S01.E13: Stop Me Before I Hug Again

[Snarkette]

Brian embarks on his first FBI field assignment when he travels to Quantico to lend his skills to the bureau unit that catches serial killers. However, the trip takes a negative turn when Brian realizes the man he’s working with may have put away an innocent person in the career-making case that made him a renowned profiler. Also, Brian tries to stay one step ahead of Rebecca as she comes closer to discovering Senator Morra’s connection to NZT

 

I love how they're not afraid to burn through plot to get to the deeper story. Most shows, the very first case would have gone until the end. Instead, we got, what, several twists and turns as well as the underlying story of Rebecca's independent investigation? The story structure is more Simpsons than Elementary, and the fun they have forcing us to pay attention is remarkable.

 

Tell me I'm not the only one who paused and read through all 30 crimes. Please.

[twoods]

Every time they said "hug" instead of "kill", and all those cuddly serial killer names, made me giggle. This show is awesome. I also love how competent they show the FBI, especially Rebecca noticing the details about the Morra case. Usually a show dumbs down the day players to make the main guy seem smarter than everyone else, but that is definitely not the case here. Even the profiler who was wrong apologized to Brian instead of threatening him, and he wasn't the killer! (I thought they were going there)

[Kromm]

Okay, this show has big huge swinging balls. The narrative and acting challenges on this episode had to be enormous. It almost physically pains me that the critics are ignoring this genius work.  What the hell is wrong with them? I think this proves that like a lot of other things in the current world, that system is broken--that they watch pilot episodes and move on, and that's a big problem with evaluating shows.

 

I'd love to hear the stories behind what went on set during this episode. It can't have been easy to speak ANY of those lines.

And the way this show actually stands behind its characters (ie. not making Rebecca a dummy, giving Nas beats other than just being some humorless boss) makes me so happy too.  I think I might be prepared to say there might not be a better show on (at least broadcast) television this year. It respects it's viewers as well as it's core story, characters and premise. It remembers the viewers have brains enough to figure out stuff like a shifting/non-realistic narrative, and definitely remembers that the point of TV is to be FUN to watch.  This show gets me as a viewer--that I want to be entertained, but also not coddled, and that the right show can do both simultaneously.

 

I did spot the "don't touch that, it's voice activated" product placement. It was more subtle than most shows would do it (since they didn't highlight the brand of the car that directly).

 

Oh and can we talk about the acting chemistry between the leads?  It's not romantic, but that in a way makes it even more admirable. The two of them, as time goes by, play off each other better and better. I'm gonna (figuratively) put my foot down and say outright I hope the writers realize what they have and never fall into the trap of trying to turn it romantic. That won't end well (from a perspective of how this show has to be to work best). 

Edited January 20, 2016 by Kromm

[BooBear]

Agreed with all of the above. This show is giving double the entertainment each week.  I figured for sure the entire episode was going to be Brian at Quantico. What a delight it was that with a whole bunch more.  Love that Rebecca is so darn smart on her own but also worried for her because she will figure it out.  One bad thing about the episode was that I thought the implanted memory story line was a bit much. It may very well be true that such a thing is possible but it seemed needlessly outlandish.

 

I actually thought when Brian was talking about distracting Rebecca at Quantico at night that he might use something romantic to distract her but I was glad they didn't go that way. Also glad that they suggested that Brian did want Rebecca to know.

[Big Mother]

Several thoughts:

 

1. This episode should be renamed "You're busted, Brian Finch." I felt that what he did was extremely risky/dangerous; I was at the EDGE of my seat during the near-showdown at the evidence locker. (As an aside:how were Boyle and Rebecca able to wander around the evidence lockers 'legally', but Brian Finch needed underhanded tactics to get in? Rank and serial maybe?)

 

2. The code words for killers and rape and strangle were funny, but I was really confused and wondered why they needed this plot device.

 

3. I am very surprised that this show has not turned into the next big hit on CBS. It's BRILLIAN. This is better than Scorpion or Supergirl any day. It's appointment TV for me, and I literally can't breathe for the whole hour of suspense. So why is it so unrecognized? Because their main cast are not big names? (Ithought Bradley Cooper would bring in the viewers.)

