"Maniac is the most captivating show of the fall season, in that you don’t know for one second what the hell is going on, so you’re constantly paying close attention," says Kevin Fallon. "It’s brilliant in that way. And it’s one of those shows that likes to think it’s brilliant in that way. (It’s insufferable in that way.)" He adds: "The fact that Maniac is so strange is the best thing about it. And, folks, it’s hella strange. But for once, it’s a pleasure for a show to be this narratively ambitious, at a time when production value and budget routinely seem to usurp story development. (Not that Maniac’s deranged alternate past-future—couldn’t say which it’s meant to be—lacks in scope, detail, or cost.) There is a palpable determination in the show’s loopy, provocative world-building and a heartbreaking honesty to its depiction of mental illness."
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TOPICS: Netflix, Maniac, Billy Magnussen, Cary Fukunaga, Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux, Patrick Somerville