Richard Gadd's follow-up to the acclaimed Baby Reindeer, titled Half Man, has been met with a starkly negative review, with one critic labelling it 'pure, unyielding torture pornography'. The show, described as a 'long, slow, flat, bleak wound', is said to be relentlessly punishing in its depiction of characters crushed by the horror of their lives.
The review highlights the endless brutality, with graphic beatings becoming a visual motif. It notes that none of the characters experience any light, either being crushed or self-medicating with joyless hedonism. Comparisons are drawn to Requiem for a Dream and Black Mirror's darker episodes, but the reviewer argues that Half Man lacks the relief of tonal shifts.
Interestingly, the show becomes a referendum on the Baby Reindeer controversy, as Jamie Bell's character faces press questions about real-life inspiration, mirroring Gadd's own experience. However, the reviewer finds this self-interrogation overshadowed by the show's unrelenting bleakness, which at times feels 'as if it was made by a 14-year-old emo acting out to get noticed'.