 

4. I like how they backed away from pairing up Brian and Rebecca romantically. Maybe on the finale of season 2?

 

5. PREDICTIONS. Isn't the storyline moving WAY too fast? Rebecca is THIS CLOSE to busting Brian. If he gets busted by episode 14 of Season 1, where do we go from here? 

 

It's funny, the first 11 or so episodes, in my head brian was firmly on Rebecca's side. By now, although he cares deeply about her and is trying these tactics desperately in order to protect her, he is growing less afraid to get in trouble with her and trying to protect morra more desperately. I wonder which side will win.

 

Why is Sands not killing Rebecca to silence her? He's killed others involved with En-Zed-Tee before (didnt he always say NZT until this ep?)

[sjohnson]

Sands has always pronounced "Z" as "Zed." 

 

The purpose of the kid show host was to announce what Brian is smart enough to figure out: That the conscious mind doesn't control everything, isn't everything, no matter how high the IQ. And the admission he hates his life is huge. 

[Netfoot]

I figured for sure the entire episode was going to be Brian at Quantico.

 

Thank goodness Priyanka didn't show up with her Cohorts of Cluelessness.  (Although it might have been a cute sight-gag if Brian had bumped into her in the hallway, or something.)

 

Sands has always pronounced "Z" as "Zed." 

 

IOW, correctly!

 

Slickest moment in a very slick episode:  Brian, covered in dog-hair, getting DNA evidence in the lift.  But he didn't have to shave some Poor Pooch in the Park.  He only needed to go by some dog-grooming salon.

[MrWhyt]

 

1. This episode should be renamed "You're busted, Brian Finch." I felt that what he did was extremely risky/dangerous; I was at the EDGE of my seat during the near-showdown at the evidence locker. (As an aside:how were Boyle and Rebecca able to wander around the evidence lockers 'legally', but Brian Finch needed underhanded tactics to get in? Rank and serial maybe?)

The door was left open and the clerk was nowhere to be found, not good signs at a supposedly secure evidence lock up. They went in to investigate, not just wander the aisles. Brain also had to be sneaky to get into the locker because he didn't want a record of him being there.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

One bad thing about the episode was that I thought the implanted memory story line was a bit much. It may very well be true that such a thing is possible but it seemed needlessly outlandish.

They probably didn't want to teach viewers how to do that in more practical ways.

[Shades of Red]

This is appointment tv for me too!  I actually watch this live and sometimes will rewatch to catch things I've missed or really enjoyed.  Did anyone notice it was a poster of Rebecca on the wall in the children's show stuff?  It's all the little things that make this show so much fun.  Wonder how much is improvised? 

[hnygrl]

Oh man...I'm getting really worried about the Brian/Rebecca thing. She's *this* close to busting Brian and his "immunity* to NZT and when she does (not if - the gal is too smart for an IF)? Which side will she fall on? Will she continue to help her good friend Brian, keeping his secret while trying to bust the senator, or will she go straight to Naz, as is her duty?

I didn't like that they came so close to exposure in SEASON ONE, the MIDDLE of season one no less. That's making me nervous. Someone's gonna die in season two if they don't back off. First Brian's dad being a dick about it and treating him like he's mentally ill and now Rebecca getting way too close, and Brian being forced to do stuff to stop her. Jeeze, I'm nervousing over here...this cannot end well.

 

Anybody else think Sands with that working class British accent is Hot?

[iMonrey]

OK, what does CJC stand for? Criminal Justice . . . something?

 

This was an outlandishly clever episode, but that clown was creepy as hell. 

 

And this is a small nitpick, but I'm struggling to buy Rebecca spotting the difference between the two button chips. 

 

Mr. Pralines and Cream!

[roomtorome]

I love this show but, with all due respect, I think other CBS shows require 1/4 of the attention that this show demands of its audience and maybe that is why it is not a hit.  

 

It's fun, quirky, clever, well acted, directed - It is the only thing I am watching on network TV now - Everything else I find too predictable and redundant.

[possibilities]

Brian told his father the truth... and his father has been fine. Maybe Brian's fear of Rebecca finding out the truth (because he thinks it will be dangerous for her) will also prove unfounded. How she reacts to Brian's "immunity" being a lie, is another question. Brian's subconscious not showing that as his primary fear says a lot about his character-- he knows he's breaking laws, and he is worried about it. But he talks about his need to protect "his loved ones" a lot more.

