"Limitless" Recap: "Arm-ageddon"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

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.

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