“The ‘A’ experience on its own can be a seductive demon,” says Dr. Robert Muramoto in Maniac Episode 3. “Most people wouldn’t understand why someone wants to revisit a trauma again and again, even take pleasure from it. Most people wouldn’t.”
“But you do,” Annie guesses in response.
“People like that don’t want to move forward,” Muramoto continues.
“I don’t deserve to,” Annie replies.
“Don’t you?”
“I want to move forward,” Annie says. “I wanna know what the second pill does.”
“People who feel they deserve loss might try to move forward. They might taste recovery. But,” Muramoto concludes, “they always end up going back.”
(Author’s note: At this point in the exchange between Annie and Dr. Robert (ahem), I wrote THIS IS PRETTY GOOD in my notes.)
“Why?” asks Annie.
Then Dr. Muramoto makes a weird grunting sound and drops dead at his desk. The most interesting thing Maniac has said yet about how human beings process trauma and guilt, tossed aside for a black-comedy sight gag. You’d be hard pressed to find a better illustration of how this show’s ostentatious hyper-cleverness gets in its own way.
I reviewed episode 3 of Maniac for Decider. It has its ups and downs but this sums it up.
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