 

I wonder if they killed Casey and did the story about Rebecca's father, so that when Rebecca finds out what is going on, and Brian tells her he lied to save his father's life and continued lying to protect her (as well as keep himself out of jail), she might reflect that she wishes she could have done the same for her father, and wishes she could have saved Casey, too, even though she didn't even love Casey-- but he was her (work) partner and she thinks they should always have each other's backs (the way Brian really has had hers-- and he did give her the stolen intel about her dad). I don't see Brian telling her he loves her in so many words, but I do think he would tell her he was trying to protect her and how much he appreciates the ways she's protected and helped him (and that he hates his life and it's a relief that he can now be honest with her), and I hope they don't make them into a romantic pair ever-- I am loving the best friend ride and die loyalty between them and find it refreshing to see it not be about romance on any level. It's one of the same things I love about Elementary-- a male-female duo that is not a couple. C'mon, CBS-- make this your brand!

 

One of the things that's so great about the show is that Rebecca has been drawn as a complex and believable enough character that I think she could go either way in how she reacts to the revelations that seem to be coming. If she decides the betrayal and lawbreaking is too much, I would believe it. But if she decides to support Brian and takes an understanding and forgiving position on his actions, I can believe that too.

 

I am not sure who was the first person I heard say this (in my head, I feel like it was either Chris Rock or the writers of Parks and Rec, which is a weird combination to hear in simultaneous voice), but whoever it was, they said that to write a good show you have to be willing to use up your material, advance the story, and not be afraid you'll run out of new things to say. I have no idea what Limitless will do once the secrets of this season are revealed, but I am staking my enjoyment as a viewer on the premise that there will be more possibilities than just the things we've already seen them setting up, so it's okay if they don't waste time on filler, and they keep working the premise of very smart characters who are paying attention, keeping the tension high through advancing rather than stalling tactics.

 

I love that Brian is a character who is motivated deeply by caring and a desire to do good, but at the same time he's not a goody two shoes type. He is sincere, and devoted, and all the good things people are supposed to be, but he's not someone you'd look at and call perfect or unbelievably virtuous, either.

[Big Mother]

Telling his father is very different from telling Rebecca. Rebecca has the power to destroy Eddie Morra, and Brian is afraid of that.

[MrWhyt]

Brian told his father the truth... and his father has been fine. Maybe Brian's fear of Rebecca finding out the truth (because he thinks it will be dangerous for her) will also prove unfounded.

 

Brian's father's first priority is to protect  his son, it's safer to tell him the truth than Rebecca. While Brian can hope that Rebecca's first priority is to protect her friend he can't risk the chance that she'd put Truth/Justice/American Way ahead of him and do something to expose Morra and thus endanger herself, his family and him..

[thuganomics85]

I pity anyone who tuned in late in the episode and was wondering why Brian and the FBI were obsessed with hunting down serial huggers, who by names like Mr. Pralines and Cream and Mr. Butterscotch.  Loved that gag though.  Especially everyone delivering lines like that and playing it completely straight.  The actors treated it like regular procedural exposition, which made the ridiculousness of it even more awesome.  Also loved Brian covering his eyes when he passed the bong to the kid show host inside his head.  The show is just way more fun then the typical CBS procedural.

 

Like that Rebecca is continuing to get more suspicious of Morra, and isn't dropping it.  I do worry about what the fallout will be.  I don't see them killing her off or anything, but I have to think something really bad is going to happen when all is said and done.  I'm kind of surprised neither Sands or Morra have decided that she just isn't worth the risk, but maybe they really worry that harming her could set Brian off in ways they aren't prepared for.

 

Good thing this show isn't on ABC, or Brian's trip to Quantico could have very well caused him to have interact with that group of immature, over-dramatic dingbats.  Then again, maybe the NZT would help Brian solve some of that's show biggest mysteries like what in the hell that Shelby see in Caleb or how does Priyanka Chopra get that perfect hair.

