His follow-up, Half Man, is pure fiction. Yet the series, co-produced by HBO and the BBC, takes a similarly raw and tangled approach to a similar set of issues: sexuality, masculinity, violence, love, addiction, creativity, self-loathing. It is also more disturbing than its predecessor; every spark of black comedy is extinguished by a torrent of despair. I came out moved—devastated, really—but ambivalent about whether its payoff had been worth the pain.
Stuart Campbell, left, and Mitchell Robertson in Half Man —Anne Binckebanck—HBOFramed by their tense reunion at a middle-aged Niall’s wedding, whose chronology is muddled by Gadd’s insistence on restricting our access to context, episodes revisit crucial moments in their relationship as they grow together and apart, thrive and spiral, save and damn one another. Key to their turmoil is Niall’s inability to tell the hypermacho Ruben that he’s attracted to men; as the former stays trapped by his repression, the latter lashes out in horrific acts of violence. “It’s like one needs a head and the other needs a body,” one character observes.
Richard Gadd in Half Man —Anne Binckebanck—HBOHalf Man achieves its annihilating effect through scenes that rattle the nerves and performances that bare tortured souls in such detail, they expose most other TV characters for the clichés they are. Gadd’s choice to bulk up and play Ruben instead of Niall confirms his range as an actor. These are no small achievements.
Whether they justify putting us through vicarious hell is a question with as many valid answers as the show has potential viewers. I don’t doubt that its ugliest scenes are sincere efforts to blast away narrative euphemisms, leaving only scorched kernels of truth. But for me, it doesn’t expand upon the revelations of Reindeer enough to merit the misery. Someone more invested in dissecting the nuances of masculinity might disagree. If Gadd has taught us anything, it’s that we are all shaped by an infinite accumulation of experiences, and thus all tragically unique.
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