NBC’s Brilliant Minds season two, episode 12, quickly provides more info on Sofia (Sarah Steele), the woman Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) met in his dad’s apartment. Sofia’s his dad’s upstairs neighbor and takes care of his plants when he’s away. Oliver accepts an edible as he learns that his dad looked fine the last time she saw him.
(The following is a recap of season two, episode 12, and contains spoilers.)
The action shifts to a rodeo and introduces the case of the week. A bull rider takes a horrible fall seconds after entering the arena.
Over at the hospital, Oliver gathers his much smaller team and admits it’s been hard for everyone without Jacob and Van. He also addresses the tension between him and Charlie, confirming the speech Charlie gave at the gala was about him treating Charlie’s mom.
After Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) and Dana (Aury Krebs) leave, it’s obvious the tension between Charlie and Oliver remains high.
Josh (Teddy Sears) sets up Carol’s dating profile but needs her photo. He thinks Carol (Tamberla Perry) is hesitant after getting discouraged that Thorn’s not available. Josh insists she needs to give the apps a chance; he doesn’t like her being alone.
Carol’s dating life is a discussion for another time when her patient, Betsy (Karen Robinson), arrives with her new cat, Deangelo. Betsy claims the cat has changed her life for the better and now she’s able to sleep. However, it howls and she’s about to get evicted if she can’t prove the cat is her emotional support animal.
Nurse Nico Silva (Al Calderon) presents Oliver with the case of Benson Bowman (Micah Joe Parker), the bull rider. The emergency department discovered leg weakness, but his other tests were normal. Nico scheduled him for a neuro exam and confesses he’s got the hots for cowboys.
Benson’s playing the piano in the rec room when Oliver introduces himself. There’s nothing wrong with his hands, and Oliver notes the brain scans came back normal. Still, there’s something off with Benson’s gait. Benson admits he’s been falling more often lately and Oliver informs him he has nerve damage in his arms and legs. Oliver wants more tests to be run and Benson agrees. He grabs Oliver’s hand in a brief shake, and Oliver is stunned to discover that it is wet.
Benson’s girlfriend, Grace Ann (Celeste Desjardins), arrives and as Oliver’s taking her to see him, Benson stumbles out of his room, shaking and out of control. He’s freezing and Oliver orders warm blankets and warm lactated ringers. His temperature returns to normal fairly quickly. Benson says it’s been happening for a year, and Grace Ann thinks he runs cold. But it’s never been as bad as this before.
Meanwhile, Dana admits to not being able to get the Charlie–Oliver thing off her mind. She thinks Charlie’s John Wick-level obsessed with Oliver. When Ericka reveals she’s applying for the mental health services grant, Dana doesn’t tell her she’s also going for it—at Charlie’s recommendation.
It’s hard to tell if Charlie (Brian Altemus) genuinely thinks Dana’s worthy or if he’s just stirring the pot.
Nico lets Carol know that Betsy’s actually a cat hoarder and was just arrested. Carol hustles off to the precinct to check on her.
Oliver, Charlie, Dana, and Ericka go over the results of Benson’s tests. They rule out a number of possible causes and then realize they don’t really know what the life of a cowboy is like. Oliver suggests a visit to the rodeo to learn firsthand.
Grace Ann gives them a tour of the rodeo, and the team explains they want to take samples from stuff that Benson comes in contact with—including the bull. Dana and Ericka glove up and take samples from both ends of three bulls, while Dana confesses that she also applied for the grant.
Over at the hospital, Nico finds Benson going crazy imagining that there are hundreds of bugs crawling inside his skin. Oliver and Carol wonder if he’s experienced it before, and he hasn’t. He also reveals that he always feels better when Grace Ann’s by his side.
The results from the tests at the rodeo are negative for anything that could cause Benson’s symptoms. As Dana and Oliver discuss other possibilities, they notice Grace Ann putting hand sanitizer in small drinking cups. And it turns out they’ve been drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk. That’s apparent when Dana and Oliver walk in on them having sex in Benson’s hospital bed.
Oliver has a one-on-one with Benson and learns he’s an alcoholic. His mother had fetal alcohol syndrome and drank for her entire pregnancy. Benson started drinking when he turned 13 and hasn’t stopped. However, he hadn’t had anything to drink for two days before he came into the hospital.
Oliver believes he has atypical Wernicke’s disease, otherwise known as Wet Brain. It’s a thiamine deficiency caused by alcohol abuse. Thiamine will help, but it was alcohol withdrawal that caused the hallucination. It was the hand sanitizer that stopped it because of its alcohol content.
