Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 6 recap and review: "The Girl Who Cried Pregnant"

It’s time to head back to high school in Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 6. What was going on with the group teen pregnancies?

Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Brilliant Minds season 1, episode 6.

Wolf is quickly pulled into an interesting case. At first, it looks like a teenage who comes to the hospital to avoid telling her parents she’s pregnant. However, Wolf quickly realizes this is something more when there isn’t actually a baby.

It gets even weirder. Other friends in the school are also “pregnant.” Is this a case of mass hysterical pregnancies?

Brilliant Minds takes Wolf and co. back to high school

When Wolf realizes that a group of girls think they’re pregnant, he needs to figure out why. This is a mass hysterical pregnancy, but he needs to understand why. There is something clinical behind hysterical pregnancies, and they need to get to the bottom of it. There could be something serious in one of the students that could cause death.

Is there something environmental at the school? The teachers call the parents in to discuss the entire situation. What surprises me is that the principal didn’t even talk to the parents before this point. I am on the side of the mom who questions why this is the first time any of them are hearing about these “pregnancies.”

The interns follow various girls who think they are pregnant. It’s a good thing Wolf is there when Sarah, the one who came into the hospital and kick-started all of this, collapses in the hall. Sarah shares that everything has gone black. Yet, there still isn’t anything that shows up in the tests, which means another neurological problem.

The best way to get to the bottom of this is to get the girls admitted to the hospital overnight. This will help them find Patient Zero. This is where we get a great look at how doctors can do more to get to the bottom of medical situations. Wolf and the interns hear the girls singing, and it leads to Wolf realizing that there is an oxytocin bond keeping them together. Now they need to join the girls to get to the bottom of it.

Dana’s past is explored

We’ve explored a few pasts so far, but Dana is still a bit of an enigma. She puts up a lot of walls, but she clearly cares. Well, Brilliant Minds explores why.

It’s clear that she didn’t like high school, but what happened? When she goes into the library, she has a panic attack. At first, she feels bad for it, but the girl she’s looking after, Lily, offers a non-judgmental listening ear.

This bond helps to get Lily to talk about what’s really going on. The girls are in a coven, and they’re performed a spell to get pregnant. Now they’ve performed another spell, but it’s backfired. The girls believe they are getting sicker because of it.

It turns out that there was a student who left. It was this that triggered everything else, and the principal shares that it was likely a blessing in disguise that the parents pulled the girl out so she didn’t get messed up in this. Well, that girl was Patient Zero. And it turns out the girl was also really pregnant, and she’s in labor.

Sam being pulled out caused a double loss. The girls lost their friend, and they felt like Sam was growing up without them. That kick-started a chain of hysterical pregnancies. They had empathy at the deepest form.

Of course, the teens now need to learn that they’re not actually pregnant. It’s an absolutely devastating moment for all the girls. They were so excited about becoming mothers, and they had to face the truth. Nobody really wants to face a bad truth. I do wish the episode had focused a little more on this moment, as not all of them would have accepted the “loss” as well as they did.

Pierce gets help for John Doe

There is some good news for John Doe. Pierce asks another doctor to allow John Doe into a program to help with his Locked In Syndrome. This doctor doesn’t like Wolf due to his inability to follow rules, but the doctor agrees to allow John Doe into the program. This is only on the condition that Wolf follows every single rule and expectation.

It’s a tough ask. Can Wolf do something for his patient? What happens when Wolf thinks that he knows better?

On a side note, Pierce mentioned that Wolf seemed to be dressing up for a date when he was meeting with the high school principal. Well, it does look like there could have been something there, but when the principal (Mark, by the way) came to see Oliver at the end of the episode, Wolf turned him down. There was a small spark there, but Wolf is “very unavailable” and not because he is seeing someone. I do feel like Wolf knows that he shouldn’t pull anyone into his own messy head, which is respectful of them, but it means a potentially lonely life. Are his plants and Pierce enough?

Pierce is someone that he’s been able to open up to, so maybe. He shares that he was around the age of the teens when he last saw his dad. This connects back to the time in the woods when his dad ran off to tell him that he was the Messiah. Wolf blames himself for what happened to his dad, and it is starting to make sense why he’s cocooned himself in his house with his plants.

Van figures a way to control his MTS

At one point, there is a moment where Van feels the labor pains. He suddenly stops, and at the end of the episode, he explains how he was able to control it all because he turned his attention to someone else. Ericka was so calm that he was able to focus on what she was feeling to help him feel calm. It gives us a look at how Van could use this condition to his advantage.

Dana also opens up about her past. She was in her senior year of high school when her little sister died. She was in the library when she learned about it, leading to a panic attack, and connecting her to the panic attack in this episode.

I do love how all the interns have come together throughout the last six episodes. They started off as strangers, and it hasn’t taken them long to become friends. It’s been a great progression to see the this play out.

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

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