NBC’s Brilliant Minds episode nine opens with Ericka (Ashleigh LaThrop) and Van (Alex MacNicoll) in bed, totally happy but also certain they can’t tell any of their colleagues about their relationship. They want to keep things uncomplicated as long as possible.
While this is going on Dr. Oliver Wolf’s voiceover is all about emotions and how they affect the way we see colors. Colors can also cause emotions.
Oliver (Zachary Quinto) comes into work smiling, and the interns joke among themselves about their boss getting laid. After leaving a quick voicemail for Dr. Josh Nichols (Teddy Sears), Oliver meets with Angelika Delaney (Milissa Sears, wife of Teddy) about one of her artist clients, Gabriel Ferguson. Recently, he stopped painting and is blaming it on migraines.
Unfortunately, Gabe’s shut her out, so Angelika needs Oliver to pay him a visit at home. She’s done her research and knows Oliver would be the best doctor to speak with her client. Angelika’s worried about Gabe because he may miss his upcoming show, which could end his career.
Even though Oliver has other patients to see, he heads off to Gabriel’s place and finds the door wide open. The home is filled with paintings and Gabe (Robert Manning Jr) walks in just as Oliver’s about to touch one. He introduces himself and confirms Angelika sought him out. Gabe claims he doesn’t need help and that he isn’t experiencing headaches. That was just an excuse so Angelika would stop pestering him about the show.
Oliver notices the difference between his older work and his most recent painting of blue bananas. He also notices Gabe’s wearing mismatched socks and asks, “How long have you been colorblind.”
Gabe confesses he doesn’t see any colors; the world is now just black and white. After a car accident six months ago, his world became a black & white movie. Oliver performs a color test to determine the severity of his condition, and Gabe can’t see any colors. He also confesses that food looks rotten, the world is ugly, and people look like aliens. Gabe can’t even stand to look at the world outside.
Oliver suggests they go to the hospital to perform tests, and he agrees. The interns look at his MRI, and Ericka and Jacob (Spence Moore II) know Gabriel’s work and are surprised to be looking at his brain. Jacob recalls an article in which Gabe discussed using colors to evoke emotions. Dana (Aury Krebs) tries to head off to another patient since colorblindness isn’t urgent. But Oliver explains that Gabe lost what helped him make sense of the world. Without color, he loses a significant part of himself.
The tests show his MRI and his eyes are fine, which means there’s something wrong with how his brain processes color. Oliver orders the interns to dive further into the accident and to admit Gabe.
Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry) has a session with Alison Zhang-Whitaker (Julia Chan), the patient who’s sleeping with her husband and who she tried to pass off to a different doctor. Their session ends with Alison neither confirming nor denying she’s sleeping with a married man. (She doesn’t know that Carol knows.)
Later, Carol asks her husband, Morris, about his affair. He’s not forthcoming and tries to blame Carol for continuously bringing up his mistake. Morris suggests returning to counseling.
Oliver tells Gabe about his face blindness and admits there are days when he doesn’t even recognize his own face in the mirror. He also confesses he’s constantly startled by what he sees. Gabe doesn’t care and insists Oliver either needs to fix him or if he can’t, then send him home.
Jacob is suspicious that Van’s seeing someone after overhearing a phone call and keeps needling him, but Van gives away nothing.
Jacob and Van learn that Gabe’s head trauma from the accident wasn’t severe enough to cause colorblindness. His doctor didn’t even order a CT scan. Van points out that Gabe was trapped in the car for hours with his wife who died in the accident.
Oliver informs Gabe that he has acquired cerebral achromatopsia (total colorblindness). He was apparently exposed to a toxic level of carbon monoxide while trapped in the car. That damaged the part of his brain that processes color. Unfortunately, the condition is permanent. Gabriel feels like he’s finished now that he knows his condition.
Alison makes a scene, demanding to see Dr. Pierce. Dana and Ericka attempt to calm her down, and Alison doesn’t think Dr. Pierce even cares about her. Dana tries to make Alison feel better by revealing Carol recently asked for her help looking Alison up when she hadn’t heard from her. Alison absorbs that new info and thanks them for making her feel better.
Carol and Oliver discuss Gabriel’s case, and Carol suggests Gabe lost not just the colors but the feelings he associates with them. “Gabriel lost his person and that is not an easy thing to accept,” says Carol.
Oliver asks how she’s doing with Morris, and Carol confesses she feels stupid for still loving him. She wants to forgive him and doesn’t know what her life would look like without him.