Benson confesses he’s tried everything to stop drinking but doesn’t have an “off switch.” Oliver suggests he’ll get him one.
Oliver tells his team he wants to try Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) on Benson. It’s a surgery done with electrical impulses, and Charlie calls it a modern-day lobotomy. Benson could benefit from it, since he’s tried everything else. DBS has a high success rate in reducing the urge to drink.
Charlie’s against it, but Oliver wants to move forward and takes the case to Josh. Josh doesn’t agree; it’s not approved by the FDA for use to battle alcoholism. Oliver argues that Benson’s life is at risk, but Josh rejects the idea.
Betsy’s been released and Carol wonders why she didn’t admit to owning multiple cats. Betsy confesses she doesn’t even know how many because they come and go. She wakes up with purpose now, because of her cats.
Carol explains that her test results show she has Toxoplasma gondii, something Nico suggested Betsy might have earlier in the episode.
Oliver’s still upset over Josh denying Benson’s DBS surgery when he talks to Carol. Carol informs him Dr. Beau Pedrosa, who used to work at Bronx General, is running clinical trials on DBS for patients with OCD. She thinks Beau would make an exemption for Benson. Oliver wonders why Josh didn’t mention this and Carol reluctantly reveals Beau is Josh’s boyfriend.
Oliver informs Benson of the once-in-a-lifetime chance at the life-altering surgery, but Grace Ann is leery of letting Benson have brain surgery. Benson patiently explains that he appreciates her support and love, but he needs to do this. He promises that he won’t let it change his personality.
Oliver says they have two choices: go through with the surgery or his life as he knows it is over.
Oliver and Benson meet with Dr. Pedrosa, and he’s happy to help since Oliver’s involved. The surgery will be the beginning of a long journey, and Benson needs to have a good support system in place. Grace Ann confirms she’ll be there for Benson.
Elsewhere, Betsy’s doing fantastic and has met lots of cat people in New York while finding homes for all her cats, except Deangelo. She’s even joined different cat groups! Carol delivers the good news that she’s signing off on Deangelo’s paperwork to make him officially an emotional support animal.
Grace confesses she’s worried the surgery will change Benson. He assures her he won’t change and suggests that maybe she should get the surgery too. She resists, insisting she’s not an alcoholic. Benson asks her to get sober for them.
Dana and Ericka take part in the grant interviews. Dana’s following Charlie’s advice by opening up about how the grant will personally affect her. Ericka’s sticking with Oliver’s advice about focusing on being professional. Dana stumbles and fumbles through her notes but answers the key question of why she wants this grant with a heartfelt story of how her sister’s battle with depression impacted her life.
After the interviews, Carol speaks with Josh and wonders if it was Dana who reported her and got her suspended. Josh, of course, can’t confirm or deny, but Carol believes Dana wanted her to know that her sister’s case reminded her of Carol’s interactions with Alison.
Carol understands but also realizes that if Oliver finds out the truth, he’ll see what Dana did as a betrayal. Josh thinks they should make sure Oliver never finds out.
The day of Benson’s surgery arrives and Grace Ann no-shows. Benson isn’t surprised and still wants to undergo the surgery. Dr. Pedrosa compliments Oliver’s ability to make Benson see what needs to be done.
Grace Ann pauses outside the bus before getting onboard with the rest of the rodeo employees.
Ericka and Dana are cooking dinner at home when the email arrives informing Dana she got the grant. Ericka’s just as thrilled as she would have been had she won it. Ericka also reveals she wants to find her birth mother, and Dana offers to help.
Later that evening, Dr. Pedrosa tells Josh he’s impressed with how Oliver advocates for his patients. Josh pretends he doesn’t know Oliver well.
Oliver’s alone when Charlie walks in and says he was wrong about the surgery and Oliver was right. Oliver finally comes right out and asks Charlie what he wants, and Charlie says he wanted to be fired, but now he wants to stick around and learn to run a department like this one.
Oliver heads to his dad’s place, still thinking about addiction. Sofia tosses him a set of keys; she knew he’d be back. After a little prompting, she finally confesses that Oliver’s dad was treating her after hearing her screaming in the middle of the night. She never sleeps because she has crazy dreams and wakes up unable to move. Oliver’s dad offered to be her doctor for free after she had a seizure. In return, she’s helping him write his autobiography.
Oliver offers her a new deal: he’ll treat her sleep paralysis if she tells him what his dad’s been up to for the last 30 years.
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