[possibilities]

Brian's father's first priority is to protect  his son, it's safer to tell him the truth than Rebecca. While Brian can hope that Rebecca's first priority is to protect her friend he can't risk the chance that she'd put Truth/Justice/American Way ahead of him and do something to expose Morra and thus endanger herself, his family and him..

I meant that Brian was warned against telling anyone the truth, and felt that if he told his father, his father would be in danger. But we've seen no harm come to his father since Brian told him. So, when Brian says he's afraid of Rebecca finding out because "it's dangerous for her"-- i.e. he's worried she'll be targeted, since Morra and Sands have warned Brian that they will target his loved ones or anyone who knows their secret-- that maybe that is not going to play out as a real problem.

 

I agree it's anyone's guess as to whether Rebecca knowing will be dangerous for Brian, and whether or not Rebecca will choose to support him or turn him in.

 

But I also think that what Rebecca does once she figures things out will influence how much danger she's in. If Brian's dad had gone public like he threatened to, it's more likely Morra and his minions would have targeted him. For now, as long as Morra's people do not know that anyone besides Brian knows, and they think Brian is loyal to Morra, they have no reason to target anyone. But if they think other people know, or if they think Brian is being disloyal or has been exposed, then they have more motive to go after whoever Brian cares about (to pressure Brian to obey Morra) or who they suspect knows what is going on regardless of how they found out (to protect Morra and his secrets).

 

Whether or not Rebecca will put her own or Brian's safety above loyalty to the law or "the country" -- or how she will evaluate what she thinks is best for the country-- is the wildcard.

Edited January 20, 2016 by possibilities

[Netfoot]

This episode puts paid to the idea that Morra -- as implied by the movie ending -- is no longer on NZT.  In this milieu at least, he's still a user.

[iMonrey]

 

I love this show but, with all due respect, I think other CBS shows require 1/4 of the attention that this show demands of its audience and maybe that is why it is not a hit.

 

The time slot isn't ideal either; freshman shows that debut in the 10:00 pm spot usually don't set the world on fire. The ratings are decent, though, and TV By the Numbers has it down as a likely renewal. I think the ratings for the time slot are satisfactory if not stellar; CBS apparently didn't have enough confidence in this show to really sell it as an anchor for a 2 or 3 hour block, maybe they thought it was too smart or too complicated for mainstream success.

[Kromm]

I love this show but, with all due respect, I think other CBS shows require 1/4 of the attention that this show demands of its audience and maybe that is why it is not a hit.  

 

It's fun, quirky, clever, well acted, directed - It is the only thing I am watching on network TV now - Everything else I find too predictable and redundant.

it got decent ratings for it's first few months (low compared to previous years admittedly, but okay compared to other CBS 1 hour dramas THIS season).  The problem is the total lack of recognition by the critics.

 

Admittedly somehow the bottom dropped out of the ratings though. The trend is not good, and we may not get a renewal looking at it. And the lack of critics means no Save The Show campaigns spearheaded by them.

 

 http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/limitless-season-one-ratings-38106/

 

The ratings for this episode were especially brutal. Perhaps CBS did a crap job advertising the show was coming back and when. because a 36.5% drop off in viewers is... frightening.

[BooBear]

I pity anyone who tuned in late in the episode and was wondering why Brian and the FBI were obsessed with hunting down serial huggers, who by names like Mr. Pralines and Cream and Mr. Butterscotch.

 

Raises Hand. ETA CBS needs to advertise better. I was watching Agent Carter (happily) and remembered a few minutes into Limitless that it was on.

 

I agree it's anyone's guess as to whether Rebecca knowing will be dangerous for Brian, and whether or not Rebecca will choose to support him or turn him in.

 

Has anyone considered this is what Morra wants?  I know until last week, when he actually spotted and ducked the bullet coming at him and had a long drawn out conversation with himself about exactly how he should handle it, I might have thought it outlandish also.   But Morra handed that coat over pretty fast without a second thought and we have never fully understood what Morra wants with Brian and why he picked him for whatever purpose.  I suppose I could fan wank it that he is trying to use lovable Brian to spread acceptance in criminal enforcement circles about NZT.

Edited January 21, 2016 by BooBear

[MrWhyt]

This episode puts paid to the idea that Morra -- as implied by the movie ending -- is no longer on NZT.  In this milieu at least, he's still a user.

not entirely, what we saw was that Sands and Morra were willing to let Brian think that Morra was still on NZT.

