Remember “Baby Reindeer”? Netflix’s 6-time Emmy-winning 2024 stalking series? Its creator, Richard Gadd, has just returned with a raw and visceral new series that explores brotherhood, violence and the profound fragility of relationships between men. It is called “Half Man” and is a 6-episode miniseries available from April 24th on HBO Max.

Written, produced and starring Gadd, this title, which the whole world is talking about, promises to be the new serial phenomenon of the moment (deservedly so). Why watch it? Now we will explain it to you but one thing must be said from the beginning: this is a series that cannot be viewed superficially: it is very violent, very explicit and, at times, “disturbing” so you are about to enter a very challenging but at the same time incredibly fascinating story.

Half Man: the plot, in brief

“Half Man” tells the story of two men. They consider themselves brothers even if they are not. One is fierce and loyal. The other shy and calm. Their meeting, after years, on the wedding day of one of the two, takes us back in time into their lives from the 1980s to the present day chronicling thirty years of the lives of these tormented men.

Richard Gadd confirms himself as a revolutionary of the small screen

Richard Gadd has the great virtue of being incredibly visceral in his way of telling stories. We had already seen it with “Baby Reindeer” and we witness it again in “Half Man”. Gadd puts his hands into the wounds, is not afraid to get dirty, to scrape the bottom and has the great courage to bring to the screen the lowest aspects of life, the darkest part of human bonds, the lowest and most contradictory behaviors of men.

And in a world where series are all the same and decidedly too glossy, Gadd, with his audacity, shuffles the cards on the table and creates serial products so “dirty”, raw, violent that they manage to emerge and make a difference on both a visual and emotional level.

After talking about stalking, Richard Gadd tells us about toxic masculinity, the dark side of male friendship, emotional dependence, the toxicity of human relationships and traps us in a story so intense that it enters us.

His series, in fact, have the strength not only to hook the viewer but to imprison him in a story, putting him face to face with the deepest aspects of human psychology. It’s a small (and very appreciable) narrative revolution.

Episode 4 is a masterpiece

Episode 4 of this series is a true masterpiece and is worth the entire viewing of this title. Don’t stop at the violence of this story because “Half Man”, in the scene that sees the protagonists Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell arguing inside a hospital, offers us perhaps one of the most touching, profound and unforgettable moments in the history of TV series, telling the story of male friendship like no one had dared to do so far.

Why watch “Half Man” on HBO Max

Don’t miss “Half Man” on HBO Max because it is an incredibly powerful, courageous and profound series. This story, however hard, will enter into you, you just need to find the courage to go beyond the violence which, in this case, becomes functional to the story.

This series is noteworthy and should be appreciated precisely for its courage to describe the male universe with such honesty.

Rating: 7.9

HBO Max: all the releases of May 2026

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