11.09.2015

Television: Limitless, "Brian Finch's Black Op"

This was one of the best things I've seen in a long time. Jake McDorman does a spot-on Ferris Bueller.

In this episode, Brian (McDorman) tries to take a day off from work only to get kidnapped by the CIA. They want Brian's mad NZT skills to track a fugitive. Brian is forced to plot the death of a couple other guys to keep himself alive, a line he hasn't had to cross until now. As an FBI asset he's been largely sheltered from the dirty stuff; even the Sand/Morra grubbiness never went as far as murder.

Limitless is such a good show, not because of the episodic plots but because the main character is just so likable. We're willing to deal with the average plots in order to spend time with him. And that's what good television is—if you have characters the viewers love, they'll keep coming back no matter how weak some of the stories get.

But in this case, the plot was actually fun too because of the Ferris Bueller riff. Yeah, tracking through the woods isn't riveting, and we didn't really care a ton about the fugitive guy, but there was enough amusing stuff in the episode to keep us entertained regardless. And Limitless has become one of my favorite shows because it is consistently entertaining.

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