Paramedics rush to a call as NBC’s Brilliant Minds episode 10 opens. Finn Kemp, a 10-year-old boy with autism, is injured and has locked himself in a room. His poor dad can’t get him to open the door. One paramedic notices toy Camaros on the floor and entices Finn to open the door by talking about them.
The female paramedic, Katie (Mishel Prada), continues to make real contact with Finn as she gets him on the gurney and into the ambulance. Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) and his interns meet the ambulance at the door, and after ushering Finn inside, Oliver notices Katie seems off. She blames it on coffee.
Wolf isn’t convinced, but she heads back out on another call before he can question her.
The interns and Dr. Wolf go over Finn’s chart and they notice he’s had a series of injuries this year. Finn isn’t good at explaining how much pain he’s in. Oliver promises they’ll rule out neurological issues but thinks Finn seems fine.
Later, Oliver runs into Carol (Tamberla Perry) and is shocked she hasn’t reported the damage Alison did to her car. Carol claims she can’t prove Alison did it. Also, it was unethical for her to treat Alison; if that gets out, it could destroy her career. She reveals she hasn’t told her husband, Morris, and for now, she’s just going to try and work through it. Oliver makes her promise to protect herself. Carol assures him she’s taking this seriously.
Van (Alex MacNicoll) has a tough time working with Finn’s IV and when he finally gets Finn to relax, Ericka’s surprised Van didn’t feel the pain Finn felt when it was inserted. Given Van’s condition, he should have felt pain. Obviously, this means Finn’s not feeling any, so something is wrong that hasn’t been diagnosed yet.
They do additional testing and inform Finn’s dad that his son has channelopathy-associated congenital insensitivity (CIPA). Mr. Kemp realizes that Finn didn’t even know he was hurt and blames himself for never noticing his son’s condition. Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) assures him that it’s incredibly rare, and it would have been easy to assume the symptoms were due to autism.
Katie arrives with another patient, and it’s obvious something’s wrong this time. She passes out right outside the emergency room, and when she comes to, she rates her pain as a 2. Katie blames passing out on not eating and being dehydrated. Oliver’s not buying it because her winces were more pronounced this morning. She always winces but this morning was different, and Oliver asks her to please let them admit her. Dana (Aury Krebs) will grab all the basic tests.
When Oliver walks off, Katie puts on her shoes to leave. Katie refuses to listen to reason and insists her partner can monitor her. Dana finally manages to convince her to stay for a liter of LR (Lactated Ringer) and then she can leave.
Carol tries to set up Josh (Teddy Sears) with one of her friends, and Josh turns her down. He tells Oliver about it, and Oliver can’t believe Carol’s never tried to set him up with one of her weird friends after all these years. Josh gets Oliver to admit he hasn’t told Carol they’re dating and wonders if it’s supposed to be a secret. An awkward conversation ensues, and they discuss whether they’re a “thing.” Oliver says it’s just that Carol will have a ton of questions. Josh confesses he didn’t think Oliver could keep secrets from Carol.
A flashback shows Carol promising to be Oliver’s wingwoman after he gets stood up on a date. Oliver turns her down when she invites him to hit the club with her and says he’s fine staying home alone.
Katie stumbles down the hall, clearly confused and having difficulty walking. Oliver and Dana manage to get her into a wheelchair and she’s not making sense. Oliver’s upset Dana didn’t do a CT scan because Katie refused. It should have been Dana’s call, not Katie’s.
Katie’s scar comes back normal, but they’re waiting for results from the spinal tap. Oliver reveals that her white blood cell count is high, so they need to figure out what sort of infection she has. Oliver asks her to walk him through what she’s been exposed to in the ambulance, and she goes step by step through her incredibly busy day. Oliver admires what she does and how difficult the comedown must be at the end of the day. Katie says she never comes down because she never stops working.
Her condition’s getting worse, and the spinal tap shows she has meningitis. She got it from an elderly man who threw up on her yesterday, right before he died. Katie freaks out that she’ll die soon, too, but Oliver insists they can fight this.
Oliver speaks with Finn’s dad and breaks the news that few people with CIPA live past 25. Oliver suggests weekly appointments to monitor his health and to help him understand his condition. After Oliver leaves, Van assures Mr. Kemp that he’s in good hands. Van’s a dad, so he understands what it’s like to raise a kid and try to keep him safe.
Ericka catches up with Van, and they talk about kids. She doesn’t know he has one and reveals she’s never wanted children. Van doesn’t tell her about his and confirms their date for tomorrow night.
