What I’m Watching: Limitless

Limitless: Season 1, Episode 5 “Personality Crisis” (B)

This episode laid out a clear difference between the Brian Finch who wakes up each morning and the Brian Finch who is accessing 100% of his brain capacity. It was interesting, to be sure, but it was also the least entertaining episode of this show so far. I did love that Brian recorded videos for himself that featured miniature figurines of the people involved in his life, and that Mr. Sands actually acknowledged his own representation rather than let it be left to Brian’s imagination. I like that what the NZT-enhanced Brian is most worried about is that his true self will find it necessary to do the right thing and tell Rebecca about her father, even though he understands that it is all but guaranteed to lead to supermax and death. What that means is that Brian is good at heart, and he doesn’t need NZT to make him like that. This episode showed that more than enough as he worried about the morality of what he was doing and who he was putting in harm’s way and sending off to a life in prison. I’m impressed that this show has now introduced a second coupling of characters involving actors who have been a couple on another show. Desmond Harrington, who played Quinn on “Dexter,” is a great choice to play the suave, perceptive Agent Rooks, who just happens to be carrying on a secret affair with Rebecca. Their relationship here seems to be much healthier than the one between Deb and Quinn, but that’s more of a statement about that show than this one.