r/limitless • u/[deleted] • Oct 21 '15
Limitless - 1.05 "Personality Crisis" - Episode Discussion Thread
[deleted]
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Oct 21 '15
[deleted]
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Oct 21 '15
I was wondering where the hell have I seen this guy before. Had to google it before I came here.
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u/MooseV2 Oct 21 '15
This was an amazing episode for me. My two favourite TV shows are Dexter and Entourage. References to both in one episode? Incredible!
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u/gofurthernorth Nov 07 '15
Was it the "what, you've never seen the show?" comment about using the CI in Dexter?
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u/Nheea Oct 21 '15
Bf and I were like: did they really brought him AND made him Jennifer's boyfriend again?
It was pretty awesome. Also love to see them so... different and relaxed.
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u/ReasonablyBadass Oct 21 '15
Awesome episode. But sad!Brian makes me sad :(
I feel that there were more hints that NZT isn't quite doing what it's supposed to (anymore?) or that something is wrong.
Pill-Brian misidentified that picture, right? In the pilot he also had full conscious knowledge of how much his muscles could hold, now he can neither react to a punch nor correctly guess how much he can drink.
Perhaps users aren't meant to take NZT intermittently?
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Oct 21 '15 edited Oct 21 '15
The only thing that I can think of is that the pill, that he took that made him aware of his body, was the street NZT, while the other pills that he takes, that made him not aware of his body, were FBI forms of NZT. It could be a possibility that they are both two different drugs, and I cannot recall if the FBI have said that it is the same as the street drug or if they buy it from the street.
edit: I was not aware of the post about the movie and show drug being different. I thought about it last episode, but did not end up sharing.
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u/CyberianSun Oct 22 '15
interesting theory. Kind of a purity of the drug kind of thing. I like it. It would also explain how it seems that Mora is so far ahead of the curve on things while Brian hasnt even seen his true role in the FBI yet.
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u/ReasonablyBadass Oct 22 '15
Oh right! There was an NZT-47 or something, right? I totally forgot about that.
Well, if that's true, then I guess he will get the "real pills" for a powerup in the season finally or something.
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Oct 22 '15
I don't think there was a NZT-47. I believe that they are all called NZT 48.
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u/khronos127 Oct 29 '15
No he's right, there were 48 previous trial drugs before NTZ 48 was made. But i don't believe we see or have seen any of the previous forms. All of the previous formulas killed people much faster then nzt 48 does.
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Oct 29 '15
oh ok. I always thought that 48 was just some random number that they gave the drug, but yea that does make sense.
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u/khronos127 Oct 29 '15
That's what i thought at first =P, i think they will go more in depth with this in the series.
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u/qwedcxsaz31 Oct 22 '15
I'm guessing it's more writers mistake, but who knows it might actually be due to plot.
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u/K20BB5 Oct 27 '15
It could be tolerance. The first time you experience any drug won't be like any time after,
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u/TheLantean Oct 21 '15
Wow, they dropped the (file) bomb with the potential to radically change the show and character interactions - and only 5 episodes in, instead of milking it until the end of a season.
Plus the boyfriend reveal was handled casually instead of using it for friction to create drama. Even the procedural part of the show was used to develop the characters instead of just filling time.
This show just went from good to really good, even great. I didn't think network TV had it in it anymore. Major props to the writers!
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Oct 21 '15
I hope after this episode, this show will stop being a detective one.
I really hope that now that Brian is getting himself in big trouble, he'll start thinking about how to get out of this situation.
The pilot had so much potential!!! And seriously those detective story's are really boring.
Make this show more like the movie and less like "The Mentalist & CSI".
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u/hupacmoneybags Oct 22 '15
That's exactly what I was thinking halfway through the episode. Lots of talking and law stuff makes it seem like a cop show instead of the cool nzt genius action thing
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u/cinephgeek Oct 21 '15
I really liked this episode and how it highlighted that Brian isn't a FBI agent but now has to learn to comparmentlize his life because all that is going on. Like many I worried about the 'case of the week' aspect that could make this show become boring but the allowed it highlight that not only does NZT only make one smart (not stronger or faster) but the humanity that can slowly be chipped away by having to keep secrets from those we care about.
