Brain Power

Limitless

Show number two this week that is an extension or based on a previously successful film. The first show would be FOX’s new crime/sci-fi drama Minority Report (review here), based on the 2002 Spielberg film of the same name. So CBS got in on the action and decided to produce a show based on a mildly successful Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) 2011 film and tweaked the concept to a cop drama as well. It seems to me however, that CBS got the better of the two shows.

Life-going-nowhere type of guy Brian Finch (Jake McDorman American Sniper) is looking to make something of himself. One day while temping at a very large financial firm on Wall Street, Brian runs into an old friend, Eli (Arjun Gupta), that offers to help him get a ‘kick start’. Eli offers Brian a pill call NZT-48 that allows the person who ingests the pill to use the full functionality of their brain. Like other drug addicts, Brian comes knocking on Eli’s door looking for more but instead finds Eli dead in his apartment. Brian must now find more NZT to clear his name from the FBI.

This was a much better adaptation of a film to TV series than FOX’s Minority Report. This series gives enough information to the audience so they don’t have to see the movie, if (like me) haven’t seen the original movie. The pilot is well acted and even well directed (The Amazing Spider-Man’s Marc Webb). The pilot also leaves it open for the show to go in many different directions instead of just being a homicide of the week type show.

McDorman makes Finch very likeable, but I think the writers dumbed him down to much at times. Some scenes it was like he was a child that couldn’t think without the drug. The other lead, FBI agent Rebecca Harris played by Jennifer Carpenter needs to separate herself A LOT more from her character on Dexter where she also played a smart and ambitious cop. Carpenter just seems like she just moved from one show to another without really changing characters.

My Prediction: Like Blindspot for NBC, Limitless seems to be a must-succeed for CBS. Not really sure why since they are doing fine without this show, but CBS is putting a lot of stock on this show. If the writers or Carpenter alter the Rebecca Harris character and keep the show open to many different possibilities, then the show will be around for a little while. However, fans will get bored with Carpenter unless she show more personality or just a different personality than the one she had as Debra Morgan from Dexter.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time.