Baby Reindeer is currently the No. 1 series on Netflix in the US. If you just finished watching the disturbing series, then you might have questions about the ending of Baby Reindeer, including what happens to Martha, Donny, and the meaning behind the last scene.
The limited series stars Scottish comedian Richard Gadd as a fictionalized version of himself named Donny Dunn. The show is based on Gadd’s real-life experience with a stalker — who goes by the pseudonym Martha in the series — a middle-aged woman who obsessively followed and sexually harassed the actor for years.
The stalking started in Gadd’s early 20s, when Donny served the woman a free cup of tea at the bar where he worked. Although the kind gesture seemed harmless, it set off a chain of events with dire consequences for his own life and those closest to him.
Gadd recalled that the woman sent him 41,071 emails, 350 hours’ worth of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters, as well as strange gifts, including a reindeer toy, sleeping pills, a woolly hat and boxer shorts. She went as far as to harass his loved ones, including his ex-girlfriend, his parents, and Teri, a trans woman he was dating.
But one of the most traumatic moments from the series doesn’t involve Martha at all. The flashback in Episode 4 depicts Donny’s relationship with a successful, older TV writer named Darrien, whom he met at the Edinburgh Fringe. Although Darrien promises to help Donny with his career, he takes advantage of him, sexually assaulting Donny during intoxicated blackouts.
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“It was difficult going back to these things,” Gadd told Tudum about Episode 4. “A lot of people who worked on the show found it incredibly hard to read and do. I hadn’t admitted some of it to anyone. I think I’d obviously said that I’d been sexually abused and various other awful things that had happened to me before, but I hadn’t gone into that [level of] detail, and it was quite confronting.”
Baby Reindeer Ending Explained
If you’ve watched all seven episodes of the limited series, dive into the ending of Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, including what happened to Martha, the meaning behind her weird nickname for Donny, and that final scene at the bar. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Does Martha Get Arrested?
Yes, Martha finally gets arrested after Donny finds a threatening voicemail that he uses to expedite his case against her. Martha is arrested and charged with three counts of stalking and harassment. She pleads guilty to all charges and is sentenced to nine months in prison. Donny is also granted a five-year restraining order against her.
It’s unknown what happened to the real-life Martha. In an interview with The Times, Gadd suggested his stalker did not go to prison, saying that he “didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison.” He said that he had “mixed feelings about it,” but the situation was now “resolved.”
How Does Baby Reindeer End?
With Martha finally out of his life, Donny and his ex-girlfriend Keeley reconnect. She suggests that he move back in with her mother, Liz. There, he discovers an old script filled with notes from his assaulter, Darrien, so Donny decides to visit his former mentor.
It turns out Darrien saw Donny’s confession video that went viral and called it “brave.” He also offers him work, but overcome with emotions, Donny leaves and collapses on the street to process it all. For comfort, he turns to Martha’s old voicemails, organized neatly into categories like angry, sad, happy, distressed, and compliments.
“I love that sequence. I like the surprise of going back to Darrien’s door. I love the surprise of listening to the voicemails. I just think there’s a deep psychology to it that I really like the idea of,” Gadd told Tudum. “Someone being so lonely and so isolated that they decide to listen to their old stalker’s voicemails.”
What Does “Baby Reindeer” Mean?
At the end of Episode 7, Donny listens to Martha’s voicemails at a pub. He opens up one that he’s never heard before, which contains the meaning of Martha’s creepy nickname for him: “Baby Reindeer.”
In the voicemail she says, “I had this wee cuddly toy when I was young. Went with me everywhere. Earliest memory I have, I think, was Christmastime. This old photo of me, sitting with this paper hat on my head and this baby reindeer beside me. Anyway, this reindeer was this cuddly, fluffy thing. It had big lips, huge eyes, and the cutest wee bum.”
Martha continues, “I still have it to this day. It was the only good thing about my childhood. I’d hug it when they fought. And they fought a lot, you know? Well, you are the spit of that reindeer. The same nose. Same eyes. Same cute wee bum. It means so much to me. You… You mean so much to me.”
Donny starts crying, and the bartender asks if he’s okay. When he gets his drink, Donny realizes that he’s forgotten his wallet. The bartender kindly says the drink is on the house, sparking a full circle moment that pays tribute to the opening scene with Martha.
Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix.
