The doctors of Bronx General are going to find themselves in a world they’ve never been before on Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 13. And it’s got nothing to do with college. It’s all about technology.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 13.
While Wof and his team deal with a mystery illness in a college student, Thorne has a mystery of his own that he needs help with. At the same time, we get to see more of Sofia and the information she knows about Noah Wolf.
When AI becomes dangerous
Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 13 brings us a look at how technology is changing everything for us, and in some ways, it’s a good thing. In fact, the episode doesn’t demonize AI. Instead, it shows how AI needs to be used with other tools.
It all starts when a college student, Nora, walks into her sorority’s nightly group meeting quickly mimicking everyone. It’s clear that there is something going on, and it’s only when she’s at Bronx General that she gets a diagnosis. She’s in a catatonic state, and Wolf needs to get to the bottom of the reason why.
With the use of benzos, the team is able to get her out of her catatonia long enough for her to say that she needs Veronica to help her. Then she goes back into her state, and it’s up to Dana and Ericka to get to the sorority house to Nora’s room to get to the bottom of it.
Veronica is an AI chatbot that Nora used to help get information. At first, it was to help with some course work, and then it led to Veronica being the person Nora would speak with all the time. It was only when the doctors went through all the details of the chat that they learned Nora had been looking into the likelihood of surviving bone cancer.
It wasn’t Nora who has cancer — her sister does. By getting all the bad news from Veronica, Nora focused on trying to create a time machine so that she could go back to the time when her sister told her that she had cancer. With the machine not working, Nora broke, and her body shut down.
By knowing what caused it, there was a chance to help Nora. It turned out that her sister’s cancer was treatable after all, and she even comes to tell Nora that. Nora realizes that only creating a bond with AI caused her all these issues, and it’s a very new and real problem in today’s world. The treatment is to go through therapy and take a break from AI, as Nora needs to spend time with other people in her life — and her sorority is still there to support her!
Thorne has an issue on Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 13
Meanwhile, Dr. Thorne has a medical mystery. A young boy comes in suffering from an allergic reaction, but nobody knows what it’s from. The dad brings him in, sharing that he needs to get to the bottom of it, otherwise his ex is going to blame him.
It’s quickly clear that the parents have split and are not on good terms. They argue a lot in front of Owen, playing the blame game, and it’s up to Thorne to make it clear that they need to stop this for Owen’s sake right now. He calls Carol in to help, who also makes the same thing clear.
When the mom picks up a cheese string and eats it, she suffers an allergic reaction as well. This helps Thorne get to the bottom of the medical mystery. They went to a state where there is a tick that can pass on a disease that causes an allergy to meat and dairy. The good news is that this is temporary, but it sets the parents off again, as the mom took the son out of state without telling the dad.
While all of this is a chance for Thorne to work out a medical mystery and interact with Carol again after the disappointing moment on the Brilliant Minds season 2 fall finale, it’s also a chance for Carol to realize that she needs to make some changes. At the start of the episode, Carol had made it clear that Morris couldn’t take Maya skiing on the weekend that he wanted, because it was Carol’s weekend with their daughter. By the end of the episode, she changed her mind. It was what Maya wanted to do, and that’s what mattered.
Wolf learns a little more about his father
Throughout the episode, we get to see more of Wolf and Sofia hanging out together. It turns out that Noah spent some time in Mongolia about 20 years ago, and that he met Sofia by knocking on her door to ask for a cup of sugar.
However, while Wolf is learning a little about his dad, he also needs to help Sofia get to the bottom of her medical issue. Why can’t she sleep?
She does go to the hospital, but really, the moments with Sofia give Wolf a chance to share his own thoughts and feelings. He has someone to talk to, whether it’s about Josh’s boyfriend or his father. And yes, Josh’s boyfriend does turn up, as Silva is quick to point out to Josh that he needs to tell Beau who Wolf really is to him. We agree!
The whole thing with Sofia gets us to one week later at Hudson Oaks, so it looks like we’re just an episode away from finding out why Wolf is in Hudson Oaks. He’s not the only one, there. Sofia is also in a room, and I can’t help but wonder if Sofia is really there or just a figment of Wolf’s imagination.
Brilliant Minds airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.