Maniac

I have now tried 2 times to watch this series and continue to find it very boring. I have absolutely no sympathy for the protagonists. it's not funny, it just annoys me.

The behaviour of people you occasionally come across with mental health difficulties is sympathetically dealt with in this warm series.

The character is on one level a mental patient in a secure facility, but in his imagination a spy, solider etc... the trouble is this format is highly constrained to childish and crude plots of his imagination as we switch from reality to his imagination constantly. Literally like watching a 5 year olds imagination. Maybe good for under 10s to watch. Totally unfunny for adults.

Maniac is a sadly sweet tale, the story of a psychiatric patient and those who try to help him recover from a state of chronic delusion. Despite his condition, Espen interacts with the real world in a way that is mostly functional, causing the occasional faux-pas or impropriety but without horrible outcomes. This isn't "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", and it's set in modern times, so the care he receives is gentle, not horrifying electroshock or lobotomy. Modeled as a comedy, this film is unlikely to strongly disturb most viewers.

The real world of the hospital is dull but not grim. In Espen's world, by contrast, he is a soldier, a spy, a lover, a man of international commerce and intrigue; life for him is far more entertaining and satisfying. What makes Maniac fascinating is not simply the numerous fantasy vignettes, but the bi-directional disparity between subjectivity and objectivity. We see how reality informs Espen's fantasy, of course, but equally instructive is how the hospital staff perceive the real-world expression of his internality: these loving, caring, competent folks have no clue what is actually going on inside his head. Watching their attempts to help, you'll be both amused and saddened.

I wasn't thrilled with the ending, but it works, and it's probably realistic. Maniac is an excellent mini-series, well worth your time.

Likeable Espen has gone a little mad and chooses to live locked in his own fantasy world where he is the undisputed hero kept very busy saving the world from evil. In his imaginary world he is worshipped and waited upon by lesser mortals - played by the hospital staff in often very amusing cameos - which makes for some fun scenes where Espens' world and "reality" collide. We are often left wondering whether sanity is all it's cracked up to be when facing up to reality is so bleak for so many.

Maniac (2014) is a gentle and likeable comedy and well worth a watch before seeing what Netflix will do with the American version of the show.