I have to admit that while I fully enjoyed the pilot episode for Limitless, I found myself nervous about what we could expect quality wise from the rest of the series. Mainly because of my concern as to whether or not the concept of the show would actually work. What made the movie so effective was that it revolved around a decent guy quickly finding himself wrapped in a mysterious new world where the lines between good and bad were clearly blurred. 

At the end of last week it was clear that Brian Finch was not going to spend too much time in that world by making a deal with the F.B.I. to help them out, and that's where my concern came into play. Could a guy on NZT, who clearly has the world at his fingertips and can out wit and out run anyone while on the drug be able to play the role of a good guy, a hero if you will and make this whole thing come together in fine fashion? The answer as it turns out is a resounding yes because "Badge! Gun!" turned out to be a delightful episode. 

In fact, the crime that Brian works on this episode, turned out to be one epic conspiracy that I never saw coming and it was all thanks to the finite attention to detail that Mister Finch is able to bring forth when it comes to the miracle that is NZT. Granted his desire to solve the case gets him in trouble with his bosses frequently as he breaks protocol, but I mean man...this drug is something else. We really get to explore its abilities on this show and in the first half hour Brian managed to bring down a big time domestic terrorist. 

In the process of doing that, he uncovers the grand conspiracy involving a genetically modified bio weapon designed to bring down specific descendants of Genghis Khan to save a pharmaceutical company's government contract. If that sounds super complex and over the top...well let's be honest it is. Yet...it works. I mean seriously as wild and crazy as that sounds the whole thing works in this episode and while I enjoyed it and was pleased that my concern was addressed, a new worry arose in my mind...is this all the show is going to be? Good Guy Brian saving the day and taking the drug and that's it? 

Thankfully, the show extinguished that worry as well. There are several questions brought up in this episode, specifically about Senator Eddie Morra, our protagonist from the movie. For starters, any time Brian tries to learn more about the man, the power and his computer are promptly disabled. Hell, the nurse that gave him the shot that neutralizes the side effects to NZT is keeping an eye on his father and even Brian is wondering...what does Eddie want with him? Is Eddie now the villain and we're not aware of it? Or is there some grander plan here Eddie has put in motion? Either way, the show has yet to let me down, and the Eddie Morra mystery has me fascinated, I'll be tuning in next week to see where it goes. Until then. 

Week by week, we are seeing something special happen on Blunt Talk, the fact that Walter Blunt is slowly putting his life back together and actually working to make it better after that little incident with the L.A.P.D. at the start the season and last night was perhaps Walter's biggest jump in the right direction. 

The truth is, "Goodnight, My Someone" turned out to be one of the first season's finest, putting on a display a vulnerability from Walter Blunt that only Patrick Stewart could pull off when his son Rafe (played by Patrick's real life son Daniel) comes to town. The first born son of Walter as it turns out, is a champion boxer who has arrived home to step in as a replacement fighter and Walter could not be happier that his son is back in town.

In fact his excitement over Rafe's brief homecoming is so great that his arrival in town becomes nothing short of an incredible event. Walter brings him to work to spend the day with dear old dad and even throws him a big time dinner at the house with the staff and his little brother Bertie. Of course it seems like everything is too good to be true and it is. Rafe gets a little drunk and a little angry at dinner and well...after meeting Celia at the office and finding a little mutual attraction between the two of them ends up spending the night with her in Walter's guest bedroom where Rafe confesses that his father's pride for him is misguided since Rafe has come to town to lose in the fight. He is no champion, just a guy who takes a dive to make some money. 

Of course Walter is unaware of this fact, which is unfortunate considering that he brings his entourage to the fight only to watch Rafe get pummeled in the first round of the bout. In fact Rafe gets smacked around so badly that Walter takes a few moments to try and motivate his son...who finally reveals his true intentions and self if you will, something that clearly shatters Walter internally and this was the moment of truth for Mister Blunt. Rather than self destruct, or perhaps fly off the handle like we might expect him to Walter instead...tells his son he loves him and is proud of him and it motivates Rafe to fight back. Rafe still loses, forcing him to flee town until things cool down with the money men, but not before saying his goodbyes and finally calling Walter...dad.

Earlier in this article I called this episode one of the finest of this debut season of this show and I absolutely mean it. This was the perfect mix of comedy, heart and character development that I've come to expect from this show. We've never seen Walter quite like this before, truly determined to set things right with his son and that moment where he tells Rafe he loves him...well that was just lovely. At the start of this show something like that would have been unheard of from Walter and here we are, finally seeing the man grow and love and do his best to be a good father, and well...that's one incredible payoff and it made me love this show even more. Until next time. 

