"Maniac" is a Messy Mind-Bender

Minor spoilers ahead.

The ten-part Netflix miniseries "Maniac" looked so promising in the previews. Cary Joji-Fukunaga directs, and Jonah Hill and Emma Stone star in a science-fiction dramedy about an experimental drug trial that goes a little wonky. Full of wild concepts, stylized visuals, and multiple fantasy version of the main characters, "Maniac" seemed to be right up my alley.

And it starts out great, introducing Owen Milgrim (Hill), a paranoid schizophrenia who has agreed to lie in court for his more successful brother Jed (Billy Magnussen), and Annie Landsberg (Stone), who became addicted to pills after the death of her sister, Ellie (Julia Garner). Watching the two of them find their way into the Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech drug trial, under the supervision of unstable scientists and an even more unstable supercomputer, is a lot of fun. There are a lot of interesting elements set up, like Annie and Owen's family dynamics, the bickering ex-lovers, Dr. Fujita (Sonya Mizuno) and Dr. Mantleray (Justin Theroux), and a society that's off-kilter in some very specific ways - you can hire people to stand in for absent loved-ones and make pocket change by watching ads.

As the show goes on, and follows Owen and Annie through multiple phases of the drug trial and different drug-induced realities, I realized that many of these elements weren't actually contributing anything to the story. It was fun to see the characters' mental issues manifesting in ridiculous ways, but this was undercut by the baseline reality of the show already being full of wacky Terry Gilliam-esque devices. It didn't help that the various alternate realities feel randomly generated, and it is often difficult to connect them back to the main story. There's an explanation provided for why Owen and Annie end up in a reality where they're a blue collar couple trying to recover a stolen lemur, but it's not very convincing, and the subplot is poorly resolved. The other realities are even worse about this, offering snippets of story that don't really go anywhere, and revelations that are confusing or badly defined. It's never clear how these fantasies are actually helping Owen and Annie.

The show exists in this weird tonal place where it's very broad, fantastical, and high-concept, but still wants to reflect the real struggles of the afflicted. "Legion" pulled off something similar, but the main character's illness in that show is largely a metaphorical dramatic device. The leads of "Maniac" are suffering afflictions that are far more specific and recognizable. I appreciate that the show tries very hard to tell a story aimed at destigmatizing mental illness, but it doesn't really take itself seriously enough to be meaningful in that regard. Owen, for instance, only experiences the most cinematically convenient form of schizophrenia, where he hallucinates a nicer version of his brother and standard conspiracy elements. And somehow, Annie's mental baggage can be alleviated by sharing a "Lord of the Rings" themed adventure with an elfin version of her sister. All this extra set dressing just ends up getting in the way of the storytelling.

Still, the production values are high and the performances are great. Some of the more out-there concepts are very well executed, and the worldbuilding is impressive. However, I think this may be a case of the show's creators being too ambitious. There's no reason "Maniac" had to be ten episodes, include so many different dream realities, and spend so much time on the distracting subplots with the scientists. I'm not sure it knew what it wanted to be. Sometimes it feels like an anthology show where the framing device isn't working, or conversely like a straight movie about a drug trial where the drug-trip interludes were just tacked on to pad out time. There are some great, emotionally resonant moments like Owen and Annie being given their diagnoses, but they don't feel earned. And aside from a few moments of choice absurdity, the humor rarely worked for me.

Oh well. Every failed experiment still provides good data that can help in future endeavors. To the show's credit, I had no problem watching every episode all the way through and I was never bored. Jonah Hill gets special kudos for delivering my favorite performance of his yet. Owen's storyline was the best conceived and the most satisfying to follow. Plus, the hapless Scandinavian diplomat version of him that shows up in the ninth episode is easily the show's most successful comic creation. I wouldn't go as far as saying that "Maniac" was worth it for Hill's performance, but I'm glad he got the chance to show his versatility here.

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