Edited January 21, 2016 by MrWhyt

[Noirprncess]

I've decided to use serial "hugger", unicorns and similar words in real life.

[Mophyus]

Hi there! I got some questions: why was senator`s morra coat considered evindence? What does that coat have to do with the shooting in first place? Did they have the legal reason to consider it evidence?

[beacon]

Can I just say as someone who is named Brian, that I just love a great show like this where the main character is named Brian.

[Big Mother]

1) I believe that Brian's dad only knows about the NZT. Not about Senator Morra. But if Rebecca knows  about Morra being the one to possess the immunity antidote, that is COMPLETELY different from Brian's dad just being away of NZT. Because Rebecca will undoubtedly go after Morra, since the whole reason for Brian having the FBI job is due to his immunity and they want to know what the immunity contains. So Brain will be in trouble, his family will be in trouble, Rebecca will be in trouble, AND Brian will stop getting his immunity shots. There are too many stakes here, much higher than his father knowing about the NZT.

 

2) I'll be devastated if this doesnt get renewed. They can't wrap up this story in just one season. there's so much more story left to be told. And if they already filmed the last few episodes and we stay with a forever-cliffhanger, I'll be mad.

a super-dumb question just occurred to me. Wouldnt it have been SO MUCH SIMPLER for Brian, under the guise of whichever agent he posed as to request all kinds of minor items from the evidence locker, wouldve simply requested Senator Morra's coat, casually walked off with it to the bathroom, and exchanged it for the new one two  minutes later? Why did he have to go through the whole shebang of sending the evidence guy on a wild goose chase around the place and risk what eventually happened? and hey... when the evidence guy finally returned to the front and found no sign of anyone there - the alleged person who just asked for these items disappeared - wouldnt that have aroused MAJOR suspicion? And they have security cameras everywhere, so how did this not turn into a huge deal? am I wrong here?

[sjohnson]

Brian erased the security footage, as indicated by the camera view of him going black. 

The point was to erase any suspicion of anyone tampering with the evidence...except that Brian caviled on the nicked button not matching. 

[iMonrey]

 

Why did he have to go through the whole shebang of sending the evidence guy on a wild goose chase around the place and risk what eventually happened?

 

Because if he just asked for the coat it would have been written down/recorded that someone checked it out, and Rebecca would have been tipped off that someone probably switched it out.

[Free]

The problem is the total lack of recognition by the critics.

 

Sadly it's been under the radar.  The only pr seems to be from Bradley Cooper cameos from what I've seen.

[Trisan]

it got decent ratings for it's first few months (low compared to previous years admittedly, but okay compared to other CBS 1 hour dramas THIS season).  The problem is the total lack of recognition by the critics.

 

Admittedly somehow the bottom dropped out of the ratings though. The trend is not good, and we may not get a renewal looking at it. And the lack of critics means no Save The Show campaigns spearheaded by them.

 

 http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/limitless-season-one-ratings-38106/

 

The ratings for this episode were especially brutal. Perhaps CBS did a crap job advertising the show was coming back and when. because a 36.5% drop off in viewers is... frightening.

 

No, no,  I refuse to hear you... LALALALALA... Oh look, I'm blind (or deaf, depending on the realistic scale you wanna chose)... 

 

So... where were we ?

 

Ah yeah, this show is awesome and WILL be renewed for a second season. Yes, that's it ! ^^

Edited January 21, 2016 by Trisan

[Kromm]

The thing is you don't just magically go from 7.3m viewers to 4.6 million. Even CBS, as thick brained as they are, has to realize that--that there had to be extraordinary circumstances like nobody knowing the show was coming back and/or something else drawing people off en-masse that one day. 

 

Next week will be important I'd assume. If the show bounces back then the off-week could actually be good (showing that the fault was CBS' and not the shows). 

 

EDIT - Ack. Okay I realized I mis-stated something. The show WASN'T technically coming back after a mid-season break. They did that Jan 5.  But then the show was gone for a week and THEN back again. That must have totally screwed up people's expectations though.

