Maniac (Netflix)

Maniac is the acid trip therapy session that breaks the whole brain in half before stitching it back together with neon thread. The Netflix limited series tracks Owen (Jonah Hill), a paranoid schizophrenic heir with a tenuous grip on reality, and Annie (Emma Stone), a pill-addicted loner haunted by the death of her sister, as they’re pulled into a clinical trial promising to “fix” them. What unfolds is a kaleidoscopic plunge into shared delusions—one minute they’re noir detectives interrogating lemurs, the next they’re elf-eared fantasy warriors—all orchestrated by a malfunctioning AI therapist named GRTA (who, like Lumon’s severed employees, has her own breakdown mid-procedure).

Like Severance, Maniac explores the allure and danger of erasing pain to become more “productive.” When Owen’s mind fractures between his real self and his fantasy personas, it mirrors Innie Mark’s slow discovery that his other life might be a lie. And just like that chilling Lumon break room scene, Maniac features a moment in which the characters are forced to relive their worst memories for the sake of “treatment.” Both shows sit at the crossroads of sci-fi and psychology, where identity is a glitchy loop and the cure might just be worse than the disease.