[jasonrhaas]

I'm 4 episodes in and I still don't know what the show is about. It seems like its trying hard to channel some kind of weird, blade runner light vibes, but its doing a pretty bad job. Honestly if it didn't have some name brands in it (Jonah Hill and Emma Stone), I don't think it would getting the attention that it is.

[Tallain]

It's a show about confronting your past, accepting loss, and growing past your old self.

I'm fascinated by the lukewarm response this show's received. It feels so refreshing to have a show a) tell you what it's going to do and then b) do it. It spends the first three episodes establishing the characters and the conceit, and then follows through on everything a narrative is supposed to follow through on.

Every major character has a "core trauma" that they must confront and move past. They ingest pills which put them into dreamlike states where they can fuse their trauma with mythological encounters, which lets them face their problems head on in a more abstract sense. Just about to the letter how Joseph Campbell explained the purpose of myths and legends.

Even the non-dreaming characters face larger-than-life scenarios they must overcome in order to overcome their own core problems. Without spoiling it, Dr. Mantleray (Justin Theroux) has a hilarious and way over the top problem that he confronts in an equally ridiculous manner.

Which reminds me of another facet of this show: it's not afraid to let you (or make you) laugh. Unlike Bojack's Flip McVicker, who says before his premier, "This show contains no intentional humor."

It's a tonic for people tired of Prestige TV. The "it gets good" syndrome, where we have to wait a whole season for any kind of "payoff" to hours of wheel-spinning, setup, and dissolution. I'm tired of mysterious characters doing weird things and waiting eight episodes to find out why. Plot is not a puzzle. I want to know the characters, to care about them, to know in clear terms what they want and watch them struggle to achieve that. Which, I think, Maniac delivers on.

[jameskegel]

I love the show and I'm happy I found it. That being said, I think you're right, I watched it initially only because Jonah Hill was in it. Come to think of it, I binge watched it for 2 nights and still haven't finished it, and if you asked me what the story line was, I can only vaguely describe it.

[wwweston]

It's definitely a show that unfolds in a lot of directions and that doesn't make it easy to zero in on a predictable narrative. Personally, I like that it managed to do that -- while still actually having a narrative arc and sense the writers had done their homework, unlike, say, Lost and Twin Peaks, which are probably two reasonable analogues.

Also, like a lot of character dramas, the most direct "about" is your investment in what happens to/between the characters. But I think you could fairly say the show is an exploration of how we come to grips with limited control over our minds and emotions.

[JansjoFromIkea]

An even closer one would be the Leftovers seeing as it shares a few key crew members (well, Theroux and the lead writer worked on the Leftovers, at least).

The Leftovers was basically Lost done right, very very clear from the onset that it's about people's reactions to the craziness than the underlying reasons for it. Maniac feels like it has some unnecessary stuff tacked on, the premise has a Charlie Kaufman copycat element to it all that feels like a necessary gimmick as opposed to something which naturally fits into the world.

[overcast]

Jonah Hill would be a good reason not to watch this show for me, but you've fully convinced me not to waste my time.