Baby Reindeer Ending Explained: Who Has Donny Become?

Warning: This article discusses mental health issues, along with rape & the sexual abuse of minors.

At the end of the Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer, its protagonist, Donald “Donny” Dunn (Richard Gadd), comes full circle. Over seven episodes, the drama series explores Donny’s complex relationship with his stalker, Martha (Jessica Gunning), and its connection with other facets of his life. Written and created by Gadd himself, Baby Reindeer is based on a haunting true story of the stalking and abuse he faced by a woman over four years and is adapted from his solo stage production of the same name.

After an attempt to dissociate himself from Martha once and for all, the stalking comes to a crescendo when Martha finds Donny’s new phone number and, in lieu of sending more misspelled messages, threatens to stab Donny’s parents. That is the final straw for Martha from a legal perspective, and she is arrested after Donny goes to the police. Martha is finally brought to court, and after she pleads guilty, she is sentenced to legitimate time.

Baby Reindeer’s Final Scene: The Free Drink & What It Means For Donny Explained

Has Donny Become Martha?

Baby Reindeer‘s final scene sees Donny ordering a vodka Coke, perhaps in memory of Martha, who would always order a Diet Coke at his pub. However, he realizes he’s left his wallet at home. The bartender, a handsome red-headed man, looks at Donny with the similar mix of pity, sympathy, and compassion with which Donny looked at Martha when she’d first walked into his pub and says, “Don’t worry about it. It’s on me.” Donny looks up at the bartender, moved by his kindness and generosity but also with a possible hint of infatuation.

After Donny’s interaction with the bartender, the show cuts to black, and the end credits roll, with Donny coming full circle and being in a similar position to Martha at the beginning of the series. This open ending could suggest that in relating to Martha and spending weeks obsessing over her voicemails and emotions, Donny has himself become like her: a messed-up and mentally ill stalker. This ending would align with the series’ constant blurring of the lines between victim and perpetrator and its focus on the toxic dynamic between Donny and Martha, fueled by their respective traumatic pasts.

This ending would be in line with the series’ constant blurring of the lines between victim and perpetrator.

However, this ending could also signal Donny’s own growth and coming-of-age over the course of the show. He has confronted his sexual assault trauma, sharing it not only publicly but also with his parents. He has owned up to his mistakes and his own toxic patterns. So, perhaps he looks at the bartender with a profound sense of self-awareness about the fact that he’s in a similar position as Martha was, but that he has the power and agency to act differently, to demonstrate better judgment, and curb his worst potential impulses. It’s for the viewer to decide.

The Origin Of The “Baby Reindeer” Name Explained

It Reflects Martha’s Traumatic Childhood

When Donny enters the pub in the final scene, he is listening to one of Martha’s voicemails, which he had coded as “complimentary,” as he continues to seek validation from her words. He then switches to the “Not listened to” category, where Martha shares the origin of the titular “Baby Reindeer” name and why she calls him that. She explains that as a child, she used to have a small, cuddly, fluffy baby reindeer toy – with “big lips, huge eyes, and a cute wee bum” – that she would carry everywhere and still has to this day.

Martha recalls an early childhood memory during Christmastime, a photograph of her sitting with the baby reindeer toy beside her, which she describes as the only good thing about her childhood. She would hug it every time her parents fought, which was very often, and would seek immense comfort in it. Donny reminds her of that baby reindeer, she says, with “the same nose, same eyes, same cute wee bum.” Donny’s eyes fill up as he hears this, and he begins to sob as he gains a deeper insight into her childhood and the origins of her twisted psyche.

What Was Going On With Martha: Why She Isn’t A “Villain”

She is a Deeply Troubled Soul With A Mental Illness

If the origin of the “Baby Reindeer” name is any indication, Martha is a deeply troubled soul who suffers from a traumatic childhood. The creator, Richard Gadd, has spoken extensively about how he thinks the real-life Martha is a victim rather than a villain and should not be blamed. Gadd criticizes media depictions of stalking and stalkers, arguing that they’ve created unfounded stereotypes of a stalker as a shadowy figure lurking in the dark when in reality, it is often an acquaintance, coworker, or someone from a past relationship, wherein the existing intimacy and familiarity only complicates matters further.

Gadd criticizes media depictions of stalking and stalkers.

