A, B, and C

Rachael Jarman, Staff Writer

There are so many great shows and movies on Netflix, but have you ever heard of the series Maniac? This show is kind of like a really long movie, 10 episodes long. Maniac has several hidden messages that you will mostly likely not all see, find, and understand at first. The series also has a very good message, along with production.

The main characters on Maniac are Owen Milgrim, which is played by Jonah Hill, and Annie Landsberg, which is played by Emma Stone. Owen Milgrim has schizophrenia, and hallucinates a “brother” of his that does not exist. He is a brother that Owen wished he had, which is a better version of Owen’s actual brother. His actual brother had committed a crime that Owen has to go to court for. This is not shown until the end of the show.

Owen had been taking medicine for his disorder, but he had started to not take them, making the experience of his schizophrenia much more frequent and strong. Annie Landsberg, on the other hand, has major depression caused by a very traumatic event she had experienced, which will be revealed in the show.

The focused topic of this series are three pills: A, B, and C. These are drugs that help with certain things mentally. Pill A, which is called Agonia, is meant to show people their darkest traumas. This could help, or worsen your mental state. Replaying the day over and over again might scar your mind even more, or make you be able to get over it and move on. Annie is actually addicted to this pill. Pill B, which is called Behavioral, is used to identify people’s defense mechanisms and blind spots with their minds. Pill C, which is called Confrontation, promises to help people confront what is actually going on in their mind, and making healthier pathways for them to deal with things. 

Owen, Annie, and several others go to a mind bending pharmaceutical trial to try the three pills, which is conducted by Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech, and overseen by scientists Dr. James K. Mantleray and Dr. Azumi Fujita. Dr. James had created a computer that speaks to him, and both scientists are very emotionally attached to this computer. At a point in the show, they realize that “she” is more emotional than they thought. They don’t take this information very well.

I will not speak of any spoilers, because I mean, I’m not evil! This show has several, several messages that you have to find. The production of this series is amazing. It is highly doubtful that the producers had missed anything in this show. Maniac is a highly recommended series for everyone, especially if you are into psychological shows and topics.