Netflix’s 3-Hour Psychological Thriller With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Is One Of Its Best To Binge

While Netflix has a lot of great psychological thriller shows in its back catalog, one miniseries is particularly well-suited to a binge-watch thanks to its combination of brevity and intensity. Netflix has made plenty of great psychological thrillers over the years, but some require a serious time commitment from viewers.

All five seasons of You are great and deserve a re-watch, meaning viewers are committing to a pretty lengthy project by starting the streaming service’s adaptation of author Caroline Kepnes’ acclaimed novel. Even Netflix’s Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is an eight-hour commitment, which is a lot more than director Weronika Tofilska’s earlier hit Baby Reindeer.

Baby Reindeer’s Brief Runtime Makes The Psychological Thriller’s Story Even Better

Ed Miller / ©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

Based on the real-life experiences of star and writer Richard Gadd, 2023’s seven-episode miniseries Baby Reindeer focuses on an aspiring comedian and bartender who takes pity on the wrong customer during a lonely night at work. After Gadd’s Donny gives this crying customer a free cup of tea, she begins a campaign of escalating stalking.

While this sounds like a straightforward enough plot, Baby Reindeer’s story became a massive hit with viewers and critics alike thanks to its intensity, the show’s surprisingly funny dark sense of humor, and its thoughtful interrogation of the intersections between mental illness and trauma. Gadd’s strong central turn, alongside Jessica Gunning’s deservedly acclaimed performance, also didn’t hurt.

Baby Reindeer Stands Out Among Netflix’s Many Psychological Thrillers

However, what really made Baby Reindeer stand out among Netflix’s many great psychological thrillers was the show’s daring brevity. Although Baby Reindeer has seven episodes, the taut series clocks in at a runtime of only three hours, at least in part because the show is adapted from Gadd’s even shorter one-man show from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

This makes the action of Baby Reindeer feel more propulsive and immersive, and ensures that a plot which is surprisingly low on dramatic incident still feels utterly enthralling. This also means that the show’s wonky tonal balance between tragic drama, outright psychological horror, and moments of comic relief never falls apart.

It would be all too easy for Baby Reindeer to end up feeling too sad, too exploitative, or too weirdly comedic, and the show’s entire story could fall apart if any of these tonal imbalances came to define its plot. However, Gunning and Gadd’s killer turns, combined with its short runtime, ensure this isn’t the case.

As such, viewers get another standout psychological thriller from Netflix that feels funnier, darker, and somehow more poignant than most entries into the genre. This impressive balance makes Baby Reindeer a must-watch psychological thriller even among Netflix’s many great contributions to the genre.

Release Date

2024 – 2024-00-00

Directors

Weronika Tofilska, Josephine Bornebusch

Writers

Richard Gadd

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  Jessica Gunning

  Martha Scott

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