Limitless - Quite Good!

It's still a slow phase for me in the publishing world. So I'm using this time to comment on some shows I've seen, both on the big screen and the small.  I'm not a movie goer much anymore, so the small screen has held most of my attention when it comes to viewership. And I've been critical of much of it, (with the big screen too btw.)

But I can make some positive comments about a show I've been watching recently. Limitless. It came out a couple years ago, I think, and it's based on a movie of the same name, which I never saw. I never watched the series either, but now with the Netflix connection, I can watch it without those hated commercials, and whenever I want. And I like it. Unfortunately there's only one season but there's a lot going for it.

First of all, it doesn't feature a woman as the main character as so many shows do nowadays. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But for me at least there comes a point when I want to see a man as the hero again. Let me stress I am not a misogynist or a chauvinist. But when every show (well almost every show lately) both on the big and small screen features a woman as the hero, and the men are all incompetent second fiddles to her heroism, it gets tiring.

So Limitless has a male hero. But of course he's not really a hero, because the main character is a college drop out and a drug user, which I don't think much of either really. But whatever. He takes a pill and can use 100% of his brain. He's the only one who can do that because some senator played by Cooper Bradley, (who's an actor I like) provides him with a monthly shot to counter the side effects. But the premise is the FBI doesn't know he is getting those shots. They think his immunity to side effects is something normal in him. I've since learned that the senator was the original user of the drug from the movie. I'll have to check out that movie sometime soon.

But even though those premises I just described are really things I don't agree with, I like the show anyway for another reason. A simple and basic reason. It's entertaining. The actor really nails his part. And the writing for each show I've seen so far is outstanding. I'm about midway through season 1 right now, (which seeing as how it's only one season, that means I'm halfway through the entire series.) But whatever, so far so good.

I just watched the episode where Brian Finch has put together his own team, and it at first seemed like a light-hearted story. But it turned out pretty heavy. It had some serious drama, and I thought it was realistic. But that depended on the viewer buying in to the character's boyish behavior, which I do, because a lot of dudes are like that in real life. So yeah. It's believable.

I also like the female lead. She's the FBI agent in charge of Brian and they cast the right actress for the part. Why? Because she's not a beauty queen. Most actresses they hire to play FBI agents or female cops are total lookers. I mean they could be models or, well, beauty queens. But FBI agent Rebecca Harris, played by Jennifer Carpenter is not a beauty queen. She looks like, well, she looks like a female FBI agent. so there you go.

Anyway, I'm not surprised that a TV show I like only lasts for one season. I'm still surprised The Blacklist is sill going strong. (Although I'm hearing rumors about that one being cancelled soon.) But for the moment, I'll be enjoying what's there. And it is what it is. Enjoyable.