It's going to be an interesting fall T.V. season thanks to the fact we have a couple of shows popping up that happen to be based upon full length features that at first glance...seem like they would not be successful as a weekly serial. Take for example Limitless. This is a show that shares the namesake of the 2011 film that starred Bradley Cooper.  

That movie featured a story that gave us a complete beginning, middle and end for a motion picture and its lead character Eddie Morra so that seemed like that was that. But when I heard Cooper was involved with the development of the show, my interest was piqued. Cooper was also an executive producer on the film, so it must mean something special was happening when it came to the show and as it turns out there was, since last night's "Pilot" episode turned out to be one pleasant, engaging and entertaining surprise. 

Granted, the pilot had its flaws. At times it truly felt like the movie, especially when it came to the murders around NZT that our lead character Brian Finch kept running into. Eddie had the same plot twists happen in his movie, but thankfully, that's where the two characters similarities diverge. For as it turns out, Brian Finch is a vastly different character than his predecessor. Whereas Eddie in the film pretty much had no family and a small circle of friends, Brian is quite the opposite. He is a good guy through and through who simply has no ambition in his life. But he is surrounded by a family that loves him and that gives the show the heart it needs.

In fact this is a show filled to the brim with good guys and I find that to be an interesting choice for the show. After all the film version was bleak in so many ways, filled with some ugly but colorful characters. I'm not saying either version is better than the other, it's just an awesome contrast. No more criminal underworld surrounding our lead, instead we now get the FBI and a chance to do some solid good in the world. It's a cool direction to take the show in and I'm curious to see how NZT will help save the world as Brian uses it to solve crimes.  

But the highlight of the night for me...was the cameo from Bradley Cooper reprising his role as Eddie Morra. Now a successful Senator he shows up to help guide Brian into solving the crime and put him on a better path, one free of the side effects of NZT. What made this work so well was that it was not a passing of the torch moment, it's obvious Eddie plays a role in the tale as well and that's what finally sold me on this pilot and quite frankly this series. This isn't some cheap knockoff of the movie to make some more money, it's a world being built, one where NZT changes men's lives and judging from Eddie's talk with Brian, there's going to be a bigger plot and mystery at work here and I can't wait to see where all of this is going. Until next time. 

I had a funny feeling as I started to sink my teeth into Blunt Talk that the show was planning to interconnect many of the plot lines and as we reached the halfway point of the season with last night's episode "The Queen of Hearts", it turns out my hunch was right. This episode managed to begin to bring together the rich tapestry of this world for Walter Blunt and as always did it in hilarious fashion.

This go round brought us to something important missing in Walter's life, love. After all we quickly discover that it's been seven months since he enjoyed the company of a woman and last night it would seem...someone special has found their way into his life and in tradition with the show, it comes about in the strangest of circumstances...poker. Yes, a card game brings fate Walter's way when Rosalie hosts a poker game at home and after being insulted by a publicist who tends to represent some of the more unsavory folks in the news our intrepid producer makes a bet she instantly regrets.

It turns out that by losing that last hand Walter has to put a right wing nut, Suzanne Mayview, on his show, one with hyper radical views and in the process, derail Walter's plans to help save the planet since he will have to bump a family that has managed to do a wonderful job of learning to live from the earth and their lessons could teach others so much. Of course Walter initially cannot bring himself to do it, so he goes to bump Ms. Mayview from the show...only to find that her admiration of Walter is too much for him to overcome and well...she makes the show.  

It leads to his softest interview yet, one that Rosalie points out during the break could instead be one of his finest and it ends as just that...a wonderful piece of reporting from Walter Blunt, and an evening in bed with Suzanne after all is said and done. 
We don't know if Suzanne will continue on as Walter's new love interest, but we can't go any further without discussing the comedy portion of the show, since as it turns out Shelly won A LOT of money in the poker game and with her magician now gone, it leads to a need to fulfill the rush of winning, one Harry is happy to help her oblige with a seedy high stakes poker game, where we learn the necklace she loves...is a fake and they haul ass out of there to not have to cover the pot.

While this episode was not quite as sentimental and bittersweet as the last two, it still did a fine job putting together every theme and idea that Walter is driving toward to better himself...and the struggle that is still deep within him to get there. I mean after all, he bumped the earthy family for a blonde bombshell. As always he means well but wild Walter always manages to find a way to come back out. But of all the converging plot lines...one still concerns me and I have a feeling it will rear it's head soon, specifically...what's wrong with Teddy? Is he really losing it, or is something else going on medically with his mind? We'll just have to wait and see. Until next time. 

I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what to expect when it came to Blunt Talk this week and I mean that in a good way. After last week's surprisingly touching and cerebral episode I was more curious about how the show would continue to combine it's rip roaring comedy and gentle character development and needless to say, this week's episode, "A Beaver That's Lost Its Mind" did not disappoint.

