RECAP: ‘Brilliant Minds’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “Once Upon A Time In America”

It’s about time Brilliant Minds focuses more on Dr. Josh Nichols (Teddy Sears). He’s a gifted neurosurgeon, the new boss, and the love interest of the main character. Of course he needs more screen time. Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5, titled “Once Upon a Time in America,” is a heartbreaking hour involving two brothers and their mother—a case that puts Josh in the spotlight. 

The episode begins with Josh solemnly cleaning up a bloody surgery room by himself before it cuts to 17 hours earlier. As the new boss, Josh has a lot on his plate. He’s still doing surgeries while also running a whole hospital, keeping every department in line, while also making sure he gets a workout in. This does provide Wolf (Zachary Quinto) an opportunity for a nice view as he drops off his paperwork, a sign that he’s taken to heart Josh’s request to rein in what he can.

As two people who love(d) each other but are no longer together, their interactions in this new reality of potential and future HR violations create quite a fun back and forth. At the moment, they really are just coworkers, and it’s kind of nice to see that side of them. 

Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5 starts with two brothers who fell from 39 stories up.

They get called to the ER when two brothers, Jorge and Benny, are rushed in after surviving a fall from 39 stories up, both with major head injuries. Josh preps them for surgery and orders Wolf to be ready to take them into neuro.

The focus on Josh this episode becomes clear once the brothers are taken to the back–two extreme emergency cases when Josh is running on fumes from the extra responsibility. By the opening scene of Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5, we already know at least one of them doesn’t make it. 

The expanded cast of Brilliant Minds Season 2 means we get to see more of Bronx General and the doctors and nurses who work there. While that does mean Jacob (Spence Moore II) and Van have taken more of a backseat this season, it works to make Bronx General feel more like a lived-in place with many moving parts. One of the aspects that stands out in this episode is how much these kinds of cases are a team effort.

Teddy Sears does a fanstic job as Dr. Nichols in Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5.

Thorne (John Clarence Stewart) and the rest of the ER department, this week including Jacob, do the initial take-in, while Josh and his surgery team prep for the long hours of invasive surgery. Meanwhile, Wolf and his neuro team are preparing for the recovery sessions, if the patients make it that far. The nurses get an expanded focus with the introduction of a new character, Nico Silva, a head nurse whom Josh assigns to the neuro department. 

When Josh needs a break working on Jorge, Wolf and Carol (Tamberla Perry) are there to talk through next steps and ideas on how to keep Jorge alive through the surgery. They’re also there for moral support as Josh contends with hours in surgery. Sears does a fantastic job this episode, proving how much a deeper focus on Josh was needed.

At the center of this case are the two brothers, Jorge and Benny. While Benny makes it through surgery fairly quickly, Jorge takes much longer. As Josh continuously works on Jorge, Wolf treats Benny to make sure there are no lasting head traumas. But the brothers’ mother, Ana, only cares about Jorge.

Wolf offers help to Josh in the wake of tragedy.

Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) steps in as a translator and, through conversations with the mother, discovers an estranged relationship with Benny after Benny became an atheist. This knowledge makes for a very complicated and emotional hour, especially when Nico, taking over for Ericka, fudges the truth of the translations between the two in order to force a reconciliation. Benny dies shortly after, while Jorge survives. 

It’s a powerfully tragic twist ending, one that brings us back to the opening scene of Josh cleaning the bloody surgery room by himself. Wolf appears and offers his help. This moment between the two is one of their best scenes together. The fact that they aren’t together here is almost better. They’re two colleagues existing in the wake of a tragedy, who offer support and emphasize that they did all they could, even if Josh realizes he needs to cut back on his hours. 

Alongside the dramatics of an intense surgery are multiple side plots that offer a breather from the emotional beats of the main plot. They aren’t lighthearted by any means, but they allow for some wonderful character moments between Dana (Aury Krebs) and Ericka, Carol and Thorne, and Wolf and Nico. Still struggling with the fact that Dana turned Carol into the board, Ericka doesn’t know how to keep the friendship alive.

Nico seems like he’ll be a great addition to Brilliant Minds.

Jacob picks up on the tension, which is lovely because the four intern team is sorely missed. He reminds Ericka that Dana is their friend and to trust that she probably had her reasons. This leads to a wonderful reconciliation moment between the two by the end of the episode.

Nico seems like he’ll be a great addition to Brilliant Minds. A fierce defender of his nurses, he spends the episode reminding Wolf that he should get to know and appreciate the nurses of the neuro department more. Even though he’s aware of Wolf’s face blindness, he pushes Wolf into trying harder. It’s a nice little side plot to this episode that expertly introduces a new character that no doubt will be a highlight in future episodes.

But what makes this new pairing even better is how much Wolf and Nico are alike. They both respect the other’s job, are willing to call out the other when they’re wrong, and make amends when it’s called for. Nico also has a bit of that rebellious streak in him that Wolf also has, if his bending of the Spanish language while translating is anything to go by. 

The Carol and Thorne romance is rolling along little by little.

The episode’s main issue is with Carol’s role as a psychiatrist in this case. Ana doesn’t want to talk to Carol, believing God to be her therapist. But a few scenes later, they’re sitting down to chat. It’s the episode’s less thought-out throughline, but not a deal breaker. The Carol and Thorne romance is rolling along little by little, though, as the two bond over how their kids handle the divorces, which lends some insight into Thorne. 

Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5 delivers one of the show’s more emotionally taxing episodes, but also sells the smaller plot lines as well.

Brilliant Minds Season 2 Episode 5 is streaming now on Peacock, with new episodes on Monday nights on NBC, available to stream the next day on Peacock.

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