We’re back! In Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard,’ Halloween arrives at the hospital, forcing Erika to confront her deepest fears, while Oliver remembers a patient who may hold the key to everything. Ready?
Here we go!
Deep Fears
Honestly, we don’t like Halloween specials in procedurals. They tend to focus on creating unexplained phenomena or scary moments that have no real value. Thus, both the character dynamics and the show itself are affected just to create something “special” that fits. And character development is often forgotten in these kinds of episodes. Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard,’ is no exception, but it did put more emphasis on confronting the characters with their deepest fears and thus helping them grow. Especially Erika.
Erika suffered two key moments in this episode that led her to break as the first step toward rebuilding herself. The first was on the horror attraction. She was trapped in that elevator, unable to get out, unable to do anything but scream. The memory never left Erika’s mind. It remained etched in her brain, even though she tried to forget it.
The next moment was much more vivid. With the hospital elevator stopped, Erika felt trapped in Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard.’ But, more than that, she felt claustrophobic, overwhelmed, unable to breathe, and unable to stop hearing the screams of both the woman she couldn’t save and her own. She was there again. Paralyzed. Terrified. For the second time that day. And that was all.
Her body couldn’t take it anymore, and Erika collapsed on the hospital floor. Physically safe, but mentally, still there. That’s how Jacob found her. And everything came out. Everything she’d been keeping to herself, Erika let out. It came pouring out of her because she couldn’t take it anymore.
In Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard,’ Erika realizes the gravity of her situation and even that she was a hypocrite for pointing the finger at Dana when she, too, is harboring this huge secret. And she hates herself for it. For everything. For not being able to overcome it, for not being able to save that woman, for being so weak that she can’t make it through the day without pills.
And Jacob is there. Listening. But most of all, without judging her. That’s when he makes Erika see that she’s being too hard on herself. It’s okay not to be okay. The important thing is that she acknowledged it. Now is the time to get better…but not alone. And so, with Jacob holding her tight, Erika feels like she can breathe for the first time in months. Not everything is resolved, but now she feels strong enough to mend what was broken inside her. And we are really proud.
MORE: Brilliant Minds Season 2, Episode 5 Review: ‘Once Upon a Time in America’
Ghosts
On the other hand, Oliver also faced his own demons in Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard.’ The truth is, at first, we were quite disappointed by the story about his former patient because they only used it to create scenes that would make us jump out of our seats, but didn’t delve into it. And this show has accustomed us to something different. We changed our minds a bit when we sensed there was more to this story.
At the end of the episode, Charlie also sees this woman, and his reaction makes us think he recognized her. This, coupled with the fact that four months from now, Charlie goes to see Oliver at the mental institution and Oliver looks at him fearfully, as if Charlie were a danger, makes us start to connect the dots. Could it be that Oliver’s former patient was Charlie’s mother? We’re increasingly certain that it was Charlie who pulled the strings to get Oliver to the mental institution. Maybe he did it as revenge for what happened to his mother.
While this theory is swirling around in our heads, we want to focus a little on the case of this patient presented to us in Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard.’ Oliver made a mistake, yes, but he didn’t intentionally prolong his patient’s suffering. Oliver always tries to give his patients what they need. As a young doctor, he hadn’t yet learned to differentiate that sometimes what they really need is far from what they ask for.
So, Oliver isn’t to blame for what happened to this woman. And if we’re right and Charlie wants revenge on him for it, he’d only be putting the target on Oliver because he needs someone to blame and isn’t ready to dig deeper. Just as Ana blames Nichols for Benito’s death because she’s not ready to accept her true feelings.
MORE: Brilliant Minds Season 2 Adds Eric Dane to the Mix
Other Stuff in Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 6 ‘The Doctor’s Graveyard’
- We’re glad Sam agreed to get the help he needs.
- We’re also scared of scary clowns, so we understand Carol.
- Overall, this episode needed fewer scares and more depth in the characters.
- It broke our hearts to see Josh in Jorge’s room.
- We love Josh and Oliver’s discussions, even if they’re work-related, but we need them to talk about more than just work.
- We don’t understand the point of bringing up an old case to discuss an over-budget. We’re sure it serves some purpose, but we can’t quite see what it is yet.
- We realized that Oliver still has hope for his father’s return. And our hearts break for him.
Brilliant Minds Season 2 airs on Mondays at 10 pm ET on NBC.