Oliver tells Carol he’s dating Josh, and she barely reacts. She’s not in the mood to interrogate him and just wants him to be careful. That stirs up a memory of Carol coming home from the night she met Morris and saving Oliver’s life after he drank himself unconscious with vodka. He needed to numb the pain after being stood up. Carol reminds him that when he hurts himself, he hurts the people who love him too.
Katie’s conditioning is deteriorating quickly, and Dana and Jacob work with Oliver to try and stabilize her. Oliver admits he doesn’t understand why the antibiotics aren’t working, and they discover her meningitis was caused by listeria. Oliver’s never seen anyone with her medical history get so sick from listeria. It’s incredibly rare. The question is, why is Katie dying from something that normally kills the elderly and/or immunocompromised?
Meanwhile, Carol spots Alison outside her daughter’s school and insists they need to stop talking. Alison believes Carol is the only one who gets her since they both have to deal with Morris. Unfortunately, Alison understands it was unethical for Carol to treat her and threatens to hold that over Carol’s head.
Oliver makes dinner for Josh and announces that he told Carol they’re dating. Oliver admits Carol’s seen him on his worst days and that he hasn’t been in a real relationship in quite a while.
Afterward, Jacob and Dana bring Oliver along as they thoroughly inspect Katie’s ambulance. Jacob finds a prescription pad that shouldn’t be in the ambulance, and Dana figures out Katie was prescribing herself steroids. They realize she hasn’t been tired; Katie’s been hiding that she’s in physical pain so she won’t get fired.
Oliver confronts her with the prescription pad, and Katie confesses she was shot in the shoulder six months ago while responding to a fentanyl overdose. The wound healed, but the pain never left. Katie admits she went back to work too early. The steroids made her immunocompromised, but she’s on the road to recovery now. Katie believes the adrenaline rush from working helps her feel better, and Oliver confirms he won’t report her. He explains that chronic pain is a disease, and he’ll wean her slowly off the steroids.
Poking around the ambulance and listening to Katie’s story reminded Oliver of the benefits of naloxone. Oliver thinks it’s possible it will help Finn feel pain but admits it’s just an experiment as he injects Finn. Ericka describes the naloxone as turning on Finn’s pain receptors and it’s quickly confirmed that it worked!
Van warns Finn’s dad that it’s not a long-term solution, and Oliver suggests that with naloxone, they might be able to train Finn to be more aware of his surroundings. It’s possible that Finn will ultimately be able to differentiate between safe and dangerous, which will help him avoid things that will injure him.
Finn applauds their work.
Carol calls Morris into her office and tells him Alison was waiting for her when she picked up their daughter. Carol can’t believe Morris took Alison to lunch with Maya, and Morris says he was just being nice. Carol’s furious that he blew up their relationship for this, after everything she’s done for him and all the sacrifices she made.
Morris is forced to admit he slept with Alison multiple times and that he was in love with her. Carol orders him out of the office just as Oliver’s walking by, and Oliver tells Morris to leave now. Oliver folds Carol into his arms for a huge hug.
Jacob and Dana continue to help Katie on the road to recovery. She’s not happy about the ice bath Jacob suggests, but he insists it will help reduce her pain. Since they promised to be in this together, Katie convinces Jacob and Dana to join her in the bathtub.
In a voiceover, Oliver says true healing requires us to acknowledge our pain.
Jacob thinks Dana and Katie would make a cute couple, but Dana is sure Katie already has a partner. Jacob points out that’s what paramedics call each other. Plus, Katie told him that she’s single. Dana’s eyes light up with interest. She turns the tables on him and suggests he go for it with Ericka. Dana thinks there is chemistry between them.
Carol thanks Oliver for being her first responder. Oliver’s phone dings and Carol wonders if he got a cell phone because of Josh. She asks him to spill all the juicy details of how they got together; it’ll take her mind off Morris and Alison.
Jacob shows up at Ericka’s with ice cream and thanks her for being there for him. She doesn’t let him in because Van’s there, and when Van asks who was at the door, she lies and says it was the wrong apartment. They kiss, and she admits that his mirror touch syndrome is a definite perk in a relationship.
Carol receives flowers with a note: “You win. You’ll never see me again.” She heads to Alison’s apartment with a paramedic, and they find Alison on the floor. Episode 10 ends with Carol asking if Alison’s breathing.
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This post was last modified on January 6, 2025 11:09 pm