Brilliant Minds Season 2 has introduced us to some very interesting new characters outside of our core Season 1 group. And one of those is Dr. Anthony Thorne, played by Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist vet John Clarence Stewart. Thorne has butted heads with Wolf a little bit in the early going, but he has also established a very interesting dynamic with Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry), one that fans have been hoping would turn romantic.
Fangirlish sat down with Stewart to discuss the latest episode, titled “The Upside Down,” where Thorne works alongside Dr. Wolf (Zachary Quinto) during a plane crash emergency, playing a doctor, and the dynamics with Carol.
“It’s interesting because it is definitely a shift,” he told us about playing a doctor. “The medical jargon is one of the biggest hurdles, right? But I think with each of the things, like with Zoey’s [Extraordinary Playlist], a lot of the musical element in that format was a hurdle, right? And we found it; we figured it out. And it became not just about that, that became a part of the character and story.”
“So the jargon with Thorne is similar because it’s, yes, it’s jargon, but there’s something that’s happening inside of each of those moments, inside of each of those scenes. There’s something we’re tracking, right? And I think that our directors, Michael [Grassi], everybody is really specific about what is happening and how they’re evolving through the jargon, right? Which is very, very exciting for me.”
But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a level of research and preparation needed for the role. “I didn’t know what any of this stuff meant at the beginning. Like something comes down the pike and I’m like, okay, this is what we’re doing. And I have to do my research, and I check it out.” This makes the character more realistic, expands the portrayal, and allows the respect that I already have for doctors to just grow and deepen because a lot of these procedures that they have to do, they require thousands of hours of work and dedication to be able to do things in one second.”
And you want someone playing a doctor who’s putting in the work to understand and acknowledge what it is that medical professionals do. “Things can be life or death for patients, right? There’s no time for a mistake. And so, their expertise is so necessary. And that’s, yeah, it’s a beautiful surprise every time something comes down the pike, because I don’t know where we’re going to go and what we’re going to do.”
The answer in “The Upside Down” is… a migraine? Which, for us, was a shock. And Stewart agreed with that. “With this one, it’s like all of these things are happening. And it’s like, wait, it can’t be that. Because it has to be something bigger. And it’s like, no, it’s this. But the great thing about the show is that it’s based on real stories, based on real things.”
Like us, Stewart is very intrigued by it. “So, when I read something like that, I go, wow. And there’s sometimes that moment of disbelief. But because I understand that every case that comes in is based on something real. So, I’m like, wow, that happened. That’s deeply interesting to me.”
In the episode, we also get Throne and Wolf working together in a way we haven’t really seen this season. The two are very different doctors, with very different approaches. But this episode sees a definite shift between them. “Yeah, they’re, they are two very different doctors, and they have different ways of doing of serving the patients. And sometimes those ways butt heads. But I do think that for both of them as well, respect isn’t given, it’s earned.”
And it seems like in this episode, we literally see that happen on screen. “We get to see that Thorne has also been watching Wolf throughout. He doesn’t talk all the time. He’s not saying anything all the time. But he’s aware of the stuff that’s going on in the hospital. He has his ear to the ground of like, the whisperings and the goings on.”
“And he sees the way that people respond and react to things. So, there is a level of respect that we see kind of bud in this episode that has been that we’ve been growing towards for some time. There’s definitely conflict. But I don’t think they dislike each other for the sake of disliking each other.”
This episode, however, does a great job of moving the relationship forward. “There’s a fundamental difference in how they approach medicine that fractures their possibility of like, seeing eye to eye, or being on the same page [all the time]. And the gift of this is that the fundamental ways of coming together, they kind of overlap in this episode in an interesting way.”
Not just that, Thorne ends up being invited to a debrief between Carol and Wolf near the end of the episode, something that feels huge considering the dynamics between those two. “There’s a sacred thing that happens between Wolf and Carol, like their conversations in that office, and you can feel it in the show. So, when I read that, I was like, Wow, they’re bringing Thorne into that. That’s really incredible to be a part of that, too.”
And that’s without going into Thorne’s relationship with Carol, and what might happen there. “I feel like there’s definitely something that is growing there, you know, which I think is fantastic. And I think that Michael [Grassi] and the team they’re creating something nuanced and textured. And, but I will say for the audience, there are still unexpected things. Which is so exciting.”
In a good way, or in a bad way? “There’s definitely going to be textures and nuances and colors that we see in that space between Thorne and Carol.”
That’s, of course, not an answer. And neither is this. “I love playing opposite Tamberla [Perry]. I think she’s just a fantastic actress, and what she’s done with Carol is phenomenal. So, the more scenes I have with her, the better. She’s fantastic.”
But hopefully the show will give us one. Sooner, rather than later.
New episodes of Brilliant Minds air Mondays on NBC.
