The chronicle of two brothers who found comfort in one another while causing each other misery and pain.
A labyrinth of family, trauma, and love.
Following the unprecedented success of Baby Reindeer (2024): https://kaygazpro.com/baby-reindeer-2024/, writer/producer/actor Richard Gadd returns with something different yet extremely intense: a thriller/drama obsessed with human complexity. If Baby Reindeer explored obsession from the outside looking in, Half Man turns its gaze inward, examining the intricate and often painful bonds that tie families together.
The storytelling itself reflects that complexity. The narrative unfolds nonlinearly, beginning and ending at different points in time, immediately challenging the audience to understand how everyone arrived there. Each episode peels away another layer, only to reveal several more beneath it. Just when you think you have figured it out, the story shifts perspective, forcing you to reconsider everything you believed. It becomes an onion of revelations, a rabbit hole whose depth remains impossible to measure until the very end.
What also elevates the series, however, is the acting. Jamie Bell is phenomenal. From Billy Elliot (2000) to today, Bell has consistently demonstrated extraordinary range and versatility. Actor, dancer, leading man – he does it all. Here, he delivers one of the finest performances of his career, and it is no surprise that he personally convinced Richard Gadd to take on the role of Ruben. Thankfully, Gadd accepted, because the dynamic between the two becomes the emotional and dramatic engine of the series. Alongside them, Neve McIntosh, Mitchell Robertson, Stuart Campbell, and the rest of the cast completely inhabit their characters, adding layers of authenticity and emotional depth.
The editing deserves praise as well. It never rushes crucial moments. Instead, it carefully balances actions and reactions, understanding exactly when a look is more important than a line of dialogue and when silence is more devastating than confrontation.
Oh yes, and there are confrontations. The moral dilemma of Episode Three places enormous pressure on the audience, dividing viewers as effectively as it divides Niall. The brotherly confrontation in Episode Four is also one of the most emotionally brutal sequences I have seen in years – a painfully honest collision between two people carrying decades of unspoken resentment.
What fascinated me most, though, is the gradual realisation that Ruben is not simply a villain. There is a very fine line separating him from those who perceive themselves as his victims. As the layers unfold, tables constantly turn. Ruben may appear to be the mentally tormented Goliath, but nobody around him is David.
The HBO series also explores queerness in the UK with a realistic sensitivity. Rather than pointing fingers, it acknowledges the pain caused by decades of repression, secrecy, and societal expectations. The “gay stuff,” as one character memorably puts it, becomes one of the strongest and most heartbreaking subplots in the narrative, resurfacing how many people spent years suppressing who they truly were and whom they truly loved.
This is my second 5/5 for Richard Gadd. I may have been more shocked by Baby Reindeer, but Half Man confirms something equally important: Gadd understands not only what story he wants to tell, but exactly how to tell it. And when he wants to shock you, he knows exactly where to aim.
A man who deserves every praise under the sun!
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