Limitless – New CBS-TV Series: Episodes 1 & 2

As Flo, the Progressive insurance gal might say –

Why are PED’s bad in Baseball, but good in the FBI?

I don’t know what to make of this show. Based on the original 2011 Limitless film, which I reviewed here, I was expecting a serious exercise in making the most with what you have. And if you haven’t enough of what it takes, then take something additional. That’s what Eddie Morra, played by Bradley Cooper did in the film.

In this new CBS TV series, also called Limitless – the lead character is Brian Finch, and he’s played by Jake McDorman. In his slacker, stoner way, he’s adrift in his life; a non-starter in almost everything. That is until he meets an old school chum — who is now a super successful investment banker. This guy takes note of Brian’s scruffy situation.

Here bro – just take this pill and you’ll be able to expand your mind exponentially. Trust me. This will fix you up in ways you hadn’t even dreamed of.

Of course it would and did.

The pill was NZT, and it was the same drug that Eddie Morra, who is now a Senator took back then. So Finch is now amazed about what he can do – which included rendering a diagnosis of his father’s illness. So it is no surprise that he wants more of these pills.

He heads back to his buddy’s flat and finds him not only dead, but apparently murdered. But he is able to find the stash. Two things happen, the FBI arrives at the same time, and Brian flees. He’s captured in the subway, and by the end of the first week, he’s been hired by the FBI as a consultant. No gun and no badge, but they need his brain power. He’s also limited to in-house work.

But there’s a catch to this wonder drug. It being the mother of all PEDs, it has a downside. Repetitive use of this drug might make you the smartest guy on the planet , but the drug will also kill you.

That is unless you have been inoculated. It just so happens that Eddie Morra has found Brian Finch. He offers the inoculation and the immunity to the drug’s negative and killing aspects in exchange for a promise. Brian may not tell any one about the inoculation. If it becomes known, then Eddie Morra would withhold the injections, and Finch would die an unimaginably horrible death.

So in the first episode which was somewhat serious, the show looked like it might have some legs. At least I thought so. But in the second episode the whole tenor of the show changed. It got goofy and went for laughs far too often.