(This article contains spoilers)
It’s not easy to create a good first episode, especially in a second season. Expectations are high, and with another medical show like The Pitt winning hearts and awards, the bar is high, and rising. But Brilliant Minds is also its own show, with a clear focus on patients as people, whoever they are, and their relationship to other people and the world. And this is where this show shines.
New Faces, New Worries
After a short recap, we find Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) trying to escape from a hospital. As if the situation wasn’t already intriguing, this is not his hospital, and he’s not a doctor there… but a patient. Wolf struggling mentally is certainly not new, but seeing him being manhandled by the security and sedated so he doesn’t escape is definitely a first. No context, no reason, we leave this scene just like it started, and jump back six months earlier. This is preoccupying but it’ll have to wait.
The case du jour is a professional boxer who lost control of his right arm and punched himself to the point of hurting himself. With him come his father and coach, his supportive wife, and a personal doctor who thinks he knows everything better than anyone (he doesn’t). It’s immediately obvious that the father has a strong influence on his son, and that the medical case is not the only issue here.
We also meet the new characters, first with Dr. Anthony Thorne (John Clarence Stewart), who is introduced as an overworked ER doctor who doesn’t go easy on Dr. Jacob Nash (Spence Moore II), who is assisting him, but who doesn’t seem too bad. Later, we meet Dr. Charlie Porter (Brian Altemus), who is not the nice guy type. It’s very clear from the beginning he’s here as a chaos agent. As a resident, he’ll be assisting Wolf with managing the team. He’s borderline disrespectful of the interns, and acts like he’s on the same level as Wolf, which he’s not. Porter will definitely create some interesting situations.
Family, Friends, and Love, All in The Same Place
After being put on leave after lying to a patient, Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry) is now working independently. If her new, and temporary, situation seems to bring more money, it’s also a lot less gratifying and interesting. She is saved for a moment by Wolf, who is asking for her help in his current case. Their friendship is such a breeze of fresh air, the sarcasm, the roasting, they love each other in all the best ways.
On top of his patients, Oliver and his mother, Muriel Landon (Donna Murphy), are trying to diagnose Wolf’s father, Dr. Noah Wolf (Mandy Patinkin). But it’s far from being an easy task. If father and son found common ground, Oliver is avoiding him. Assessing the real state of his father while not being around him and missing his symptoms is not working.
Wolf’s current case is also reminiscent of his own relationship with his father: lies and manipulation. Even if there’s love somewhere, deception never makes a good foundation for a relationship. It’s also nice to see Wolf working with his mother, trying to solve a problem together and looking at the same goal, though the personal reasons are different. They’ve been through a lot in the first season as a family, and Muriel is not just a mother, she was a wife too. She lost her husband who left, and had to raise Oliver alone while having a very busy career. So it’s good to see them find a common ground after all this.
There’s family, there’s friends, but romance is also back in this first episode. If the relationship between Dr. Dana Dang (Aury Krebs) and her paramedic girlfriend Katie (Mishel Prada) is going more than well — and they’re very cute together —, things are more complicated between Dr. Josh Nichols (Teddy Sears) and Oliver (who can’t catch a break). But it’s not hopeless.
After being stood up and ignored, Josh still shows interest in Oliver, and actually tries to reach out to him, with patience and empathy. After all, he confessed to Oliver, and his feelings for him seem to be stronger than the resentment he’d be owed to feel. The ball is now in your court, Oliver.
It’s difficult to watch Oliver sabotaging his own relationship, retreating in his mind, avoiding clear communication. Of course, he has his own issues that we know, and we can understand his need to cut himself from people he doesn’t want to hurt, but who also could be a distraction. But Wolf is also not a man made to be left alone, he just doesn’t always know how to reach out, and probably thinks he needs to face everything alone.
So Josh not giving up on him even when Oliver doesn’t show any openness is so significant, so heartwarming, and also emotionally mature. Josh has been hurt with Oliver and he’s still willing to wait. But not forever.
It’s a pretty strong first episode for a show like Brilliant Minds, with enough questions, new characters with their own personality and place among the team, and new stakes. And this intriguing situation six months later, is already looming over the episodes.
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