(This article contains spoilers)
Back after a week’s break, Brilliant Minds Season 2 continues to explore the characters’ storylines, and starts to unveil some of its coming stories involving Hudson Oaks. If we already knew Oliver would soon be in a bad situation, we now know that the situation could also involve Carol (Tamberla Perry), as we expected it.
The patient du jour is Elle Palmer (T.V. Carpio), a young pilot who suddenly started to see upside down mid-flight. In spite of her sudden and unexpected condition, she managed to land the plane, but her condition is concerning and could change her entire life.
As her condition caused a serious incident involving dozens of people and her company, she’s now at risk of being arrested for endangering the passengers and the crew’s lives. Oliver (Zachary Quinto) and his team have very limited time to find out what happened to her, and if she did anything to trigger this condition, knowing she would have to fly a plane full of people.
The injured people from the accident are taken to Bronx General, and the doctors from the Neuro services lend a hand to the emergency team. It’s obvious Thorne (John Clarence Stewart), in charge of the ER, doesn’t always agree with the way Oliver treats his cases, not the patients per se, but how he handles cases. But it’s also very clear he respects and trusts Oliver, knows he’s a good doctor, and won’t question his decisions. It’s great to see them work seamlessly together, and to see Thorne support Oliver when his behavior is questioned.
Ana Torres (Sol Miranda), the mother of Jorge (Joshua Diaz) from the episode Once Upon a Time in America, is still hoping for her son to wake up from his coma. And she’s not the only one to hope, as Oliver is not giving up, which ends up creating a sort of disagreement with Porter (Brian Altemus). The young resident is making more drastic decisions about Jorge without consulting Oliver, which leads to a disagreement between the two men, to the point of seeing Oliver getting angry. It’s a first, Oliver never acted that way with anyone, not like that. It’s very obvious his patients and the way he sees their treatments are his entire priority. And Porter seems to know exactly what to do to push the right buttons, even if it wasn’t the initial intention (or maybe it was…)
This scene really supports the upcoming Hudson Oaks storyline. By now, it’s almost sure Porter is involved, though it’s still impossible to know exactly why and how. And with episode 10, planned to air on December 10, titled The Resident (the title was later changed for The Gala), we can only speculate even more about the role Porter is about to play in Oliver’s admission to this institution.
Speaking of Hudson Oaks, Carol is solicited by one of her patient’s family who’s currently staying at the clinic. They want her to inquire about his delayed release, so she takes it on her to pay a visit to Dr. Amelia Fredrick (Bellamy Young), the director of psychiatric care, who is apparently always trying to “snatch” patients from Bronx General. It’s been clear from the very first time we saw her that nothing she does is without a hidden agenda. Of course, getting new patients is enough motivation, but owning a Porsche also seems like a good incentive.
On the intern side, Silva (Al Calderon) is dropping a bomb: it’s time for the biannual drug test for all staff member. Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) is in panic mode. The last time she took Benzos was a week ago, which would still show in her test, and could cost her her career. On Van’s (Alex MacNicoll) advice, she dares to talk to Silva about it, risking him reporting her. But honesty pays, and he’s very understanding, giving her a two-week extension to get this in order. This time, she’s asking for help for good, and make an appointment with Carol. Finally!
