It’s time for a blast from Oliver Wolf’s past in Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 7. Could this lead to the decision we’ve all been waiting for when it comes to Wolf and Josh?
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Brilliant Minds season 2 episode 7
We go back to the episode opening with the patient. A professor is giving a lecture when he starts hearing the sound of someone’s phone playing music. Believing it to be a ringtone, he asks for people to shut their phones on silent, but then as he’s into the swing of things again, the song starts playing once more.
It’s not anybody’s phone. Nobody else can hear the music, and it turns out that it’s all in his head.
Meanwhile, in the hospital, Silva notices that there’s some flirting going on between Wolf and Josh. He is invested in the drama between them, which does make me like this guy a little more. He’s the workplace gossip!
Ericka wants to find a way to help Sam in Brilliant Minds
Since finally getting Sam to agree to see Carol Pierce, Ericka continues to fight for help. Initially, we see him in a therapy session with Pierce and Ericka, which leads to Sam explaining that he doesn’t like the medication that the ED puts him on, as it makes him feel like a zombie. Carol knows that they need to treat him, likely with some medication, but he doesn’t really like that idea.
Ericka decides to ask Sam about the voices, which then leads to her pushing Wolf to admit Sam and run some tests on him. While Carol is still sure that it’s psychological, she does support the idea of running some tests to make sure, and Wolf agrees to do it. It helps that Ericka lays it on thick about how great a teacher Wolf is for her, and he can’t help but agree after hearing that.
Outside, Katie wants Dana to meet her friends, and she shares that there’s a kickball league going on. Of course, Dana doesn’t do sports, but she does want to meet Dana’s friends.
Back in the hospital, Wolf meets the patient. It turns out that there’s history here. This isn’t just some random history professor. It’s Tom. Yes, THE TOM! Beach Tom!
What’s wrong with Tom?
We know that people coming into the hospital to see Wolf have some rare disorder. Sure enough, hearing music is a rare symptom of a condition, and Wolf needs to run some tests to find out what that is.
Naturally, though, Carol can’t help but join in on the love life drama. Is it possible that Tom is here to rekindle the flame? When she then brings Josh back up and how she thought they were going to get back together, Wolf moves the conversation back to the topic of work. They need to get to the bottom of Tom’s medical problem, especially with it being THAT SONG from the summer 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, Ericka and Silva work on doing a spinal tap on Sam, but the voices in his head make it impossible. It takes some time talking to Dana and Van, but Ericka realizes that she needs to learn what the voices are saying to Sam.
With this, she learns that there is one in particular called Lawrence, who tells Sam that he is unworthy and that nobody will miss him if he’s gone. Ericka tells Lawrence it’s not true, and suddenly, she gets an idea as to how to help.
After Van agrees to play kickball with Dana and meet Katie’s friends, Dana is able to go run the test on Tom with Wolf. The downside is that Tom doesn’t know what starts the music in his head, so while they pass the time, she decides to ask about a younger Wolf. That’s when the music starts playing and the machines tell Wolf and Dana what’s going on. Tom is having a seizure, and they’re getting worse for his brain.
Silva can’t help with the relationship gossip in Brilliant Minds
Tom is shocked to find out that he’s having seizures, which is understandable. We spend all this time believing seizures will leave people uncontrollable on the floor, but as Brilliant Minds has shown before, they can show up in different ways. Before, they had a woman staring off into space, and this time, Tom is hearing music.
A major issue is that the seizures are causing damage to the brain. If they are allowed to continue, they could kill him.
Wolf needs to see Josh to get a consult, which starts more drama for Silva. He has realized that there’s history with Tom, and he thinks that this could be a great way to make Josh jealous. This man is clearly invested in other people’s relationships, and while he loves some good gossip, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s also the man to turn to when there are relationship issues. However, I could also see him being quite toxic to be in a relationship with.
They’ll need to act fast, though. Sure enough, seeing Tom and Wolf interact does clearly make Josh jealous, but Josh remembers that the man is a patient. When Tom has another seizure and starts bleeding from his ear, it’s clear that time is almost up.
We also find out what Ericka figured out to help Sam. She remembered that he likes the movies with a lot of talking, because they drown out the voices in his head. She decides to turn the rec room into a movie theater, making it possible for Sam to have his medical tests in a calmer environment.