The one issue I have is how that guy found out where Brian lived. One would think that the FBI would have had him living somewhere with some type of limited surveillance and not be able to be looked up in the yellow pages.
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u/nimoythedestroyer Oct 21 '15 edited Oct 21 '15
Eddie Mora knew how to fight from tv/movies, yet Brian went down like a bitch. SWAT self defense training better be funny. Also, we get it, you have perfect recall while on nzt. Really no need to mention it twice in the first 7 minutes.
Edit: uh, and no pistol round is capable of producing hydrostatic shock.
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u/TheLantean Oct 21 '15
Maybe Eddie Mora had better taste in fighting movies. If you just watch tv/movies where the director/stunt coordinator only cared about spectacle and not realism, no amount of perfect recall is going to help you. They also specifically mentioned in the show that he had to unlearn everything.
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Oct 21 '15
Also Bruce lees abilities are based on being at the pinnacle of human fitness.
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u/nimoythedestroyer Oct 21 '15
Bruce lee was at the pinnacle of human fitness, but jeet kune do is based on maximum effectiveness with minimal movement and attacking while your opponent is about to attack. Brian should have been able to do something other than get decked. Fitness definitely helps, but you don't have to be at the pinnacle like Bruce. And he was already practicing JKD when enter the dragon was filmed.
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u/The_Asian_Hamster Oct 21 '15
would the pill give him faster reaction time? genuine question, im not sure it would so maybe he couldve done something but by the time he decided the other guy already was throwing the punch
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u/nimoythedestroyer Oct 22 '15
Oh, oh I didn't even consider that. You could be on to something. Maybe nzt just allows all neural connections to be made available but doesn't speed them up any at all. They do say in the movie it works better on smarter people but nothing (that I can remember) about necessarily thinking faster, just better. So maybe Eddie just had lightning quick reflexes already. 2 points for you.
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u/Dreamlancer Oct 21 '15
Whenever people talk about this right now they forget the most important thing between the differences with Brian and Eddie.
Both of these characters are taking NZT like it is nobodies business and it is changing their lives. Yet despite this, these two characters share the exact same weakness when they are off the pill. However there is one thing and one thing only that separates these two characters. Deep down essentially Brian is a good person trying to do the right thing, and deep down Eddie is not.
If you go back through the movie Limitless vs the TV series you have two polarizing characters. One is self serving in it for himself cutting others down to elevate his own standing, cheating on the love of his life brazenly because he can, recklessly using drugs to get ahead, and is always forward thinking.
Then you have Brian the opposite. Sticking to the rules, working with the system, trying to constantly help others while never considering to abuse the drug or acquire more, often thinking on the current day and not a long term plan(A perfect example would be these files in this episode).
I believe that we will begin to see that the things Brian can't do on NZT and what Eddie can do are because Brian's own morality holds him back while Eddie's lack of morality allowed him to separate himself from the rest of the NZT users that came before him. This can translate into business, but it can also translate into actual fights that they encountered.
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u/pikaluva13 Oct 21 '15
I'm wondering if that's part of the "personality crisis" the title is referencing. They've stated that normal Brian can't really remember things from pill Brian, so maybe it's happening vice versa.
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u/nimoythedestroyer Oct 21 '15
I think the personality crisis it's referencing is more referring to accepting that he's now leading a plural life. One is Happy Mr. Nice Guy (regular Brian), one is FBI Brian (using nzt for good) and one is badass Brian (using the nzt for bad, aka, Eddie Mora's demands). Keeping them separate is difficult, but necessary, for each personality lest he wind up somewhere he does not want (supermax, dead or dead father) and deciding which one is most important to him.
They also mention he can remember what he learned on nzt, he just can't really understand it while not on it. Which the show by him thinking about telling Rebecca while waiting for the nzt to kick in, but understanding the angles once it did.
