The response to Niall in episode 4 has been super enlightening. The amount of people going "is Niall the bad one now? " blows my mind. This traumatised man who's dream career is failing, who's wounds from the past refuse to close up, who can't come out, who has nothing to live for after years of guilt, and shame and paranoia, who was institutionalised, who's acts of self harm needed surgery to fix, who near enough got raped in his hospital bed after a car crash -- that guy. Is he the antagonist now?
It's like Richard Gadd saw the response to Baby Reindeer - people saying we should support male victims of sexual assault and abuse, especially the imperfect ones - and asked "Is that really what you think?"
Because Baby Reindeer had the benefit of the narrator, overdubbing their mistakes with clear sighted self-deprication. Donny has a self-awareness on our first viewing you can only have with years of work and reflection. Niall hasn't had that yet. The audience is witholding their sympathy for Niall because, like Lori, they believe he's inflicting this pain on himself, and might not ever stop. He's committed the cardinal sin of needing help, whilst being very difficult to help. Donny is much the same - not doing enough to distance himself from his abusers, having reckless sex, lying - but he has the benefit of being able to break the fourth wall and say to us "that didn't help matters, did it?"