We're back ladies and gentlemen with episode 2 of the supremely mind-bending "Maniac",
so take your pills and settle in because it's gonna get weird.
Well episode 1 focused on Owen,
episode 2 focuses on Annie.
Here in her apartment, we're struck with a vast contrast
from the structured businesslike world of Owen Milgram,
clutter adorns the room and highlighted is a book of modern art,
not surprising considering a 2013 study from the University of Minnesota concluded that
those that keep cluttered houses are often more creative.
Annie pulls out a pill bottle and has a few harsh words with the last remaining tablet,
shaped like an "A" before crushing it and snorting the residue like cocaine.
What follows is a seemingly euphoric experience,
seen in fast motion as a roommates blur about their day around her.
You'll notice here more rainbow imagery harkening back to Neberdine.
Annie awakens from her high with a tear rolling down her face as Flash Gordon plays on the TV.
She pulls out a cigar box where we see her copy of Don Quixote that she pulled from the trash in episode 1,
inferring the events here take place after the opening of that episode.
We get a view of scars on Annie's back,
a reference to the events at the end of this episode,
as she pulls out a picture who will later learn is her sister Ellie,
before getting to work on a lost dog poster.
She glares once more at the pill bottle and we get a few more clues as to where it came from.
More Japanese lettering and the words saying
"trial ULP phase 3"
confirming its connection to NBP and Owen's ULP screening.
There's also the letter "A", like the pill,
and "this is a test".
Outside, Annie puts up the lost dog posters and we get a look at her creation.
Might be a little too late looking for a dog lost seven years ago, but take note of the woman in the picture.
It's her sister, not her.
At a noodle shop, Annie takes in a few ads from "Ad Buddy".
I'm guessing this is how Annie paid for her meal, as well later learn she's having trouble paying the rent.
When buddy here mentions the limitless options they can offer,
Annie expresses a desire to reach Salt Lake City to see her sister,
and wonders if "Ad Buddy" could pay the way,
buddy says it should only take a few thousand ads.
Hikes!
Back home, Annie packs a bag and picks up Don Quixote,
claiming she's "healthy Annie" now,
no more pills.
It's no coincidence that Don Quixote is referenced so much,
the stories of a noble who loses his sanity reading too many chivalrous romances,
and takes on a quest to revive chivalry.
Don Quixote does not see the world as it really is and prefers to imagine he is living out a knightly story.
Sound like anyone we know?
However, Annie's quest to reach Salt Lake City is thwarted due to lack of funds,
and she pays a visit to her dad Hank,
a cross between Hal from 2001 a Space Odyssey
and a vampire coffin.
Hank has hidden away from the world in an "a-void", seemingly as a way of avoiding his problems,
mainly the sorrow he feels from Annie's mother's passing.
I'm also getting big Back to the Future vibes from these numbers, yet another homage to the 80s.
Annie hits up dad's safe for some bus money and we see a gun.
Could this be the same gun she makes reference to in episode 1?
She becomes a visibly upset,
which is no surprise considering her dad has locked himself away.
But this doesn't seem to stop her from taking a lot more than a few bucks for the bus.
With cash in hand, she grabs her bag and heads out.
Notice the same style painting here in her apartment, as in her dad's place.
Before entering the terminal, we get a glimpse
at the Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn,
that has been covered in neon lights.
Inside the bus terminal, Annie purchases a ticket to Salt Lake City,
but hallucinates while looking at the rolling bus numbers,
the entire board forms the letter "A".
While Owens issues stem from his schizophrenia,
Annie seems to be an addiction to this mysterious "A" drug.
The drug has won this day, and she needs more.
At Washington Square Park, Annie meets up with her supplier, Calvin.
He's playing a classic game of New York chess with a purple robotic gambling koala.
Turns out "pill-A" isn't something you can just order whenever you want.
Calvin snatched it from his dad who works for NBP,
and can't get her anymore.
Annie pleads for a lead, but he tells her NBP has gotten way more secretive since the suicides,
but after Annie drop some bus money
he gives the name of Neberdine's intake director, Patricia Lugo.