 

As for what might have drawn people off (besides scheduling confusion)?  Wasn't this the week those dumb Chicago shows on NBC did some giant lame ass crossover between all of the shows?  Or was that last week?

 

Worse than Limitless, I feel sorry for Agent Carter (another really good show). That show came back on Tuesday too and tanked big-time.  Sometimes it really DOES feel like the stupid shit wins, when those idiotic formulaic Chicago shows (and now they're apparently going to make a FOURTH one), and endless NCIS shows, and Dancing With the Stars, and other lame crap rules the TV roost so firmly. 

Edited January 21, 2016 by Kromm

[theatremouse]

I pity anyone who tuned in late in the episode and was wondering why Brian and the FBI were obsessed with hunting down serial huggers, who by names like Mr. Pralines and Cream and Mr. Butterscotch.  Loved that gag though.  Especially everyone delivering lines like that and playing it completely straight.

 

Hi! That'd be me. Until I got here I was assuming (based on how straight they played it) that "hug" was an acronym for some more specific type of attack/violence whatever and basically accepted it as code, albeit one I couldn't figure out. So it sort of worked out anyway?

[Irlandesa]

I didn't love the serial killer cutesy nicknames.  I get what they were trying to go for but it just fell flat for me.  Other than that, the show once again surprised me in how it's willing to ask more complicated questions surrounding Brian and NZT.  We're meant to believe that the goal is for Brian to switch out the coat but then they bring back the fake dinosaur to challenge that assumption.  I do love that Rebecca is allowed to be smart.

 

As for the ratings, it does suck that they were down this week but Limitless is one of the network's best DVR performers percentage wise. I really don't know if critics would necessarily change the ratings significantly in any direction but I do hope it starts to get more notice so that people will be compelled to catch up and stream to catch up if it gets a second season.

[Kromm]

I didn't love the serial killer cutesy nicknames.  I get what they were trying to go for but it just fell flat for me.  Other than that, the show once again surprised me in how it's willing to ask more complicated questions surrounding Brian and NZT.  We're meant to believe that the goal is for Brian to switch out the coat but then they bring back the fake dinosaur to challenge that assumption.  I do love that Rebecca is allowed to be smart.

 

As for the ratings, it does suck that they were down this week but Limitless is one of the network's best DVR performers percentage wise. I really don't know if critics would necessarily change the ratings significantly in any direction but I do hope it starts to get more notice so that people will be compelled to catch up and stream to catch up if it gets a second season.

Critics can affect ratings, but the only real opportunities are at/before a premiere, and a small bit before new seasons (but then people have the "I don't want to come in at the middle" feeling and often still stay away) 

 

I think their real role with a show like this is to help save it from being canned. The more they write about a show, the more people seem to see it as something that needs saving.  They don't affect ratings so much as counteract them.

[Rinaldo]

So how do we talk someone like Alan Sepinwall into taking another look? Or sites that recap shows, humorously or otherwise, into including it in the rotation? Just to keep a minimum level of conversation going on about it? 

[MisterGlass]

I was one of the people who tuned in to Agent Carter for the full two hours, so I ended up watching this one late.  Let me say, wow.  On the one hand I think it's important not to trivialize really horrible crimes, such as the kind of brutality that Brian walked into, and this episode flirted with that.  On the other hand, it says something about Brian as a character and the horror that things like this ought to inspire that he completely retreated from reality in order to get through this.  It was handled so well - I can't believe they managed to deadpan their way through an episode about serial hugging.  My favorite part was Brian sitting in the evil minds museum, and for him it was full of cats playing.  This was the most original thing I've seen in a while. 

 

I also love the Rebecca is inching toward the truth.  Mike and Ike doing the high five when the celebrity profiler was coming was a fun note too.  I like that they took a little time to develop them as characters, and now I enjoy them more.  Now they just need to give Boyle some room to grow.

 

I think I'm making peace with the fact that the shows I like are going to have short runs, or they are eventually going to turn into something I don't like.  I'm glad the show is going for broke while it can.

[shapeshifter]

I was watching Agent Carter (happily) and remembered a few minutes into Limitless that it was on

Me too. And if I'd realised Agent Carter was a 2 hours, I would have watched it later sans commercials and watched Limitless live.

