Brilliant Minds Finale Shocker: [Spoiler] Is Alive! EPs Share What That Means for Oliver (‘He’s Suddenly Questioning Everything’) in a Potential Season 2 — Plus: Grade It!

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Brilliant Minds‘ two-episode Season 1 finale. Proceed accordingly.

Throughout its first season, NBC’s Brilliant Minds has pivoted on Oliver’s memories of his father, Noah, whose mental illness and subsequent death played a large part in shaping how Oliver approaches both medicine and the world at large.

But midway through the show’s two-episode Season 1 finale we learn that Noah is alive and that Oliver’s mother, Muriel, knew all along! And by the end of the second episode, before Oliver can even process all of the hurt feelings from being lied to for decades, he gets another bomb dropped on him: Noah is sick, and he needs Oliver’s help to figure out what’s wrong.  

So as Oliver enters hiatus spinning out of control emotionally, we thought it’d be a good time to chat with the show’s Powers That Be about Mandy Patinkin’s arrival as Noah. Read on as executive producers Michael Grassi and DeMane Davis discuss what Noah’s re-entry will mean for Oliver, Muriel and the rest of the Bronx General team in a potential Season 2.  

TVLINE | Michael, when did you know that Mandy was your Noah?
MICHAEL GRASSI | Initially, in my very first meeting with Zachary Quinto before he even signed on, I sort of pitched him this season arc with this character and with this back story with his family. I said, “And then, in the penultimate episode, Mandy Patinkin” — I actually said “Mandy Patinkin” in the pitch — “Mandy’s going to be there.” [Laughs]  

I have always wanted to work with Mandy. I’m such a huge fan of his. And then… we had to cast our present-day Noah, and I had the opportunity to talk to Mandy, and he’s like “Let’s do this.” It really was a dream come true for myself, but I also know for Zach [Quinto, who plays Oliver], and it was incredible to work with him and to even see him and Donna [Murphy, who plays Muriel] back, behind the scenes together, catching up. It was a really special experience.

TVLINE | This huge shock comes just as Muriel and Oliver have gotten to a good place in their relationship and as Oliver and Josh are cementing their relationship. Talk to me about the decision to blow all that up at once.
GRASSI | Really good question. So, I think a lot of what Wolf’s season arc has been is to start letting people in, to go from lone wolf to finding his pack. When we reach the end of the season, he’s starting to let people in. He’s starting to sort of see his mother’s side of things. He’s starting to work well with others. And when we pull the rug from under him in these episodes, everything that he’s built and all the people he’s let in, that foundation of trust falls out from under his feet. That’s a really hard place for Wolf to be in, where he’s suddenly questioning everything, especially because it’s something that defined him as a doctor: his experiences with his father and what he was led to believe, that he couldn’t save his father.

TVLINE | Poor Nichols. I’m just like I’m like, “Dude, you put yourself out there!”
GRASSI | I know! It’s one of those things that’s so heartbreaking, when he looks down at that tux and Wolf isn’t there. It’s such a heartbreak. It’s always hard to see. And Teddy Sears [who plays Josh Nichols] is so, so goodin that scene. I love when he’s walking down the hallway in his tux. Poor guy.

TVLINE | DeMane, you directed Episode 13 — the fallout from the big reveal. Talk to me about what you wanted to convey, conversations you had with Mandy and Zachary, all of it.
DEMANE DAVIS | Mandy wanted to convey this in a way where Noah wasn’t sad and angry or still in the throes of any sort of mental break, which I really appreciated. He talked to me, and he also talked to Michael, about that quite a bit. He said, “What’s interesting to me is, [Noah is] on the meds. [He does] have [his] regimen. You know, he tells Muriel, ‘I take my meds. I got my thing,’” and he wanted to have this joy and this happiness about it where he was content. And I was like, “Oh, I love that,” because we’ve so often seen it played the other way.

He played it with a childlike wonder. It was great to see, and it was great to see Zach’s response to that — in particular, the moment at the very, very end, when he’s like, “Oh, you know, so, maybe you could do this?” and Zach was like, what?! [Laughs]  … Obviously, Mandy Patinkin, all standing ovations, every single time. I will also reveal to you that the scene where he said, “It’s me, it’s Dad,” we just kept rolling. He did that about seven or eight times, and it was a masterclass in acting. He did it differently every time. He did one that was very quiet. He did one with a little bit more of a smile. He did one that was a little emotional, with tears in his eyes. He did one that he couldn’t complete, where he just stood in front of Zach, and he went, “I’m sorry. Let’s reset,” and Zach was like, “That’s OK.” Like, I just want to keep that clip forever! And then he did a greatest hits of everything that he had done. His process is phenomenal.

TVLINE | Michael, I’m wondering if Noah’s request — that Oliver help figure out what’s wrong with him — might come as a kind of relief to Oliver: Something to focus on that’s not based in the emotional side of what’s going on. What can you tell me about what that might look like for the family in a potential Season 2?  
GRASSI | I really think that Wolf, in a weird way, is going to be challenged with his greatest medical mystery yet and potentially his most challenging patient. We haven’t seen what these two are like in present-day together, and there is a lot that they need to work out. So, I feel like we are putting them in an interesting situation. Also, remember: Noah Wolf is also a doctor, the same way Oliver Sacks’ parents were both doctors… So, what does it look like if Dr. Noah Wolf is actually working at Bronx General as a family [general practitioner] and we’re putting them in this work environment together at the same time he’s also a patient of Wolf’s?

There’s going to be a lot to unpack emotionally but also [an] exciting medical mystery and this two-hander, odd couple dynamic between Wolf and his dad, who might even be moving in with Wolf. [Laughs]

TVLINE | It’s a big house, is all I’m saying. There’s a lot of room there.
GRASSI | Exactly! Between these two guys that look like they don’t get a lot of sleep, there’s going to be a lot of good comedy to mine there.

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