More significantly, Gadd sees stalking and harassment as symptoms of mental illness. Painting Martha as a villain would seem unjust to him, considering her mental health struggles. Gadd believes the system has failed her. He regrets that Martha never received the essential mental health support she needed, leading her to project her trauma and suffering onto him for over four years. Baby Reindeer‘s ending reflects Gadd’s view, as in a weird way, Donny related to Martha, her insecurities and fears, and felt a strange combination of fascination, empathy, and guilt towards her by the end.

Rather than portraying Martha as a villain, the series depicts her and Donny as two sides of the same coin, two distressed and damaged individuals who get caught up in a toxic dynamic as they project their past traumas onto each other. While Martha is unfortunately unable to break from these harmful patterns of behavior, Baby Reindeer suggests that Donny might be able to. This idea is at the core of the series’ themes and forms the basis of its ambiguous ending.

What Happened To Martha In Baby Reindeer

Her illegal activities finally catch up to her

After Martha is arrested, she confesses and pleads guilty to all the separate counts of stalking and harassment against Donny and his parents. Martha spends nine months in prison while Donny also gets a lengthy restraining order, and he supposedly never sees her again. While Martha may be out of Donny’s life forever, she still has an impact in the form of the hundreds of voicemails that Donny saved.

Donny’s Final Meeting With Darrien & The Cottonmouth Job

It Represents Another Full-Circle Moment For Donny

While Donny is spiraling down the rabbit hole of trying to decode Martha’s voicemail, his ex-girlfriend, Keeley, pays him a visit and sees how much of a mess he is. He even tells her that he’s given up on his comedy career, just after it’s finally taken off. Out of concern, she invites him to move back into her mother’s house, where he finds a full draft of a script titled Hangman Harry, which he’d written for Darrien, the man who had drugged, groomed, and sexually assaulted him, back in 2011.

This prompts Donny to visit Darrien, perhaps to seek some form of catharsis or closure. They have a bittersweet conversation, where Donny initially apologizes for disappearing, but then Darrien addresses the elephant in the room: he watched Donny’s viral video and found it brave. Instead of apologizing or taking any accountability, Darrien offers Donny a writing job on an upcoming Cotton Mouth reboot, assuring him that it “won’t be like last time.” Instead, it will be paid, formal, and catapult Donny’s career. Donny reluctantly accepts and immediately breaks down after leaving.

Donny’s encounter with Darrien also signals a full-circle moment, but Donny is no longer powerless and self-loathing nor vulnerable to exploitation. When he enters Darrien’s house, he observes different aspects of it, remembering the drug-induced abuse he faced. While there was no explicit acknowledgment of what Darrien did to Donny, this interaction provided a little closure to enable Donny’s journey toward healing and feeling more assertive.

What Happened To Donny’s Father & How It Reflects On Donny’s Past

Donny’s Father Was Also Sexually Abused As A Child

When Donny’s stand-up video goes viral, and his career finally takes off, he accidentally gives Martha his number, and she calls him to threaten to reveal his sexuality and sexual assault to his parents. This forces Donny to visit his parents in Scotland, where he sits them down and tells them everything. He first comes out to them before sharing that a writer raped him. While Donny worries that they will judge him and think less of him as a man, this conversation is extremely healing and affirming for him.

Not only do his parents offer him empathy, but his father also shares that he, too, was sexually abused growing up. He doesn’t state this explicitly but implies it by saying he grew up in the Catholic Church. It takes Donny a moment to understand what his father is saying, but once it dawns on him, the family share a profound moment of intimacy. What Donny fears would be a moment of shame and judgment ends up being immensely cathartic. It makes him feel lighter, and helps him shed his deep sense of shame and self-hatred.

How Accurate Is Baby Reindeer’s Ending Compared To The True Story?

It Captures The Essence of The Resolution Between Gadd/Donny And “Martha”

In Baby Reindeer, Martha gets arrested and charged with three counts of stalking and harassment. At her plea hearing, she pleads guilty to all the counts: the stalking and harassment of Donny and the harassment of his parents. Martha thus owns up to her crimes, she gets sentenced to 9 months in prison, and a five-year restraining order is issued against her. It is the last time Donny ever sees her. This ending captures the emotional truth of what happens in reality, though the specifics are a little different.

Fiona Harvey, the real-world inspiration for Martha, sued Netflix for defamation in June 2024 due to Baby Reindeer‘s portrayal of her.

In reality, Richard Gadd was reluctant to incarcerate someone struggling with such severe mental health issues. About two and a half years into the stalking, Gadd managed to obtain a restraining order against the real Martha. However, the real Martha Scott has continued to roam the streets freely and, until recently, persisted in harassing his family and friends. Baby Reindeer thus takes some cinematic liberties to provide more closure and a sense of justice than the true story, though it captures the essence of the resolution between Martha and Gadd.

