'Limitless' Postmortem: Jake McDorman Talks Bradley Cooper's Return and Brian's (Potential) New Ally

Warning: This post about the “The Assassination of Eddie Morra” episode of Limitless contains spoilers.

New year, higher stakes. Limitless movie star (and TV series guest star and executive producer) Bradley Cooper returned to the CBS drama tonight as Senator Eddie Morra, and dropped all kinds of drama into Brian Finch’s increasingly chaotic world.

First, there was the introduction of another NZT associate, a scientist named Piper Baird (Fringe’s Georgina Haig), who, after a falling out with Morra, attempted to kill him. That sent Morra to Brian to intervene in the resulting FBI investigation so Morra’s NZT game remains under wraps, and drew Brian into a tricky double-cross with Piper — one that left him with much clearer evidence that Morra’s big-picture plot certainly isn’t totally altruistic.

Jake McDorman (who stars as Brian) talks with Yahoo TV about Morra’s increasingly menacing presence in Brian’s life, whether Brian can maintain his good-guy morality in the face of pressure from Morra and the lure of the power NZT provides him, and the likelihood that Piper will pop up again. And he also tells us what was going through Brian’s mind when Senator Morra made the official announcement that his next goal is to become President Morra.

The surprising death of Casey Rooks was followed up by the equally dramatic return of Edward Morra.
Every time Edward Morra comes back into Brian’s life, you know it’s going to be a big deal, since he’s the big mythology, the protagonist from the movie. I think, just as a viewer and as a fan of the movie myself, getting a glimpse of who [Morra] is now, and how different he is, seeing his direct interaction with Brian, is always exciting.

I think [showrunner] Craig [Sweeny] does incredibly well, and everybody does, to kind of advance that mythology, at least a bit, each episode. It’s never not present… it always moves the good chess pieces down the board. This episode is no exception, especially with the introduction of Piper, who is the only other person in the history of the show that Brian can talk to about this. Even though she’s incredibly dangerous, both directly and indirectly, to his well-being and his relationship with the FBI and with Eddie Morra… he’s like, “Wait, someone’s been through this. Whether or not they came out the other side as a completely deranged ex-operative that used to work with Morra or as somebody who really just confirmed my worst fears about Edward Morra, [she’s] been through this.” She gets NZT, how to communicate on NZT via the hidden message in the painting, so no one will pick up on it.

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I think Brian had gotten to the point of kind of relaxing, at the end of [Episode 6], thinking, “Okay, wait, maybe NZT and Morra aren’t so bad. Maybe, of course, somebody who’s this important would need to test my moral fiber. Maybe it’s not all bad. He really is a good guy who’s going to have to be a little rigid because he’s in global politics, but at the end of the day, he just wants to help starving countries. Okay, maybe he’s fine.” We obviously know that’s not all true, because at the end of that episode, Morra blows up a house.

I think Brian had been able to relax on the idea of the narrative that Eddie Morra is all doom and gloom until this episode, which kind of changes that all again, because Piper comes in and counters with the confirmation of Brian’s worst fears, or Brian’s worst suspicions, about what Morra’s up to and how he operates and who he really is. I think from the pilot until we got to that scene on the roof in Episode 6, Morra’s intentions were ambiguous at best… controlling Brian, even though he’s giving him the opportunity to become somebody more powerful, more capable than he can possibly imagine, but he’s doing it by threatening his family. I think there was only a shade of sinister intention in that that Brian’s been able to let go of, until we get to this episode and [Brian’s fears] come back full-force.

This episode brought home to me what Brian’s dad’s fears are — not just that Brian may be in physical or legal danger, but that NZT and his involvement with the FBI are going to turn him into a different, and not better, person. Do you think maybe Mr. Finch has been seeing the bigger picture more than Brian has?
That’s really true. I actually have not made that connection with his father being kind of onto that larger question, and that Morra proposes that Brian’s so desperately trying to cling to who he was. I think that really is the ultimate question of, maybe, the entire series, or at least the entire arc with Morra, on one side of the NZT spectrum and Brian on the other.

I think one of the most unsettling parts of Brian’s interaction with Morra is when Morra’s sitting in his office, in Brian’s chair, and he asks Brian, “Why are you so desperate to hold on to Brian? I remember Eddie Morra, and I hated the guy. Couldn’t stand him. He was awful.” Like he’s talking about a different species. Like there’s absolutely no shred of whatever he was before. The side effects of NZT have completely taken over. I think that scares the living s–t out of Brian. I think Brian wants to run in the opposite direction and wants to fight for humanity and what unites us, not what separates us and makes Brian better with NZT. I think that’s going to be the conflict between Morra’s ideology verses Brian’s throughout the entire series.

Photos: We Gave Jake McDorman ‘Limitless’ Access to Our Instagram

Inevitably, taking this pill as often as Brian does, it’s going to be an inevitable side effect. He’s going to have to fight to hold onto who he is, because that’s just part of what happens when you look at the world in such a different way, day in and day out. Your morality changes. You tactfully go after problems differently than you would before you had access to all that information, that kind of all-encompassing knowledge and cognitive capabilities that NZT gives you. Probably my favorite scene, or one of the them, in the episode is where Morra sits him down and he’s like, “What are you doing? Why do you work so hard to be that? Do you remember who you were? You were a failed singer and a disappointment to your family. Already, in a handful of months, you’re now working as a consultant in law enforcement. You’re working with a senator. Look at the math. You sucked then. You’re better now because of the drug. Let it go.” Brian’s like, “F–k no. I don’t want to let that go.”

