“When a doctor looks at a patient, what do they see? The disease or the person?” What a powerful thought-provoking way to start off an episode. Brilliant Minds follows neurologist, Dr. Oliver Wolf, and his unconventional way of treating patients with neurological impairments. What makes his take that more interesting is that, Dr. Wolf has prosopagnosia; face blindness. Face blindness is a brain condition where you can’t recognize faces or facial expressions. It’s not that he can’t see people, it’s that he sees them differently. He notes characteristics of a person’s features in order to, for lack of better wording, put a face to the name.
“Pilot” - BRILLIANT MINDS. Pictured: Ashleigh LaThrop as Dr. Ericka Kinney, Alex MacNicoll as Dr. Van Markus, Tamberla Perry as Dr. Carol Pierce, Amy Stewart as Child Protective Agent, Aury Krebs as Dr. Dana Dang, Spence Moore II as Dr. Jacob Nash. Photo: Rafy/NBC © 2024 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The episode begins with an older gentleman in the hospital. A nurse walks in asking him questions she knows he cannot answer, and she brushes it off like it’s routine. Enter Dr. Wolf, who helps this man make a grand escape. I was beyond confused and found myself laughing at the scene of him and this older gentleman on a motorcycle. What was he up to? Then it all started to make sense; he brought the older gentleman to his granddaughter’s wedding. Her mother, the gentleman’s daughter, was furious because her father suffered from Alzheimer Disease. She was upset that he was there when there wasn’t a chance of him remembering who his granddaughter was. Oliver, knowing that the older gentleman once had a love for music, brought him over to the piano and said they should play.
“Pilot” - BRILLIANT MINDS. Pictured: Quenton Rose as the Groom, Getenesh Berhe as the Bride, Andre De Shields as Harold. Photo: Rafy/NBC © 2024 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
He starts playing the piano and encourages the older gentleman, Harold, to join him. As he played, it’s as if something unlocks in Harold and he joins in, even joking that he didn’t care for how Oliver was playing and took over. He played the piano and sang a beautiful song commanding the attention of all of the wedding guests. Once he finished playing, one look at his granddaughter, he says her name and everyone, including his own daughter is shocked. How was this happening? Dr. Wolf was able to determine that music was the way of unlocking Harold's memories and made him more lucid. Treat the patient, not the disease.
It’s too bad not everyone shares the same beliefs as Oliver; because of his involvement in Harold’s great escape, he was let go. He tried his best to make them see things his way, but it didn’t work.
“Pilot” - BRILLIANT MINDS. Pictured: Kira Guloien as Hannah Peters, Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf. Photo: Rafy/NBC. © 2024 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Oliver’s friend, Carol, stops by to check on him after hearing the news. He sees right through it and calls her on it and she folds. She offers him a job in the neurology department at Bronx General and he is against it at first, but she told him about a case that he couldn’t refuse. A woman who had surgery to cure her epilepsy had her behavior completely shifted and no one could figure out why. A case such as this is something Oliver would be great at given his perspective on treatments.
As he’s thinking about this, we get a flashback to Oliver when he’s younger and we learn that his father was the one who taught him how to remember people. We also learn that his father had a mental disorder, and his mother only said that he was “sick”. These flashbacks continue throughout the episode, and the more we see the more we understand why he chose to become a neurologist; his closeness with his father was being dwindled by his father’s disease. He got upset that his mother gave up on his father, rather than trying to understand him. That’s the thing about some doctors, they forget the patient is a person and that is something Oliver can’t accept.
“Pilot” - BRILLIANT MINDS. Pictured: Tamberla Perry as Dr. Carol Pierce, Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf, Kira Guloien as Hanna Peters. Photo: Rafy/NBC. © 2024 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
In the case of Hannah Peters, after the surgery, she was unable to have a connection with her two sons. When she would see them, she’d believe that they were switched out and her sons were gone. Doctors labeled her as delusional, and wanted to treat her for her delusions, but Dr. Wolf wasn’t buying it. There was something wrong, and he would stop at nothing to help her. Because it appeared as though she was incapable of taking care of her sons, they were taken away. Unable to cope with what was happening to her, she nearly took her life. Thankfully, Dr. Wolf found her in time. He tried to explain to her, what other doctors failed to do, is that “the mind is not black and white. It remembers the pain and it can make it feel like a prison, but it could also be the thing that unlocks the door” and that convinces her to give it another try. One last try, Dr. Wolf tries to prove that Hannah’s neurological impairment can be treated - one final test to prove a theory. Dr. Wolf puts Hannah in a blindfold and has her sons speak to her and instantly she recognizes them. He’s figured it out: Hannah’s delusions are not delusions, but instead her behavior is due to complications from her surgery which is causing a disconnect between her visual and auditory sensors. With work, she will be able to train her brain to get back to normal, but until then, there are steps she can take to find her way back to herself.
Brilliant Minds couldn’t have come at a better time. Mental health is extremely important, but because of the stigma and the complexity of the mind, it’s easier to write it off with a label and patch it up with medication rather than learning its root cause and healing. The more we learn to treat the person, not the disease, the better off we would be.
What did you think of tonight’s new episode of Brilliant Minds? Share your thoughts below or connect with me on X/Twitter @chenfordhugs