Oliver has a flashback to his teen years and his introduction to magic mushrooms. The dealer assured him he’d see colors he’d never experienced before. And, of course, that leads to Oliver suggesting to the interns that they give Gabriel psychedelics. The interns point out that’s not a long-term solution, and Oliver insists they can open his brain and help him move forward with his grief over his wife’s death. The carbon monoxide only damaged the pathways to the brain that conduct color, and the psychedelics might create new ones. Ericka thinks he’ll be able to confront the trauma and move on with grief.
Jacob thinks they can reawaken the color in his mind, but Ericka points out it’s not legal to use psychedelic therapy in New York. Oliver believes the workaround is to start his own clinical trial with Gabe as his only patient.
Oliver administers the first dose, and 30 minutes in, Gabe’s toes are tingling, but that’s it. Oliver thinks it takes time, and eventually, Gabe says he sees his wife. We’re shown his beautiful wife, Amber, in color, handling flowers. When she disappears, he begs Oliver to bring her back.
Another flashback shows Oliver taking the magic mushrooms and seeing his dad. His dad apologizes for leaving him alone in the woods, but he’s been with him in his heart. Oliver tells his dad he’s gay and says his mom drove away the only guy he cared about. His dad thinks he’s too hard on his mom.
Gabe hasn’t talked about Amber since the funeral and is so happy to have seen her again in color. She made his world beautiful and gave it color, but now she’s fading more each day. He’s forgetting how she looked and even how the world used to look. Oliver suggests that Gabe paint her the way he used to see her.
Dana and Ericka fill Carol in on Alison’s recent visit, and Carol’s shocked Dana told Alison that she was trying to track her down. Carol tells them not to interfere with her patients and that she’ll ask for it when she needs their help.
Ericka overhears Van telling Jacob he’s not hooking up with anyone, especially not someone from the hospital.
That night, Oliver leaves a long message for Josh about his day and asks how his conference is going. Seconds after he hangs up, Oliver’s called to an emergency at Gabe’s place. Angelika tries to stop Gabe from destroying all of his paintings as Oliver rushes in. Gabe says he tried to paint to remember Amber but can’t. He doesn’t want to live like this. Gabe puts his paintings in a pile and is about to light them on fire when Oliver begs him to stop.
“All of this is only going to hurt you, and none of it is going to bring her back,” says Oliver. He suggests that he think of what Amber would want him to do, and Gabe closes his lighter.
A short while later, Oliver returns with Pedialyte and aspirin and then realizes he left his wallet at the bodega. Gabe looks out the window and sees Oliver’s wallet on the counter. Oliver’s shocked Gabe can see that in the dark and then realizes something’s going on. Oliver tests Gabe’s vision and realizes Gabe can see what others can’t. His brain must now be sensitive to wavelengths of light that others can’t see.
Oliver believes they must narrow his focus and filter the light he sees.
At the hospital, Oliver’s shocked when Dana and Ericka hide from Carol. He asks Carol why she yelled at his interns, and she admits it’s about Alison. Oliver points out it’s a conflict of interest for her to see Alison still, and Carol fully recognizes that. She’s sacrificing her career over this, and Oliver tells her she knows what to do.
Van apologizes to Ericka for what she overheard, and Ericka thinks this may be a mistake.
Oliver had special glasses made with lenses that help distinguish objects with too similar wavelengths. Oliver reminds Gabe that he sees shades of gray that others don’t and that the glasses will help him work with what he’s got. This colorblindness is his new normal, and he needs to let people into his world as it exists now.
Gabriel’s willing to give it a try and asks Oliver to remove all the paint, other than the black and white.
Alison apologizes to Carol for making a scene, and Carol informs her that she’s being passed on to a new psychiatrist. She confesses she knows about Alison’s relationship with Morris and hopes she gets the help she needs. Alison reveals that Morris said he loved her, and Carol responds, “Goodbye, Alison.”
Van and Jacob are alone in the elevator when Van says that the conversation Jacob overheard on the phone was between him and his six-year-old son, who he rarely gets to see. Jacob promises not to tell anyone since Van wants to keep his personal life private.
Oliver finds a gift-wrapped package on his desk with a card that reads: “Text me, you luddite – Josh.” Oliver smiles as he holds his new cell phone.
Episode nine ends with the interns at Gabriel’s show admiring a painting he did of Oliver. They think he captured their boss, especially his eyes. Oliver tells Gabe his new paintings are incredible, and Gabe believes they are some of his best work. He thanks Oliver for getting him back to his art, just as Oliver gets his first call from Josh and doesn’t know how to answer it. (He manages, thanks to Gabe.)
Meanwhile, Carol’s heading to her car after work and discovers the windows are smashed in. She glances around the lot, hoping not to see Alison lurking nearby.
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This post was last modified on January 6, 2025 11:11 pm