Netflix's Maniac: What Does The Ending Really Mean?

3. Acceptance And Human Connection

Where the pills were really important wasn't in providing a 'cure', but helping push Annie and Owen towards acceptance. The former is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, the latter with schizophrenia, but by the end of the trial they're able to accept those parts of themselves and begin to really work through the issues.

For Owen, that starts with no longer lying for his brother or cowing to the pressure of his family, and for Annie it means letting go of her sister and moving through her grief. They aren't suddenly free of their problems, but they've been offered a chance to be, and are taking it.

That then leads to the other core message of Maniac, which is that above pills and therapy, what's important is human connection. This is one of the most elusive things for Annie and Owen in their real world, who have been separated - in different ways - from their families and feel cut adrift, but keep on finding their way to one another in the trial.

And importantly Maniac doesn't simply make this ending a love story, but purely a friendship - it's two people who are learning to know each other, to trust and care for each other, but we see when Annie's Owen stand-in proposes it's clearly not what she wants, she instead just desires an authentic connection with another person, and that's what he needs too. It's also why, in the end, Annie's father has to come outside of the box he's living in, and why Dr Mantleray and Dr Fujita are sticking together. All of them have their own issues, but it's going to be a lot easier with someone else there.

Do they actually know each other? Not yet, but like Annie says, they're off to a good start.