Brilliant Minds: Alex MacNicoll and Spence Moore II talk all about empathy and unusual diagnoses

When you watch Brilliant Minds, you don’t get stereotypical characters. This is a show with a purpose, to focus on the unique and the wonderful. It also focuses on empathy.

Alex MacNicoll and Spence Moore II play Dr. Van Markus and Dr. Jacob Nash, two interns working under Zachary Quinto’s Dr. Oliver Wolf. The two have or potentially have their own unique diagnoses as well.

We talked recently to MacNicoll about Van’s diagnosis of mirror-touch synesthesia. Since then, there has been a development in Van’s character, so we had a chance to discuss that in this new interview.

As for Moore’s character, Jacob, there’s a chance that he has CTE, and it’s something Jacob is worried about. We talked about that and what it was like for Moore as he researched that.

Spence Moore II discusses CTE and learning more about the condition for Brilliant Minds

During episode 5, Wolf and the interns help a Marine with CTE. Jacob realizes that this is something that he could have, and we get this vulnerable moment between Jacob and Ericka as he shares his regrets leaving football because of his concussions.

"This is probably one of Jacob’s biggest episodes as far as character development but also self-development over the course of the season, if I had to say so myself, because it’s the first time that he’s ever gotten an answer as to why things feel a little bit off within him…Jacob didn’t know that there were going to be long-term repercussions of the game that he only played through college."

While a lot of medical shows will focus on conditions we already know about, Brilliant Minds has brought up unique ones. CTE is one that is only just being focused on, and it’s a condition that doesn’t have any sort of treatment. What was it like for Moore delving into the research to help him inform his character’s actions?

"It’s cool to be able to get like an accelerated program into what doctors in the world have to go through…It’s very humbling…I did look into some cases because, as somebody who has a football background, I don’t know if it’s possible for me to have developed CTE."

Moore did go on to share that he doesn’t think he had enough head trauma for it to be something to worry about. However, he has friends who could end up developing it. He has friends who have suffered concussions because of the game, and it’s something that he now looks out for. By knowing about CTE from the show, he can look out for signs.

Van finally has his anchor in Brilliant Minds

When we last talked to Van, he was just learning about mirror-touch synesthesia, and there was a lot of focus on him finally getting an answer to the way he’s always felt. In episode 6, he finds a way to control his ability. We watch as he suffers labor pains, but is then able to stop them to help his patient. He shares that it was all because of Ericka.

"Ericka is this person who he can trust, who he can lean on, somebody who genuinely cares…She helps him take what was this crippling hindrance for somebody who does what he does, to then be able to use it as this tool and this like superpower, so to speak."

There is clearly more to come for Van as he gets more of a handle on his ability. It goes to show that just understanding his condition and then having people to support him can make a world of difference.

What Alex MacNicoll and Spence Moore II take from Brilliant Minds

This is a series that brings up a lot of important topics. While some shows have done it in a bit of a pushy way, Brilliant Minds has done it through the art of caring and storytelling. It doesn’t feel like an agenda is being pushed on us, but there is meaning behind each case and each story.

We don’t know yet if the series will be renewed for a second season. I certainly hope to see that it is, but let’s say it doesn’t get a renewal. I wanted to know what MacNicoll and Moore take from the series.

MacNicoll started it off by talking about how people suffer in silence.

"“For me…it was really not forgetting or being more cognizant or aware of the people that suffer in silence on a day-to-day basis. The people in my life that might be going through something and just trying to be a little more aware and sensitive to that."

It’s all about compassion, which makes sense for the type of storylines that Van has had. He is a character that is full of empathy, but also needed empathy as he suffered in silence for a long time.

Moore shared something similar, but it was aimed at how he acts when people react around him.

"I would say…giving people more grace, because you never know the battles that they’re facing. But also adding to that, just being able to overcome things with the right guidance and with the right support. I feel like you can overcome so much more than we, as humans, give ourselves credit for because we don’t have the right healer or the right teacher or the right doctor.”"

There is a huge focus in this series about having the right doctor, and it did come up in the previous interview with MacNicoll. Doctors go in to this field to help people, and more often than not, they end up with egos that get in the way or they forgot what they are actually there for. The right doctor with the right compassion can change a patient’s world completely.

Take a look at the full interview with Alex MacNicoll and Spence Moore II from Brilliant Minds below:

Brilliant Minds airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC. Catch up the following day on Peacock.

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