What Baby Reindeer’s Creator Has Said About The Ending

The Ambiguous Ending Is His Favorite Part Of The Series

The creator, Richard Gadd, deeply appreciates the ambiguous ending of Baby Reindeer. It is his favorite aspect of the series. Hesitant to impose a specific interpretation on it, Gadd believes it can be understood in various ways and is meant to be open to multiple interpretations. Additionally, the actor Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha, revealed that the most important moment for her character was the voicemail where she shares the origins of the “Baby Reindeer” name. That captured the essence of Martha for her.

Gunning added that Baby Reindeer‘s ending does not have a clear “winner,” but it was about how the toxic dynamic left Donny and Martha hurt and scarred differently. Looking beyond the moral implications of the narrative and the gender-related discussions surrounding stalking and harassment, Gadd aspires for Baby Reindeer, a deeply personal and autobiographical piece, to resonate with audiences on an emotional level. He hopes it offers solace and catharsis to those who have encountered similar bewildering trauma. Undoubtedly, it fulfilled that role for him.

Will There Be A Baby Reindeer Season 2?

At this point, it seems unlikely

While Baby Reindeer was certainly a major hit for Netflix, it seems unlikely that there will ever be a second season, at least not as a continuation of the story of Donny and Martha. Series creator Richard Gadd has been very open about how difficult it was to revisit the disturbing events that inspired some of the show’s most hard-to-watch sequences, so it’s not hard to imagine that he doesn’t want to go back to the well again.

In June 2024, Baby Reindeer briefly cracked Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular Shows List, the running list of the most popular shows in the streaming juggernaut’s history.

It’s possible that the show comes back in an anthology sense, with the Baby Reindeer title acting more as a brand name than a direct story reference. That also seems unlikely given the highly personal nature of the show’s content; keeping the Baby Reindeer title on a different story feels like it would be inappropriate in that regard. There doesn’t seem to be any justifiable way to continue the series, meaning that season 1’s “limited series” designation is likely to stick.

The Real Meaning Of Baby Reindeer’s Ending

There Was No Real Villain In The Film

The main theme of Baby Reindeer is how two broken people can meet and make things worse for each other in the long run. Martha was never a true villain, although she did get jail time and a restraining order, thanks to her stalking and obsession. However, her mental health issues make her as much a victim as Donny. At the same time, Donny’s trauma opened him up to falling into this situation to begin with. The ending of the film really showed this with the text messages.

When they found each other, they just repeated their cycle of abuse.

Hearing Martha talk about her baby reindeer toy as a child and how it was the only thing that made her feel safe showed that she needed something to hold onto, and that was Donny. She needed something to make her feel secure and whole, and it made things complicated because what she found to hold onto was another human. Furthermore, Donny understands trauma thanks to his previous sexual assault. These are two people who needed help, but when they found each other, they just repeated their cycle of abuse.

How The Baby Reindeer Ending Was Received

The Series Was Almost Universally Acclaimed

Baby Reindeer received almost universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. Critical reviews were almost perfect with a 99% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating, certified fresh. It also picked up an 80% rating from the audience score on the same site. However, not everyone was satisfied with the ending. One audience reviewer complained about the end, writing:

“I think they ultimately fumbled in telling the story. It was very well acted, and I suppose it shows the ultimate end of unchecked self loathing and pity. However, I don’t see any kind of redemptive reason to tell the story this way. Did he ever get help/therapy? Did he ever decide that he had agency to make better decisions?“

However, other fans saw the redemption in the Baby Reindeer ending. In a Reddit thread, Soladein830 wrote, “I felt like the ending scenes with the voicemail from Martha and with Donny’s drink at the bar did a good job of really driving home the theme of complex and nuanced emotions and experiences.. That nobody is purely good or purely bad, purely innocent or purely guilty.” Other Redditors agreed that Donny related with Martha, which just added to the cycle of abuse.

Professional critics agreed with the praise. Richard Gadd of Empire Magazine wrote, “Everything from shame and mental illness to inept policing and internalised homophobia combined here to ruin the lives of two broken people, which means Baby Reindeer isn’t an easy watch by any means, but it is a vital one, especially to anyone who’s endured something similar.” Most people agree Baby Reindeer is a movie about broken people suffering great trauma, and the ending pushes that idea to its limits.