Well, I have to say that this was an extremely difficult episode of The Man in the High Castle to think about and recap for one particular reason...it's absolutely brutal. There is little about this particular portion of the story that leaves you feeling good or happy in any form or fashion and I applaud the show for doing that.

This is after all, an occupied America, one wrought with despair and to do anything outside of giving us dark and powerful stories would be an injustice and what made this particular episode of the show so unforgiving is the fact that our characters are basically on their own. There's no police to run to, no safe place to hide, just their attempts at finding a better life with the Japanese forces and Nazis all around them.  

This go round we saw a lot of the breakdown that Frank is now suffering immediately following his release from the Kempeitai facility and well, this was perhaps the saddest portion of this episode. Frank was devastated and rightfully so. He has to identify the bodies of his family, hear how they are not going to be buried thanks to their "crimes against the state" and he even has to be the one to deliver the bad news to his late sister's husband and man...you really feel for the guy in this episode. No one around him cares, save for maybe his buddy Ed, but neither Ed or anyone else will do anything so they don't get in trouble but where all of this headed for Frank appears to be scary, more on that in a moment.

Because in the meantime, we cannot forget about Juliana's adventures in Canon City. Immediately following the murder of the Origami Man, Joe lets Juliana know it's probably high time they get the hell out of town but she wants to stay a little longer to not raise suspicion, a choice that everyone quickly regrets when Joe meets The Marshal, a bounty hunter who is as brutal as they come. He is quick to hit, quick to draw a gun and was expecting to meet the Origami Man this morning as well. It takes little time to discover how ruthless and evil this man is since he heads into the bookstore where Juliana bought the Bible and discovered the shop keeper is a Jewish man who escaped the New Berlin Concentration Camp many years ago, so he promptly kills the man and strings him up in the middle of town. 

While he was going all Boba Fett in town, Juliana and Joe hid the body and the car to make sure he had no idea what went down at the dam. Along the way they discovered where Origami Man was taking the members of the Resistance to, an abandoned cave where he clearly tortured and murdered folks and left behind a list of crossed off names with only two left on the list...Trudy and Juliana's boss at the diner.  Of course, the bigger problem for Juliana, the picture she lost led to the Marshal finally knowing what she looked like and upon their return to town a shootout ensued leaving us with a big time cliffhanger as the Marshal hunts her down and to top it off, it's clear now that Frank is ready to do something rash, like say try to kill the visiting Japanese royalty as vengeance for the death of his family. 

If anything, this episode was simply breathtaking, moving at an incredible pace minute by minute and not letting up one bit. I mean come on, our final shot is the Marshal kicking down the door where Juliana is hiding before we fade to black. Once the end credits rolled, I just sat there, trying to process all the horrors that I just saw. Between Frank getting ready to commit to an assassination attempt and that poor Book keeper being strung up for all to see, just wow. Heck it was so intense the torture scenes were the only welcome break this go round and well...I loved every second of it and I can't wait to see how Juliana gets out of this mess and how far Frank is going to go...until next time.

Okay, I have to admit that when I first saw the teaser for this week's episode of Limitless, I kind of cringed. We've been back on the fun train when it comes to this show for a few weeks now and while there is nothing wrong with having tons of fun, I was more worried that the show was going to take it too far.  

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of this show and I'm dying to know how everything is going to end, but in it's freshman season Limitless is trying to find the balance between light episodes and dark episodes and last night ended up being a perfect mix of the two, all courtesy of some computer hacking and a little fallout from Brian telling his father the truth.

That moment of truth between Brian and his dad is exactly where we picked up this week as our intrepid hero finished explaining to his pop his exact role with the FBI and how NZT works, while wisely leaving the Eddie Morra portion of the story out and with good reason, since Brian's dad ended up furious about the whole thing and wanted his son to get the hell out of the FBI's program and then sue the living hell out of them for essentially keeping Brian hostage and putting him through heaven knows what when it comes to this drug, but Brian was instantly hesitant to do so, since let's be honest, he's been enjoying this ride for sometime and because a new case kept him busy.

This go round a favor for Boyle turns into quite the mystery when a former soldier that Boyle served with, Aaron Shaw, years ago is arrested for murdering his wife. But there's a twist to the murder, Aaron lost his arm in the service and was outfitted with a special beta test prosthetic that appears to have gone haywire, and when other beta test prosthetics also end up doing far less nefarious things on their own, Brian is quick to learn that not only can the arm be hacked, but that a employee profited from it. Naturally they are able to track the culprit down and bring him to justice...but not before finding out Aaron's arm was never hacked...he actually did make the choice to kill his wife and is brought to justice as well.

