I guess I should not have been surprised at all by Limitless this week, but once again, this show managed to completely take me off guard. I was expecting "Finale: Part Two!!" to be a dark and brooding nightmare, one that ended in ugly fashion thanks to Sands and his Legion of Whom...but that was simply not the case. 

The grand finale to season one of the series turned out to be one incredibly uplifting and wonderful hour of television. One where everyone worked together at last without deception or agenda and what do you know? They actually managed to get things accomplished in doing so. But what mattered most, was the fact that this was the episode that brought Brian Finch's journey to its completion, as we saw him say goodbye to being a lost loser without a care in the world, to becoming an outright hero who will do anything to save lives. 

But before we get too deep on Brian's heroics, the first thing that provided me with a sense of satisfaction was that we finally uncovered The Legion of Whom's evil plans and at first, I was a little surprised to see it was related to a land grab. It seemed quite unlike the Legion to go all Lex Luthor on the world but thankfully...it turns out they were as evil as expected. Their plan was more about getting rich and creating chaos along the way and if ruining financial prosperity for two countries was their first step toward world domination, one has to wonder what else they had up their sleeve...but oh yeah, we may never find out because Brian led the FBI right to them and brought Sands and his wicked group down, and he did it in spectacular fashion.

We've seen Brian push himself before, but never like this. With his immunity shot fading fast, he kept popping NZT left and right in order to figure out Sands' plan and of course to save his darling Piper and well...his quest for justice was both noble and terrifying. After all, NZT brings with it plenty of side effects and the show went to some genuinely creepy places when they kicked in. The scene where Piper appears in the file room crying, before turning into a freaking zombie that gets dragged into what appeared to be the underworld was one that sent chills down my spine and after that, every time Brian's side effects kicked in, I braced myself...unsure of what was about to happen next. But...none of that stopped Brian. He pushed ahead, looking worse for the wear every single time he took another pill, all in the name of doing the right thing.

That was perhaps this week's greatest surprise, that we in essence were given a happy ending in a show where conspiracies and evil men and women run rampant because the last ten minutes of this episode left me smiling. The Legion of Whom were taken into custody, the man behind the NZT surge was in custody and Piper managed to escape after all, giving Brian the gift of permanent NZT immunity before fading off into the night. All of that happened right before Brian was rewarded with what he wanted all along, a chance to help people by rejoining the FBI and the CJC because there is still plenty of work to be done and of course Senator Morra is still out there somewhere, in hiding. Either way, what a blast this episode turned out to be. There was no deeper meaning to be found or anything to analyze in depth, it was just a kickass hour of television that wrapped up a vast majority of the season's plot threads while finally making Brian the hero he was always meant to be. Until next time.

Television shows that build their foundation upon a grand conspiracy often find themselves in the midst of a delicate balancing act. Tip your hand too early about what's really going and the audience loses interest, take too long and you bore them and the same result comes into play. Or, if the show is lucky, the find the balance and deliver one entertaining tale and it is the latter of those options that Limitless falls into. 

After all, this is a series that has provided us with one incredible conspiracy in its freshman season, and I've always been appreciative of the fact that we get just enough from the story to advance the plot at a brisk and tolerable pace while keeping us hooked so we tune in to see exactly how it ends, and that's the reward we come to expect with shows like this. We better get all the answers to our questions and thankfully this week, "Finale: Part One!" delivered on just that by pulling everything together. We finally know what Sands is up to, and we finally know why Senator Morra placed Brian Finch as an inside man with the FBI.

But of course, those answers wouldn't come easy, for starters we still had to deal with the fallout of Brian's confession to Naz and subsequent firing from the FBI and well...that was perhaps the strangest part of the night, seeing Brian back to being the every man and let's be honest, every single scene of him not working with Rebecca was painful. That made the little plot twist of NZT flooding the streets of New York all the more important because not only did it get Brian back into action but it was the moment we saw Brian finally find his calling. Let's not forget that not too long ago, Brian was a lost soul if you will, a man without purpose or direction and now...he wants to help people, he wants to work to make the world a better place and law enforcement seems to be the place to do it, which is precisely why Morra chose him in the first place.

