Brilliant Minds Chapter Seven: The Man from Grozny
Who knew Zachary Quinto’s hands were so veiny?
Previously on Brilliant Minds: John Doe (Alex Ozerov-Meyer) turns out to be a man named Roman (I’m not sure when we found out his name). We find out via flashback that he is from Grozny, Chechnya, and someone was chasing him.
Back to the present day: Roman has locked-in syndrome, so he can only communicate by moving his eyes. Wolf and his pack ask him whether he’d like to have a chip installed in his brain to allow him to communicate more fluently. He says “yes” by looking upwards. Everyone is very excited.
The chip is called “InterMind” and I keep thinking of it as NeuraLink — a real company that made a chip that was implanted into the brain of a quadraplegic man, that gave him the ability to mentally control a computer. This is nowhere near as advanced as our fictional chip, which will read neural impulses in order to figure out what words Roman is mentally thinking of (and translates from Russian to English.) How can the computer tell the difference between the words he wants to communicate and the ones he’s just thinking to himself? Anyway, this imaginary technology works so seamlessly, it’s visualized as Roman just sitting in the room, chatting with whomever.
Image from a previous episode, because NBC didn’t have any handout photos this time for some reason. (NBC/Uni)
We see Dr. Nichols implant the chip, and Wolf adorably invites himself into the OR like an overexcited kid. He appears to be there mostly for exposition’s sake. Once again, our patient gets to keep a full head of hair despite having major brain surgery.
Once the chip is implanted, we learn that Roman was being persecuted for being gay, and he had to escape to America to be with his lover, a guy the Wolf Pack later tracks down, named Alex. How did he end up completely paralyzed, with locked-in syndrome? He was riding his bicycle without a helmet in Manhattan, and was hit by a cab.
Dr. Wolf’s mom swings by and says she is proud of him and is thrilled by the good press this will bring the hospital. The InterMind guy tells our gal, Dr. Carol, that he wants to bring investors by to meet Roman.
This is going to be a problem because, well Roman wants to die. He casually mentions this to Intern Jock (Spence Moore II). It’s unclear why he wanted the brain chip! Couldn’t he have said this using his alphabet board? Then, a person who wanted the chip for more than five minutes could have gotten it instead.
Remember the time Drs. Nash and Wolf went to a gun range for no good reason? That was cute.
Roman thanks Wolf for the company, the Bach (he prefers Stravinsky) and the fern. “I can’t ever repay you,” he says. (My husband: Wait till you see the bill!)
Roman continues: “You saw me when no one else did. Which is ironic since they tell me you can’t see faces.” Ah, this old canard again. Friends, it is very possible to have a disability with no bright side. As a faceblind person, I can confidently tell you that I have no gift when it comes to “really seeing” people.
Wolf does not want to remove Roman’s ventilator and so he sends the Wolf Pack out to find him a reason to live. They come back with his lover, Alex, who wants to take Roman home and care for him. Roman is clear on the fact that he doesn’t want this for himself or Alex.
What he does want is to die somewhere besides a hospital, so everyone decamps to Wolf’s house. They watch a projection of the universe on the ceiling while Wolf tells the story of two stars that, in Chinese mythology, are forbidden lovers, separated by lightyears, but always tied together, moving together, regardless. They are Altair and Vega — known as the stars of the Cowherd (牛郎, Niulang) and Weaver Girl (织女, Zhinü). These forbidden lovers are reunited by a bridge of magpies once a year, an event that is celebrated by the Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentines Day.
Roman and Alex kiss — with Roman actively kissing Alex, so I guess it’s a fantasy. Roman dies in his lovers arms. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Roman really appreciated the shave, it turns out. (NBC/Uni)
Fallout from Roman’s death: The InterMind guy is mad at Dr. Carol; and Mama Wolf is mad at Wolf. They have a heated conversation where they trade barbs. She says that she’s surprised Wolf let his patient go too easily, and he says it was the hardest decision he’s ever made. (I don’t think it was his decision to make, personally.)
Mama Wolf reiterates that she was surpised Wolf “gave up” and that PISSES him off. Out come the claws! “Let’s talk about giving up. Whenever dad was in a bad place you spent more time at work,” Wolf says. “You let him become a shell of a man, and then you left him.” Rowr!
Mama Wolf claps back: “After all these years you’re still trying to fix him… It doesn’t matter how many patients you treat. The sooner you deal with this, the sooner you will stop making decisions that primarily serve you.”
Time elapses. Dr. Wolf is out and about in his sexy motorcycle jacket, and he spots Dr. Nash across the street. He flashes back to a conversation he had with Roman, where Roman said that he always had a dream that, one day, he would find Alex and run up to him in the street and give him a big kiss and no one would care because they are in American and finally free. “What are you waiting for?” he asks Wolf.
I want this kiss to happen too, my friends, but there are many good answers to Roman’s question. For instance, maybe Dr. Wolf is waiting to hear back from HR about whether he’s allowed to date Dr. Nash. Workplace romances can get messy!
Regardless, Wolf crosses the street and gives Nash a big smooch! Nash looks surprised. As they separate, Wolf looks like he’s almost gasping for air. It’s dramatic, but it doesn’t feel earned, somehow. Indeed, it seems a bit abrupt. Like, ask a man out for coffee first, before surprising him with some tongue twister, am I right?
Kudos to the music pickers, who use a touching rendition of Higher Love by James Vincent McMorrow for the death scene, and “If the World was Ending,” by JP Saxe for the big kiss at the end.
