Maniac season 1 episode 7 delivers the experiences of the C phase of the drug trial that the participants in the study began in the previous episode. Owen finds himself the #2 to his gangster father. Owen’s father tells him to take the rap for killing a bookie and to plead insanity before the judge. Annie finds herself as Annia, a half-elf ranger guiding the elf Ellia to the Lake of the Clouds in order to cure Ellia and save her life.
“Fathers Do Not Forgive”
Owen is wearing a wire for the NYPD, who are looking to take down Owen’s father. He reluctantly goes along with the sting, but Owen is scared to death that his father is going to find out. Owen’s father has a penchant for taking a drill to the heads of those he is interrogating, torturing, and killing. After witnessing and participating in the brutality, Owen doesn’t want that to happen to him.
“Did I Find You or Were You Supposed to Find Me?”
Annia is a drunkard who was approached by a lost and sickly Ellia in a tavern, looking for a guide to escort her to the Lake of the Clouds. Ellia was cursed to die by her mother, and only the mythical, magical waters of the lake can heal her. Annia agrees to the deal, only to change the terms by increasing her fee later once the pair are on their way. What Ellia doesn’t know is that Annia is being pursued by assassins sent by the Queen Gertrude. A talking dragonfly suggests to Annia that the assassins are actually manifestations of her own inner demons, as the assassin that Annia killed looks just like Annia herself.
The two are captured by soldiers and presented to Lady Nora, who knows all about Annia. She asks Annia to look into a magic mirror and tell Lady Nora and Ellia what she sees. In the mirror, Annia sees a younger version of Annie and Ellie getting dressed up because they heard that their mother was coming home, though she never did return. With that prompt, Annia realizes that she is Annie and Ellia is her sister Ellie and that they are in the fantasy together, which is Annie’s least favorite genre. Ellia still believes herself to be the elven princess and doesn’t understand what Annie is talking about. Together, the two head for the lake, a two day walk to the north, to heal Ellia and save her life.
“This is the Quietest I’ve Ever Seen Her”
James is paranoid that his mother is using her connection with GRTA to somehow turn the trial participants against him. Fujita tells James that GRTA’s systems all read normal, and that whatever Greta is doing appears to be working by having a calming effect on the supercomputer. James apologizes to Fukita for his role in the ending of their romantic relationship years earlier when we has kicked from the program.
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