NBC’s Brilliant Minds episode six begins with Dr. Oliver Wolf’s voiceover telling us, “The mind can push the body to great lengths in the name of survival. But at what cost?” And speaking of survival, Carol (Tamberla Perry) shows up at Oliver’s place in desperate need of coffee. She and Morris are splitting time at the house so that Maya can remain home while they work out their relationship moving forward.
When Carol asks about Oliver’s non-existent dating life, Oliver (Zachary Quinto) immediately starts talking about John Doe. He hopes to enroll John in a special trial involving neurotech that can translate his thoughts in real-time. Oliver teases Carol when she reveals she knows Simon, the guy in charge of the trial, and offers to help. (Oliver and Carol’s friendship is one of my favorite things in Brilliant Minds.)
Over at the hospital, interns Dana, Jacob, and Ericka are testing Van to see if he really does have mirror-touch synesthesia. Van admits he doesn’t watch scary movies since he feels all the punches and stabs. He also admits he was great at med school tests but horrible at the practicum. Oliver joins them and suggests Van try meditation, find an emotional anchor, or use positive self-talk as a coping mechanism.
Oliver leaves them to the testing as he joins Carol to examine Sarah, a high school senior who showed up for an ultrasound, convinced she’s pregnant. She’s ecstatic and can’t wait to hold her baby girl, and even snaps photos of the ultrasound results. However, she’s not pregnant and only imagines the ultrasound shows a fetus.
The OB doctor explains outside of Sarah’s presence that Sarah looks to be in her second trimester, has started to lactate, and has reported fetal movement. Carol diagnoses it as a classic case of pseudocyesis (a false pregnancy). And that’s why the OB doc is handing the case to Oliver since Carol will be busy trying to get John Doe into a neurotech trial. Sarah will need support once she’s informed she’s not pregnant, but Oliver believes they should hold off telling her until they run more tests.
Four of Sarah’s high school friends show up, all giddy with excitement over her ultrasound. In a weird twist, all the girls think they’re pregnant. Oliver wants to test each of them. “The only thing weirder than if they’re all pregnant is if they’re not,” says Oliver.
Oliver gathers his interns for a brief history lesson on uncontrollable dancing, biting, and tics that spread to large groups. Since all the girls’ tests were negative, he believes this is mass psychogenic illness (aka mass hysteria). It’s a once-in-a-lifetime case, with Sarah as an outlier since she has pseudocyesis. Van wonders how they’ll treat it, and Oliver explains there’s an “index patient” among the group with an untreated underlying condition. They have to pinpoint that person to treat the group. They also need to discover if the five girls have a shared loss.
Van suggests a field trip to the high school, while Dana would prefer to run tests in the hospital. Oliver admits as a nerdy gay kid, he hated high school, but a field trip is the best option.
Oliver meets with Principal Owens and concerned parents, and the principal confirms they’re testing for any possible environmental issues like asbestos and mold. The parents sigh with relief when Oliver announces that none of the girls are pregnant. However, the girls haven’t been told that yet. Oliver and his team will be shadowing the girls first to find out why they’re experiencing this mass psychogenic illness. The parents are an intense group, and Principal Owens pulls Oliver aside and suggests he and his team get to work. Owens will put himself in the hot seat and answer all their questions.
Ericka, Van, Jacob, and Dana question the girls, which leads to awkward generation gap moments. Oliver has a private chat with Sarah, and she admits high school is brutal but becoming a mother has put her life in perspective.
Meanwhile, Carol speaks with Simon about John Doe’s condition. Although John seems like an ideal candidate, the fact that Oliver Wolf is his attending physician is a huge negative. Oliver’s not a team player which doesn’t fit well with this test. Carol doesn’t disagree but says Oliver clings to hope more than any doctor she knows.
Simon promises to think about it.
While Dana’s with one of the girls she has a panic attack, starts crying, and rushes off to take her medication. Being in the school’s library is triggering, and she’s forced to calm herself down. The student finds her and offers chocolate to help, and Dana apologizes. She reveals she had her first panic attack in high school.
