Maniac Series Review

      

     The Golden Age of Television is in full effect.  Long gone are the days where TV struggled to find niche audiences, attract stars, or warrant a sizeable budget.  Maniac is a perfect implementation of this.  Years ago, a TV show created by one of the top talents in the business and starring three Oscar nominees was an absolute impossibility.  I'm happy to say this mini-series was pulled off nearly flawlessly.

   Maniac is a dystopian fantasy.  People are miserable surrounded by commercial ads, depressing solitude, and an even higher rate of mental illness.  Then, a mystery corporation starts test trials with the hope of a cure for mental illness.  Enter Owen, an isolated heir to a rich dynasty, and Annie a drug-addicted trauma victim who are both struggling in their own right.  They both sign up to best test subjects but for different reasons.  Owen needs the money, and Annie has been abusing the drug.  The drug comes in three forms and allows the users to deal with their trauma via a set of fantasy circumstances directly tied to what the individual has to overcome.  The various fantasy sequences are jaw-dropping, sometimes intertwining the psychic energies of Annie and Owen.  The series also deals with the people behind the scene, that being Dr. Azumi Fujita (Sonoya Mizuno) and Dr. James Mantelray (Justin Theroux) who are both plagued with their own psychological issues as they run the trial. Mantleray cannot escape the grasp of his mother, Dr. Greta Mantleray (Sally Field) as her presence looms over the project.  Can you say mommy issues?

     Maniac is the purely most psychological show on Television.  The show uses the best psychoanalysis of how the trauma of the individuals is explored and dealt with.  Although the shows uses the expression, "Goodbye Freud!" several times, it uses Freudian analysis to the best of its ironic ability.  Watching the pathology and diagnoses of each character act itself is truly a treat for this psychology graduate.  Each manifestation of the characters psyche shows a different aspect of how the human mind deals with conflict.  My criticism is that the first couple episodes slightly drag and are confusing to the average viewer.  Maniac is not a show you can have on in the background, it is a series that deserves and command your undivided attention.  If you do not, your punishment Is an eternal lack of understanding from the point showrunner and director Cary Joji Fukunaga is trying to make.  Fukanaga proves that the studio system has consistently doubted his vision, and he is perfectly ready to tackle his next project, which just happens to be the 25th James Bond movie. 

    Though a patient viewing, Maniac is a reward to the viewer that is willing to be present and sit in it.  It's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind combined with Blade Runner.   It also proves that when the right talent comes to television, whether it be streaming or cable, anything is possible in the Golden Age of Television.  

Grade (8.5/10)