Maniac season 1 episode 8 opens with Annie trying to explain to Ellia that none of this is real, that it is all a computer simulation inside Annie’s mind, as Annie discovered in the previous episode. Ellia believes that Annia is under a spell and that the lake will be able to cure Annia as well. Meanwhile, Owen begins to make peace with Olivia, coming to understand that all of his problems in life are his own fault. Owen states that he just wants to start a new life away from the conditions and limitations placed upon him by his family.
“Our Brains Are Just Computers That Make Our Life Stories Make Sense”
As much as Owen is starting to understand his role in his own life and what it is that he wants, the walls are closing in on him. His father, thinking that Owen’s brother Rick was a snitch, kills Rick with the drill. Owen realizes that his father doesn’t have some gift for knowing what’s going on, that’s just his bluff to cover his own inadequacies. Going to the police, Owen finds the agents in the dark, with them thinking that maybe another agency has someone on the inside besides just them using Owen. Owen convinces the agents to pull him out and make their bust now, when Jed kills both of the agents. Jed reveals himself to be Owen’s brother, the son that their father gave up for adoption in order to get family planted inside the NYPD. Jed is in turn killed by the family’s consigliere, Frank, who is an undercover FBI agent.
Frank convinces Owen to testify against his father, offering to place him in witness protection. Owen stops and asks Olivia to come with him and start a new life. The pair marry and are stuck raising 7 kids in Owen’s tiny apartment. Knowing this isn’t where he is supposed to be, Owen jumps from the window, landing in a diorama of New York City and hearing Annie’s voice saying that Owen promised to protect her. Owen transforms into a hawk and flies off to find Annie.
“What’s a McMurphy?”
Greta confronts GRTA, who is having hysterical mood swings. One minute she’s sad, the next laughing; one minute she wants to cure them all, the next she wants to do as much damage as possible. When Greta tries to talk GRTA through her emotions, GRTA says that this is all Greta’s fault, that the computer’s hysterics mirror Greta’s own emotional issues. Screaming, Greta awakens to her troubled son.
“The Entire World’s Mad But You’re Not?”
Slowly, Ellie awakens to Annie’s reality, swapping places so that Ellie becomes the guide leading Annie to the healing lake. Ellie brings Annie to the bluff where Ellie died in the car crash, telling Annie to look and to let go. Annie says she doesn’t want to let go, she wants to stay with her sister. As if on cue, Queen Gertrude arrives and tells Annie that she doesn’t have to leave, but she can stay locked inside of GRTA forever. Owen the hawk tries to save Annie from GRTA, but is blasted out of the sky. Annie agrees to stay, but Ellie is left behind. Annie is trapped within the endless scenarios that GRTA creates, giving the computer the companion that she wants.
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