u/BAlister12

I feel as if we’ve all come to the same conclusion that Niall and Ruben’s mothers are horrible. I think the first major hint was not truly knowing the relationship Maura and his Mum had whilst living in the same house and the second red flag was Niall not finding out he was about to share his bedroom with a guy who was in juvie for biting someone’s nose off until he was already moved in. Clearly his Mum emasculates him a lot and doesn’t truly respect him or acknowledge his wants or desires which I think heavily plays into why he‘s so susceptible to Ruben’s manipulations. Ruben constantly picks on him and reminds him that he’s weak, whilst also fighting his battles sometimes which in turn makes Niall feel powerful.

And I do believe that Ruben was groped by his father (or something similar) but I do also think that a big part of why he’s the way he is, is due to Maura’s inability to parent also. She seems very compliant to his bullshit.

I love this show and despite knowing Richard Gadd was behind it, I was surprised the show is set in Scotland as nothing ever is, even Baby Reindeer was in London. I just feel it’s so interesting watching something, other than Still Game, set so close to you and seeing people act in a way that is just your every day life. Genuinely thought one of the scenes was filmed in my area, it was freaky. Like I was on twitter and someone was talking about how Ruben has a nickname for Niall which is ‘Bambi’ but they also thought it was cute he called him son and how it might have a deeper meaning, and I had to explain that every man in Scotland says son to their pals (although I know that does show a deeper meaning of Ruben seeing Niall as reliant on him). Or how obvious it is that Richard Gadd is simply not from Glasgow 💀