Zachary Quinto is back as ‘Brilliant Minds’ takes a darker psychological turn in Season 2
Zachary Quinto returns as Dr. Oliver Wolf in NBC’s Brilliant Minds, the face blind doctor who saves lives through unconventional (and sometimes drug induced) methods. Inspired by the real-life work of renowned neurologist, Dr. Oliver Sacks, season 2 takes a dark turn inside the brain, using cinematography and directorial scaling to bring the audience further inside the minds of the patients and the doctors who work to save them. But in the midst of enigmatic neurological events, season 2 also picks up with major questions still in the air: will Oliver save his dad? Will Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry) lose her job? And, perhaps the most anticipated, will Oliver and Dr. Josh Nichols’ (Teddy Sears) relationship survive?
New Faces. New Drama
Joining the interns at Bronx General—Dr. Ericka Kinney (Ashley Lothrop), Dr. Van Markus (Alex MacNicoll), Dr. Jacob Nash (Spence Morre II), and Dr. Dana Dang (Aury Krebs)—are Dr. Anthony Thorne (John Clarence Stewart), a charming yet no-nonsense Emergency Department doctor, and Dr. Charlie Porter (Brian Altemus), an ambitious and cunning second year resident who may cause more harm than healing. The addition of Dr. Thorne adds a growing element to the storyline as the interns start their rotations to figure out what specialty they want to pursue. This still affords them the opportunity to work with Dr. Wolf and expands his social interactions beyond the neurology department. But not to worry, these new cases take the audience for a visual ride; turning medical anomalies into a 4D-experience for the viewer. This psychotropic approach adds a creative element to the medical drama, cinematically making it unlike anything of its kind currently on prime time television.
Episode 1 takes us inside the mind of a prodigious boxer who experiences what the title card describes as “the phantom hook.” The episode not only goes through the normal machinations of medical problem solving, but it includes elements from season 1’s most visually compelling episodes “The Disembodied Woman”—a basketball coach who’s brain did not recognize her own body—and “The Man from Grozny,” where the director showed interactions between the doctors and the patients from the patients’s point of view—playing cards, sitting at a table, laughing—while lying completely incapable of real human interaction through conversation due to locked-in syndrome. The decision to show what the patients experience neurologically through performance rather than just words makes Brilliant Minds that much more emotionally impactful with its core audience.
How Far is Too Far When it Comes to Love and Medicine?
In season 1, Carol was placed in a moral and ethical dilemma by continuing to treat a patient who was her husband’s mistress. This relationship was reported to Dr. Muriel Landon (Donna Murphy), the Chief Medical Officer of Bronx General, and Carol was placed on administrative leave. Throughout her story, Carol was forced to choose between upholding the Hippocratic Oath as a professional—treating a patient who suffered from a psychotic break—and upholding her vows within her marriage; ultimately choosing to save lives rather than save the relationship with a man who put their livelihood, health, and safety in jeopardy.
Furthermore, Dr. Wolf was in a budding relationship with the Chief of Neurosurgery, Dr. Josh Nichols—a relationship where both men started to put their guards down and explore life in a partnership they’ve never experienced before, only to be uprooted by the return of Oliver’s father. The 30 year secret put Oliver in a tailspin that left his relationship with Josh flailing in the wind. This begs the question, can their relationship survive the chaos that is Dr. Wolf’s life? We may not know what the outcome of their romantic relationship will be but we can always count on the entire team at Bronx General to serve each and every patient to their fullest capabilities and save lives.
Season 2 of ‘Brilliant Minds’ premieres Monday, September 22 at 10/9C, only on NBC. Check out the trailer below.