What made this episode so wonderful was the fact that all the important things that happened to our supporting cast last week wasn't swept under the rug and forgotten as everything came together in epic fashion at UBS. Oddly enough in fact, romance was the focus in the office as Teddy surprised Rosalie at the office because he forgot his keys and thought it was a great time for the two of them to get intimate on her couch and Celia's one night stand became something a little more since the magician showed up to give her a lovely pearl necklace. Yes, it was real and cost $2,000 and the joke you're thinking of came to life later in the episode. 

But the centerpieces of the night were Walter and Jim, in fact Jim's need to own those women's shoes last week took on new meaning this week. Initially it seemed as though Jim bought them for all kinds of different reasons, but now I have to even question if Jim bought them. I say that, because we discovered that Jim's need for those shoes was just that a need to...acquire things. It turns out that Jim hasn't let the cleaning crew into his office at all in the last seven months and with good reason, he's been hoarding anything and everything he can get his hands on from the office and at home for that matter too. 

Which brings us to Walter and that bittersweet and gentle development the show is quickly becoming so good at. Walter tries his best to help and counsel Jim because we learned so much about Walter last night. It turns out that deep down, Walter really is trying to change. He's doing a piss poor job of it, but hey, baby steps. A fine example of this is the fact that Walter went to see his son and ex wife at his son's school for a career day...still slightly drunk. It led to much contention between Walter and his ex, exacerbated by the fact she's dating Moby but some genuinely lovely moments came out of this.

For one, Walter was drinking heavily the night before with Harry because he was terrified of screwing this whole thing up. Doesn't make his getting drunk right at all, but hey this is a comedy show and you let that slide. Second to that, Walter's need to spoon with Rosalie, while hilarious every time it happens demonstrates further his desire to be a good man because he flat out told his long time producer and friend he could feel himself starting to slip again. It's those little moments and Jim's situation that really make you love these characters more. I really want to see Walter succeed now and of course, I have to know what other shenanigans he'll get into along the way. Until next time. 

When we last left Walter Blunt, it seemed as though the wild and crazy events in his life were about to become a distant memory. He still had his dream job at UBS, thanks to the fact that the hurricane story he was supposed to cover dissipated along with the storm and because he seemed resolved to the fact that a second chance finally arrived. 

But what would Blunt Talk be if Walter and his band of friends settled all the drama in their lives? Well it would be awful so thankfully, despite the lull in Walter's life, last night's episode, "All My Relationships End in Pain" continued the hilarity that I've come to know and love from this show and at the same time, surprise all of us with an in depth look at the supporting characters that surround Walter as well.  

In fact, as I mentioned before, there really was a sense of normalcy for this episode with Walter settling back in at UBS nicely but still feeling a certain sadness, one that as it turns out relates to loneliness after another visit with the network's psychiatrist, Dr. Weiss. The "good" doctor doesn't prescribe cocaine to help out Walter this time, instead pointing out that it's okay for Walter to go out an meet other people. But before Walter can return to the dating world, he receives some magnificent news...there will be no felony charges for the nutcracker suite he performed on an L.A.P.D. officer, because as it turns out, he didn't shatter the man's testicles.  

However, with misdemeanor charges on the horizon dear Walter will have to attend AA meetings and that's where the episode takes an unexpected turn as we learn so much about the people around Walter as Mister Blunt attends his first meeting. We learn that Rosalie and her husband (played by the always delightful Ed Begley Jr.) are in an open relationship and she has been fooling around (letting him smell her chest really) with young Martin. Celia is lonely and willing to strike up a one night stand via a dating app with a magician, which by way yielded some of the biggest laughs for me of the night and Jim...well Jim is on a journey of self discovery as he purchases and admires a pair of women's shoes. 

Of course Walter skips the AA meeting and spends his time with the sexual addiction group, where he meets someone and goes home with her in disastrous fashion, but I was really taken aback by the humanity on display in this episode. Already the show has shown signs of being a smarter than average comedy but those moments with the people around Walter were stunning to say the least, specifically that they were all like Walter...lonely and searching for something. Celia could care less about the one night stand, she simply had a need to satisfy and seems to regret it a bit after and Rosalie loves her husband but clearly is missing something in her relationship and Jim...Jim is desperately searching for some meaning as to who he is in life. 

I knew from the first episode we would be a getting some depth and meaning to go with Walter for certain, but I never expected this kind of exploration of the supporting characters and I love it. There's something magical to making this a heartwarming and also hilarious ensemble piece, and I'm starting to get the feeling the show may be building toward something more important story wise. I was already hooked, but last night's episode actually managed to make it worse and I look forward to seeing where all of this is going. Until next time.