Limitless is that its setup feels like familiar territory, even if you haven’t seen the movie.
The life of Brian Finch gets a boost when an old friend floats him a tablet of NZT, which enables him to access all of his brain, not the mere 10 percent or so the rest of us humans use.
The result is like an mix of Sherlock and The Mentalist, with some star quality provided by the lead of the 2011 movie, Bradley Cooper, for good measure. Brian’s first day on the drug is a gas, highlighted by epic guitar solos, simultaneous chess matches, and, most effectively.
A sitdown where he tells the HR manager who hired him as a temp everything she needs to get ahead, as she slowly nods knowingly. The potential problem of having a lead dependent on a designer drug is solved in the pilot by the reappearance of Bradley Cooper, still playing Eddie Morra, like he did in the movie. Eddie has now parlayed his knowledge into a dependency antidote and a job as a U.S. senator. So Eddie sets Brian up in a similar NZT status, for reasons that will no doubt become clear over the course of a season.