Your Favorite Meme Is Actually An Insanely Cool Mini-Series You're Not Watching

Summary:

• “Mikaeli, you’ve successfully hit metal 17 times” became a popular meme video in December 2023.
• Since then, the Mikaeli lore has developed into a disturbing psychological sci-fi thriller with time loops and betrayals.
• New episodes of the untitled Mikaeli show are being released daily, building upon the already existing lore of this meme.

There are thousands of popular memes on the Internet; some might argue, a bit too many. Due to their sheer number, it’s easy to lose them out of sight, and at times, it’s a real shame: while some memes forever remain mere templates, others develop and… Evolve into a full-blown mini-series with daily uploads and millions of viewers.

That’s exactly what happened with our friend Mikaeli.

There’s More To Mikaeli Than It May Seem

On December 1, 2023 Mikaeli successfully hit metal 17 times, became a proud owner of a photograph of a motorcar, and was immediately arrested for it for the first time. The original video quickly became a meme, finding its way to the user feeds all over the world — and for most people, it forever remained an absurdist meme.

This largely happened thanks to the meme’s origin Instagram page, @youhitmetal17times_everyday, posting the same video 36 (!) times in a row before adding the first changes. That’s right: the 37th upload is when Mikaeli finally realizes that something’s off and refuses to accept the photograph of a motorcar as a reward.

Some of you may have already seen the alternative versions of the original video but didn’t think much of them. The truth is, this rabbit hole goes way deeper than any of us, Mikaeli included, could have possibly imagined on our first watch of this video.

Mikaeli’s Lore Is Evolving And Deeply Unsettling

The real reason why Mikaeli is stuck in this never-ending game show is rather disturbing. His real-world self, Michael, is a notorious CEO of a notorious company that develops a technology of trapping people in imaginary time loops. Unfortunately for him, Michael fell victim to his own invention and ended up as our old friend Mikaeli.

Who betrayed Michael and why? Will he ever be able to break the time loop and escape to the real world? And what dark truth is hidden behind the infamous company’s experiments on humans? Tune in for the Mikaeli show, because new episodes are dropping every day, and we’re now on Day 75. The lore is growing increasingly unsettling, but hey — at least we have a catchy song to indulge in.

All of this came to reality (or is it reality?) thanks to the comedy writer Adrian Gray, who only recently revealed himself as the mastermind behind the Mikaeli lore. You can check out the full story on the show’s Instagram and stay tuned for new episodes.

Source: Mikaeli 17 via Instagram