There is no way to neatly summarize Baby Reindeer. Like all stories, it starts off with an easy enough premise: a woman walks into a bar but quickly unravels into something so much more profound, and scary, and raw. This wasn’t a simple stalker story but something much greater. Upon watching Baby Reindeer, I was hooked by the first episode and by the end of seven episodes, it was clear this limited series was one of the best Netflix has ever produced.

Richard Gadd’s captivating true story of his time being stalked by an older woman is a tour de France of what it truly means to face one’s trauma and how that trauma permeates long after we’ve faced it head on. It’s difficult to really delve into the intricacies of this story without spoiling the whole show, so I urge you to watch it as soon as you can. What can be said, is this show has impacted viewers at a high rate, shining a light specifically on male victims of sexual abuse. Most recently the organization We Are Survivors has seen a 80% of first time callers, with 53% citing the Netflix show as their reason for coming out for support. Seeing stories like Baby Reindeer gives viewers a way to make sense of their own abuse. To put words to the feelings and emotions that have been plaguing them for months, even years after the abuse has taken place. The show does not shy away from this topic and watching this as a survivor myself, I resonated with so much of Gadd’s experience. The deafening silence you inflict on yourself because of your shame and low self worth. The numbers also match Baby Reindeer’s cultural impact, with the show remaining in Netflix’s Global Top 10 TV Shows for five straight weeks.

Any production would hope their show becomes an overnight streaming success, but for Baby Reindeer its overwhelming popularity has welcomed a media circus hell bent on uncovering the real identities of its characters and dissecting each scene for its authenticity. Being lauded as a “true story” already captures the audience’s imagination — a train wreck so horrific we can’t help but gawk. With Richard Gadd portraying himself in the dramatic retelling (of course under a different name), a convention completely unorthodox, it’s even more captivating as an audience member. How close can I get to this story and touch all the moving pieces? Not long after the show’s release online sleuths were obsessively asking the question: “Who is the real Martha?” She didn’t need to be found of course. The “real Martha” came forward all on her own once speculations over old tweets gave the public just enough suspicions she was inspiration for the titular stalker character

The real Martha’s real name is Fiona Harvey. Looking through her Facebook, you are immediately taken aback by the sheer volume of posts in a single day. Fifty to sixty entries, all posted within hours of each other stringing along Fiona’s incoherent thoughts. Before Baby Reindeer gained any traction, Fiona’s Facebook was filled with celebrity nostalgia posts about Jon Bon Jovi to Natalie Wood, comments about the weather, flowers, and charged right leaning politics. On April 26th, Fiona made her first post naming Richard Gadd and the Netflix show — a deliberate move to attack the show’s legitimacy and claim the attention she most desperately craved. After all, for people like Fiona negative attention is better than no attention at all. In the post, she claims to not know Richard Gadd but insults his character at every chance claiming he will “do and say anything to make money” and even speculating his sexuality. She even goes as far as insulting Jessica Gunning, the woman who portrays Martha in the Netflix show, calling her a “fat ugly woman.” I wish to say this was the only public statement Fiona Harvey would make regarding Baby Reindeer since April 26th, but the media circus following Baby Reindeer has turned into an unintentional continuation of the story.

While Fiona’s ramblings continued on her Facebook, she had anonymously interviewed with the Daily Mail on April 27th, claiming it was Gadd who was using the show to now stalk her — she is the real victim. On May 9th, Fiona Harvey would come forward as the woman depicted in Baby Reindeer with an exclusive TV interview with Piers Morgan. Although Richard Gadd himself has neither confirmed nor denied Fiona Harvey is the real Martha, watching the interview it’s hard to ignore the uncanny similarities. Her thick Scottish accent, a heavyset frame, and big eyes. What stands out most from the interview are the blatant contradictions. Fiona denies vehemently of stalking Gadd, but suspiciously remembers Gadd only worked at the pub where they met on certain days. Fiona denies ever sending 41,000 emails, but later admits to sending a “handful” of emails, keeping exact estimations as vague as possible. Towards the end, Fiona Harvey becomes annoyed over Piers Morgan pressing about this point. As of May 21st, the video has amassed over 12 million views on YouTube with numerous other videos dedicated to reading Fiona’s body language and dissecting her credibility. Since the interview, Fiona Harvey has only become more emboldened, even doubling down on her intentions to sue Netflix, stating she is “putting together a legal team in the UK and USA to take forward legal action.”

This story is still rapidly developing. From Scottish MP contacting Netflix urging to substantiate Baby Reindeer’s “true story” claims to news of Fiona Harvey sending 276 e-mails over eight months to Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer (all with her signature “sent from iPhone” at the end), it seems Baby Reindeer is playing out eerily similar to an episode of Black Mirror. Despite all of the recent news surrounding Fiona Harvey, Richard Gadd and Netflix are standing their ground and avoiding any reactionary comments. At the BAFTA TV Awards, Baby Reindeer’s star duo Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning did not participate in any press interviews despite the show’s continued raving success. And despite many calls from the media and journalists for a comment, Netflix has failed to make an official statement regarding the controversies. There has been many discussions of if Netflix had done enough to conceal the real identities of Baby Reindeer’s characters. Couldn’t the story have been just as effective if Martha was an accountant instead of a lawyer? Perhaps Netflix could have played with the “true story” line a little bit more, making viewers second guess if Richard Gadd’s story was real or not. The show’s disclaimer urges “characters, names, incidents, locations, and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.” but this is hardly effective as most viewers miss this note if they skip the credits altogether. With all this in consideration, I don’t blame Netflix for giving Fiona Harvey a platform but I do blame them for making it very, very easy for her to receive one.

It is hard to say if Fiona Harvey will truly go forward with her lawsuit or what other shocking truths will be revealed throughout the rest of the year but it is tough to see Richard Gadd’s true intention with Baby Reindeer being lost through the media haze. In watching Baby Reindeer, the most captivating moments weren’t the actions of a stalker but Donny Dunn’s stubborn determination to understand his stalker. If Donny didn’t care about his own life, why should Martha care? This juxtaposition between his own feelings of self loathing and the baseless admiration from a stranger drove Donny to figuring out the truth no matter how reckless or ill advised. In the end, Richard Gadd admits to seeing his stalker not as a villain, but as someone who “needed help and wasn’t getting it.” This examination of the human nature is poignant. If we are alone with no one to turn to, we are all susceptible to becoming like Donny, just as we are all susceptible to becoming like Martha. And in some sense, the online sleuths trying desperately to uncover the real identities are like Martha. Obsessive and relentless.

What did you think of Baby Reindeer? Let us know in the comments!