After the heart-wrenching cliffhanger on the Brilliant Minds season 2 fall finale, we pick up with a few reveals. Would Michelle make it, and what would Oliver find in the apartment that may or may not belong to his father?
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 11.
We immediately pick up with Wolf breaking into the apartment that Charlie gave him the address of. There are photos of a young Oliver all over, and there’s even a copy of Oliver’s school certificate. The half-drank coffee mugs also indicate that this is the place Noah Wolf has been staying.
We don’t stay there for long, though, as we have to find out what’s going on with Michelle. Katie is one of the paramedics on the scene, but she has no idea that this is Michelle. All she knows is her job, and that means doing everything she can to keep Michelle alive to get to the ER. Can Thorne save her?
Thorne does everything he can to save Michelle on Brilliant Minds
Thorne quickly gets to work, calling the neuro team in to check on her once they have her stabilized. It’s only when Ericka and Jacob get there that they find out that it’s Michelle. Ericka immediately calls Wolf and Jacob calls Van, who steps in front of a cab to get one to Bronx General with Dana.
At the hospital, Pierce gets called out to the other driver from the accident, who is laughing at the entire situation. Of course, the first thought is that he’s drunk, but is there something more to the situation? This is Brilliant Minds after all.
Things aren’t looking good for Michelle right now, and Wolf encourages Van to call family. It’s only Michelle’s mom and Liam, but they need to know.
Everyone steps in for Van
Things look good for Michelle at first. While there are some serious concerns, she did make it out of surgery without complications. This offers some sense of hope, but Michelle’s mom does not want to be anywhere near Van.
While all this goes on, Pierce focuses on helping Nic, the other driver. His toxicology report comes back clean, so he wasn’t drunk. What caused the accident, and why couldn’t he stop laughing? Things continue to take a turn as Nic asks about Michelle, and he continues to laugh as he learns that her injuries are serious. Does anyone else feel like they’re watching The Joker?
Everyone steps in to help Van. While Ericka stays with him, Dana takes Liam to a place he can draw on the walls without getting in trouble. Even Katie steps in, offering a chance for Liam to play with the sirens on her ambulance.
Meanwhile, Wolf wants to speak with Jacob to find out why someone is looking for a referral for him. Jacob is seriously considering leaving Bronx General, but Wolf wants to find a way to keep him. After all, Jacob is the best at bedside manner in the hospital, and he doesn’t want to lose him. That conversation will need to wait, though, as Michelle is now recovered enough to head to for tests on her brain.
It’s devastating news for everyone. There’s nothing surgical that could help Michelle, and her pupils are already fixed and dilated. She’s brain dead, and no matter what anyone does, they can’t help her. Van doesn’t want to accept that, though, just like any of us wouldn’t in that position.
Wolf doesn’t want to give false hope on Brilliant Minds
As much as Ericka wants to offer Van some hope, Wolf knows that any hope now would be false hope. He can’t give Van that, and Wolf now needs to have an honest conversation with the family. Van isn’t happy about being left out of the conversations, and he wants to be the one in the room for the brain death exam.
Wolf isn’t sure about it, though. Maybe it’s best to have some things unseen, but Josh thinks that it could be best for Van to see this through.
Josh, Wolf, and Pierce need to figure out what’s going on with Nic, though. With nothing pointing to a psych problem, it looks like it could be neurological. As soon as Josh points out that Nic plays hockey, Wolf says that they should bring Jacob in on it. Everyone has heard that Jacob has a job offer, and it’s clear that Wolf is trying to find a way to get Jacob to stay. However, sometimes, you have to let your fledglings fly.
With that, Wolf and Van carry out the tests to see if Michelle is really brain dead. There’s a hint that she really is when Wolf has to do the pain test. It’s clear that Van doesn’t feel anything, but he doesn’t want to believe it. Nobody is going to ask him about that, though. Van needs more time, and he wants a second exam before they do the final test that makes it clear Michelle really is brain dead — the test if she can’t breathe on her own.
Michelle’s mom is accepting the situation more than Van, sharing that Michelle wrote out her advance directives. She wanted to be an organ donor, and Shauna wants to respect those wishes. Still, Van isn’t ready for it, and he decides to grasp at straws by carrying out an EEG.
This is when Charlie walks by to see everything that’s happening. He’s worried about Van, but he doesn’t really know how to show it. What he does question is about Van’s mirror-touch, and while he does it sympathetically, Van overhears at the wrong time and lashes out.