So I think the ratings will bounce back.

But I suspect that the critics don't take the mid-season-introduced shows seriously, so they have to be better than fall shows in order to catch attention.

I love this show but, with all due respect, I think other CBS shows require 1/4 of the attention that this show demands of its audience and maybe that is why it is not a hit.

That sounds like a pretty accurate assessment. Maybe A&E or TNT or Hulu would like to offer it a second season. I don't think it's terribly cerebral, just not typical CBS linear story telling.

As someone who often quits shows for gratuitous violence, I appreciated the euphemisms. It was sort of like the show was saying it's okay to be wimp, and that doesn't mean I can't still appreciate creative thinking. Maybe someone else here can articulate that better than I.

[ZoqFotPik]

 

I didn't love the serial killer cutesy nicknames.  I get what they were trying to go for but it just fell flat for me.

I'm with you on this. I felt it had gotten old by the five minute mark.

[nonobaddog]

I think the ratings were down on this episode BECAUSE of the stupid cutesy names.  This was the worst one yet by far.  The plot was typically good but the dialog was way too immature.  You can rationalize it any way you want but it just plain sucked.  I couldn't even watch it the first couple tries until I forced myself to get through it.  Although I'm glad I did when it was over.  If there is no renewal you won't have to look hard for a reason, this was it!

[Kromm]

I think the ratings were down on this episode BECAUSE of the stupid cutesy names. 

Ratings don't go down retroactively because someone watched an episode and didn't like something in it. That might affect followup episodes, but not the current one.

[Izeinwinter]

At a guess, this show and agent carter have enormous audience overlap.
So the two hours thing hurt.
Anyway, I'm not sure Limitless *should* have a long run - the premise behind the show is nitroglycerin - it's primed to blow up at any time -

 

NTZ isn't going to stay limited to a mere handful of people for any length of time, not when people know about it and what it does. And a society in which, oh say, Piper decides to kick Mora where it would actually hurt and publishes the enzyme booster recipe and NTZ's synthesis path on in journals, the internet, mass physical mailing and news paper advertisements all at once is a world that's about to go really, really non-linear. That would be a really awesome series finale, actually. 

 

And that's just one of the things that are ticking time bombs - Everyone involved has been established to be very clever, and Finch is a double agent. Someone is either going to catch on or end up looking stupid, both of which would be bad for the show. So, basically, the entire show has a bunch of doom timers in it, and had from the first episode on. In order to go for any length of time, it would be necessary to rejig the show in quite major ways. 

Edited February 10, 2016 by Izeinwinter

[sjohnson]

^^^And almost no series ever manages to pull this sort of thing off. 

[krimimimi]

And that's just one of the things that are ticking time bombs - Everyone involved has been established to be very clever, and Finch is a double agent. Someone is either going to catch on or end up looking stupid, both of which would be bad for the show. So, basically, the entire show has a bunch of doom timers in it, and had from the first episode on. In order to go for any length of time, it would be necessary to rejig the show in quite major ways.

And you've solved the problem yourself: It's only a problem when all those doom timers fail to go off, and it makes it look like their entire plot is made of duds.

A lot of shows are so in love with their stupid mysteries and arcs that they keep going to the well long after it's run dry, because they don't have the courage to move on. One of the best examples of reinvention recently has to be "Person of Interest," which I bailed on, but was lucky enough to rediscover on Netflix. (Much better on binge watch anyway, because you don't have weeks to stew about what you're worried will happen next, you just watch what actually happens instead. So much better than anticipated.) One of the worst exemplars I subjected myself to was "Alias," which was a shame, because they actually regularly radically changed it up, but were so enamored with the damn Grimaldi crap that it went on too long. Or "Blacklist"'s refusal to explain the Red/Lizzie connection until no one cares, and everyone will be completely underwhelmed when/if the reveal ever happens. Or classic X-files' arc of increasing stupidity complexity. Oh the list goes on.

But I'm betting this show will have the guts to change, the sense to do it in a timely fashion, and the skill to do it well. It's really pleasantly surprised me so far, and I plan on seeing where it goes. In fact, I'm looking forward to it.

[atomationage]

I watched this episode four times.  The actors were so good in delivering their lines with a straight face.