"Limitless" Recap: "Personality Crisis"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

After weeks of fluffy fun, and moments of levity, Limitless has finally started to tread in darker territory and last night's episode felt nothing like the episodes that came before it. There were morality questions, a genuine threat that the FBI was racing to resolve and Brian finally made one tough and scary decision.

I would venture to say that "Personality Crisis" is by far the series' best episode to date simply because it took some major chances with the formula the show had already established. Not to mention it finally gave us an understanding that indeed NZT alters a person's personality while on the drug and that matters simply because it makes it far less of a wonder drug than we have been led to believe and it also explains Brian's aloof behavior when on the drug as well. 

Yet all those answers were simply part of a rich tapestry of an episode, one that was completely cohesive in its storytelling because everything in the script came together last night and we finally got a good idea of why it was maybe a bad idea to put Brian in the field and make him a pseudo agent without the years of training that Rebecca and her peers had to endure as Brian helps out on a domestic terrorism case. His involvement with the interrogation of the case's only suspect simply puts him too close to the people involved and when things go south when the time comes to capture the men behind the terror plot he simply cannot handle the FBI's thinking process that sometimes there is collateral damage and losses.

It leads him to deal with the biggest conflict he is battling throughout the episode...whether or not to tell Rebecca about the file the FBI has on her father and the fact he was part of the NZT test group and this is where things got interesting when it comes to this wonder drug since it turns out Brian finally got a chance to see what he is like on the drug. Through the wonder of webcams, Smart Brian begins to leave messages and warnings to NOT tell Rebecca the truth for Normal Brian and holy cow, the smart version is condescending and smug and even Brian cannot stand himself. It was a fascinating little character piece and continues to leave me wondering if NZT alters your personality the more you take it. But, regardless of the warnings, Brian finally decides to tell her and the episode ends there. 

Granted this can mean only one thing...life is about to get extremely difficult for Brian real quick. Mister Sands will no doubt discover that Brian has said something to Rebecca about the files and NZT and while he may not have said anything about Eddie Morra and that whole mess, Sands will assume that he did. Judging from the teaser for next week, it looks like no shot to stave off the side effects of the drug and who knows where else Sands' fury will go. Brian's dad may be in trouble now too and well, all of this made for one outstanding episode. This one really took some chances, ones that at first glance might offend folks who enjoyed what came before this portion of the story and I commend the show for taking this risk and advancing what is clearly a much bigger plot forward. Can't wait to see where this goes next week. 

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