Limitless - Close Encounters - Review: "Utter Brilliance"

Apologies for the lateness. It was a busy week.

Once again, Limitless gifted us with another beautiful piece of television this week. It was a lot more emotionally heavy than more episodes tend to be, and for once the case of the week was not as important to me, even with the blackout and the quarantine they placed. What was happening underneath all that was vastly more interesting. Everyone in this episode deserved a Performer of the Month award, as far as I'm concerned.

While the case wasn't necessary the most vital piece of plot for this episode, it still provided us with many interesting details. For example, Brian, with his ever-changing amount of spare NZT pills, moonlights as some sort of vigilante at night. He takes on cases and helps people out - either by sketching the suspects or getting more visits by the clones of his subconscious, worrying about him. This all leads to Brian finding the body of a guy who has Pop Tart topping on his hand (no seriously, tell me that wasn't what it looked like). He also met Detective Hernandez there, and the two of them became buddies. This was adorable, and I wouldn't mind seeing this guy again. Brian runs into Rebecca, who he thought was a part of his subconscious first, which was very intriguing to me. She's upset that he's on NZT, but they get distracted by the power outage. The next day, they head to work and Mike's there to give Brian a pill. Double dosing would be bad, so Brian pockets it for a later time. This was a great scene - Naz conferencing with the whole CJC while Brian's talking to his family. He threw some nice shade at Rachel for last week, followed by an eye roll that I am one to do, and a glance at Ike. Clearly they have some talking to do. Brian has a different idea about the blackout, so Naz invites him to the front to address the room. That was great. We also have the MVP of the CJC, James Tech, attentively taking notes. Where he was for the black out we don't know, but he's a great guy. I hope he was safe during all that. There were some filler scenes, or at least scenes I didn't need to see. Ike "primping" himself up to see Rachel again was one of them, however I did enjoy Mike's constant teasing about it.

Brian and Rebecca go to check the generators and Brian hears this buzzing sound. Turns out the generator has that crystal-y, Pop Tart-y stuff flying all around it. It was really pretty to look at; a great job once again by the VFX team for the show. Brian and Rebecca then have to climb 18 flights of stairs, only to seemingly not find much and then have to be quarantined together right after they walk back outside. Not a great start to a day, that's for sure. We meet Sturgeon Reid, who informs them that the substance they found is from a unique source. Brian, in typical fashion, is at first immediately excited at the prospect of it being alien, and then gets nervous about possible death. Ike tries to pick out a song on the radio - turns out he still really likes sappy, romantic tunes. The animation work in these scenes were great; you could see the little cars on the streets cussing in the traffic! And we get to see one of Brian's brothers again, with his wife and two kids. They finally get to Brian's parents house, and Ike gets a rejected handshake from Dennis. Classic. We start to see Boyle's help in all of this. This was perhaps the most important part of the whole case. And then we get to some of the meat of the episode. Brian and Rebecca's emotional turmoil, their fight. I do think it was incisive of Rebecca to check Brian's place, however it is an FBI safe house as given to Brian. But again, he should have the right to a modicum of privacy. Another note to take from this is how Rebecca is truly feeling. She's personally offended by him hiding and sneaking NZT and becoming dependant on it because it's just like her dad. He too probably lied a lot to cover himself and his drug use. She was younger then but it still hit her. He was a full blown addict and I guess she never had the chance to confront him. But seeing Brian going down the exact same path she could confront him - but he won't listen. It's worth noting though, I think, at least to get her side on this. But the acting here was perfection.

Next we see Rachel worrying to her mother about Brian and his NZT. While I can't completely blame her for spilling everything to her, it's still a bit sad to think there's really no one in this world Brian can trust at the moment. This is even more evident by the interrogation scene, which I will get to in a bit. I want to compliment the directing on Boyle in the bank; it was truly ominous and creepy. Brian and Rebecca are released from the quarantine, and Dennis and Marie have a chat about Brian. Meanwhile, Mike and Ike are playing with the kids in the background. I love how good with kids everyone is on this show. Anyway, Boyle, proving he does care about Brian, checks up on him, asks him if he's okay. He's working on some case stuff. Rebecca walks in, and Brian makes a snide comment at her about privacy. Ooh. She also informed him Naz is assigning him to a new handler. What? They can't do that! And right when the NSA walks in too. This is a bad time for all this to be happening. At least Brian figured out who did it. Sturgoen and that guy from the news Ian Marshall, two scientists made to look like Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. They made a one dollar bet about being able to find extra terrestrial life on earth. Don't these people have anything better to do? At least Brian and Boyle are able to work together and find the assistants who helped pull this thing off. One of them tried to run away, in this traffic. Why do criminals always try and run away? It rarely ever pays off. And we also get another moment showcasing how Boyle cares about Brian, saying it wasn't the worst thing (them working together). Brian heads home, to the one place where people love him, because they have to. It's a really bad day to be Brian, though, because even there, there are people who are betraying him. Rachel told his mom about Sands, and Mike and Ike are waiting around from him. I have so many questions about this, but I'll save it for next week, assuming we get some sort of follow up. Thanks for making me cry like crazy, Limitless. And this all ends with Brian on the run, just like an episode of White Collar. Impeccable direction and acting, just stellar work all around. Great job from everyone across the board!

Side Notes:

- Brian's subconscious was eating Funyuns. I found that to be adorable.
- Ike sent at least 30 text messages to Rachel with no response. Seems a bit desperate, don't you think?
- Brian's ultimatum to Rebecca was hilarious. "Could I borrow your phone? Or we could play charades?" I wish they did play charades.
- Mike is gluten free? Interesting. And the way he announced this was amazing.
- Brian actually took off his headphones to listen to his subconscious speak to him. How cute is he?
- Piper's back next episode. How did Brian even get that picture of her?
- The music in this episode was on point, as per usual. Great tunes!

Now, finally, what did YOU think of Close Encounters? Are you ready for next week? Nervous for Brian going rogue? Excited to see Piper again? Please leave a comment down below!

About the Author - Laura Markus

Laura Markus is a Media Studies student from Canada, infatuated with several TV shows. Past favourite include: House, Psych, Chuck, White Collar, Dexter, Arrested Development, Boy Meets World, Battle Creek, Scrubs, and The Listener. Some of her current favourites are: HTGAWM, Suits, Daredevil, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Criminal Minds, and probably 70 others. She also enjoys music from all genres, but her favourite band is Muse. She is a huge Potterhead, and loves books by John Green. She is currently reviewing Limitless for the 2015-2016 season. Feel free to connect with her on any of these social media sites.

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