‘Brilliant Minds’: Noah’s Motivation, Oliver & Josh’s Future, and More Season 2 Questions
Brilliant Minds turned Dr. Oliver Wolf’s (Zachary Quinto) world upside down in the Season 1 finale with the reveal that the father he thought died is actually alive: Mandy Patinkin steps into the role, first encountering his son in the middle of a building collapse.
Understandably, that’s a lot for Oliver to process, and he even begins packing up his office at Bronx General — where his mom (Donna Murphy) works, since she’d been lying to him all this time — but he does meet with Noah in the final scene. And it’s then that Noah reveals that he needs his son’s help as a doctor. But that’s not the only loose end at the end of the first season of the fantastic first season: Oliver skipped out on a gala with his boyfriend Josh (Teddy Sears) and didn’t tell him, Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) is dealing with her anxiety after being trapped in an elevator and only narrowly surviving during the collapse by taking roommate Dana’s (Aury Krebs) meds, and Carol’s (Tamberla Perry) future as a doctor is in question.
Below, we take a look at the burning questions we need answered in a Season 2. Let us know what tops your list in the comments section.
Brilliant Minds, Season 1, Streaming Now, Peacock
Why did Noah really return?
To reconnect with his son or just to get his help as a neurologist? (We think it’s a bit of both.) Noah claims that he came back to tell Oliver that his intention was never to hurt him — and he’s sick (not just bipolar). There’s something “strange” going on, and he’s seen specialists all over the world. No one knows what it is or how to help. He’s turned to his son because he doesn’t know how much time he has left and he thinks Oliver’s the only one who can hopefully give them more time.
“Oliver is about to take on his greatest medical mystery yet and potentially his most challenging patient yet,” showrunner Michael Grassi told TV Insider. “So I feel like him and his father have a lot to work out, and at the same time he is going to help him deal with something that nobody else has been able to help him deal with. So we’re sort of setting audiences up for an interesting storyline and a dynamic. I think there’s a lot going through Wolf’s mind right now. It’s like, my dad’s saying that, is it a way for him to get back into my life? Does he really need me? Is he here because he wants to restart a relationship? Is he just here because he needs help getting better? I think it’ll bring up a lot that we need to work through and unpack in a Season 2.”
What is going on with Noah's health?
There’s always the question of whether or not Noah could be lying to try to get back into his son’s good graces. We doubt that’s it, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Noah’s holding back anything as part of his hope to spend more time with his son or keep Oliver interested enough to try to diagnose him while still angry with the lie that he died.
How will Oliver's finale choices affect his relationship with Josh?
Just as it seemed to be going well for Oliver and Josh (theirs is the best new romance of this TV season), the finale leaves their future up in the air. They actually talked through issues earlier in the season, and Josh had just told Oliver that he thinks he’s falling for him when the neurologist was shocked by his father’s return. He then snapped at Josh when he tried checking in (and Josh wondered if the problem was his confession about falling) and didn’t tell his boyfriend about Noah, even though he did inform his team of interns. And when Josh called to see where Oliver was when it came time for the gala, Oliver ignored the call and met with his dad.
Grassi told us that Oliver’s not ready to turn to Josh. “He needs to get his house in order emotionally before he can let anybody in,” he said. “That’s what happens when we go through big life events. I think sometimes we let the people who are closest in and sometimes we push the people that are closest away, and Wolf in the situation is doing the latter, and I think we’re rooting for them to sort of find their way back together.”
Maybe Oliver sharing how he feels will be part of that. He didn’t respond in kind to Josh, but according to Grassi, “Wolf has strong feelings for Josh, but like everything he does, he’s not going to always show it in a conventional manner. … I think that when Wolf does communicate his feelings, it’s going to be in his unique way.” And so looking ahead, the showrunner teased, “They have a lot to work through, but that’s going to come with some complications and some surprises for sure.”
What will Oliver and Noah's relationship be like?
All we know is that Quinto and Patinkin on-screen together have already been so good. It has to be complicated, and while we do think that eventually Oliver will warm up to Noah, it’s going to take a while. And it’s probably going to take a major event of some kind (or Noah’s diagnosis) for Oliver to be willing to truly let him in.
How will Muriel react to having Noah around?
This is going to be tough for her as well — for her relationships with Noah and Oliver. As Muriel told her son, she was head over heels in love, and that didn’t change. Now, Noah’s back in both their lives, and while he was the one to suggest the lie, she is the one who kept it going all this time. And this comes just as Oliver and Muriel’s relationship was slowly getting better.
