An Ode to Existentialists Everywhere

***spoilers ahead***

“Hypothesis: All souls are on a quest to connect.”

That is the line in the first two minutes of Netflix’s brand new miniseries “Maniac” that got us hooked.

Emma Stone appears on the screen with her bleached locks and chapped pink lips desperately trying to purchase a pack of cigs. We’ve all been there.

“I’m Campos Mentis” whispers a shaken up, and might we add skinny, Jonah Hill as he prepares to stand trial for his brother.  He’s shaken because he has just been asked about his hospitalization after a mental break ten years prior. He has hallucinations.

Jonah’s character sees people and things that are not there. One of the people that he hallucinates is his “brother” Jed. Jed gives Jonah’s character instructions to find Emma Stone’s character and to “Follow the pattern. The Pattern is the Pattern.”

Emma Stone and Jonah Hill finally meet at a high risk drug trial where they both want to make that $$$$ (who doesn’t).

They are told nothing about the trail other than the fact that they must stay in their individual pods (think Japanese pod hotel rooms).

Jonah’s character looks at Emma’s character and she states, “You are going to save the world.”

Boom. End of episode one. And the beginning of our addiction to the newest Sci-Fi Thriller on Netflix.

Think Black Mirror meets A Beautiful Mind meets a real life big pharma nightmare. What is real? Is Jonah really hallucinating patterns? What is the point of life? Are we the only universe? Are there multiples of us? Is this all conspiracy? What exists? WHAT IS EXISTENCE?

This show questions all of these existential thoughts. It captivates us with stunning cinematography and odd establishing shots and pinks and greens and blues.  

Pack your bowl and cancel your plans for the weekend. This is a 10/10 binge.