Suddenly, Sarah starts screaming and claims she can’t see anything. She’s rushed to the hospital, and Van and Ericka can’t determine what’s wrong from preliminary tests. Carol, Oliver, and the interns meet to review what they’ve found – which is basically nothing. Carol confirms they’ve admitted the girls for overnight observation.
Before the meeting breaks up, the group hears the girls singing in harmony. Oliver says group singing is behind the girls’ group-think because it releases oxytocin. “It biochemically primes the brain for mass hysteria to take root and spread,” says Oliver.
Oliver believes they need to enter the group, not just observe it. They’re participating in the group’s tarot card reading when Lily starts seizing. A short while later, Dana informs her it was likely caused by stress. Lily wonders if they’re being punished, and Dana warns her that to help her she needs to know everything. Lily winds up spilling the beans.
Apparently, the girls are in a coven and believe they’re witches. They cast a spell to get pregnant together without having sex. Dana shows them the coven’s TikTok videos and says Lily admitted they tried a new spell tonight that backfired. Lily believes they’ll get sicker by the minute.
Later that night, Oliver’s looking sharp when Carol spots him in his office. He’s about to go see Principal Owens and Carol wonders if it’s a date. Oliver denies any interest in the high school principal but confesses Owens is good-looking. (There were definitely sparks flying when they met.)
All the environmental tests are negative, and Oliver’s adorable when he stumbles while talking about an outbreak of mono. Oliver wonders if there was any recent death that could have affected the girls, and Principal Owens says a girl withdrew recently to be homeschooled. That could have had an emotional impact on the girls since they were good friends.
At that moment, the homeschooled girl – Samantha Lee – is at the hospital with the other girls who think they’re pregnant. However, Samantha is actually pregnant and in labor! Van takes charge of the delivery and has the other girls support their friend.
The following day, Oliver connects all the dots, saying Samantha’s parents pulled her from school when she got pregnant, and that set off an extraordinary chain reaction. One month ago, the other girls snuck out and conjured pregnancies of their own so Sam would feel less alone. Since Sarah was Sam’s best friend, her grief was deeper, which is why she suffers from pseudocyesis.
“This illness was empathy in its deepest form,” says Carol.
Simon delivers the good news that John Doe can join the study. However, if Oliver deviates from the program, both Oliver and John Doe will be booted from the program.
Oliver and Carol gently break the news to the girls that they aren’t pregnant. Afterward, the girls write down the loss their feeling and then toss their notes into a fire. According to Oliver, this trauma will be easier to deal with because they have a pack to share it with.
Principal Owens drops by Oliver’s office with bagels, confirming the school’s returning to normal. However, Principal Owens isn’t just there out of professional courtesy. He introduces himself as Mark and wonders if they can get to know each other better. Mark asks him to accompany him to a bar, but Oliver declines. Oliver awkwardly claims he’s unavailable but clarifies that he’s not in a relationship. He asks about a raincheck and Mark agrees, but it’s obvious he doesn’t think Oliver will ever reach out for a date.
The interns relax with pizza and beer, and Van tells Ericka he didn’t freak out while delivering the baby because she was his calm and steady anchor. Dana opens up and reveals her panic attack origin story. She was a senior in high school when her sister, Olivia, died, and the principal told her when she was in the school’s library. A group hug follows, and Ericka assures Dana they’re her coven now.
Carol pops the champagne while informing Oliver that John Doe is in the study. She warns Oliver that he has to toe the line since her reputation is at stake. Carol also reveals they once shared a drunk med school kiss.
Oliver admits the girls’ case reminded him that he was about their age when he last saw his dad. They were camping when his dad took off. A ranger found Oliver and took him home. Oliver blames himself for not understanding how his dad felt, and Carol believes Oliver’s blocked himself from connecting with anyone. He uses his books and plants to distance himself from the world. The pain is trapped with him in this cocoon, and Carol reminds Oliver that she’s there to help him break free whenever he’s ready.
“You’re my cocoon,” says Oliver, which is so corny it causes them to start laughing.
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