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S01.E07: Brian Finch's Black Op

thewhiteowl

By thewhiteowl
in Limitless [V]

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thewhiteowl

thewhiteowl

When Brian calls in sick for a day off from the FBI, the CIA abducts him from home to borrow his NZT-enhanced capabilities for a black ops mission. As the operation becomes increasingly dangerous, Brian finds himself without FBI support in a situation that’s spiraling out of control.

 

 

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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

Certainly wasn't expecting a Ferris Buller's Day Off homage.  It's been a while since I've seen the film, but I enjoyed the references that I got.  I also loved that it led to a NZT version of Rebecca in Brian's head.  I actually wouldn't mind that happening again, even though I enjoy NZT Brian too.

 

This episode was a bit of a haven for past regulars on FOX shows. Malik Yoba (from Empire) as the mercenary leader, along with Zabryna Guevara (Gotham), as the helicopter pilot that had gone on a past mission with the mercenaries.  Figured that Cameron was going to be the real big issue.  Him seeming nice on the surface and forming a bond with Brian, was a clear sign that it was all going to get shattered.

 

Even though he didn't do any of it himself, I did like that Brian's solution ended up having to be tricking the guys to kill each other.  Dark, but I don't see any other way Brian could have gotten out of it.

 

Liked Rebecca and Naz going all out to find Brian.  Assuming Naz really did have nothing to do with it (I think she was sincere here), I do wonder who was behind all of this.  I doubt it would have been Morra or Sands, so I wonder if there is someone else out there that is trying to use Brian for their own gains.

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Big Mother

Big Mother

My only real issue with this is why they had to kill brian after all was said and done. They would put Merrick into a heap of trouble, and their whole operation would be in peril. They couldve borrowed Brian and then sent him back home instead of killing him.

 

Second: So Aleksey did survive despite ingesting that poisonous NZT? He got onto a bus full of school children? He speaks perfect English? Why did he need a translator then? Are we going to see more of him?

 

It was a pretty dark episode. I don't want this show to go there. I missed all the relationship drama and interpersonal drama.

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Free

Free

Even though he didn't do any of it himself, I did like that Brian's solution ended up having to be tricking the guys to kill each other.  Dark, but I don't see any other way Brian could have gotten out of it.

 

I figured he would, it was the only strategic move given his situation.

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Netfoot

Netfoot

(edited)

I thought that Brian's Inner Rebecca in the white, fringed jacket was pretty cool!  Although I'n not sure why he chose that particular outfit for her...

 

No more black ops for Brian, please!  This show is not a comedy, but it is  laced with humour, and is all the better for it.  When the plot turns dark, the humour evaporates and the show suffers.  

 

When No-Such-Agency man informs them that his people have kidnapped Brian, why didn't they immediately throw on the bracelets and escort him to sub-basement 99 Zulu for the duration?  The FBI was formed to fight kidnapping, IIRC, and they have always considered kidnapping to be one of their main responsibilities. 

Edited by Netfoot
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sjohnson

sjohnson

I like the jokes too but using Brian for a different perspective is only good sense I think. The episode had death and betrayal but it wasn't cynical about it and it wasn't secretly pandering to sadism either in my opinion. In my experience, cynicism and sadism are what "dark" is about. Oddly enough, I'm with Rebecca: I've never seen Ferris. So it appears I've missed some of the humor.

 

Aleksey knows Brian had another pill of his own. If the FBI finds out? He's still alive to tell him. Knowing the poisons is one thing, getting enough to stick to the pill another entirely.

 

Naz is high-handed, political and domineering but not malicious. 

 

Mike and Ike were easy to fool because they wanted the day off too.

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twoods

twoods

(edited)

Now I want to watch Ferris again- ages since I watched that movie. The first part and last part (especially the music and bus scene) was hilarious, but the episode was so dark with all the deaths. I did like how Brian's team was frantically trying to find him.

Alexi may come after Brian for more pills now? Or they may drop his character- I liked that he was a good guy and not a terrorist.

