Maniac

I started watching this series without having any clue what it was going to be about. I didn't read any reviews, just saw the high ratings, and gave it a shot. The first episodes were a bit confusing and I was wondering where it would go. Once I got further into the story the more I liked it. It's just the weirdness that makes it attractive. And weird is the least you could say to describe this show. The cast is good as well, with Emma Stone and Justin Theroux as the two best actors in this series. If you like strange stories this might be for you. I wouldn't call it amazing and the best thing ever like some other reviewers wrote but it's worth watching.

In Maniac, a paranoid schizophrenic and a depressed woman join a very weird experimental program designed to cure mental illness for good using drugs and computers. This cure involves living through various fantasy scenarios, which reminded me a little of Dollhouse, although it's actually based - incredibly loosely (Vulture has an article on how loosely if you're curious) - on a mediocre Norwegian comedy.

The story is intriguing. The acting is excellent, particularly Emma Stone, who is as brilliant as always, and Sally Field, who seems to be really enjoying her turn as, among others, a celebrity shrink.

Besides the crazy drugs and the multiple lives, Maniac is notable for its strange alternate reality. The series takes place in a world with incredible technology but also computers that seem to be from the 90s. It's as though the filmmakers wanted to make a futuristic series as it would have been made in 1992. The world of Maniac is similar to ours yet different, with oddities like rental friends.

Strange, funny, imaginative, and affecting, this is brilliant, must-watch television.

In Maniac, we are presented with another version of reality to our own - one in which the concepts of the future born of 1980's science fiction became the reality of the present. And this offbeat setting is the stage upon which we are told a story about relationships - about their hardships, their heartbreaks, their inevitable sorrows, but, ultimately, also the strength they lend us, and the importance of these human connections as we all do our best to make our way through the uniquely strange experience of life. Maniac is a story about friendship, about family - about the connections we have to one another. It's a story about love. And one that we all should hear.

I have to say that I was pretty curious because of the incredible good ratings so I started the show. Some of the comments are correct, the show is quite stretchy sometimes and is definitely not a 10/10. But the brilliant visuals, the great atmosphere, the super cool soundtrack and the completely amazing cast Jonah Hill and Emma Stone make it absolutely worthwhile to watch. If you start it, PLEASE stay with the show until the end as it is essential to understand the entire plot. Good show Netflix, I'd like to see more of that!

Originally watched first released just wasn't reviewing much then and now absolutely loving Maniac again. I'm blown away this wasn't nominated it's a damn shame it wasn't! Crystal smooth writing that I crave so much that it makes me feel at peace and the ambient music throughout is a tranquil delight. Jonah Hill is electrifying especially since this came out a little while after his weight loss transformation! Brilliant story about a sophisticated program that tests a group of people in which stays intriguing and captivating!