It was never about bringing down the system from the inside, it was about getting a man with a strong moral center surrounded by people that can do one particular thing...watch Eddie Morra's back. Because the finest reveal of the night, is that Sands and the aptly named Legion of Whom were playing the FBI all along in order to get to Morra's inner circle and remove them, which can only mean one thing...Sands is indeed our true villain and he needs Eddie out of the way to realize the Legion's evil plan. What that is exactly, I'm sure we will find out next week but if I had to guess, I get the feeling that Senator Morra wants to use NZT for the betterment of mankind while Sands and the Legion want to use it for every nefarious purpose that one can imagine and of course rule the world with it.

The best part though of discovering that Sands is working to bring down Morra, is that it does fill in all the blanks when it comes to a few plot points from earlier this season that we all still had a few question about. For example, it's clear now that Sands was behind all the assassinations that we thought Morra had sanctioned and there's a good chance now The Purge from a few years ago was all part of Sands' long term plan to control NZT as he and the Legion saw fit. Either way, I'm dying to know how this season is going to wrap up, and how the heck Brian and the FBI are going to bring Sands to justice when he is surrounded by a group of people who know exactly how to harness the power of NZT. We'll find out next week, and the wait is already driving me mad. Until next time.

Perhaps the greatest achievement to date when it comes to Better Call Saul and its top notch storytelling, is the fact that it is one of the most deceptive shows out there, in a good way. Often times the show seems to be leading us in one particular direction before out right surprising us and taking a hard left turn another way, and that lovely misdirection was fully on display during Monday night's season two finale, "Klick".

After all, it seems for the last ten weeks we have been building to the grand moment everyone has been waiting for...the birth of Saul Goodman...but it turns out that was not the case. Despite the fact that Jimmy pulled off an incredible felony that cost his brother's firm lucrative business with Mesa Verde in the shadiest of fashion, Saul never arrived on the show this week and we quickly learned that season two was never about the birth of Saul, but truly learning who Jimmy is on the inside, along with all of his weaknesses and what a petty monster his brother Chuck has turned out to be. 

If anything the events of this episode truly left me wondering one particular thing, why exactly does Chuck exhibit such incredible disdain for his little brother. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand that Jimmy is no model citizen, but this kind of borderline hate that Chuck oozes out has to come from some deeper place and it seems that this episode hinted at the possibility that part of it comes from the silliest of things...the fact that people outright seem to like Jimmy and respond to him better than they do Chuck. We know now how much of an ego Chuck has and how important it is for him to be seen in perfect light and one has to wonder if the dinner scene from earlier this year where Jimmy was able to get Chuck's wife to respond to him, in combination with the opening scene this episode, where their dying mother's last words were "Jimmy" could serve as proof of this fact. It can't sit well with the quite refined Charles that people love his morally questionable brother more than him. 

Either way, that incredible resentment has come to a boil, and I've never seen a revenge plot put together as intricate as this because Chuck played his baby brother like a fiddle this week. I made mention of this season showing us more about Jimmy's weaknesses and his greatest one, is his love for his brother. Chuck really is all the family he has left and despite how much he wants Charles to pay for what he did to Kim, to see him bolt in, do the right thing and even be gracious about ending the Temporary Guardianship when we all know Chuck needs major psychological help speaks to that love and remaining desire to find approval with his older brother, and it makes those final moments, where we learned that Chuck used his illness to his advantage to pull a confession out of his baby brother...all the more heartbreaking. Chuck knew if he made his condition look worse, if he made it look like guilt and pain drove him into the depths of madness Jimmy would tell him everything he needed to know.

​It's stunning to know that he went through with such an act just to prove he was right all along and the fact that he recorded the conversation, well we all know that will end badly at some point soon in Season Three. Is that what leads to the creation of Saul? Honestly, at this point it doesn't even matter because suddenly that iconic moment has taken the back burner since we are embroiled in an ugly and fascinating case of sibling rivalry and the fact that Charles McGill is willing to go to whatever lengths to kick James McGill while he is down and teach him what he thinks is some sort of lesson...and that made this season finale absolutely and utterly devastating and I honestly cannot wait for Season Three, simply because I have to know where the story between these two brothers and their shattered relationship goes from here. Until next time.