When Shauna decides to bring in a rabbi, Van realizes that New Jersey has a loophole that could stop Michelle from being declared brain dead. It would be unethical, though, and that seems to stop the conversation. Of course, it’s sure to come up for Van once more in the near future as he continues to grasp at straws.
Meanwhile, Pierce and Wolf take Jacob to see Nic. It turns out that Nic knows Jacob as “Nash the Smash,” a nickname that Jacob has been able to leave behind. And if you thought of The Joker, then you’ll find it amusing that Nic’s nickname is “The Joker” due to losing his mind when people things get intense. Jacob tries to make a joke, but Nic starts to cry. He meant to laugh, though, and when he’s asked about the car crash, she starts laughing again.
It’s clear that he can’t help but laugh, and while Jacob is upset about Michelle, he has figured out what’s wrong with Nic. It’s the same condition that Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker suffers from, and it's likely from too many concussions in hockey. The good news is that this is something that can be fixed.
With Nic’s condition figured out, Pierce can now check on Wolf. He tells Pierce all about Charlie and who he is to him, which leads to a conversation about Charlie needing professional help. Wolf also needs it, but he refuses to see it just yet.
Someone else who needs help, Van rushes into the break room to tell everyone that he wants to get Michelle to New Jersey. Dana asks Katie if she can borrow the ambulance, and while Katie says no, she leaves her keys behind, making it clear that she supports the idea. It’s not exactly what Dana wanted to do, but she does end up taking the keys.
Will the interns get caught in the ambulance?
As Wolf and Pierce discuss Nic’s health condition with his parents, Nic gives them a letter for the family. He wanted to hand-deliver it, but the doctors were already loading her into an ambulance.
Of course, Wolf and Pierce know that they haven’t ordered anything, so they know what’s going on. Sure enough, the group of interns are on their way to New Jersey, giving Ericka and Jacob a chance to talk as Ericka learns that Jacob is leaving. As much as she will miss Jacob, she does wish him all the best. There are no hard feelings because this is what Jacob needs to do.
Meanwhile, in the back of the ambulance, Van and Dana sit with Michelle. At first, it looks like everything is great. As Van talks to Michelle, her hand moves and they’re able to turn the ambulance around and get her the help needed.
However, it’s clear that this isn’t reality. We get to see a life that will never be, as Van looks at what could have been with a wedding. It’s at this dream wedding that Van realizes that he has to accept this. Michelle is gone, and they need to turn back to Bronx General. It’s time for the final test to prove that Michelle can’t breathe on her own, but it does allow for her wishes to be upheld. She will get to be an organ donor.
I think what makes it harder is that Van is the one to call the time of death — by choice, but it still hurts. Just as he was about to get the life he wanted before, it has been taken away from him. It’s hard not to cry as he walks to the rest of the Core Four and breaks down in their arms.
Charlie offers the best advice possible
Out of all the people in the hospital, Charlie is the one who is able to offer the best advice. He looks at it all from Liam’s point of view, explaining how confusing death is as a child while everyone tries to be positive. Charlie didn’t fully understand it until his dad died, and he makes it clear that dying of a broken heart “isn’t as romantic as it sounds.” Liam needs Van at this point, and Charlie encourages that.
Shauna also encourages Van to be in Liam’s life, making it clear that Michelle always knew Van was a good dad. While there may have been resentment before, there is love there, and they need each other. That’s to come after the heartbreaking but beautiful honor walk that will happen for Michelle, with Van pushing the bed with Shauna and Liam just behind.
With that, we get to find out what will happen to the interns after the stolen ambulance. Katie didn’t report it, so it’s not on a record. It doesn’t matter for Van, though. He needs to take some time off to be with Liam, and he’s not sure how long just yet. Wolf wants Van to stay like he would, but Van isn’t Wolf, and he needs time for himself and his family.
At the same time, Jacob makes it clear that he needs to go to his new job. Wolf has taught him how to be a better doctor, to be the doctor that he wish he had when he got injured. He has to move on.
“My door is always open,” Wolf makes clear to the two men, because it really is “wolf pack forever.” This offers some sense of hope that the two could come back at some point before Brilliant Minds season 2 is over.
To end, we need to head back to the mystery apartment, though. Wolf is back in the house, but a woman walks in. As Wolf tells the woman that he knows Noah, she already knows. This is Sofia, and she knows exactly who Wolf is. She even calls him by name as she tells him he looks just like Noah. What does Sofia know, and where is Noah?
This is a live recap of Brilliant Minds, so tune in regularly to see the next part.
Brilliant Minds airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.