WARNING - This review will be filled with spoilers. If you haven’t seen tonight’s new episode of Brilliant Minds, I’d suggest you watch and circle back.
Tonight’s episode of Brilliant Minds brings us deeper into the mind of John Doe and we get to know him a lot more. For starters, we can finally stop calling him “John Doe” because his name is Roman. With the help of an interpreter, Oliver and Josh explain to Roman how the Brain Computer Interface will work. A microchip will be implanted in his brain. This will allow Roman to communicate despite suffering from Locked-In Syndrome. It’s experimental and despite the warnings from Josh regarding the possible complications (bleeding, stroke, and infection) Roman agrees to the procedure.
Once the device is implanted, they give it a test run. Oliver talks to Roman and after a few moments it seems as though it wasn’t a success, but then words came through the machine and Roman spoke and his first words were very important: “scratch my nose”. It made the mood in the room so much lighter.
"Chapter Seven: The Man from Grozny" - BRILLIANT MINDS - Pictured: Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf. Photo: Rafy/NBC202 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Oliver spends time talking to Roman and, as I’ve mentioned earlier, we get to learn more about him. Why he’s here, how he got here, and most importantly, what happened to him. The blocking in this episode was beautiful; the way we see each person talking to Roman – it’s like they were talking directly to him, no tubes, no machines – which goes to show how well this device was working.
While in the room with Jacob, Roman expresses his desire to no longer live in his current state. This forces the team to discuss next steps but they’re divided. Do they continue to exhaust all options to keep Roman alive? Or do they listen to his wishes and put an end to his suffering? The talk of Simon’s experimental trial comes up and whether or not Roman’s death would impact it. The implant was meant to enable communication and it did that, so, we can check this trial run off as a success.
"Chapter Seven: The Man from Grozny" - BRILLIANT MINDS - Pictured: Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf, Alex Ozerov-Meyer as Roman (John Doe). Photo: Rafy/NBC202 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Oliver wants to work with Roman longer – if he gives Roman a reason to want to live then maybe he would change his mind. As the episode goes on, we definitely learn more about Roman and most importantly, to me at least, how he got to be in this condition. Roman, while riding his bike, was hit by a car and unable to go to the hospital because he didn’t have his papers. Prolonging his care in that moment would evidently lead to his downfall.
Dana continues to ask him why he left Chechnya, a question he’s cleverly been avoiding. He finally answers her stating that he left for love. After a quick search, they find Alex, Roman’s boyfriend. It turns out being homosexual in Chechnya is illegal so they planned to escape and find a new life together, but that never happened. Alex searched for Roman but could never find him. Roman, unfortunately, was too busy being passed along from hospital to hospital because no doctor paid enough attention to him since he didn’t have a name. Luckily, he landed in the same hospital as Oliver Wolf.
"Chapter Seven: The Man from Grozny" - BRILLIANT MINDS - Pictured: Ashleigh LaThrop as Ericka Kinney, Spence Moore II as Jacob Nash, Teddy Sears as Dr. Josh Nicols, Alex MacNicoll as Dr. Van Markus, Brendan Hines as Dr. Simon Gadson, Aury Krebs as Dr. Dana Dang, Tamberla Perry as Dr. Carol Pierce, Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf. Photo: Rafy/NBC202 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Oliver has a talk with Alex, letting him know just how much work it would be to care for Roman. Despite the challenges, Alex is up for the task stating “I was always planning to care for Roman, it just looks different now.” Wow, talk about someone loving you in sickness and health (they’re not married, obviously, but it still works here). Excitedly sharing this with Roman, Oliver thought that this would be enough for Roman to continue his fight, but he’s staying strong on his decision. He doesn’t want to live in this condition.
At this moment it’s becoming more apparent that this isn’t fully about Roman, but it could be that Oliver is going this hard because it’s what he wishes he was able to do for his father. When he asks Roman ‘why'd you ask me not to leave you if you knew you wanted to go?’, it brought me back to that moment with his father. Was it because he was unable to save his father that he feels this strong need to save Roman?
In a final attempt, Oliver asks Carol to talk to him. One thing I appreciate about Carol is how she always keeps it real with Oliver. She asks him why did he work this hard to give Roman a voice if he was only going to ignore it? She speaks to Roman and the answer is still the same. He has the mental capacity to make this decision for himself.
"Chapter Seven: The Man from Grozny" - BRILLIANT MINDS - Pictured: Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf, Teddy Sears as Dr. Josh Nicols. Photo: Rafy/NBC202 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Reserved.
Roman’s only request was that he didn’t want to die in a hospital. To this, Oliver opened up his home to him, Alex and basically everyone else. He was still visibly struggling with letting Roman go and he expressed these feelings to Josh. Josh reassures him that what he’s doing is admirable; how he lets his patients see the world the way they want to, honoring who they are and what they choose even if he disagrees.
There was something interesting that happened in the final moments of the episode and to be honest, I kept seeing it throughout the episode. When Oliver was talking to Josh about his struggles letting Roman go, there was a subtle touch to his shoulder from Josh. When Jacob asks if Oliver lets anyone in, the camera pans directly to Josh (I know this was intentional). If that wasn’t enough, in a final moment with Oliver and Roman, he tells Oliver that he and Josh “make a good team”. Oliver, of course in denial, but something changes. When he sees Josh again, it’s as if you can see Oliver’s mind scream “screw this” and he walks over to him and they share a kiss (I screamed so loud, apologies to my neighbors). Why would the episode end there? What does this mean for the both of them now?
What’d you think of tonight’s new episode of Brilliant Minds? Share your thoughts below or connect with me on X/Twitter @chenfordhugs.