When it comes to revenge, things fall apart quickly and with good reason. Only the ugliest emotions and intentions are involved when you seek out a vendetta against someone and once you start down that dark path, there's no going back until you complete your goal of making someone else pay, and pay dearly. 

Revenge has in fact become the centerpiece of Better Call Saul this season as hurt feelings and incomplete agendas have come to the forefront of the story and last night's episode saw every single character indulge in their darker side as they made a point to wrong one another and in the process reveal that perhaps the creation of Saul Goodman never came from external forces or one singular event, but he was instead brought into the world by Jimmy's own actions since "Nailed" took us to places in Jimmy's psyche I never thought that we would go.  

But his grand plan to sabotage Chuck to get Mesa Verde to return to Kim worked like a charm, and we've never seen Chuck this embarrassed or this beaten and it led to what I would venture to say was the most poignant and powerful scene that I've seen in the series to date...a showdown at last between Chuck and Jimmy, with a little Kim thrown in for good measure. It was simply heartbreaking to watch Chuck pick Jimmy to pieces in front of the woman he loves, and the fury that poured out of the elder McGill came from the darkest of places in his soul because clearly...nobody messes with Chuck McGill, and if you make the decision to do so he will use his intellect and his fury to make you pay in ways you never expected. But while that showdown was impressive to say the least, the best moments in this little spat came about courtesy of Kim. 

Watching and hearing her say exactly what all of us have been thinking all along when it comes to Jimmy and Chuck's flawed relationship was absolutely wonderful since she was one hundred percent right. Chuck has done everything in his power to keep Jimmy down and out as often as possible and the younger McGill has only sought to have nothing more than his older brother's ​​approval and it was extremely satisfying and sweet to see Chuck have to stand there and take every bit of heat from Kim as she defended the man she loves. But the show wasn't content in just giving us that epic showdown, the real stunner of this whole situation was that Kim knew that Chuck was right. Jimmy did commit the crime and the fact that she was willing to go along with the whole thing and cover for him speaks to how much she cares about him, while exposing a little more of the darker side of Kim we have come to see more of this season.

But as I mentioned before, there is a good chance that Jimmy McGill transforms into Saul Goodman by way of his own actions and for proof of that...we need not look any further than the final moments of last night's episode. Sure it made sense for Jimmy to go back to the printing shop and cover his tracks. Sure it made sense to stick around to make sure his investment paid off, but man...who knew that being humiliated would push Chuck to the limit, because I've never seen him flip out like this before and let's be honest, he is hurt bad. Which means that there is a chance his mental condition could be discovered in the hospital and he's committed. Or worse, he's hurt badly and looking at a long recovery and considering how the death of his best friend affected Jimmy, what will this do? The guilt that will come with his actions, and the fact that he hurt the only family that gave him a shot at the straight life will damage him greatly and with that kind of pain buried in his heart...it could finally push him toward a "to hell with it all" attitude and well, we all know where his life goes from there. 

Last, we also need to discuss the other revenge plot that was featured last night, the one between Mike and the Salamanca family because wow...Mike took it to the next level. Clearly threatening his family is the last thing you will ever want to do because Mike will go to the ends of the earth to ensure you pay the price for putting even an ounce of fear into him and even though Hector has all but forgotten about Mike, you have to wonder how far Mike is going to take this before he feels satisfied that the matter is square. Either way, what an incredible episode. It really seems like every single character is finally showing off their true colors now and well, turns out this show is full of some angry people and I'm sure the fury will only escalate come next week's season finale, and I can't wait to see what events will transpire that push Jimmy McGill another step closer to Saul Goodman. Until then.

At some point along the line of getting to know new friends or learning more about old ones, we've all had the grand discussion of where we were and what we were doing when an important or fascinating moment in American history came to fruition. After all those moments not only define our nation in some or fashion, they can shape our lives or our future, and it's always fascinating to look back upon them to remember what it meant to you, or to look back upon them simply because...you never quite understood them. 

