Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 11 recap and review: "The Other Woman"

The Brilliant Minds season 1 midseason finale did not disappoint. It brought us unique medical conditions and plenty of drama.

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 11

The episode itself was nicely split across three storylines. We got to see the interns at work as they decided to race each other to discharging their patients, and we got to see Wolf and Nichols figure out how to deal with their relationship when their medical opinions differ. Most importantly, we got some closure for Pierce’s storyline.

The interns in a race to finish in Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 11

After finding out that Van and Ericka were together, Jacob couldn’t help but get jealous and possessive. He decided to pit Van to a race to discharge patients. Whoever discharged the most would win. Spoiler, it ended up being Dana, but that’s because Van didn’t seem all that into the game and Jacob realized a patient needed him.

Jacob’s patient had a condition called myasthenia gravis. Had Jacob been rushing to get rid of his patient and not actually cared about his job, he would have ignored all the signs. Instead, he caught a rare condition, making Wolf (and the rest of us) proud.

Sadly, things were thrown off in the end. He decided to tell Ericka that Van has a son that he’s been hiding from everyone. I knew that was going to come up. I get that Jacob is jealous, but he didn’t exactly let Ericka know that he was interested in her until she was already sleeping with Van. It’s not even like Van knew that Jacob was interested at the time. It’s a low blow for Jacob, and shows us the type of jealous man and potential boyfriend he could be.

Ericka decided to confront Van about his son. The two didn’t get into a conversation about it, though. In the end, Ericka told Van that they should go back to being just friends who don’t sleep together. What they were doing was fun, but it’s not fun anymore. I do feel for Van, but he should have mentioned his son to Ericka by now. Even though they were just friends with benefits, the friends part warrants telling her about his son.

Wolf and Nichols have to navigate an issue

Wolf had his own patient come into the hospital. This patient, Ezra, has Tourette’s Syndrome. While plenty of people deal with the ticks on a daily basis and some have said that the ticks help them, Ezra is fed up of living life this way. There’s brain surgery that could help to minimize the ticks, and he comes to Wolf for a referral.

Now sure, Wolf knows of a neurosurgeon who can do it, but he doesn’t agree with Ezra getting the surgery. This is despite Ezra showing just why he wants it after knocking a hotdog out of a man’s hand because of a tick. Wolf thinks that people should live with what makes them different, the way he has with his condition.

Nichols points out that it’s easy for Wolf to say that. There isn’t a treatment for his condition. It would likely be a different conversation if there was, but Wolf doesn’t agree. It leads to an important discussion of their two types of medicine. Nichols points out that Wolf doesn’t see Nichols on the same level because he’s a neurosurgeon and not a neurologist.

It takes a while, but Wolf eventually shares that he does see Nichols as his equal in the hospital. He wouldn’t argue with Nichols about medical care if he didn’t see him that way. He respects Nichols’s opinions, but he doesn’t have to agree with them. It saves their relationship, as I could have seen this leading to them breaking up as Brilliant Minds goes into its midseason break.

The good thing about this whole episode, though, is that Wolf has somewhat of a change of heart. While he doesn’t completely agree with Ezra getting the treatment—and he does get it in the end!—Wolf does admit that he wishes there was a treatment for bipolar disorder. He would have encouraged his dad to get that in an instant. While we would love for the world to see us as unique as we are, it doesn’t. There’s little change when it comes to the overall society’s acceptance of differences, and Wolf acknowledges that contributed to the death of his father.

Pierce deals with her patient and her husband in Brilliant Minds

While the series has brought us Wolf flashbacks, this episode brought us Pierce flashbacks. We got to see Pierce as a new mom, struggling in the way that so many new moms do. I do think we’re told that she has postnatal depression in the end, but it’s not 100% clear. Pierce tries to brush it all off that her feelings are normal. They’re the “baby blues.” But in the end, Morris points out that Pierce needs help.

Those flashbacks show us that sometimes we need someone to be there to take the slack. We need to lean on people to get better, and it all connects to Pierce’s current day storyline with Alison, who is saved from her overdose.

Alison gets mean at points of this episode. I had to turn the episode off a couple of times while screening it just to take a break. There were too many parts that reflected something I’d recently been through, which certainly shows that the writers are realistic in their storytelling.

In the end, Pierce is able to connect with Alison. She doesn’t blame this woman for breaking up her family. If it wasn’t Alison, it would have been another woman. That’s exactly what Morris tells her as he tries to blame the affair on Pierce, but it’s something important for Pierce to hold onto when it comes to Alison. She’s able to see past the affair and to the patient who needs help.

Do I agree with this? No—I think both people involved in an affair should be blamed. It takes two. While it would have been someone else, I do think a woman (or a man, if it’s the other way around) should have more self-worth just to not get involved with someone already in a relationship.

With Alison, she is a destructive person, and Pierce is able to give Alison a diagnosis. Pierce believes Alison has borderline personality disorder, which certainly tracks with the way the woman was acting over the course of the last few episodes. Alison decides to check herself into the psych word at the hospital, and it’s the best decision that she could do to be able to get the mental health help that she needs. There is nothing wrong with asking for help.

There is also nothing wrong with asking for a divorce, which is what Pierce decides to do in the end. I love that this is where the storyline went, as far too many shows bring us the drama of a couple getting back together after an affair. The truth is, there is no love without trust. While Pierce says that she loves Morris, there’s a lot gone from that relationship. She can’t forgive her husband, and without forgiveness, there is no way forward for her.

It doesn’t help that Morris broke a different promise. He said that he would never hurt his wife or daughter, and he’s ended up hurting both. It’s not like their daughter didn’t work out what happened, and she’s angry at her father for doing this. I could see a lot more coming of this storyline despite Pierce and Morris not getting back together. In fact, this could open up more drama, while also just being empathetic to the men and women who have dealt with being cheated on and walked away. It’s time to show that this is a positive reality, and I hope the writers don’t go back on this in the way the writers for Working Moms did.

Overall, this was a great way to end the midseason. It leaves me needing to see more of Wolf and Nichols as they continue to navigate their new relationship, and I’m excited to see what’s next in the love triangle that Ericka likely never wanted to happen.

The episode ends with a shocking turn of events to push us into the new year. Ericka's building collapses while Ericka is in the elevator. I'm unsure how Ericka is at home when everyone else is still in the hospital, but it means everyone is there watching the horror unfold on the news. Despite Van and Jacob being there, it's Dana who points out that it's Ericka's building, which does seem odd to me. Wouldn't the two guys be the first to realize that and worry? It shows how much of a friend Dana actually is. We just have to wait until 2025 now!

Brilliant Minds is available to catch up on Peacock.

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