“A lot of their season journey was Wolf starting to see his mother’s perspective a little bit, why she did the things that she did. And by working at Bronx General and putting them in conflict together, I think he started to understand his mom more and more,” explains Grassi. “And I think by the end of this season they come to a place where they’re finally working together and they’re getting along and he’s starting to see why she made the decisions she made, but then the rug is sort of pulled from under him and there’s a lot that they need to work out.”
How will Muriel feel about Noah being Oliver’s patient? And how much will she be involved, given that she is the chief medical officer of the hospital?
Will Carol be able to successfully fight for her job?
Carol had a rough season, all stemming from her husband’s affair; the woman became her patient, and to say it got complicated is an understatement. Then, in the finale, Muriel alerted her to a call from the medical board about a complaint filed that she breached an ethical code about a conflict of interest in treating said patient. As a result, Muriel needed to place her on administrative leave. Carol told her, “like hell you do.”
Grassi called that “one of my favorite moments of that finale. I love Tamberla’s performance of that line. And I think that really captures her spirit and where we’re going to find her when we come back, which is fighting for her role and her position. It’s also like, she’s given so much to this hospital. She’s also helped Muriel through so much with Wolf. And then for Muriel to turn around and to put her on administrative leave, I think she’s going to fight like hell. And I also think she wants to know how this got out. Was it Morris [Rainbow Sun Francks], was it Alison [Julia Chan]? Was it one of the interns? Who did this? And how did it get out there? So I think there’s a bit of a mystery going into our next season, and how she’s going to sort of fight for her job and her livelihood now that she’s a single mom in a way is going to be really interesting to see how she navigates this very tricky situation.” We highly doubt it was one of the interns, though you never know.
How will Ericka do managing her anxiety in secret?
In the penultimate episode, Ericka was trapped in an elevator with two other people. When it came time for them to be rescued, the older man was taken out first, then his granddaughter insisted that Ericka follow, since he needed medical attention. After Ericka was pulled to safety, however, the elevator fell, and the other woman died. Then, in the finale, Ericka struggled with not only stepping foot inside an elevator but also seeing any of the other interns, especially Dana, do so either. She had seemingly faced her fears by the end, only for the show to reveal that she’s been taken Dana’s anxiety meds in secret.
That was a “big test” for the intern that Grassi said had been “a little bit unflappable” throughout the season leading up to that. “She’s confronted with her own issues of not living her own life, even just being in these conversations in this elevator. And I think the tragedy that happens in this elevator really holds up a mirror to her, and we’re going to see her struggle to move through that,” he shared. The fact that she’s taking Dana’s meds is “something that we’re definitely going to explore moving forward.”
It has to be just a matter of time before Dana realizes she’s missing pills, but we could easily see this leading to a fight and Ericka moving out — and then being forced to confront her struggles without access to that medication.
Will Ericka and Jacob get together?
There was a bit of a love triangle with Ericka, Jacob (Spence Moore II), and Van (Alex MacNicoll) earlier this season. Ericka hooked up with Van despite her feelings for Jacob, but after that came to an end, we couldn’t help but wonder when something might happen with Jacob. Now, what’s more important is very much Ericka’s health, but the finale did set up the possibility of her and Jacob becoming closer (not necessarily romantically yet). He apologized to her for treating her like a prize to be won and explained he used to have stadiums of thousands of fans cheering him, but she showed him that he didn’t need anyone.
Not only is that important moment, it’s also “a pretty vulnerable [one] for him,” noted Grassi. “For him to say that one of the reasons why he’s sort of made it through as an intern is because of her and her support I think is a really moving moment. I think it does open the door ever so slightly to a potential romance in Season 2. But I think it’s going to be complicated, and I don’t know if Ericka’s ready to let somebody in just yet after everything she went through.”
Will Dana and Katie be able to make a relationship work?
We were hoping that something would happen between these two after sparks started flying between the two when the paramedic was a patient, and once their doctor/patient relationship came to an end in the finale, it did! “I’d take a bullet for you,” Katie (Mishel Prada) offered, to send more time together. But instead, Dana kissed her.
However, it’s not necessarily going to be so easy for the two of them. As Grassi pointed out, “When you’re dating a paramedic and you have issues about losing people — because I know that Dana struggles with anxiety and it’s all related to loss and her potential future love interest has a job where she’s putting herself in danger — there might be some interesting conflict there moving forward.”
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