Brilliant Minds Season 1 Episode 5 Review: The Haunted Marine

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

We all have ghosts to deal with.

In Brilliant Minds Season 1 Episode 5, several characters dealt with different kinds of ghosts, beginning with Steve Hill, a marine veteran, who a fellow marine buddy haunted.

Elsewhere, Dr. Wolf relived more of childhood trauma as he and his interns tried to communicate with John Doe, and Van revealed his secret to one of his friends.

Meanwhile, several personal relationships blossomed. Brilliant Minds has taken the time to craft these relationships naturally so that audiences invest in them.

Haunted by the Past and Thought the Military Was Responsible

So many military veterans are haunted by ghosts that Carol and the interns guessed Steve suffered from PTSD initially. It was a good guess, but it didn’t explain the recent hallucinations of his buddy, Aiden.

It felt like we stepped into a sci-fi series or Days of Our Lives when Steve thought the military implanted a chip into his brain to control him.

He wasn’t the only Marine who began acting strange after returning from his last trip overseas, so Dr. Wolf wanted to proceed carefully.

As we saw through flashbacks with his father, dealing with someone with paranoid delusions was dangerous.

It made sense why Steve Hill, Aiden Miller, and probably many other Marines thought the military controlled them. They needed help, not discipline.

Finding a Hopeful Solution Where No One Is Left Behind

This was a rare case where all three doctors worked together to help Steve. No one expected the culprit to be CTE since Steve never played sports, but Nichols’ military experience and experiments showed how that occurred.

You had to sympathize with Aiden’s parents. They had just buried their son, and now these doctors wanted to exhume the body for scientific reasons.

There wasn’t anything Dr. Wolf or Dr. Pierce could say to ease their pain, except they were trying to prevent another family from going through this tragedy and hoped they could give them definitive answers.

It was equally as difficult convincing Steve it wasn’t a chip in his head.

He had lived with that delusion for so long he started to believe it. He felt he had failed his family with his dishonorable discharge since he could no longer provide for them.

That made Wolf more determined to fight for Steve and other veterans. Usually, when Wolf pleads his case against a board, he loses. But this time, he had the support of his staff, which showed the military how serious they were.

Wolf and Nichols Form a Connection

Until this episode, I hadn’t seen a romantic connection between these two. I had seen them form an uneasy truce and a grudging respect.

Since Brilliant Minds Season 1 Episode 3, they have slowly become friends and acknowledged each other’s differences.

However, when Nichols took Wolf to the gun range, something shifted. First, he confided in Wolf that being in the military had changed him. He was close to one of the men on his team, yet they made their relationship work.

He and Wolf shared a close moment as he guided Wolf’s fingers and showed him how to shoot.

I love how this episode showed that these two worked better as a team than rivalries. I’m a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers trope, but I initially thought they were enemies-to-best friends trope.

Nothing was better than Nichols’s supportive nod as Wolf confronted the board or when Wolf came to Nichols with his experimental plan to save John Doe. These two make an entertaining duo!

Van’s Secret Is Revealed, and He and Dana Help John Doe

Van has always considered his Mirror Touch Synesthesia to be a curse since he broke down in front of patients previously. He hated being seen as different, yet he wanted to help others.

This was Van’s (Alex MacNicoll’s) episode to shine. You would think Dr. Wolf would understand how to be discreet about conditions, considering his face blindness, and not ask Van pointed questions in front of the other interns.

As much as I would have loved it if Van had revealed his secret to Ericka, it made sense why he told Dana.

She’s the most observant and has the most sibling vibe with him. She would never judge him for being different.

Dana and Van made a winning team because they thought of using John Doe’s eye movements to communicate with a colorful yes-and-no sign.

Mixing up the different intern friendship dynamics and watching how they evolve is entertaining.

While we don’t actively see it, it’s implied that Van sensed that John Doe grew anxious from these mental exercises and almost gave up.

While initially, Mrs. Petrov seemed like an interfering busybody, she cracked the code on what John Doe needed. She spoke his language and realized he was lonely and that everyone else had given up on him.

That triggered something for Dr. Wolf, who was more determined to correct a previous mistake.

Dr. Wolf Remembers His Father’s Ghosts

Oliver’s father had more problems than he initially remembered, and he would still prefer to have that version around than no father at all.

He remembered his family’s secrets while treating Steve Hill and John Doe. It appeared his father suffered from similar hallucinations and thought they were running from ghostly, dangerous hikers when Oliver and his dad went camping.

It made more sense why Oliver’s mom worried about him being alone with his father. His dad sounded like he needed help when he announced Oliver was brilliant and the Messiah.

He wanted to protect his son, but while they were in the forest, no one could defend Oliver from his father if his condition worsened.

What a predicament for a young boy, and it makes even more sense why he studied neurology.

These flashbacks provided more depth into his family life and made his mother’s point of view more understandable. She loved her son and wanted to protect him.

It makes me wonder if Oliver grew afraid of his father, and that’s what he can’t forgive himself for. Did he end up taking sides in the divorce and choose his mother?

The Love Triangle Heats Up

The love triangle between Van, Ericka, and Jacob took a different direction.

No one expected Van to swear off dating, and it’s possible he did that only to convince Mrs. Petrov he wasn’t interested in her granddaughter. That scene was priceless!

While he and Dana helped Dr. Wolf with John Doe, Ericka and Jacob were paired up again. This was the first time Jacob demonstrated real fear because of his old concussion.

Typically, he acted like hot stuff, but he let his guard down around Ericka and shared how afraid he was. They shared another close moment where they almost kissed again.

It’s very telling, though, that they both selected each other as the one they would want to operate on them if something ever went wrong.

Yet Ericka was the first to defend Van when Dana leaked his secret, so her love life is about to become more complicated.

So, which ship do you prefer, Brilliant Minds Fanatics? Are you enjoying these character-rich storylines?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

Don’t miss our exclusive post-mortem interview with Alex MacNicoll on Tuesday morning.

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