Morra can’t even kind of conceive of that, of why someone would choose to remain the person they are, even if it means potentially giving up power, because he disliked who he was before taking NZT. Do you think that could ultimately be Morra’s downfall, if Brian won’t allow himself to be seduced fully by what NZT offers?
I would be willing to agree. I think Morra would disagree and say, “No, it’s Brian’s biggest weakness, his biggest pressure point.” That’s what’s interesting about when Brian meets Piper and she’s like, “You’ve got a strong moral fiber, middle child. You’re exactly the person he targets because he targets people who have morality, which is this easily manipulated pressure point. That’s the common thread between me and you and other people he’s probably recruited and operated with. Let’s find those good people.” That’s the conclusion I drew from that.

Of course Morra can sell [his position] like it’s the gospel because he’s on NZT. He can tell you anything. It would be impossible to tell if he’s lying or not or what his true intentions are. You only see what he shows you. I think it will be interesting to see where Brian lands. From a logical standpoint, it is his weakness. You only slow yourself down with the hang-ups of identity and opinion. You know what I mean? It’s more artistic. It’s more beautiful to be able to get lost in a great song on the radio. Morra can listen to that song and algorithmically understand exactly why that song affects one person one way and another person another way, but it’s like he doesn’t hear the music anymore. I think that’s scary.

The scene with Morra on the Intrepid, making the speech right before Piper shoots at him, was revealing, too. Where he’s simultaneously making a speech and thinking through her second-by-second movements, and how that will allow him to know exactly when to move to miss the shot… that showed a new level of NZT skills.
I know. He’s at the boss level on a video game. Whatever he was talking about to those veterans on the Intrepid, that was the last thing on his mind. To all those people listening, it was probably a great speech. But that’s that human element thing that he’s got on lockdown and can just sell when he needs to. That stuff’s coming out autonomously from his mouth while he’s taking in everything else. The extent of the way Brian works like that is that people are like, “Are you listening to me? You look like you’re zoning out, thinking about something else.” He rewinds conversations. Morra’s perfected that to such an efficient science that he’s a dangerous, manipulative tool. I think. I don’t know.

That is the big continuing mystery, right? Even though we have more clues now, they’re not definitive.
Exactly. I think it did hit bedrock in a way when he’s like, “I couldn’t get rid of my morals fast enough and become who I am now, yet you cling to who you are so desperately.” I think that is a conversation that’s going to continue.

Do you think Morra really believes Brian killed Piper? That conversation when he’s sitting in Brian’s chair, you could read that as him not being convinced that Brian is at a place where he could go through with something like that.
Exactly. I don’t know, because if Morra knows that didn’t really happen… he’d set up a ruse that’s clever enough that it wouldn’t be suspicious to him if I pretended to go along with it. “Let’s go ahead and give him a shot and see where this goes.” He could absolutely be doing that. It could completely be within the realm of possibility that Morra knows that Piper’s still out there and that this was set up by Brian. He could have had some ulterior motive that we can’t understand yet of why he would ask Brian to do that. You’re right. You would think that this is a pretty big leap. It’s not efficient. It’s a little… not sloppy, but it’s a little bit like, “You gave me a gun with NZT pills. With NZT, don’t you think maybe I could have concocted a toxin or intricately gotten her infected with a disease?” You know what I mean, like something a little bit more sophisticated? But he could’ve been like, “Let’s give him a gun. If he gets arrested, that’s two birds with one stone. Whatever.”

Right. Morra is so arrogant that it’s believable that he just does assume that Brian did whatever he told him to do.
Absolutely. The illusion of so much control, I think, intoxicates Morra, and might be one of his weaknesses.

What is Brian thinking when he sees the announcement that Morra is going to run for president at the end of the episode?
Oh God… he’s unstoppable. I think it was like, “This is the only politician I’ve ever met, and he’s basically worked his way into my life as my god.” Like, I cannot beat him. I cannot question him. He holds all the lives of the people I care about in the palm of his hand. Within x amount of time knowing him, I don’t have a gauge of, “Am I just in a bad situation? Is he a s–t politician?” I think when he announces his run for president, Brian goes, “Man, if he can infiltrate my life in this short amount of time and become my god, what could he do as president and leader of the entire free world?”

Is there a chance we’ll see Piper again?
As long as she’s alive, I think there’s definitely a possibility of a return. The way that this episode ends, she’s out there with NZT, and she’s got a vendetta against Morra. That’s the thing: Would Brian side with Piper if she could get the boost, if she could protect the enzyme? That only gives Brian an alternate source of the antidote. If he sided with Piper, then he’s enlisting in a war. She has a directive that is, “Stop Senator Morra in America at all costs.” As long as she’s out there with that same directive, I don’t see how we wouldn’t see her again.

Limitless airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS.