themes of masculinity, sexuality, and mental health with emotional savagery. His follow-up, the Glasgow-set Half Man, deals with similar themes as it explores the volatile relationship between stepbrothers Niall (Jamie Bell) and Ruben (Gadd) with the same level of rawness and ferocity.

The series begins at Niall’s wedding. The brothers are locked in a barn, and Ruben is shirtless, preparing for a fight. The episode then jumps back to the day the pair became brothers. 15-year-old Niall (Mitchell Robertson) is timid, frequently bullied, and is absolutely terrified of Ruben (Stuart Campbell), who’s just been released from Young Offenders. Despite their opposing personalities, an inseparable bond forms between them, suggesting that they have more in common than either is willing to admit.

Gadd’s talent as a writer is once again on full display as he uses the brothers as vehicles to explore different versions of toxic masculinity. While Ruben is a powder keg of rage that can explode at any moment, Niall is self-loathing and ashamed of his own sexuality. Gadd digs into the lives of these messy and flawed characters to find their vulnerabilities within their darkest hours, delivering both devastating blows and euphoric highs. The show is unflinching in its depictions of violence, but its real brilliance lies in the powerfully honest way Gadd handles the subject matter.

Bell and Gadd are nothing short of outstanding. Gadd is genuinely frightening as Ruben, who couldn’t be further from his character in Reindeer. The creator radiates an uncontrollable viciousness every time he’s onscreen that leaves viewers anxious about what he could do next. Meanwhile, Bell effectively articulates all of Niall’s contradictory emotions, subsequently making him the show’s most complicated character. Robertson and Campbell are equally excellent as the brothers’ younger selves, delivering some of the series’ most hard-hitting scenes and establishing the characters’ compelling chemistry. Given how exquisitely Gadd sets up the main conflict and themes, an abrupt finale is a frustratingly anticlimactic conclusion to this decades-spanning drama.

Richard Gadd continues to cement himself as one of the greatest contemporary talents with Half Man. Aided by an ensemble of flawless performances, Gadd creates an astonishingly profound portrait of modern masculinity and brotherhood.