Netflix's Maniac: 16 Best Easter Eggs, References, Callbacks And Clues You Missed 

My favorite easter egg was when Owen was explaining to Annie when they were sitting in the pod and he said his fantasy would be “driving away in a car with someone and smiling so big that it hurt while being chased by people” & that was the last scene of the show...

gangster owen looks like post malone

Snorri should have a spinoff.

The motel that Annie and Ellie stay in when Annie relives the most traumatic moment of her life (during the A pill) is called “Cloud Lake Motel” and in the fantasy sequence (during the C pill) Annie has to take Ellie to the “Lake of the Clouds” to cure her.

"There's not much of a difference - authority-wise."

Maniac was such a masterpiece, capable of making the audience cry with both tears and laughter. The plot was extremely complex and yet the show had a kind of simplicity to it - the perfect balance. When Annie and Ellie finally said goodbye I just remember bawling tears. Incredibly well-written show but I do admit it's not for everyone, because not everyone would understand the more innovative/original aspects of the show... Definitely deserving of an emmy!

"Annie I'm a hawk!"

In the last episode when Annie goes to the mental hospital looking for Owen you can see the name Wendy Lemuria on the sign in sheet, in reference to Wendy the lemur, also the visitor is Bruce Marino :3

My favorite is when Bruce (owen) is sitting at the table with his and Linda's (annie) kids. The camera zooms into a picture one of the kids drew as annie and her sister as elves

i was really feeln gangster owen

Who else wanted Gangster Owen to have a happy ending?

“Annie, are you ok?”

Owen's driver for the seance is the Adbuddy he talks to earlier in the series. The Department of Wildlife guy pursuing Owen and Annie for the lemur caper is the security guard that watches Annie go through the stuff outside Milgrim industries.

When the lab calls Owen and tells him he qualifies as a “hero candidate “ and he is the hero, #1 saves the day !

I have been hospitalized for mania, gone into a week-long catatonic state, dabbled with drug addiction, was raised in a beyond toxic family, and basically lost my little sister that I used to protect as a kid. If you can imagine, this show very much resonated with me-- their life events & their reactions to them. The day I decide to watch this whole series just so happens to be the same day this video comes out. It's so hard to simply finish this show and call it a day. Appreciation for this vid & other's that resonated.

When Owen sees the picture of Olivia in Greta Mantlerays book she is wearing a shirt with an owl on it- the owl which hides Don Quixote in episode 5

I've now watched this through 9 times, it just keeps getting better with each viewing, there's so many clues laced through the show that it becomes clearer and funnier every time. I love how the process is meant to do away with traditional therapy, but follows the exact arc that you go through in therapy - establish the cause of your neurosis, how it affects you now (like after the B pill, "why are you a liar, Annie?" - she's displayed the things about herself that she's not proud of and kept hidden, performed by her b pill character), then the C pill gives them closure. Like, Owen is haunted by the having "driven away" Olivia with his illness and what could have been, so he's shown he wouldn't have had a gilded life with that outcome either. So, it really proves that there's no short cut in dealing with mental health, even though we think the pills alone will cure our madness. I wonder whether the people who don't like it kind of missed a huge part of what the series is about because they're not been in therapy?

The pipe comes once again in the plot, with Emma Stone smoking it in the United Nations scene. Celà n’est pas une pipe ;)

"5 6 7 8" is the code to both fur shop back room in Lemur Adventures and to the "real life" lab.

"Mind Playing Tricks on Me" by the Geto Boys plays in the background while Episode 1 while Owen is walking down the street with his father. It's also playing in Episode 8 when Owen pulls up to the diner to follow his father.

Azumi is fine dude

When they are experiencing alternate realities, they are called reflections, then they have to watch their reflections twice in the mirror. The queen in the fantasy episodes clearly talks about reflections. This queen is also seen in the last episode when Annie visits her dad. When they are in the kitchen, there is a wooden sculpture with two little girls riding a wolf and a woman with a crown and a feather cat which exactly like the queen of the fantasy episodes. When the sisters are in the tent with the queen, the guy which serving drinks is Greg, the truck driver, and he fell asleep in the tent as well. You mention number 1 on Bruce's Jersey, but when Annie/Linda is waiting at the motor department, the number 9 is called and she says "It's my number". Then we see the 9 of hearts cards but later in the episode when Ollie/Owen puts the card in the matches box, it's a 1! Also there are a lot of rainbow references, in the third episode, when Annie is Linda the nurse, she is wearing a rainbow shirt and rainbow earrings, the wallpaper at Nan's daughter looks like a rainbow as well. Cables from the lab and color modes when they are taking the pills are also rainbows. There are also a lot of references to the moon, Bruce's Jersey has moon on the back, the joke about the restaurant on the moon, the moon seance at the Neberdine Mansion, when Owen is a hawk, he is flying towards the moon than Annia and Elsia are seeing next to the tree in the fantasy episodes.

