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| Jonah Hill in Maniac |
Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.
While there's been a rise in prestige TV, there's an overall sense that something like Maniac is still a bit too high caliber for it. Take into mind that it's from director Cary Fukunaga, who is coming off of his critically acclaimed peak with True Detective and Beasts of No Nation, returns to Netflix with a sci-fi series that is promised to be weirder than other high concept series like Legion and Westworld. If nothing else, it has the inclusion of two Hollywood mainstays in Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill and Oscar-winner Emma Stone as the central focus. The many ads have emphasized the character-shifting nature of what's to come, and it's bound to be one of the most mind-expanding series of the year. Based on the first episode, there's hints that things could get more interesting, though it's only alluded to in the first 40 minutes.
The series opens with what is typical of high concept sci-fi series like this. Before the audience sees either Hill or Stone, there is a voice-over set over a montage of outer space, reflecting the birth of the universe and how it's all trying to be connected to each other. With some surreal images that mix outer space with the birthing process, the show feels like it wants to be another version of fellow Netflix series Sense8, but with less of a high concept bent in which everyone is able to transcend space. It's hard to say how far things are different from there, but these feel like the building blocks to a world that is just outside what everyone knows. This is the nearby future, where robots clean the streets and a company seeking applicants for an experiment advertise in strange manners.
What else is strange is in the various details that can be seen but never fully discussed. The most noteworthy comes when Hill's character Owen is out in a park overlooking a series of pigeons. As he sits there, he comes to see seeds on the ground popping like popcorn. This is in part because he is schizophrenic and what he sees isn't always the most accurate depiction of the story. Still, he becomes a central focus as he wanders through characters, trying to find meaning in his humdrum life. He's mostly after Stone's Annie, who he sees everywhere but is unsure what purpose they share together. Thus the mystery is formed, especially as the series doesn't fully understand yet what the experiment is going to be. Also, there's plenty to wonder if Owen is hallucinating Annie's call at the end of the episode that they're going to infiltrate the company and do something.
Fukunaga is a very promising director as of late, and it will be seen what he can contribute to the world of sci-fi. Given that True Detective's first season was one of the most gripping and effective seasons of TV in the decade, there's little to doubt that his take on this story won't at least have some breathtaking ambition. There's already a nuance to the slow that would suggest that there's more to come, that this is only the slow build to whatever comes next. Considering that it took a few episodes for True Detective to fully embrace its surreal take on the crime drama, there's plenty of reason to believe that things will kick into gear after four or five episodes. If nothing else, the first episode at least does an effective job at setting up the drama and suspense. It also helps that it at least has an interesting set design, managing to feel modern, but also different enough to suggest plausible evolution.
Maniac is the latest series that's likely to gain a lot of traction thanks to Netflix, joining the ranks of last year's Mindhunters as one of the late year discoveries from a prestigious team. Considering that Stone and Hill are busy right now promoting movies and potentially entering Oscar season, it's amazing that they had time to make something this experimental and ambitious. But there's a lot to wonder about what drew them to the role in the first place. Both seem to be giving excellent performances, with Hill managing to have a more nuanced performance than he's usually known for. It's tough to suggest that this will be a runaway hit on par with any of their other projects - if just because genre TV doesn't always do well with awards - but there's no doubt that it at least has a very perplexing package that needs to be unwrapped. Only time will tell over the 10 episodes how much it will be worth opening.
The series opens with what is typical of high concept sci-fi series like this. Before the audience sees either Hill or Stone, there is a voice-over set over a montage of outer space, reflecting the birth of the universe and how it's all trying to be connected to each other. With some surreal images that mix outer space with the birthing process, the show feels like it wants to be another version of fellow Netflix series Sense8, but with less of a high concept bent in which everyone is able to transcend space. It's hard to say how far things are different from there, but these feel like the building blocks to a world that is just outside what everyone knows. This is the nearby future, where robots clean the streets and a company seeking applicants for an experiment advertise in strange manners.
What else is strange is in the various details that can be seen but never fully discussed. The most noteworthy comes when Hill's character Owen is out in a park overlooking a series of pigeons. As he sits there, he comes to see seeds on the ground popping like popcorn. This is in part because he is schizophrenic and what he sees isn't always the most accurate depiction of the story. Still, he becomes a central focus as he wanders through characters, trying to find meaning in his humdrum life. He's mostly after Stone's Annie, who he sees everywhere but is unsure what purpose they share together. Thus the mystery is formed, especially as the series doesn't fully understand yet what the experiment is going to be. Also, there's plenty to wonder if Owen is hallucinating Annie's call at the end of the episode that they're going to infiltrate the company and do something.
Fukunaga is a very promising director as of late, and it will be seen what he can contribute to the world of sci-fi. Given that True Detective's first season was one of the most gripping and effective seasons of TV in the decade, there's little to doubt that his take on this story won't at least have some breathtaking ambition. There's already a nuance to the slow that would suggest that there's more to come, that this is only the slow build to whatever comes next. Considering that it took a few episodes for True Detective to fully embrace its surreal take on the crime drama, there's plenty of reason to believe that things will kick into gear after four or five episodes. If nothing else, the first episode at least does an effective job at setting up the drama and suspense. It also helps that it at least has an interesting set design, managing to feel modern, but also different enough to suggest plausible evolution.
Maniac is the latest series that's likely to gain a lot of traction thanks to Netflix, joining the ranks of last year's Mindhunters as one of the late year discoveries from a prestigious team. Considering that Stone and Hill are busy right now promoting movies and potentially entering Oscar season, it's amazing that they had time to make something this experimental and ambitious. But there's a lot to wonder about what drew them to the role in the first place. Both seem to be giving excellent performances, with Hill managing to have a more nuanced performance than he's usually known for. It's tough to suggest that this will be a runaway hit on par with any of their other projects - if just because genre TV doesn't always do well with awards - but there's no doubt that it at least has a very perplexing package that needs to be unwrapped. Only time will tell over the 10 episodes how much it will be worth opening.
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