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Now, yes I know he is during the movie, but at the end he claims that the effects of NZT have been made permanent and he no longer needs it.

But in the follow-up TV Series Limitless S01E13, Brian doesn't know of his permanent NZT effects and hence assumes that the Senator can pause his doses for a little while to get a NZT-free blood sample. And this is indeed then further achieved and the coat is switched with a duplicate with blood not containing NZT.

So, I am confused, was Edward Morra just bluffing when he said he achieved permanent effects at the end of the movie or is there some other theory.

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  • We can only assume that he was bluffing. I believe the story was tweaked according to TV series development.
    – user22531
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 21:06
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    Congratulations, this question is the winner of the corresponding topic challenge.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 23:14
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    Someone finally shed some light on the question: quora.com/…
    – user40754
    Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 16:00

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Maybe.

At the end of the movie Morra is being threatened by Carl Van Loon in an attempt to gain political influence. Van Loon has bought the pharmaceutical firm that makes NZT and has closed the lab that produces it. He thinks this gives him leverage over Morra.

In response to the threat Morra claims not to be on NZT. But he also claims that, when you know what is in it, you can tweak the formula to make it better. Earlier in the movie he had paid a chemist $2m to replicate the drug (we don't know who this chemist works for and it seems likely it wasn't the source of the original NZT as he wouldn't need to replicate the pills if he already had the recipe).

I don't know whether these threads carry forward to the TV series, but the movie is clearly implying that there is both an alternative source and that the new drug might be a little different to the original NZT.

So perhaps he has found an NZT with longer lasting effects, or he is on NZT 50 rather than the original version. Or perhaps he doesn't need it any more. But it is fairly clear he isn't on the original drug.

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  • If I remember, in the pilot he shows up and gives the main character a version of the pill that doesn't cause dependency and blackouts, implying that his claims at the end of the movie are true and he is indeed on this better version of NZT working on his ultimate plan.
    – sanpaco
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 18:42
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    He didn't give him a pill, but an injection, called a "booster" that allows Brian to take as many NZT he wants without any side effects. The so called "booster" however is also a temporary drug. Later in series it starts to wear off and Brian's been given a task to complete if he wants to get "booster".
    – user22531
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 21:01
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    His lying under threat makes sense but cannot be established. But I am much more curious if he lied to Brian or not. It is his relationship with Brian that is pivotal to the story.
    – DarkElf73
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 14:02
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So in summary to the original question. (Clearly they screwed up the plot a bit). 1. The movie ends when Morra is running for Senate for the first time and the TV series starts when he is running a second time. So the show occurs 2-6 years after the movie.

  1. Under duress, Morra told his former boss Van Loon that he biologically engineered a new strain of NZT that has a permanent fix. He shows this by telling him he was off NZT yet was able to mathematically 'predict' a collision in perfect detail.

BUT

on the TV series, on the first episode he informed Brian that he took NZT every day after getting a booster shot (remember this was years after standing up to Van Loon). SO... clearly their is a mess up in the plot structure.

  1. The only explanation for this is that the 'permanent NZT' did not work out and he even said that he had a headache 2 years ago to Brian, emphasizing the life he is about to live. So I presume that the 'headache' was a reoccuring side effect of the 'permanent fix NZT' so he created a new strand that we presume is called "NZT-50" that is better than the 48 and he keeps it to himself, probably why he is so far ahead of his competition. I believe that after Rebecca Harris discovered that Brian Finch was reporting to Edward Morra, that scene where Edward Morra said "It's not about who is going to control the world, its about who will build the next one", he threw Brian a vile containing a single pill. Before hand when he was talking to Brian about the GMO's, he gave him a whole bunch of it, so why would he just give him one this time? ITS BECAUSE HE GAVE BRIAN THE NZT-50!!!!

Conclusion: 1. Movie ends when he's running for 1st term senate. TV series starts when he's running for 2nd term senate. 2. The permanent fix NZT gave him side effects 2 years before the series started so he created NZT-50 but gave Brian NZT-48 to stay ahead of his competition. 3. Their clearly is much more confusion on the TV series so their needs to be a new season so SIGN THIS PETITION FOR SEASON 2! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/907/972/700/renew-limitless-for-season-2/

YOUR WELCOME

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    Do you mean "you're" welcome? Is someone supposed to be thankful for something? ;)
    – steelersquirrel
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 23:28
  • There is also no reason to use "their" when you mean "there" :-P
    – Dan Dascalescu
    Commented Oct 16, 2018 at 22:54
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I was kind of thinking that the tv series is in the same time frame of the end of the movie. Because, at the end, it says the little "12 months later" and I and if you notice the Eddies` hair at the end of the movie and at the beginning of tv series, it's different. Because in the middle-ish, he gets a haircut and he slicks it back, and that's how it is at the beginning of the series. And then, at the end of the movie, he gets it cut short, and that's how it is at the end of the first season of the series. So, maybe, if they continue the show, then it will explain things better. (I hope that wasn't confusing)

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    If you check, the movie clearly ends before the show starts because the movies ends with Edward Morra running for senator while he is already a senator who is now running for president in the show.
    – DarkElf73
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 10:27

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