With much of the shows’ attention focussed on Finch and Harris, with a little bit of Morra thrown in now and again for good measure, this weeks’ episode of Limitless strayed off the beaten track to look at the back stories of Naz and Boyle, two of Harris’ colleagues within the FBI.
We start off with Naz heading to D.C. to investigate further who sanctioned Brian’s earlier kidnapping. She warns Finch that if things don’t go to plan, he may have little choice but to hide out in her apartment – complete with biometric security and, of course a fully stocked fridge.
It soon comes to light that the only reason the top bosses at the FBI allowed Finch to stay in New York was because they believed his NZT immunity could be atmosphere related, however now, tests have ruled such a factor out as a possibility. Naz has been the only one fully aware of such information and she worries that if her colleagues find out, they may yet subject Brian to treatment far worse than that endured during his kidnapping.
At the meeting in D.C., Naz doesn’t hold back. She demands to know who sanctioned what happened and wants him found immediately. Her bargaining chip to get them to give her what she wants? A threat to resign and inform everyone that the CIA conducted an unauthorized black op on home soil. Evidently, she’s not one to be messed with.
Finch meanwhile is getting to know Ike a little more. He learns that Ike became his babysitter for little other reason than the fact he fell asleep during a stakeout (oops!) Not much happens during their interaction but it’s nice to see other characters other than the central ones getting their own slice of screen time.
Upon her return to New York where she’s gotten some names, Naz is in high spirits although they don’t last long as she’s quickly arrested. Her replacement at the FBI is Grady Johnson, who, from the outset, no one likes. So, in typical Finch fashion, Brian steals his phone and discovers Naz is being accused of assisting a terrorist by the name of Felix Durmaz. A quick pop of a Morra-given NZT pill and a text message to Johnson’s many contacts later, he and Rebecca head to the safe house – but they’re not alone.
Fortunately, their unexpected ‘visitor’ to the house is Naz’s daughter Ava who is hiding out. She informs the pair that her mom did in fact give Durmaz $3M, but only to secure the release of Ava’s cousin Mitra who had been kidnapped by pirates. Felix was the broker with whom she arranged Mitra’s freedom, but it never came off.
Away from the safe house, Johnson is doing some research of his own and cosies up to Boyle in the hopes of getting more information. Boyle, we discover, filed a formal complaint a few weeks back over the fact that NZT was being given to an untrained consultant. As a stickler for rules and organization, Boyle was outraged by this, and Johnson uses that anger in the hope of getting him to open up and disclose everything he knows about Finch. Harris has supplied him with doctored medical records, supposedly belonging to Finch, and wants him to hand them over to Johnson as a form of bait – smart!
Back at the safe house, Durmaz gets in touch. He explains that the pirates who took Mitra have just had their ship pirated (serves them right!) and it’s left to Brian to use his NZT-fuelled mind to quickly learn several languages and so successfully navigate the radio frequencies for news. Soon connected with a pirate Tumblr (really?!), the kid running it says he knows of Mitra’s location but will only divulge the information in exchange for his page being promoted on the official FBI Twitter page.
He eventually relents and tells them Mitra was captured by a bigger, far badder pirate ship by the name of Wong Sa and one of the ringleaders of the ship runs an opium ring in the city. Holding up a sandwich board on a street corner on which is scrawled a message about their being a snitch in the ring, it doesn’t take long for Finch to be approached by the ring-leader. Threatening to kill him, Finch instead makes him an offer – free Mitra and receive the rarest pinball machine ever made: the Schoolgirl Reaper – quite how Brian truly convinced the guy who owned it to give it up I don’t quite know but never-mind.
Back with Boyle, he heads to D.C. with the doctored medical files and meets with the executive assistant director of the FBI, Kenneth Paulson. Boyle’s old friend Loretta meanwhile smuggles him the documents regarding Finch’s kidnapping and the episode closes out with Brian calling in a favour to Senator Morra (you just know there’s going to be a come-back on that) who blows open the entire matter and Paulson has no choice but to resign.
For an episode that focussed more on Naz and Boyle than the usual central characters, this weeks’ show was intriguing but also at times rather bland. However, there’s little doubt Morra and Finch are set to have further communications with one another and the NZT issue will rear its ugly head again soon. What did you think of the episode? Comment below to let me know and I’ll see you back here next week.
