‘Baby Reindeer’ Creator Returns With Brutal Take on Bad Men
The Daily Beast • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Richard Gadd’s new HBO series Half Man explores themes of tortured masculinity, domination, and self-loathing through a homoerotic and volatile relationship between two men, Niall and Ruben.
- The show flashes back to Niall’s troubled teenage years in 1990s Scotland, depicting a complex, co-dependent bond with Ruben marked by aggression, desire, and violence.
- While the early episodes effectively portray Niall’s internal struggle with his sexual identity and societal expectations of masculinity, the narrative becomes repetitive and overly dramatic as it progresses.
- The series suffers from unsubtle storytelling, excessive plot twists, and underdeveloped subplots, which detract from the emotional impact and render the characters’ tumultuous relationship unconvincing.
- Despite strong performances, Half Man ultimately delivers a predictable and monotonous examination of homophobia and self-hatred, concluding with an unsatisfying and ambiguous resolution.
