One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the one that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
--From "The White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
In 2011, Bradley Cooper starred in the film version of Limitless, co-starring Robert DiNiro and directed by Neil Burger. I reviewed the film for the HuffPost feeling a bit uneasy about its message of grandeur delivered by a capsule.
In the movie, Eddie (Mr. Cooper) is a writer who cannot inscribe two decent words in a row on a page and his talented and beautiful lady friend hands him back his apartment keys and says goodbye. He descends into a life of dishes and debris piling up around him. His drinking blossoms into an unending bender. But chance happens and a former drug dealer (not Mr. DeNiro, for his job is to bring corporate malfeasance to the table), now a dapper man about town, offers him a pill that will change everything. One pill makes you larger. What the hell, what does Eddie have to lose?
In the TV show, which premiered on CBS on September 22, 2015, we meet Brian Finch (Jake McDorman) and rejoin today Eddie, now a superstar and U.S. Senator (played by superstar Bradley Cooper). We also go from corporate America in the movie to government in this TV network show, but don't worry it's the FBI not the IRS. Jennifer Carpenter plays FBI "special" agent Rebecca (can someone tell me what makes an agent special?) who used to think that dangers lurked outside the office; now she has to worry about the soon to be new agent on the block, Brian. But when he is good, boy is he good.
Brian can run and jump like Tom Cruise, think like IBM's Watson, fight like Mike Tyson, play chess like Bobby Fisher, play music like Eric Clapton, and make Dr. House look like a freshman medical diagnostician. Yet mere days earlier he was a loser, a big loser. The difference is NZT - rendering Brian ...ten feet tall. However, and here's the rub, NZT makes you larger, and then it makes you small - commensurate (like any drug) with a person's blood levels.
Rewind to 2011 and NZT, the super cognitive enhancer that the Feds know about and but have gone dark for reasons we will have watch more episodes to discover (though if we had NZT we could surely divine the answer). NZT is what Brian gets from his former band mate, Eli, who is soon a homicide erroneously attributed to Brian. Now we have not only Limitless but The Fugitive, all rolled into one. Brian's problems are amplified as a consequence of the drug's duration, which is a mere 12 hours. He is on a mission to secure more drug to quiet his tremulous withdrawal, not to mention to save his terminally ill father, solve a batch of murders, and it wouldn't be a bad idea if he took a shower.
Out of the blue (eyes) comes the Senator (a bearded Bradley Cooper) who is about to become Brian's savior because he has a better brand of NZT - and the star power that might enable this series to last beyond the five episodes that have been shot.
The action continues. Brian breaks into a bank, uncovers evidence about the murders, and wins the trust of Rebecca, the FBI agent, who unimaginably convinces her superior to make him an "asset". It might take some NZT to comprehend how preposterous this all is.
But that is just fiction, and I have a great appetite for fiction. But as a public health doctor I don't have much of an appetite for cognitive enhancers (see Neuroenhancers: Paying the Piper). Limitless is very seductive, proffering that anyone can take a powerful neuroenhancer, with no side effects - and no effort - and become a Senator, if not a President, with your love life flourishing, your crimes forgiven, and your wealth, uh, oh yes, limitless. Go ask Alice, When she's 10 feet tall.
Will the FDA and the DEA review this show? I hope so. It needs a controlled substance rating.
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The opinions expressed here are solely my own as a psychiatrist and public health advocate.
Dr. Sederer receives no support from any pharmaceutical or device company.
Dr. Sederer's book for families who have a member with a mental illness is The Family Guide to Mental Health Care (Foreword by Glenn Close) -- is now available in paperback.
Follow Lloyd I. Sederer, MD on Twitter: @askdrlloyd
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