But the centerpiece of the night was the lovely interaction between Brian and his father Dennis, especially the fact that Brian finally stood up for himself when it came to his dad. He was able to get his dad to back off of the lawsuit because he legitimately felt that sticking with the FBI and NZT was bringing out the best in him. My only complaint about last night was the fact that Brian didn't point out to his dad that hey, he's helping people left and right and bringing in nasty criminals, but oh well. The important thing is that their rift is finally settled and it all led to a powerful moment when Dennis confronted Naz, revealed he almost filed for conservatorship of his son but decided against it and let Naz know the FBI better keep his son safe, or he was coming after them. 

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good father/son story and last night was just that. In fact the scenes between Brian and his dad were absolutely wonderful since we were witness to a dad who legitimately cares for his son and really will do whatever it takes to make sure he's safe. I'm just glad this plot point was finally brought to a head and resolved...for the most part and I'm supremely pleased this episode turned out to be top notch rather than slipping into the ridiculous. Until next time.

There were two key takeaways story wise that remained in my mind after watching the pilot episode for The Man in the High Castle. The first thing, is that hope was going to be a big part of the show and the power that comes with it and the second thing was that this was going to be a brutal ride that gave us a raw and visceral story that would frequently punch you in the gut.

As it turns out, I was both right and wrong when it came to these concepts. Hope evolves in the second episode of the series in twisted fashion and as it turns out, the show was holding itself back in the pilot, and episode two decided to unleash the fury so to speak, giving us an inside look into life in this new world and how horrible it has become. 

It accomplished this in two ways, first by giving us a look at the "prototypical" American family by taking us inside the walls of Obergruppenführer John Smith's home and well...it's not what you'd expect. The family has dinner in the morning like everyone in the 1960s, assembled around the table and discussing their plans for the day. There just happens to be a son dressed in a Hitler Youth uniform and father is of course in his SS garb and happy to discuss how moral decay works in his world. It was a Normal Rockwell scene with Swastikas everywhere and it's ridiculously jarring to watch.

The other way it demonstrated how awful this world is to live in was through Frank's eyes. After being detained by the Japanese at the end of the pilot for living with Juliana and possibly knowing where she went with the film, we find out that Inspector Kito has some interesting ways of making men talk. Kito discovered that Frank is of Jewish descent and after beating him and getting nowhere he ups the ante, threatening Frank's family with death. It isn't until the crazy lady who swiped Juliana's things on the bus turns up in Japanese custody with a film reel full of nonsense (thank heavens Juliana switched the reels out) that Frank is finally freed for his "crimes" but the damage has been done...and his sister and two kids never made it out alive.  

To top it all off, the show does resolve one plot point fairly early into all of this by wrapping up the core of the Juliana and Joe storyline in Canon City. It turns out that Joe is quickly demonstrating that we have no idea where his loyalty lies since he watched the forbidden film and seems to be questioning everything about his orders. Not to mention, the kid is a good guy through and through. For while he waited for the contact to come to him, the Resistance instead made contact with Juliana by way of the Origami Man and well...this is where we learned that hope is precious and a fight to maintain because the Origami Man was a Nazi after all and made an attempt to kill Juliana before Joe stepped in long enough to distract the man for her to get the upper hand.

So now we know that the voyage to Canon City was a waste of time really, and it's fortunate that Juliana survived because clearly the Nazi's know so much about the Resistance and the film, which makes one wonder exactly why they haven't put the Resistance down completely and we also know that Frank has a new found purpose in life...revenge against the Japanese and if you don't think that's the case, go back and look at his face in the closing seconds of the show, he's ready for war. Either way, I was unprepared for how heavy this episode turned out to be and the disturbing changes to hope that the show decided to throw our way. While we don't quite know what kind of hope Juliana is still holding in her heart, we just know Frank is simply holding hope for a shot to be the man who makes Inspector Kito pay for his actions.

Sometimes in the fiction world, it's an absolute blast to play a game of "What If?" After all, letting loose like that and letting your imagination wander is always fun as you explore places and concepts you never thought possible. But, at the same time, "What If?" can also be a most dangerous game, taking our mind to dark and disturbing places that we never wanted to go and we're glad our lives never really went there when we return to reality. 

It is the latter of those two options that takes front and center in the Amazon Original Series, The Man in the High Castle as we are transported to a story originally conceived by author Philip K. Dick, where the United States and the Allied Forces lost World War II and were instead conquered by the Axis Powers, wherein the Nazi and the Japanese forces divided our great nation in half, leaving a neutral zone buffering both superpowers as they slowly slide into an uncomfortable Cold War with the peace between these two nations hanging by a thread.  

We join the story in 1962 to meet two characters, Joe Blake, a young man living in the Greater Nazi Reich's New York City and a man looking for a chance to make a difference in this tough new world by joining the Resistance to transport important contraband to Canon City and Juliana Crain, a young woman living in the Japanese Pacific State's San Francisco, trying her best in this life to find her way after suffering an accident but the death of her sister Trudy will change her life forever. Trudy as it turns out was in possession of something powerful, a strange little film called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a newsreel film that shows the Allies doing the impossible, winning the war. Realizing her sister is working for the Resistance she decides to finish the mission for her and heads for Canon City in the heart of the Neutral Zone to deliver the film.

This of course being a pilot episode for the series, those little details to the plot merely set everything up. We know there is a mysterious man known as "The Man in the High Castle" making these films that are deemed as treason to possess and we also learn by the end of the episode that Joe is a double agent, working for the Nazi regime as well, but outside of those fascinating plot points that suck you in...let's get right down to it and point out that this series is absolutely brilliant in its concept and design. In fact, it's down right terrifying for the entire hour that you watch the show because the folks behind the scenes have completely transformed the world we know. 

Nothing about this show leaves you comfortable as you watch it, simply because it's unsettling and depressing to see this alternate version of the United States of America. The show has transformed our home into a savage place, full of oppression and fear where no one is safe and one has to watch what they do and what they say every minute of every day. The visuals only enhance the experience when you see the red, white and blue everywhere, enhanced with a Swastika and quite frankly the most disturbing scene in the pilot is when Joe is getting help from a state trooper for a flat tire and it begins to snow, and we quickly discover, it's not snow...it's the hospital burning the sick and the handicapped and well...the trooper just sees this as an everyday thing and that's what made this pilot so terrifying, the people of America simply accept their fate. 

Yet, the show only manages to delve into darker places along the way as learn near the end of the episode that the Führer, Adolf Hitler is in poor health and once one of his legendary lackeys takes over when he is gone, there will no doubt be a war to remove the Japanese from the rest of North America. But, regardless of how bleak the episode ends, there is one piece of silver lining, Juliana. She is the beacon, shining bright in this show because she has found purpose through this illegal and fascinating film for one simple reason...it is has given her hope in something more and something greater and that perhaps the Resistance can make that film come to life, and when it comes to a story like this and in a world this dark and dismal...hope is the most powerful weapon of all. 

There have been quite a few dark episodes of Limitless as of late and I guess this week the showrunners decided it was high time to spice things up and bring back the fun before things slipped too far into the abyss and well, they pulled it off. A lot of the wackiness we came to know in the first few weeks of this series returned last night as Brian put together one ambitious plan. 

Because after all this time working for the FBI, Brian decided he was owed something from the Bureau and decided to ask Naz for two things, a chance to choose his own cases once in a while and a super awesome office labeled "Headquarters!" (yes, with the exclamation point) which of course Naz turned down time and time again. But after checking in with the bomb maker he brought down a few weeks back, Brian was able to get a little intel that led to the arrest of someone on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and that brought him to his master plan to get what he wants and in the process, do some good. 

He asks Naz for a task force and two weeks to do what has never been done before...bring in every single criminal on the Ten Most Wanted list and surprisingly, Naz gives him the chance to do it. A couple of them are brought down quick and easy with a little coercing and simply Detective work. Others require a little more effort as Brian sends his now nicknamed "Bruntouchables" into various parts of the world to bring the rest of them in and while it seems everything is going smooth, that's when the show does what it does best and makes things interesting by way of fugitive Lawrence Drake. 

This particular felon on the Top Ten List was originally imprisoned for murdering his wife before escaping with another member of the Top Ten and when Brian finally catches up with Lawrence, he discovers that there is a fair chance the man is completely innocent. After all, Mister Drake has spent every single waking moment since he escaped looking for the man who murdered his wife in a nice homage to The Fugitive, but that's as far as the homage goes since Brian proposes they give Lawrence NZT to remember that night and by giving him the drug...he is able to recall by sense/memory of touch the man who murdered his wife and is cleared of the original charges. 

Brian's ambitious plan is shut down before he can catch all of the Top Ten, but he gets most of them, and his office and well, this was a fun a little episode simply because it let Brian shine in spectacular fashion, putting all the good within him on display since everything he did this week was about making the world a better place and it made for a nice change of pace for the show. Heck we even got resolution between Brian and his father since Brian finally took the time to tell his dad what's going on. But the fact of the matter is...this was a filler episode through and through and really just a tiny break because by now we all know the grand Eddie Morra conspiracy is the heart of this show, it's just a matter of time before we get back to it.

It's been quite a wild ride on Limitless the last few weeks and when you think about it, everything has changed since Brian had his rooftop meeting with Senator Eddie Morra. Gone are the days of solving wacky crimes, instead that element has been replaced with some dark storytelling and quite frankly, I welcome it. This has been the best story arc yet on the show and this week's episode delivered on all cylinders as well.