Yet another show painting the CIA as terrible people. They get no love on shows (and the shows about them are annoying with special snowflake characters).

Edited by twoods
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

I've never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Was the school bus scene similar to anything in that movie? It was a great scene on its own (the little girl's reaction!) but now I'm wondering if a stoned/hungover character in the movie did something similar.

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BooBear

BooBear

I've never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Was the school bus scene similar to anything in that movie? It was a great scene on its own (the little girl's reaction!) but now I'm wondering if a stoned/hungover character in the movie did something similar.

Oh dear. Everyone here has to go watch Ferris Bueller's Day off again. All the way to the end (including after the credits). Yes the end of this episode was a direct homage to Mr. Rooney walking back with a bitten up leg and having the school bus come pick him up and he had to sit with the strange little girl who offered him a gummy bear.

 

Very funny episode, and appreciate them trying, but the middle sort of dragged for me. I didn't see why the CIA would ever allow Brian to get harmed. Too big an asset for them. The middle also seemed to be missing a lot of smart NZT stuff and also, Rebecca and Brian. Two things that make any episode better. But I did like them making Rebecca Slone in Brian's head. .

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Triskan

Triskan

I personally thought it was a nice thing the show went some darker territories this episode.

 

I dont think we'll get that tone every week, but here and there, it's totally welcome, and despite the darkness, there were some amazingly funny moments in it ! 

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Netfoot

Netfoot

It's Sloane's outfit in Ferris Bueller.

 

Ooooh!  Okay, it's been about 30 years since I saw that, so I forgive myself for forgetting the details.

 

Yet another show painting the CIA as terrible people.

 

Yet another show suggesting they routinely operate inside the USA despite the generally held idea that they are forbidden to do so.

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hnygrl

hnygrl

That was extremely good. I was completely drawn in and engaged the entire time. But somebody tell me....DID THE GUY DIE OR WHAT???? ARRGGHH!!!!

 

He had bella dona all over the NZT pill. And the guy took it. AND, isn't it the case that if you don't get another pill in 12 hours you, I don't know...die???  Did the russian die or what? Maddening.

 

But damn CBS. GOOD SHOW!!!!

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iMonrey

iMonrey

 

I didn't see why the CIA would ever allow Brian to get harmed. Too big an asset for them.

 

The CIA itself wasn't going to kill Brian. The "agents" on the black ops mission were going rogue. They planned to turn the terrorist guy over for $ millions. So they weren't planning to carry out whatever "official" mission the CIA sent them on.

 

I thought this was the best episode to date. It had just the right mix of humor, whimsy, drama, suspense and adventure. The Ferris Bueller references were hilarious, especially that last scene with the school bus. I just wish the show could strike a consistent tone - last week's episode was far too dark and humorless. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they're finding a tone to settle on and this one should be the template for how the shows should be.

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Snarkette

Snarkette

Best. Episode. Yet.

 

Loved it. Especially that white leather fringe jacket from the movie, the gummy bear, the shower scene, the bus, the...ALL OF IT.

 

Yeah, CIA was typical pointless evil, but it's a TV show. Whatevers.

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Ottis

Ottis

I loved Ferris Bueller and I got every reference in this ep, including suspecting what was coming from the episode title phrasing. I just wish the show would have gone all the way with it, and made the entire episode a light peek at Brian's Day Off (and it should have had Brian wandering into a parade in the city and ending up with a lip-syncing boy band on a float), It was too weird trying to have fun and then dealing with rogue black ops characters who killed each other, spraying blood on Brian's face.

 

Also, it seems too early in the series run to pull out the change-of-pace, homage-to-another-source episode.

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Free

Free

I loved Ferris Bueller and I got every reference in this ep, including suspecting what was coming from the episode title phrasing. I just wish the show would have gone all the way with it, and made the entire episode a light peek at Brian's Day Off (and it should have had Brian wandering into a parade in the city and ending up with a lip-syncing boy band on a float), It was too weird trying to have fun and then dealing with rogue black ops characters who killed each other, spraying blood on Brian's face.