Annie visits "dox stop",
an establishment which helps find dirt on others
by gaining access to people's personal information.
It's essentially the opposite of the identity stolen ad from episode 1,
and wouldn't you love the irony of the same ad off to the side here.
Inside, Annie drops more of her dad's cash to blackmail Patricia Lugo,
looks like they don't take "Ad Buddy" in exchange for doxing.
Apparently Patricia has a disorderly arrest on her record,
was a gambler, and lost custody of her daughter,
then had it all scrubbed,
so she could get her job at Neberdine.
For a fee, Mr. Dox says he'll even threaten to kidnap a kid,
"that shit always works".
Instead, he finds she's a user of something called "Friend Proxy",
for pretend friends,
a service not unlike "Daddy's Home" where someone fills in as your friend.
It's clear this world is really painted as one of loneliness,
people lacking connection.
Annie Intercepts Patricia at a Botanical Garden,
notice all the bonsai trees which make a number of appearances at the NBP labs.
She pretends to be her proxy friend, Juanita,
and noticed the friend proxy pin she wears,
just like the man from episode 1.
But after a slip-up in her story
and a glance over at two young girls in the garden,
perhaps reminding Annie of herself and her sister,
she gives up the goat and retreats.
If you recall, this young girl here is Owen's niece that we saw at episode 1.
"How did you know?"
But rather than counting herself lucky and leaving,
Patricia follows Annie, maybe that's how desperate for a human connection she is.
Annie explains the reasons she blackmailed Patricia is to get into the Neberdine trials
because she needs more of those pills,
the only thing that makes her feel better about her relationship with her sister.
She describes a cold rock that has been left in her stomach
by an argument they have five years ago.
Patricia tells her she could reach out to her sister,
but Annie says "I can't."
The story works and Annie gets to take the defence mechanism tests that Owen did in episode 1.
Here, she gives answers she thinks the screener wants to hear
such as super-happy and togetherness.
Perhaps the only response close to a real one is her reaction of sisters making faces at each other.
The screener then does the final stare down,
but Annie just holds, her vitals rising before getting the red light,
guess her defence mechanisms weren't fungible.
A pissed-off Annie decides to take Mr. Dox's original advice and blackmail Patricia,
saying if she doesn't get into her study, she'll never see her daughter again.
Guess he was right,
"that shit always works".
Now the story starts to connect from episode 1 as we cut to Owens staring Annie down.
He heads in for his ULP test while Patricia upgrades another tester to a much much safer trial,
and hands Annie her golden ticket.
We arrive back in the pot room
and are treated to an introduction video in our first look at Dr. Mantleray,
played here by Justin Theroux who does a fantastic job of bad-acting.
His last name you might remember from the ad Annie passes in episode 1.
Could Greta Mantelray be his mother?
I gotta say this was one of my favorite parts of the whole episode,
the 80s VHS style effects,
the specific cuts made in the video.
"No one sees inside your head"
says Dr. Morimoto assuredly,
than six seconds later
"but us."
The videos purpose is to explain how the test works,
and it's simple,
three pills taken in three steps
analyzed by the most sophisticated mega computer ever developed, the G.R.T.A.,
eerily similar to Greta.
After ingesting the pills,
the machines cutting-edge artificial intelligence will
identify,
map, and
confront the learned programming of your brain.
Simple right?
Pill-A, Annie's pill is called "Agonia", which in Greek translates to
"of severe mental struggles and emotions, agony, anguish".
This pill pulls at your core traumas and worst memories of your life and maps them for pill B and C.
"But don't worry, it's safe."
Pill-B, "Behavioral", identifies your minds defence mechanisms and blind spots.
"Your blind spots!"
Pill-C, "Confricia", "Confrontation",
the end of the rainbow, likely why we've seen so many rainbows referenced throughout the show.
Once pill A and B have worked,
G.R.T.A. will remap your brain and voila, you're cured! Simple, right?