That's why I was instantly curious when FX announced it was bringing forth a new series about American crime and that the inaugural season would revolve around the O.J. Simpson trial, because while I remember hearing about the trial and where I was when the verdict came down...I never quite understood much of what was going on. For me it was simple. O.J. Simpson stood accused of murdering his ex wife and her friend and well...he was found not guilty. The nuances of it always escaped me simply because I was a high school student when this happened and my perception of the world was that of a teenager, my world mattered and not much else. In my later years I've come to find the world is a fascinating place for both the good and the bad that it exhibits and I'm thankful shows like The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story exist because it was able to transport me back to a case I never fully understood and teach me more about what I missed when it came to this incredibly controversial case and important moment in our rich history.

Now I say that because looking back at this trial now, I never realized the impact it had on modern American culture. This trial was in many ways the birth of Reality Television. We were front and center for every shocking moment, every important piece of information and we couldn't get enough of it. I distinctly recall it being on the news non stop back in 1995, and I even remember my mother watching it live on CNN when I would come home from school. Something about this case, about seeing a celebrity as beloved as O.J. stand trial fascinated us and I love that the show took the time to show not only the forthcoming obsession with our need for 24/7 news consumption, but the effect it has on the people involved. Several of the moments where Marcia Clark, portrayed brilliantly by Sarah Paulson, are absolutely heartbreaking to watch as her life is exposed to the public in the blink of an eye and well, that's often how it is today, private moments are often out there to see for those in limelight whether they like it or not.

Plus the series also brought to light the matter of racial injustice that was still at the forefront of everyone's mind being a few years removed from the 1992 L.A. Riots, and I am quite appreciative of the fact the show handled this with class. There is never an indictment of any one organization or person in particular, the show simply gives us the facts in the matter and that makes Johnnie Cochran's plight to bring about awareness of racial inequality all the more fascinating since this is the first time I've ever seen Cochran in that particular light and while it is an important message to get out to the people, it's clear that Johnnie picked the wrong time, place and case to go after this and in many ways...his decision to make that the focus of this trial truly did create more harm than he ever intended.

The series also does a fine job of keeping a neutral stance on the verdict and O.J.'s innocence. After all I do recall distinctly that the decision was divisive and everyone has an opinion to this day as to whether or not he did it and all the series does here is present O.J. as the man he was in 1995, and nothing more. If anything it asks you to do what you have already done, and make your own decision on his guilt or his innocence since this is truly a show that analyzes the failures of the Los Angeles District Attorney's office to properly put together a case against O.J. and the defense's desire to make this a media circus and revolve around bigger matters rather than stick to the facts. Either way, I have to say this was extremely well done, and the cast is absolutely top notch and I hear word now that FX's next chapter in American Crime Story is going to revolve around Hurricane Katrina and I honestly cannot wait to see what they do in regards to another important moment in American history.

When it comes to lies, it's irrelevant how well you do it or how good you are at covering up said lie, the truth will always come out...it's simply just a matter of time. It's something we have all been waiting for when it comes to Limitless,  because of the fact that we know that the clock has been ticking steadily on Brian Finch's web of deception and this week on the show...the time came at last for the truth to be revealed. 

Granted, we knew it was coming, after all our closing image in the last episode was Rebecca asking Brian to cuff himself and tell her everything and that's where we picked up this week, with Agent Harris finally getting the truth she has so desperately been looking for all year, and "Hi, My Name is Rebecca Harris..." turned out to be one incredible episode filled with salvation for both Brian and his friendship, and it featured one incredible sacrifice...all in the name of honesty. 

Now the first thing that truly caught me by surprise this go round, was the fact that Rebecca was willing to cross the line she thought she never would...and take Brian's daily dose of NZT since he was still riding high on the last dose given to him by Senator Morra in the hopes of finally bringing Sands to justice. Sure it led to some amazing scenes where we witnessed the two smartest people on the planet work together to build a case against Sands and it was equally as awesome to see them bring him down in a single day. But what mattered most, is that the two of them were finally friends once again and the trust and understanding they shared was finally back as well. NZT helped in repairing that, but let's be honest...all the drug did was remove the hurt feelings between the two of them and allow them to see the value of their friendship in the clear, which made the finale all the more heartbreaking.

