Summary
Brilliant Minds inverts its focus in Episode 11, allowing Carol to take the limelight while she works through her issues with Alison and her husband.
Carol has been a reliable but underutilized presence in Brilliant Minds thus far, so it’s nice that Episode 11, “The Other Woman”, puts her firmly at the forefront of the drama. She even gets the flashback treatment after a cameo in a couple of Dr. Wolf’s earlier in the season. And as if it wasn’t obvious from the title, most of Carol’s introspection here comes in the form of her husband’s obsessive mistress, Alison.
There’s a B-plot, too, involving Dr. Wolf learning to understand his patient’s desire to undergo a potentially dangerous corrective brain surgery that he doesn’t believe is necessary. But for the first time, he’s very much secondary, and this smart inversion of the dramatic focus proves that the show, even this far into the season, isn’t afraid of shaking things up.
Alison Is “Medium Crazy”
The titular “other woman” is, of course, Alison, whom Carol discovered had attempted suicide at the end of the previous episode. Alison is rushed into Bronx General where, physically, she’s fine. But mentally she’s a wreck. She only wants to see Carol, and when she does see her, she only wants to torment her about Morris’s insatiable appetite for sex.
This prompts the flashbacks, which find Carol and Morris as new parents, and the former deeply struggling with the process. Morris thinks she has postpartum depression, which is a fair shout. She’s obsessive about germs, hasn’t slept in days, and is becoming increasingly frantic. It’s a deliberate juxtaposition with Alison’s present-day claims that she’s the picture of perfect mental health.
Carol continues to treat Alison, which is probably more ill-advised than it was to continue treating her after discovering who she was in the first place, but she also feels she has a responsibility to her. Alison has become a casualty of her failed marriage. And Carol can’t have that, so she cares for Alison until they’re both ready to accept a few things about themselves. Alison has borderline personality disorder. And Carol’s marriage is over.
Ezra’s Surgery
Dr. Wolf’s patient in Brilliant Minds Episode 11 is Ezra, a Tourette’s sufferer who wants to undergo deep brain stimulation in order to reduce his tics. But since Ezra’s condition isn’t especially serious, Wolf can’t understand why he’d want to get rid of it instead of learning to live with it.
This is… a bit naive to me. In a sequence I didn’t much like, Wolf goes for a brief walk with Ezra and sees how frequently he’s judged, patronized, and pandered to. Nichols has to more or less spell out to him that someone who is different in any way is going to be compelled to make a change if a solution presents itself. It’s natural, and the only reason Wolf hasn’t considered it for his own face-blindness is because the treatment doesn’t exist.
Alexander Pennecke, Zachary Quinto and Teddy Sears in Brilliant Minds | Image via NBC
What I do like is how this is folded into Wolf and Nichols’ relationship. It’s the first thing they truly disagree about now they’re past the honeymoon phase, and it’s clear that Wolf sees Nichols’ support of the surgery as an endorsement of a contrary point of view. Wolf’s not especially suited to that kind of disagreement because he’s so strong in his convictions, but Ezra going through with the surgery reminds him that it’s okay to want to make a change.
This anxiety stems from his father, who we finally learn had bipolar with severe manic depressive episodes. He was ill for the whole time Wolf knew him, and, of course, if he had been given the opportunity, he would have changed that for him. Wolf admitting this to Nichols is a positive breakthrough in their relationship, which seems to be getting stronger every week (when Nichols turns up for work, anyway.)
Things Get Messy Between the Interns
After Jacob spotted Van’s Crocs in Ericka’s apartment, it was obvious there was going to be some friction in the hospital. But I, for one, didn’t think things would escalate quite this quickly. It starts out fairly innocuous, with Jacob making discharging patients a game so that he can “win” since he’s hardwired to assert himself competitively. Van thinks it’s ridiculous — which it is! — but heavily overreacts to it, taunting Jacob about Ericka having chosen him, even throwing in a little dig about the ice cream Jacob dropped off for her.
Of course, Jacob doesn’t take kindly to this and tells Ericka about Van being a father. Ericka doesn’t take kindly to that — or really the whole immature boys’ club competitive element in general — and calls it a day with Van. The fun they were having has come to a sudden, though predictable, stop.
But Ericka is about to have even less fun. At the end of Brilliant Minds Episode 11 she steps into her building’s elevator with some of the other tenants, and there’s a lot of groaning and shaking. From the perspective of the doctors in the hospital, we hear on the news that a building has collapsed — Ericka’s building.
