10 Best New TV Shows Of 2018
2. Maniac
Netflix didn't give too much away ahead of Maniac's debut, meaning viewers had little idea what to expect. Even if they had given us more clues, though, we probably still wouldn't have expected most of what Maniac throws up.
The basic premise is that it follows two people struggling with different issues - Emma Stone's Annie has BPD, while Jonah Hill's Owen is schizophrenic - and partake in a new trial offered by Dr Mantleray (Justin Theroux) that promises to cure all ills.
Maniac dresses itself up with a number of fantastical bells and whistles. Director Cary Fukunaga injects it with all the visual splendour that helped win him so much acclaim on True Detective, crafting a reality-bending trip so a world that's just ever so off from our own, and perfectly complemented by writer Patrick Somerville. Together they take us on a meditation about mental health, and a story that's very much about the human connections we make in life.
The whole cast is good, but it's Stone who steals the show, with a performance every bit as mesmerising as it is complicated. Not unexpectedly, Maniac gets extremely weird at times, including a Raising Arizona riff centred around a lemur, and a fantasy epic yarn that echoes Lord of the Rings, but it's that human centre that makes it all come together in ways both surprising and satisfying.