In fact, this week was all about fallout in fact and slowly the pieces are beginning to connect as the Black Op that Brian was sent on without anyone's consent at any level took center stage on the show as Naz decided it was high time to confront her superiors about the action and launch an inquiry into who exactly signed off on loaning Brian to the CIA and have that person held accountable and in the process keep Brian safe and in New York. 

But of course, nothing goes as planned. Naz is arrested for treason, for funding a terrorist directly and is promptly removed from her office and the NZT program is immediately shut down as is Brian's consulting work. Naz was prepared for something funny to happen however and sends Brian and Rebecca to a safe house...her apartment. It's there that we meet Naz's daughter Ava and find out...Naz is guilty but for all kinds of crazy reasons. She paid three million dollars to a known terrorist in the hopes of saving Ava's cousin, Mitra, who happened to be kidnapped by pirates in the South China Sea, and just when it seems like her release has been negotiated, just like the title of this episode says, pirates pirate a bunch of pirates and she is kidnapped again. 

It gives Brian the chance to make use of his emergency NZT stash, something I'm certain will have some consequences soon from the looks of his conversation with Rebecca, and figure out a way to save the day. But as he tries to locate Mitra, a second plan is launched to help clear Naz's name and Agent Boyle gets in on the fun. He offers up Brian's complete medical record to the top brass in Washington in the hopes of finding the person and the memo responsible for sending Brian on the black op. Both plans work, and Naz is thankfully back where she belongs but while it seems like all has ended well, I would say this episode leaves me deeply concerned with what's going on behind the scenes.

After all, it was revealed that Brian's medical records were altered so he wouldn't become a guinea pig in an FBI lab somewhere and let's be honest, the fact that there are people in the FBI willing to see their coworkers falter or disappear in this case is wholly disturbing. It's obvious from the last two weeks that the FBI and CIA see this drug as a cure all for the world's issues and problems and Brian is clearly on the radar of several folks. Plus, did anyone else find it odd that Eddie Morra was quick to help Brian this go round? Does this mean he's serious about a partnership or did he have a hand in all of this as well and helped "expose" everything to keep whatever plan he has in motion safe? I have a funny feeling we'll find out later on this season, until next time. 

I have to admit that while I have enjoyed many an episode of Limitless, I have also found myself confused with the show at times because clearly this series is trying its hardest to discover its true identity and it's made for an interesting first season of the show. We've had powerhouse episodes like last week that reveal a giant plot working behind the scenes and then we have had episodes like the one that graced our televisions last night.

Now, that doesn't mean I hated last night or I'm about to bash the heck out of it, that's quite the contrary. "Brian Finch's Black Op" was actually one hilarious episode at times and also fascinating in some segments as well. Yet at the same time, this episode seemed a little lost and out of place in the grand scheme of the plot and well, it just didn't quite fit in with the season and the structure that's already been outlined. I mean hey, there's nothing wrong with trying new things and seeing what happens in that first year, and I think that perhaps my confusion was related to the fact I want to see more focus on the grand storyline being slowly laid out before us.

But, before I ramble too much, we should talk about the episode and why it was an enjoyable ride after all. First and foremost, love the fact that the show decided to have a ton of fun and parody some of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. After all we essentially enjoyed the opening of the film in shot for shot fashion and the silliness of it made for plenty of laughs on my end and then the show went right down into what it does best...digging into a dark and compelling storyline. There's a reason black op was in the title because this week Brian was kidnapped by the CIA to help find an international terrorist who is hiding out and planning heaven knows what in the middle of the Pennsylvania wild. 

Of course along the way we discover that there's no chance this will be pulled off in simple fashion. Our terrorist has no clear motivations and thankfully for the audience, Rebecca is on the case to discover why the CIA wants this guy so badly. It turns out the so called "terrorist", Aleksey, once worked with the CIA and was betrayed by them, losing his reputation and family in the process and is here for one simple thing...revenge. Unfortunately, the CIA blowing his cover also put a price on his head of $10 million and some of the CIA operatives plan instead to hand Aleksey over to the bad guys to collect the money, forcing Brian to think quickly with his NZT wearing off as to how to get himself out of this sticky situation.

So, as you can see from that plot, this is one wild episode. Part parody, part spy drama and one dark tale to say the least when you look at what has happened to Aleksey and well...I enjoyed it but it still feels out of place to me a day later. Brian has been on some crazy adventures before but this one just happens to be the craziest of the them all and the comedy makes sense for this one since it counterbalances the ugly when Brian starts watching people die in brutal fashion all around him. If anything I guess we can really just call this one a filler episode and while it was fun at times I do hope there aren't a ton of these before we get back to the bigger plan going on behind the scenes...until next time.