 

I think it was meant to be interrupted when he got kidnapped.

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Ottis

Ottis

I think it was meant to be interrupted when he got kidnapped.

 

 

That was the choice the writers made, yes. But then they came back to it with the Rooneyesque bus ending, which had nothing to do with Brian and the beginning. My point was I wish they would have made the entire episode a light one, while moving along a little more of the NZT/side effects/immunity mystery, as Brian aped Ferris throughout the city. It would have been more elegant than an abrupt change to black ops and then a return to Ferris.

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Free

Free

That was the choice the writers made, yes. But then they came back to it with the Rooneyesque bus ending, which had nothing to do with Brian and the beginning. My point was I wish they would have made the entire episode a light one, while moving along a little more of the NZT/side effects/immunity mystery, as Brian aped Ferris throughout the city. It would have been more elegant than an abrupt change to black ops and then a return to Ferris.

 

Same here.

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krimimimi

krimimimi

Did anyone notice he went to Camp Broderick...another hidden Bueller reference.

Missed that, thanks for catching it. I love it when a show rewards viewers for paying attention, without necessarily requiring them to. With some shows, sometimes it feels like nothing on screen matters at all, feel free to balance your checkbook while watching, and sometimes they go overboard in the other direction and take themselves and their mythology way too seriously and end up with a confusing mess. This show seems to be getting the balance right. I am really enjoying it, and it's easily the best new show this season for me.

It was possible to watch and enjoy this episode without having seen Bueller, but it was an extra win if you had. They even threw viewers a bone every once in a while, like with AgentDeb's outfit. Gotta admit, after all these years, I hadn't a clue what Sloane's outfit was, but they even had "her" (hallucination form) ask about it. I think that's fair play. Nudged me into paying more attention, and then I caught more. (And I also kinda like that they had a character named "Sloane" given UncleArvin playing Brian's dad, hearing "Sloane" made me go "Ha!")

And I'm now convinced that was Armin Shimerman's (Quark from ST:DSN) photo a few eps back (as the dead gazillionaire who left all his money to charity). I think that's their sense of humor.

Mileage varies, but I for one liked that this ep was mixed in tone and a homage this early in the run. I expect it to be one of many (although some may be more subtle), but I also think it is supposed to reassure viewers about the same thing AgentDeb was asking about: Brian is getting better at the FBI realities, but he hasn't lost his sense of fun yet or fundamentally changed his personality. He still remains a doofus. In a good way. It's a hard balancing act. "Chuck" lost some of its charm for me when Chuck became too capable, but incompetence isn't exactly something I want to watch either, so over time, you need to reinvent the show. This felt like a hint of good things to come, and left me hopeful - that the writers think you can be a grown up and still retain a sense of childlike wonder. (Remember all those times you petulantly started a sentence with "when I grow up" when you were a kid? Any idea why anymore? Well today I ate dessert first. Because now I can.)

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FurryFury

FurryFury

(edited)

This show is my stealth fave. I never expected to like it and I was meh on the pilot, but here I am, 7th episode in and surprisingly enjoying it. My love for dramedies is one of the biggest reasons, but also, it managed to make me like the "everyman" hero, a character I'm almost predisposed to hate by this point (most of the time they turn out to be whiny Marty Stues). The actor is one of the biggest reasons, but the writing also helps. Brian doesn't feel like a power fantasy or a self-insert, he feels real and relatable. This is really noteworthy.

 

As for the episode, I liked it well enough. I especially loved hearing actual, non-mangled and true-to-life Russian spoken by the guest stars, it doesn't happen that often on American TV (and that's putting it mildly).

 

Fun fact: the Russian dude's last name, Basayev, was a last name of an actual Chechen terrorist during the Chechen War in the 90s. He was famous enough for common people to know him. I've no idea if it's a coincidence, but still.

Edited by FurryFury
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