The "manic" ending is a hopeful testimony about the healing capacity of friendship

Spoilers for everyone Maniacal in front of. During his 10 episodes, Maniacal is usually a dark and painful sight, so it is somewhat unexpected that the Netflix miniseries gives its protagonists a seemingly optimistic resolution. in the Maniacal Finally, Annie and Owen confront their traumas of the past, emerge unscathed from the trial and, after a brief separation, revive their friendship and leave for Salt Lake City, where Annie had long planned to take her sister. But before viewers can console themselves in this light at the end of the tunnel, the show subverts reality again. in the Maniacal Endgame scene, a hawk and a dog appear on the screen and follow the path of the car, questioning the fact that Annie and Owen Actually escaped GRTA's attempt to trap them in their subconscious minds, or if they were in another simulated fantasy. So what's the problem?

First of all, break things up. In "Option C", Annie is finally able to accept the death of her sister and move on in life, while Owen stands in front of his family and tells the truth about his brother Jed, who made him sing for that he testifies in his favor after being charged. of sexual misconduct. Unfortunately, Owen's family then places him in a psychiatric ward. At this point, he and Annie do not speak – after the experiment, they decided to separate – but Annie shows up to rescue him as soon as she discovers what happened. Owen, who is still struggling with her schizophrenia potential, begins to hesitate to believe that she is real, but eventually agrees to let her escape – allowing them to find themselves on the road to Salt Lake City.

Viewers may remember that after the lost chapter of Don Quixote Hoist, Owen told Annie that he dreamed they would run away together. "We were going somewhere together, we were in a car, we were driving very fast, somebody was chasing us, I do not know who, it was like an escape, I was just laughing. I had that big smile on my face, I was hurt so much he was tall, we were just two people watching over each other, "he explained.

This aligns exactly with the way the series ends, suggesting that this may be just another fantasy. To further complicate matters, the creators of the lawsuit, James Mantleray and Azumi Fujita, led by Annie and Owen while Mantleray launches into the voiceover that opened the series – which seems a little too fortuitous to be real. That brings us to the hawk and the dog.

Although animals are important throughout the mini-series – there is the lemur saved by Annie and Owen from the fur store, the owl during the session with Neberdine – these two are particularly significant. The dog is Groucho, the ex-pet of Ellie, Annie's sister, whom Annie lost, and the hawk remembers the Owen brothers, who is are laughed at him in the first episode for healing his wounded hawk. He also becomes a hawk when he tries to save Annie from GRTA, but is finally thwarted. Groucho then represents the memory of Annie's sister, while the hawk represents Owen's desire to protect those around him, sometimes blamelessly. In the end, these things are still part of Annie and Owen, but they do not hold them anymore – which means that Groucho and the hawk do not mean that Annie and Owen are still trapped, but rather the true freedom that they could finally reach.

To reinforce this point, the creator of the series, Patrick Somerville, has confirmed The Hollywood Reporter that the end of Maniacal is meant to be optimistic. "It's kind of terrible in the first episodes: life is sad, these people are lost, and for me, there's no way to make the show, unless you're going to a much more optimistic place. There is no justification for punishing the public in this way unless there is a hopeful story to come out of it, "he said. "For me, the story tells the story of two people who did not accept who they were at the beginning of the series, both found a way to do it by themselves, and the fruit of this relationship is that you will have new relationships. "

Of course, the art is open to interpretation. But if you follow Somerville's vision, then you must not see the hawk and the dog as a desperate sign Owen and Annie are still stuck in their imagination. Instead, the animals symbolize Annie and Owen releasing the part of their past that haunts them for too long. And now they are moving together.

To return to Dr. Mantleray's theory that puts the series on hold, he says, "We are lost without connection." And that's it Maniacal everything is at the end. The lawsuit – whether scientifically successful or not – gave Annie and Owen the opportunity to connect to another person, and not through Friend Proxies or Ad Buddies or peer support books. Dr. Greta Mantleray. Their connection is legitimate and although they are not completely cured, according to Annie, maybe they will arrive someday.