Maniacal

I've started watching the new Netflix show Maniac.  It's a sci-fi drama (or perhaps dark comedy) starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill.  The two are still pretty big names in the movies--perhaps you remember them as a couple in Superbad, and since then, both have been nominated for two Oscars, with Stone winning one. The cast also includes Sally Field, Gabriel Byrne and Justin Theroux. 

Maniac was created by novelist Patrick Somerville.  All ten episodes were directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who did the first season of True Detective.

The story takes place in the near future--or perhaps an alternative universe, since it's a lot like our world, but still different, and a lot of the technology is sort of clunky.  Stone plays Annie, a young, troubled woman.  A bit of a drifter at present, she's got relationship problems with her family, especially her sister (played by Julia Garner, who I liked so much in Ozark).  Hill is Owen, the black sheep of a wealthy family.  He's having delusions, and believes there's a secret pattern out there he needs to discover, and also that he's a hero who will save the world.

Both could use money, and volunteer for a high-paying gig where they test out a new drug at a secretive pharmaceutical company.  The company tells them the various pills they'll take will have them recognize their worst fears and learn how to deal with them.

Part of the fun of a sci-fi show is to see how they develop the world.  For instance, there's a thing called AdBuddy, where, if you're short of cash, the company will pay for something as long as you agree to have an employee nearby who will present you various advertisements--presumably the more they're paying for, the longer the person hangs around. (This doesn't seem economically feasible, but what do I know?) There are also little robot sanitizers that roll along the sidewalks cleaning up after dogs. (Now that one sounds like it could work.)

I've only seen the first two episodes.  Most of the first episode tells how Owen got there, and the second one tells Annie's story.  They've had little interaction so far--Owen believes Annie is a secret agent sent to contact him and, to put him off, she tells him she has to stay undercover.  The trial has just started, so I'm not entirely sure where the plot is going. But I'm intrigued enough to keep watching.  And at ten episodes, I'm guessing I'll make it to the end.