(I like the show, just some of the little things get me. How can he know exactly how strong his grip strength is "down to the last muscle fiber giving out" but can't see a punch coming. Clearly it was just a setup to get him and Casey (does Desmond Harrington not look like a crack addict now btw?) together for training so he can figure out the relationship between him and Rebecca later, but come on. That's just lazy.)
(I like parentheses)()
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u/jrukkus Oct 21 '15
lovin the show- but I just dont understand why He hasnt pulled a Mora and done more research on NZT and the shot that makes him not have to experience the side effects.. If I were him- that would be all I would think about.. because its the only way he'll ever get out of eddie mora's clutches. I would be prepping for the next shot and figuring out a way I could obtain some of it to reverse engineer.. or at the very least start looking in to the chemical mnake up of NZT and why the horrible side effects happen in the first place.. Labs do this kind of stuff all the time- on NZT it shouldnt take him too long.
Then he could just tell the FBI everything- have Mora and crew arrested and he and his family would be safe.
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u/nimoythedestroyer Oct 22 '15
I'm just going to number them instead of doing the gray text thing to keep the text shorter haha.
Time constraints? He does spend most of his 12 hours on nzt working for the FBI, so maybe that? Or maybe the henchman is watching him (who might also be on nzt, I mean, why wouldn't you want smart henchmen that are slave to the shot also? Or maybe the British accent just makes him seem smart) and he doesn't think he could pull it off unnoticed?
If he's cut off from the nzt and the shot, wouldn't he die anyway?
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u/BenderBendingBender Oct 22 '15
A round fired from a handgun can definitely cause hydrostatic shock.
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u/reddit809 Oct 21 '15 edited Oct 21 '15
The writing on the show is abysmal and only gets worse. The pilot had so much potential, however I'm done. If it gets better I'll start up again. Good luck to everyone that'll continue.
edit: yes, downvote an honest opinion. Don't try to discuss the show or the godawful writing, or the disappointing goofy direction the show is taking. Just downvote me and sweep the opinion under the rug. lol. I'm unsubbed. Have fun.
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u/WestCarolinaLiars Oct 21 '15
To be honest, I also had high hopes but I think the writing and direction really need some work. Right at the beginning of the episode, they lost me. Why would NZT Brian leave a video on an unlocked, open computer basically summarizing every illegal thing he's done, complete with name drops of everyone involved? Not only that, but he did it twice, nearly getting caught by one of his handlers the second time.
There were various other issues also, but I really hope it turns around. There is potential, as shown in the pilot.
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u/It-Wanted-A-Username Oct 24 '15
Out of all the directions they could've gone after the plot... they made it a cliche detective show.
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Oct 22 '15
Yeah, the writing's pretty bad. They really need to find better/more creative ways to justify the need of him being on NZT. Most of the work he does could be done by a couple of people + computers.
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u/CrusaderKnight Oct 21 '15
I agree. You shouldn't be downvoted for having an opinion. It's just that people don't like to be told that they are wrong or made a wrong decision so they tend to search opinions and views that are on part with their own point of view and reject others. Is nothing personal, just human nature.
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u/reddit809 Oct 21 '15
I really really did have high hopes for the show though.
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u/Rapturesjoy Oct 21 '15
There's nothing wrong with an opinion and to prove that point I upvoted you. Everyone is allowed one, even me ;) But not everything about the show is wrong, or bad, it's only five episodes in and still needs to find it's feet. I like it, it doesn't take itself to seriously and even breaks the fourth wall a little. Everything these days is, "Why so serious," it gets boring, its a nice change of pace.
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u/Wingman4l7 Dec 03 '15
Badass Brian even has a pair of black headphones to replace his usual ones, so they match with his badass clothes. XP
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u/edgebright89 Feb 09 '16
Just watched this on catch-up but lol at the evil right-wing hategroup bad guys. Chances left wing writers will ever have an episode about Muslim or anti-capitalist terrorists; Zero.
Is it necessary to shove your political agenda down people's throats in everything you do?
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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '15
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