Another Easter egg is the white Chev pick up (the one that belongs to Annie's father) that they run away at the end, is the same pickup that Annie chose to take at the end of the elf Fantasy episode. Also obvious American Pie Reference at 4:57

So no one got the "Annie are you okay?" Reference when they wake up from pill C?

It was such a thought provoking and detail-filled series. Beautiful. I hope the creative team get the recognition they deserve. Emma stone and jonah hill were brilliant as well and deserving of at least to be nominated for emmys :)

In episode 4 when Owen is waiting in the car he turns on the radio and you hear Annie’s father call into the Greta Mantleray self help radio station

The show is great but many people sadly dont get it.

The guy who helps Owen escape when he’s a gangster is Owen’s brother’s lawyer

The twin peaks reference..... In the car.... The girl he is obsessed with..... "The owls are not what they seem".

I'm happy to find a show that covers BPD in the right light. As someone suffering from the Borderline, it was very refreshing. Most of the time the disorder is highly dramatized.

The whole scene with Owen playing a gangster felt like a reference to The Departed especially with the brother being an FBI cop, but still working for the dad

In episode 4 the lemur's thieves are watching Quantum Leap. A show where a man travel back in time helping people by occuping their bodies and fixing their problems

I never heard of it, and it seemed interesting, with 2 A list stars. I just started watching for the hell of it....watched the whole thing in almost one sitting, great show.

Just wondering how did it not come up that Japan won the second WW in this alternate history. It was so obvious from the start of the show.

Anybody else noticed that Hank Azaria played Hank Landsberg? I don’t know why I enjoyed this fact so much.

Mantleray puts on his hairpiece and then places "Peter Pan" brand peanut butter on the table. Peter Pan being the boy who never wanted to grow up (grow old). Also... ew.

A couple of times through the show they reference past lives. Greta has a book called: "Past lives, present pain", something like that (in the episode in her house). Then Justins character is surprised by how they remember whole lives (which they also mention feel very real). Greta also mentions soulmates at one point. Her dad says something kinda spiritual when Annie talks about her sister, then there's a whole episode based on mystical n magic stuff. Bruce and Lindas' daughter also mentions the buddha. So it made me feel like somehow the show is also an allusion about the journey of the soul through lifetimes and how the ones you encountered keep reappearing thru them. (big themes in buddhism and hinduism) That and for anyone whos savvy on conspiracy theories, it also has nods to that. Hannie being a "handler" and having one, and she even mentions shes a military trained killing machine who had her memory wiped out. Those are very clear kitten beta kitten mkultra theories lol. anyways love this show sm

I can't believe you missed the biggest reference in the whole series; Evangelion. The computer is a direct reference to Nerv's central computer that hosts the mind of the lead scientist's, Ritsuko, mother.

has anyone noticed Olivia's heated body producing weird visual effects all the time she was on screen in episode 8? it was so obvious!

I loved the ending with the rescue dog..... a nod to the quote and truth "There is no greater psychiatrist than a puppy licking your face." - Ben Williams

SNORRI WAS ANNOYING TBH BUT JONAH HILL PLAYED THE CHARACTER VERY WELL

You didnt point out that the license plate on the volvo the dr drives is the same one owen drives in the first reflection which also has 1 and 9 in it. Which is why the theory that they are still in the reflection at the end is so strong. Because owen and annie never saw their cars yet they were on the reflection.

Great series had to binge watch it. I was hooked after ep.1

There's some allusions to "Rapunzel" (Overbearing mother, hysterical blindness cured by true love) and there is a moment where an orderly calls Annie that. The orderly is played by James Monroe Inglehart, who plays Lance Strongbow on the cartoon series!

There's a well known mnemonic device for remembering numbers, the mnemonic Major system. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_major_system) Each numeral is replaced with a consonant sound. Vowels are not coded. The address for the lemur is 534 Ashton Place. By the mnemonic Major system, LeMuR=534 The fantasy story is introduced as Chapter 5,827. That could be LeaViNG. Owen's character in the same episode prominently declares "I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" before he jumps out the window.

I wish they focused more on Jonah’s past. I could really care less about Emma’s hyped fight with her sister

2001 Space Odyssey!!! Also Don Quixote was mad so it's a fitting recurring reference

More than half of these aren't even the best ones, they're just the more obvious.

Thia show was the best

Owen almost always wear white shoes, even in the formal event at Jed's house. This follows in the dreams, Owen wears white shoes.

seth and jules forever.

