Netflix's Maniac: Ep. 3

If I had a rating system, I would give some kind of warning before reading this one. There's some weird, adult stuff going on.

Well, we still don't fully know what's going on, but we have a better idea, and in the meantime, we have some drama going on.

Owen and Annie get flagged after their experiment, and they get sent to the principal's office. The frustrating part for me is the fact that these highly intelligent doctors somehow couldn't figure out that one person (Owen) hadn't been taking his meds - we previously saw him flicking these meds into the trash can in the opening episode - and another person isn't actually the person they thought it was. Granted, Annie got some inside help, but still, you'd think there would be pictures and pre-screen information that would've come up and alert the doctors that something was fishy.

Anyway, Owen talks with Dr. Muramoto first, then Annie goes in after he comes out. While Annie is in there, though, Dr. Muramoto suddenly and mysteriously keels over. It's the oddest thing. He just faceplants onto his desk while sitting in his chair. She calls in Owen, and they cleverly decide not to report it, but to let the other doctors find out on their own.

In the meantime, Dr. Muramoto's assistant, Dr. Fujita, is forced to find a replacement. Enter Dr. James Mantleray, whom Dr. Fujita tracked down in a hole-in-the-hole dwelling where she finds Dr. Mantleray pantsless and masturbating to a virtual reality simulation (again, not clear on how futuristic this world is!). Mantleray takes a moment when he enters the lab to enjoy his return; apparently he's worked here before, and the reason he's being called to replace Muramoto is he might be the only one who can serve as the "finisher," whatever that entails.

Mantleray talks to the giant computer that's apparently behind a lot of this experiment and tells it about Muramoto's death. Well apparently this is a computer that has emotions as it actually sheds a tear - literally the computer's sorrow results in the dripping of some Terminator 2-looking metal liquid onto some wires. This, of course, proves disastrous as, after the next round of experiments begins, this drop causes a spark in the box housing two of the wires: Wire 1 and Wire 9, which are Owen's and Annie's numbers. Oh boy, didn't see that one coming. The episode ends with the next simulation beginning, this time with Owen and Annie in the same one.

I'm still waiting for a true purpose for this show's existence other than just living out some writer/director's fantasy about weird computer simulation shenanigans, but I'm growing more weary that there won't be one.

THE WIFE'S TWO CENTS: During Annie's experiment, she has real intimate moments with her sister before a fatal car crash, but when Annie wakes up and describes what she was doing in this simulated experience to Owen, she only says that they were in a car wreck, which leaves the possibility of her sister still being a live a possibility.