1.14.2016

Television: Limitless, "The Assassination of Eddie Morra"

Well, okay. It was only a matter of time before we got another NZT user as an antagonist. (Or possible ally?) This is kind of an age-old story tactic. When your main character is the smartest in the room, how do you find a viable nemesis? You need someone just as smart or smarter. Doyle created Moriarty, and here we have . . . Piper. ::shrug::

We also have lots of Bradley Cooper. This show definitely uses him whenever they can grab him for a few hours of filming. Not that I'm complaining. Those eyes . . . Sorry, I'm back. What were we talking about?

Oh, yeah, so it stands to reason Brian isn't the only pawn Morra has given NZT + immunity to in order to use them to further his ends. In this episode it surfaces that there is at least one other, a woman named Piper Baird, who is set on killing Morra because (she says) he killed her boyfriend. Brian doesn't particularly want to be dragged into all this, but he has little choice when (a) Morra instructs him to find and kill Piper, and (b) Piper introduces herself to Brian's family as his girlfriend.

Uninterested in taking sides, Brian manages to appease both by planning with Piper a fake death that makes it appear as if he's killed her just as Morra demands. Piper is then free to continue her fun revenge spree or whatever. I assume the writers will keep her in reserve making her likely to pop up again in the future.

This episode featured some of the best use of Brian's talking-to-himself way of problem solving. I also like that the show continues with moral ambiguity, making it more complex than many other such shows. I like that the relationships are nuanced rather than hit-you-over-the-head simplistic. Limitless continues to be one of the most fun shows on television thanks to great writing and just the right balance of weight and humor. Not every episode can be great, but all of them have been solid. And even when they fall back on old tropes, well, they do a nice job with them.

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