Dana and Katie could be on the outs
The bad news continues for Tom and Wolf, as Tom learns that he likely has drug-resistant epilepsy. This makes it harder to treat and will mean surgery is likely needed. It continues to be a shock for Tom, but Wolf also gets a shock of his own, when Tom’s children and husband walk into the hospital. It would have been nice for Tom to explain this!
Meanwhile, things are questionable for Dana and Katie. While Dana tries to make a good impression with Katie’s friends, it’s clear that there is some sort of history between a few of them. There’s a lot of butt slapping going on, and it makes Dana understandably jealous. You would think Katie would have mentioned something like this.
It takes a turn for the worse when Dana kicks a ball accidentally into the face of one of the girls and then rushes for a home run. The only reason that was possible was because Dana hadn’t realized the girl had gone down with a bloody nose, and absolutely nobody was impressed by Dana’s actions. I still side with Dana on this one.
As for Ericka, she learns that Sam does, in fact, have schizophrenia. This doesn’t mean it’s over for him, but it means he will need to do some work and turn up for therapy sessions. At this point, Ericka needs to let go. There’s also some great advice in there for Ericka to follow when it comes to her own anxiety, but will she open up to Carol just yet?
We don’t get to find out right away, as we go back to Tom’s storyline. Wolf and Josh have learned that Tom’s memory and language storage are on both sides of the brain, which means that with surgery, he could end up losing some memory, find it hard to make new memories, or lose some language skills. Wolf has been here before in Brilliant Minds season 1, and there were many of the same fears. Do you really want to risk losing your memories for your life? Is there a life if you can’t remember your family and your past?
Ericka finally opens up to Dana
It’s not surprising to find out that Tom is rejecting the surgery, but Wolf decides to take him on a trip to the beach to remind him of that summer. However, there is a message in the memory. As Wolf opens up about his dad still being alive, he points out that they can’t go back. They all need to move forward, and Tom’s family needs him to get the surgery.
Wolf isn’t the only one trying to help someone. Ericka continues to find a way to help Sam. While she can’t do much about his diagnosis, she can at least try to help him get housing. She turns to Michelle, Van’s ex-back-to-girlfriend, to help get him into some temporary housing. Carol also shares that she can help Sam with therapy appointments and some mild medication to help find him something that works.
Ericka breaks all the rules by giving Sam her credit card. She says it’s because she trusts him to come back the next day, but we all know that she likely isn’t going to see Sam anymore.
Back with Katie and Dana, Katie is annoyed at first, but then she admits that she should have given Dana a warning about her friends and how that kickball team was not “super casual” after all. However, things take a worse turn when Dana says that her friends are “easier” to get along with. Katie points out that Ericka is extremely judgmental and that there’s something off about her. Where did that come from? It’s so out of left field.
Well, Katie isn’t wrong that Ericka is hiding something. Coming off the intense day with Katie and her friends, Dana turns to her benzos and realizes that some are missing, so she asks Ericka if she took some. It’s time for Ericka to open up about everything that she’s feeling, and it’s clear that she’s suffering from survivor’s guilt, and that’s at the root of her trauma. However, Ericka breaks down, sharing how she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her.
I love in this moment that Dana doesn’t try to help Ericka or offer her advice. All she does is hug her friend. It reminds me of everything Brilliant Minds has missed when it comes to the friendships of the interns.
Will Wolf and Josh get back together on Brilliant Minds?
There’s some good news for Tom after the surgery. He didn’t lose any of his memories after all, and he focuses on how much he loves his family. He did also notice that Josh was jealous of the history Wolf and Tom had, so he thinks Wolf should do something about that.
Sure enough, Wolf decides to, but it doesn’t turn into the reunion we had all hoped for. Instead, Josh shares that he has started seeing someone new. This is a man he dated before Wolf, and the two reconnected. Josh messes up by saying the relationship is “easy,” because Wolf knows that he can never be easy.
My heart breaks for Wolf, and it’s not surprising to find him in the rec room with Ericka after she learns that Sam didn’t turn up for his appointment after all. This is when Ericka opens up a little more, sharing with Wolf that she was adopted. She didn’t get to know much about her birth mom, except for the fact that she had schizophrenia and nobody could help her. Now it makes so much sense why Ericka wanted the diagnosis for Sam to be something different.
Brilliant Minds airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.