Dr. Morimoto asks if anyone has questions,
and then ignores the ones who do
and lets the evens know they're going to get a delicious pre-weighed meal,
while the odds hit the microwave chairs.
As Annie lines up for the tests, we get a look into Dr. Fujita's control room.
Notice some of the shoulders of the workers who have yellow stripes
and the one man on the right who has blue or indigo
suggesting the rainbow colors of MBP separate into different departments of the company.
In the lineup, Owen tells Annie everyone thought he was crazy, but they were wrong.
Annie replies, they'll talk about this later.
She's going along with him as to not attract attention.
In the supercomputer room, we find. Dr. Morimoto reading a poem to G.R.T.A.
It's William Blake's the angel poem, suggesting that she is seen as a guardian angel.
It seems like G.R.T.A. is more complex than a regular computer and enjoys this poetry,
almost as if she has emotions.
Later, Dr. Fujita implies G.R.T.A.'s safety-net is connected to how much she liked the poem.
The odds get placed in their chairs and are donned with x-ray vests, straight out of your dentist's office.
Dr. Fujita addresses her crew and explains
the test subject's data over the next three days is vital to their success
and that the subjects lives are in their hands,
no more mistakes.
"Don't worry, it's safe."
Finally, Annie gets her pill and the Machine fires up.
Electrical wires get sent from the chairs to the computer.
Wires depicting the connection from each participant can be seen,
with 1 being Owen, and 9 being Annie.
Dr. Fujita instructs the crew to be gentle, and that hard-entry is their enemy.
In Annie's mind, we see a Dutch windmill.
"Windmill" being the title of this episode and a sign saying
"leave to the nightingale her shady woods"
this is a reference to William Wordsworth's poem called "To a Skylark".
The poem itself about a skylark's connection to its roots, while also flying high.
But of interest is the line "leave to the nightingale her shady wood",
the nightingale is a songbird that, unlike the skylark, keeps to the woods.
Is Annie our nightingale and her sister the skylark?
In this memory, Annie pumped some gas
and sports a new short hairdo as her sister Ellie comes from inside.
We can assume this memory is at least five years or older,
as we know from the earlier conversation with Patricia that this is how long it's been since the two last spoke.
And considering this is a pill-A memory, aka Agonia,
it's also likely the origin of Annie and her sisters falling out.
Cute sister hijinks ensue.
That night in a motel room, the two gloss over their tumultuous relationship with their mother
and escaped into fantasy.
Ellie explains her moved to Salt Lake City is because of her fiancé and opens up about her fears of stability.
She's afraid she'll screw it up and this screw up her future kids,
just like what happened to the sisters.
But in this fantasy Ellie explains she doesn't screw up,
she has her happy ending.
Rather than act supportive, Annie pushes back and they argue.
Ellie brings up the fact that Annie can't take care of anything,
which Annie assumes is a reference to Ellie's dog,
inferring that she lost him.
They sling more insults, calling each other "mom",
and Annie gets mean by stating how happy she is that Ellie is moving far away.
The next morning, Annie begins a careful attempt to reconcile
and decides to take a serious picture with her sister.
Ellie holds the wheel as Annie goes to take a selfie,
but eventually, Annie makes another joke of it.
As the to grapple over the camera a truck comes barreling down the wrong side of the road,
and plows into them, sending Annie and Ellie over the side of the road.
Annie is flung from her car and lives while her sister is left to die in the wreckage below.
Thus why Annie explained she can't reconcile to Lugo.
Here amongst the blood,
you can also see the fresh scar wounds on Annie's back
the same place her scars were seen at the beginning of the episode.
Back in the test room,
we see a crying Annie similar to what happened on her couch
the last time she took the pill.
Pill-A has located her trauma,
but what kind of effect has the pill had on Owen's brain?
And what will pills B and C have for them down the line?
Thanks again for watching.
If you liked this series, please make sure to like and share it.
There's a whole lot more to unpack in the upcoming episodes. So I hope you'll join me...
until next time.