Brilliant Minds – Season 1 Episode 2 “The Disembodied Woman” Recap & Review

The Disembodied Woman

Episode 2 of Brilliant Minds starts with Oliver Wolf bringing a man called Pete into the hospital. He’s been seeing a dragon with a sustained hallucination. The other interns believe that this is just a run of the mill situation, because they get a case like this every week. It’s usually a college student that’s brought in. Smug Ericka takes point to do the tests, while Dr Wolf is brought in to see the chief.

Dr Wolf may have a new case here, courtesy of the chief. The woman’s name is Jessica Williams. She’s a WNBA star and Carol is a big fan. After the meeting, Wolf is reminded to follow the rules and that the chief – his mum Dr Muriel Landon – may be his last chance.

Back in his office, Dr Wolf meets with Jessie, who brings up she’s had a dream, which seems to be part-sleep paralysis and part-disembodiment. She’s a little shaky but Wolf knows that this can be very real and difficult. He promises to look after her, but he’s hung up on the word she’s used – disembodied.

Dr Wolf takes two of the interns – Van and Jacob – in to help with Jessie’s case. It’s not Ericka, and she’s pretty annoyed about it. Remember what I said before about her being unlikable? Yeah.

Wolf realizes that Jessie is declining fast when he notices her signature is completely different to how it was a few hours back. When he asks Jessie about it, she thinks that her nightmare is coming true. And unfortunately, she won’t go ahead with the surgery planned for her. However, her brain MRI is clear.

Dr Wolf’s case is made all the more difficult by his mummy issues. The Chief reminds him not to get too attached, but of course Wolf does – and will.

Ericka arrives to see Carol, pointing out that Pete has tested positive for LSD. However, its been 24 hours after his last dose so she thinks he should go to the psych ward. Carol doesn’t agree, and shows that she’s wrong, and that it’s a neuro case.

Ericka and Dana show up at Pete’s place and after Ericka riffs about how hard she works, they notice the dragon outside. It’s a neon sign, which explains why he’s been seeing this.

Meanwhile, Dr Van freaks out while trying to use a needle to get spinal fluid. Wolf is not happy, telling him he needs to figure this out. The thing is, Van gets overwhelmed sometimes, explaining what’s happened here. The trouble is, he may have actually made Jessie feel worse.

Speaking of worse, Jessie’s condition deteriorates that night. She’s not able to walk, and she feels like there’s no ground below. Wolf believes this could well be serious nerve damage but the Chief thinks it’s actually a virus. Wolf is not happy and tells her to stop micromanaging him.

That afternoon, Dr Nicholls shows up to see Wolf, unhappy that he’s been blowing him off on 3 separate occasions. Wolf reveals his condition to him, explaining the blow-offs. Jessie also stops breathing on her own not long after. Jacob feels awful about it though, given he initially said she’d feel better.

Wolf though continues to try and find a solution. He doesn’t want to believe that this nerve issue is permanent and part of that also stems from butting heads with his mum too, not wanting her to be right.

Dr Wolf has an idea and shows up at the hospital with the interns. She wants to help her embrace the idea of her disembodiment. Stepping outside of herself, she then learns to breathe again. It’s touch and go for a while but she does eventually manage to take a breath. It does the trick and everyone breathes a sigh of relief (no pun intended!)

Step by step, Jessie manages to return back to how she was before, albeit a bit more shaky. She can walk again, although she’s still a bit wobbly on her feet.

Jessie has to relearn all of her different parts of the body. Although they’ll never know what caused the nerve damage, Jessie is reconnecting with her body in a brand new way and Wolf’s determination not to give up on her, may have actually saved the woman.

With the Jessie case resolved, Wolf shows up to see his mum. He points out that working together is not going to be easy but he’s determined to try and make a proper go of it. The Chief though, speaks to Carol and tells her she needs to keep an eye on Wolf.

That night, Ericka heads out to the bar with the other interns, and recognizes her biases and how she needs to let loose a bit. The gang drink beer and it does the trick.

Van isn’t there though, as Wolf takes him under his wing and encourages him to take a chance. He’s going to help him overcome his worries. Part of that comes from practicing a spinal tap on a dead body.

The Episode Review

Brilliant Minds returns and reinforces he feel of this really capturing the essence of House and shows of its kind. There’s a clear episodic case occurring every week, while we also learn a bit more about the different interns. Seeing Wolf take Van under his wing, just like his mum did in the past while practicing on the body during the flashbacks is a really nice touch.

We also see Ericka start to understand her own biases toward the end of the episode too and this bit of self-reflection is definitely welcome. I said before that her character is the weak-link so hopefully the writers will make her a bit more likable in the episodes to come.

The show has been good so far though, with plenty to whet the appetite. There’s a good balance of drama and medical issues, making for a really enjoyable watch. Hopefully the show can keep this up as we could be onto a winner here.