Brilliant Minds – Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot” Recap & Review

Pilot

Episode 1 of Brilliant Minds starts with a look at our protagonist, Dr. Oliver Wolf. He believes one should treat the person rather than the disease which… hey, isn’t that the motif to Patch Adams? Anyway, Dr Wolf takes off with a patient called Harold that night escaping the hospital and heading straight to a swanky wedding do.

Now, it turns out Dr Wolf can’t actually recognize faces, but he does recognize the Chase family. The parents are not happy and warn Wolf off when he arrives. However, Harold is right at home though as soon as he sits at the piano. Despite having Alzheimer’s, he’s certainly not lost his ability to play the piano and sing.

As far as miracles go, Harold somehow remembers his granddaughter Sophie (the bride) and through unlocking this sense of identity, he absolutely makes her wedding.

However, these good vibes soon dissipate when Wolf returns to the hospital. The Chase family are threatening to sue, and the Chief Medical Officer is not happy. Dr Wolf points out that these dark days deserve to have some light. Sure, Harold can’t live with the memories, but he sees it as his responsibility to try and help shape how the world sees his patients. His speech is a good one… but Wolf is fired all the same.

Fast forward in time and Dr Wolf is back home, living at City Island, in the Bronx. Carol shows up to see him, and offers a job at Bronx General. Wolf refuses, claiming he’s “busy” (in a house full of plants). However, Carol piques his interest with a case involving a patient who has been cured… except that her personality has radically changed.

Dr Wolf is intrigued and arrives at the hospital, as expected. Carol shows him around, but the hospital is in dire straits. They’re underfunded, overcrowded, and all the different departments are jumbled together. Wolf is given a simple office… and a bunch of interns too. Carol believes he can help show them the ropes. She also wants him to open up about his condition, bringing a pretty funny joke in the process.

The interns Wolf will be showing around are Ericka, Van, Jacob and Dana. There’s no time for the welcoming committee though, as a patient is losing control in the hallway. This is Hannah Peters and she doesn’t recognize her own kids. Wolf calms her down and promises he’s going to help figure this out with her.

Hannah is not suffering from delusions. However, this situation started right after the surgery. It would appear that something in her brain won’t let her love her children. And Wolf is here to try and figure it out. Nicholls is the chair of neuro-surgery and although he’s pleased that Hannah has had no seizures since the operation, Wolf bites back that he’s responsible for how Peters is reacting right now.

Dr Wolf isn’t particularly happy about his interns either, but outside, Dana throws out some clunky exposition about the different interns. Ericka bigs herself up as a hard worker and eventually they all drive to Hannah’s place. Wolf is here to observe her naturally and see how she deals with loving her children and whether there are any additional outbursts at all.

Hannah’s no longer suffering from seizures but she’s also struggling to connect to her children. Dr Wolf has Hannah shut her eyes and, using his own technique with his face condition, has her focus on specific traits with Gus and Ellis. He wants her to focus on these small things as homework and agrees to regroup in the morning.

Unfortunately, Hannah goes off the rails that night. She kicks the kids out, leaving a rep from Child Protective Services to arrive and take them away. Gus and Ellis are staying in a temporary shelter until they can get hold of their father, but Dr Wolf is determined to try and help cure her. Time is of the essence and it’s unfortunately not something they can afford.

Dr Wolf has an epiphany while thinking back to his own childhood issues involving his parents. He believes that the key to getting Hannah Peters well again is to bring her back to her childhood home. They can’t just outright ask Hannah though as this would premeditate her response. For this to work, they need to surprise her.

After finding the address, Wolf drives Hannah back to her childhood home. However, the feeling of not recognizing anything is very similar to that of her kids. Wolf deduces that the key here is the visual component and he does an experiment on this back at the lab with a video of the kids. Taking away the visual references, she recognizes the voices and responds accordingly. However, she also ends up having a seizure too.

The surgery removed the part of the brain that caused the epilepsy but unfortunately, the rest of her brain remembers. This triggered responses in her brain which led to her seizure. Nicholls, when he finds out, is not happy. He believes Hannah is delusional and Wolf is overstepping his mark.

Dr Wolf and the interns are, unfortunately, taken off the case. And worse, Hannah Peters is discharged from hospital. Wolf knows where she’s going though. She’s heading out to the Bluffs, which is something she mentioned in a story earlier in the show. She looks set to commit suicide and drive off the edge, until Wolf rides his bike up to the edge of the cliff.

Wolf promises to do everything he can to try and help her, and it’s enough to stop Hannah from killing herself. It also means Wolf is back on the case too. Hannah is blindfolded and it’s the last chance saloon before Gus and Ellis are taken away. Miraculously, Hannah recognizes both kids and hugs them tightly. But of course, doesn’t recognize them visually, hence the blindfold.

Wolf explains how the brain works with the emotional responses and how Hannah’s mind is hijacking her responses into thinking her kids are imposters. The other senses aren’t damaged so it’s clear she does still love them. Now, the “cure” are glasses that distort her vision slightly and she’s encouraged to be open up about her feelings too.

Speaking of being open, Dr Wolf speaks to his interns and explains his condition about faces. After, Carol reassures him that this is a strength, given he sees things the rest of the world cannot. So why was Wolf reluctant to join Bronx General? And who is the Chief Medical Officer? Well, it turns out that this individual is none other than Dr Wolf’s mum!

The Episode Review

Every year (except the past few for obvious reasons) there’s always a ton of new network tv shows to sink your teeth into. Some fall by the wayside while others become surprise hits. Brilliant Minds has the potential to be the stand-out for the season. Zachary Quinto is great in his role as the brilliant but damaged protagonist, and you can see the influences of House and Patch Adams all over this one.

It’ll be interesting to see what direction this one takes, and what role the interns have in this too. Whether this will just be procedural every week or if there’s an overarching storyline is another point of contention too.

The interns have potential to be fleshed out further but already from this first episode, Ericka is super annoying as the know-it-all smug student. Hopefully the gang have their own cases or family shown through this to help deepen their characters as that will definitely help this one.

The clunky exposition when Ericka explains who they all are is a stand-out for all the wrong reasons. It’s definitely not needed, especially alongside the clever inclusion that Wolf is gay through one of the better jokes of the episode.

Carol and Wolf have great chemistry and the case involving Hannah Peters is a nice way of showing how this series will work going forward, and how it ties into Wolf’s backstory. So far so good; roll on next week’s follow-up!