They barely scratched the surface. It had the actual line "Annie, are you okay?" and nobody picked it up?? Were you wondering why at one point there was a wireframe landscape being flown over with boxes showing a flight corridor? The preceding line was "five by five", where an identical graphic is shown at that line in Aliens.

I loved the theme that this show explored. Gnosticism and questioning reality

Gangster Owen is Post Malone

I loved the references in this show. I want the A pill

You missed the gimlets

This show is a masterpiece. Truly one of the best Netflix has even done

Don't forget the entire gangster sequence being a Scorsese/Departed reference, and both the seance and escape from NATO sequences having echoes of Inception.

The Graduate homage at the end with the final shot and “this is not a drill” were two of my fave references

i wish i could go through the 3 pills myself

my favourite easter egg is in the last episode where owen's brother smashes the same 'big hug mug' that rust uses in true detective s1

I love reading comments on the official Facebook where these simpletons say stuff like "I made it 20 minutes in and couldn't understand it." Or, "I couldn't get past 4 episodes, it was awful." I've seen it 3 times and think it's a masterpiece. Not for everyone, but when you look at their profile pics it's usually a dog or an American flag or just a really shitty selfie.

Is such a great show

I LOVED THIS SHOW!! & now I love it more

Wow, seeing them in the car after the escape & the way it continues to show their facial expressions, I thought I was so much like the Graduate. I was surprised to hear someone else mention that

Big Hug Mug that Jed throws against the wall before the trial is what Rust Chole ashes his cigarettes into while being interrogated in season 1 True Detective

Man, most of those things aren't easter eggs, they're just the storie !

When Annie goes to the psych clinic to rescue Owen saying she’s his wife, she signs the sheet with the names of Bruce and Linda and the niece they were supposed to be visiting is “Wendy Lemuria”

These are AMAZING

gangster owen looked ridiculous with the hair-do lmao

The lady with the high pitched voice watching Owens card trick while at the séance was Annie’s Adbuddy at the diner she eats at in the first episode

2:31 that cubics cube thing I didn’t even notice Owen in the back hH

Crazy in the BEST way. Watched in 1 sitting! Justin T is a gem.

What about The Geto Boyz song always playing in the background when Owen is driving around?

there are so many more easter eggs!!! but this is still good

You missed an Easter egg, when Annie checks into the hospital at the end of the show, the list of names has multiple references to previous characters including the Lemur from episode 4 as "Lemura". Good job with the rest of the list though.

mY MIND IS FREAKING BLOWN BY THEIR NAMES

I wonder if Snorri is really a reference to Snorri Sturluson, the author of the Prose Edda, which details Norse mythology. Norse mythology is also were Elves come from, and there may be other references to Norse mythology I have missed.

Also lol that's definitely an "american pie" in the masturbation scene

I didn’t understand what was going on the whole time but I watched it all anyway.

What's the background music at the end of this video? (06:48)

i just had a dream where i saw Emma Stone and asked her if this is part of the pattern. I cant remember what she said next though, but I might be crazy.

Love it.

Did anyone spot the Portal reference towards the end of episode 6? When James is putting his mother into the sleep pod, in the background you can see the running portal guy logo where an exit sign would be.

There are also lots of Shining reference in one episode.

Does anyone know that music in the background??

the series is a masterpiece

Looking to read a book or something relative to the theme of the Neberdeen Seance. Any suggestions?

I found easter eggs in the new Christmas movies of Netflix originals. The Princess Switch at 1:10:43 over Christmas Inheritance en A Christmas Prince. The Holiday Calendar at 1:04:30 over A Christmas Prince en Christmas Inheritance.

If you add the phone numbers together, and divide by 2, you get, 19.

I wonder if the bank of Eli was a reference to the book of Eli

Does anybody know the name of the song in the first half of the video? Plisssss.

Fantastic show. Heaps more references. Moon and Gertie for example.

One of my favorite net Flix series

my favorite reference was the Crazy Eddie's store in the strip mall. His prices were INSANE!

there's a part towards the end where a lens flare from the sun in the background that passes right through the main characters,proving they aren't really there

starts 1:05

Being involved in story telling on those levels, I see these things all of the time. Without them, we don’t get mental cues to be able to pay attention.

Something that has been bothering me, and I can find the strings to tie together. Annie's truck, that she got from her Dad (to escape with Owen) was in her simulation when she was taken away from Ellie at the end of the fantasy story. The other 2 vehicles were owned by NPB employees (5:30). They ended up in the simulations but Annie and Owen had never seen those cars before. Furthermore the license plates are old NY state plates that ran from 1986 - 2000. Except the truck has a 1973 - 1986 plate. Just stood out to me that they used classic plates on every single vehicle in the show.

Loved this heady netflix series