Because when all was said and done, Sands went down and found himself behind bars and in the process...Brian made the ultimate sacrifice. By bringing Sands in, his only real link to the NZT immunity shot was severed and well, he did it all for Rebecca and this may be the noblest thing Brian has done on the show to date. To sacrifice a chance to be the smartest man on the planet and save lives in the process...what a powerful thing to walk away from and clearly whatever he said to Naz off screen was enough to warrant his release from the FBI. As for Rebecca's fate, we don't quite know, but I'm still in a little bit of shock over Brian's willingness to give it all up. Clearly the need to lie and deceive has taken its toll upon him and this was likely the best option to save his sanity...and his soul. 

But with this being the penultimate episode before the two part season finale...there are still many questions that remain unanswered. First and foremost, can we still trust Senator Morra? We heard a lot about "The Purge" this week and saw some of the fallout from it by way of Amelia Glasser, but we still don't know how much of a role Eddie played in it and how much of it was Sands' own idea. Plus we know now that Sands has a new lady in his life that also uses NZT and she is clearly part of his Council of Eight...so what will happen with that group now that Sands is in jail? Will they come after Brian and Rebecca and more importantly...what the heck are they planning? Hopefully the two part season finale will answer all of our questions at last, we simply have to wait a couple of weeks to find out. Until then.

I think it is safe to say that last night's episode of Better Call Saul is the episode that all of us have been waiting for this year. After all, season two has been a long con, in a good way, as every single character appears to have been positioning themselves for a grander purpose, waiting for the right moment to do their thing and last night...that moment finally came in explosive fashion.

This was a story filled to the brim with anger, revenge and posturing as we witnessed exactly what HH&M can do when they want something and we also learned exactly how far Jimmy McGill is willing to go when someone wrongs him in this life...and I loved every single second of it. Because everything that went down in "Fifi" has been a long time coming and considering the fury unleashed in this episode, nothing will ever quite be the same between any of the characters after the lines that were crossed in this one.  

A fine example of this came from Kim's resignation at HH&M. It truly seemed for a moment there that Howard was going to be classy about her exit and I was stunned when he actually opened up to her about his hopes and his dreams from back in the day when he was first starting out in law...and then it all went to hell with some stunning moves on Howard's part. I think we all expected him to call Kevin over at Mesa Verde to try and retain them...but to go to Chuck directly and let the cat out of the bag that Kim and Jimmy were going into practice together was a whole different level of manipulation. Howard has often come off as a doof who is oblivious to the world around him, but tonight demonstrated that was simply not the case. He watches everything that people say and do and he knows Jimmy is Chuck's biggest trigger.

Which made the scene with Chuck putting on a regular suit and heading into the office to swipe Mesa Verde back from Kim all the more heartbreaking simply because...Chuck finally crossed a line. Sure he has said his piece to Jimmy about what he truly thinks of his brother practicing law, but to do this...to torpedo their chance at success was truly a level of low I never thought I would see Chuck stoop to and quite frankly, it makes you think that in his own special way...he's really no better than Jimmy after all. But the centerpiece of the night was Jimmy's revenge against his brother. It was something else to watch him alter file after file from Mesa Verde in the hopes of screwing over HH&M to draw Mesa Verde back to Kim and man...it's clear at this point you should never, ever cross Jimmy in a manner like this and revenge or no...this could quite possibly ruin HH&M completely and open them up to a lawsuit from Mesa Verde as well. 

Of course, consequences from Jimmy's move will no doubt be on their way next week because this is and always will be a show about causality. As to how bad it will get, time will tell, but before we wrap up today's recap...we also can't forget to take a moment and talk about Mike's quest to get revenge on the Salamanca family for their actions in making him help Tuco hit the streets because it was truly the biggest mystery of the night. Fact of the matter is, we don't quite know what Mike has planned at this point. He's done reconnaissance work, we had that mysterious opening, and we were left with Mike putting together something that resembled a spike stick...so what's his game? Is he planning on going right after Hector? Or is he going after his operation in some form or fashion? Either way, it looks like we're not quite done with this show's thirst for revenge just yet. Until next time.