Summary
Brilliant Minds serves up a poignant love story in Episode 7, raising big, complicated questions and treating them with appropriate weight.
The John Doe subplot comes to a poignant end in Brilliant Minds Episode 7, which all things considered is perhaps the best installment of the NBC drama yet. And, interestingly, it’s the one least adherent to the usual formula. There’s no B-plot, we don’t languish on Dr. Wolf’s troubled past; instead, “Chapter Seven: The Man From Grozny” delivers a love story wrapped in a medical conundrum with real confidence and skill.
I’m almost disappointed this story is over since it provided a real sense of overarching mystery. The explanations for how John Doe – whose real name is Roman – ended up with locked-in syndrome aren’t especially interesting or shocking, but they form the backdrop of a really strong send-off for the character that touches on a few important and complicated issues.
Oh, and it compels Dr. Wolf to act on his feelings for Nichols. It’s about time.
The Man From Grozny
After much ado in the previous episode about the experimental nanotech communication system, Roman is fitted with the device, which allows him to communicate with words instead of just his eyes. In a smart touch, whenever he speaks the episode casts a mobile version of him in the scene, like a ghost, allowing Alex Ozerov-Meyer to finally do some acting.
Roman is from Grozny, Chechnya. He fled to the U.S. and worked for peanuts in order to save up enough money to apply for asylum, falling in love with the country in the meanwhile. His boss gave him a hand-me-down pushbike to get around, and while riding it, he got blindsided by a taxi.
From there Roman has been passed around through various medical facilities. His stroke was misinterpreted as a seizure, and the sedation obscured his locked-in syndrome. Everyone thought he was in a coma until Dr. Wolf figured out he wasn’t and managed to give him a voice. Roman’s request with that voice is simple enough – he wants to die.
Roman’s Right to Die
Roman isn’t sulking here. He isn’t being dramatic. His prognosis isn’t good – he’ll never regain the ability to move, and he can only survive on a ventilator because his lungs have been ravaged by multiple infections. He will require lifelong, full-time care, and despite Wolf’s claims that many patients live rich lives with locked-in syndrome for decades, Roman doesn’t want that for himself.
There’s a dilemma here. In fact, there are several. Wolf is obviously idealistic and doesn’t like the idea of not having “saved” all of his patients. But what would be the point of toiling to give Roman a voice only to ignore it? Then again, the point of the experimental trial is to prove that the technology can save lives; a patient’s death so soon after its installation wouldn’t look good, even if the technology wasn’t the cause. And assisted suicide is illegal, though this doesn’t quite constitute that; it would be perfectly legal on the grounds of palliative withdrawal of mechanical ventilation, but it’s still ethically a little suspect.
These are big concepts worth thinking seriously about. If nothing else, Brilliant Minds Episode 7 deserves credit for raising them and giving them real weight.
Zachary Quinto and Teddy Sears in Brilliant Minds | Image via NBC
A Love Story
Roman left Chechnya for love. He has a partner, Alex, who is also a man. With homosexuality being illegal in Chechnya, they fled to be together. Alex has been looking for Roman for quite some time and would be happy to provide long-term care for him. Wolf sees this as an ideal solution, but Roman does not. He still, for his own and indeed for Alex’s sake, doesn’t want that life for either of them.
Roman believes that he has already told his story. He came to America to be with Alex; he took that step and made that journey, all for love, and while it didn’t quite work out in the end, he’s at peace with his role and has faith that Alex will continue to live for both of them. He has made his decision.
But Roman doesn’t want to die in a hospital, so the final task becomes giving him an appropriate send-off. Everyone, including all the interns, Alex, and Carol, gather at Wolf’s house to say goodbye to Roman as he and Alex say their final farewells. Sure, you could argue all the talk about stars is a bit on the nose, but the scene is so well done that it feels disingenuous to nitpick it.
Further Developments
Following Roman’s moving demise, Simon is furious about how the reputation of the nanotechnology has been damaged and refuses to work with Bronx General in the future. However, Carol makes a good point that it was worth it to be able to honor a patient’s wishes.
Wolf echoes this sentiment to his mother, too. Muriel had expressed some pride in Wolf’s actions earlier, but it’s clear they still don’t see eye to eye about the good of the hospital versus the good of its individual patients, and it’s even more clear that there’s a lot of lingering animosity about the fate of Wolf’s father. But that’ll crop up again in subsequent episodes, I’m sure.
On the romantic side of things, Van has sensed that Ericka has a crush thanks to his mirror-touch synaesthesia, but embarrassingly, he thinks she’s crushing on him. “Don’t tell Jacob,” makes Ericka’s intentions clear but quietly crushes Van. This love triangle will, again, crop up in later episodes without a doubt.
And so too will Wolf’s final act of Brilliant Minds Episode 7. Inspired by Roman, and realizing there’s no time like the present, he storms across the street and plants a big kiss on Nichols. I wonder how that will go?
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