(This article contains spoilers)
We don’t choose our family. We grow up with people who are related to us, but sometimes, blood is not enough, and the love we share seems to have its limits. This episode of Brilliant Minds features the worst case of this season so far. Two brothers take a 39-story fall with their window cleaning cradle following the breaking of the system supposed to keep them safe. Both suffer very serious head injuries, and are immediately taken in charge by the Neuro team.
When we meet Benny (Joshua De Jesus) and Jorge Torres (Joshua Diaz), they seem close, joke together, happy to work together as brothers. What this fraternity hides is a broken family, and a mother, Ana (Sol Miranda), unable to love a child who chose his own path. With both her sons on the verge of death, she has the opportunity to change her mind. Is the hate really worth it?
We quickly discover that Benny’s relationship with faith changed, making him an outcast in his own very Christian family, especially with his mother. She can’t forgive him and hates him for that. And by hate, I mean pure hate, you’d think he killed someone dear to his mother, which is probably the case from her perspective. The supposed love and acceptance of religion turns into control and push to fit in the “right” box, a recurring theme on Brilliant Minds. Benny broke the mold and is paying the consequences.
Oliver (Zachary Quinto) and his team eventually realize Benny can’t speak or understand Spanish anymore, his native tongue, an interesting parallel with his broken relationship with his mother. His state seems stable, which gives him a chance at mending things with his mother. And it only happens because of a lie. There’s so many wrong things happening in this episode, from blind hate to lies, and purely conditional love.
On the other side of the Torres family love spectrum, Jorge, Ana’s favorite son, is challenging Josh’s (Teddy Sears) medical talents. His state is so bad Josh is doubting his own abilities to help or save him, but there’s more. Ana is also placing a lot of hope in him, putting even more pressure on him, even saying that God chose him. And sure, Josh and his team saved him, but only before losing Benny following a devastating stroke.
There is no happy ending there. Benny dies after years of living without the love of his mother. Ana thinks he accepted God again, which was a lie, and she accuses Josh of killing him (and also “curses” him). Josh, who spent hours and hours saving Jorge, and did the same to try and save Benny. All this only to be met with hate, a pattern coming from this very religious woman.
It’s hard to see Josh being met with so much hate after seeing him being scared of failing, after seeing him working so hard for hours and hours because his own priority is saving lives. Meanwhile, Ana only thought about herself all along. It was never about her sons, it was always about her, her own faith, and the way she wanted to control her sons to make them fit in the life she wanted them to have.
In the middle of this chaos, we also meet a new character, nurse Nico Silva (Al Calderon), who doesn’t go easy on Oliver! Silva makes a point of treating nurses with respect, calling them by their names, which is a challenge for Oliver and his face blindness. If Silva can sound a bit harsh, it’s also because he wants to make sure nurses are not being seen as lesser people, and Oliver seems to have quite the reputation! Not necessarily bad, but he’s clearly not your regular doctor. Silva could be a great addition to the show.
Contrary to Porter (Brian Altemus), his energy is more positive, and it’s clear from the beginning that he runs a tight ship.
Things also get better between Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) and Dana (Aury Krebs). After talking with Jacob (Spence Moore II), Ericka understands that not only does Dana have strong morals, but the situation is also not worth losing a friend. Dana did make the right choice by reporting Carol (Tamberla Perry). Life is too short for them to lose their friendship over this. There was no betrayal, only choices.
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