POTS is so fucking ridiculous like ah fuck shit sorry it’s a little too warm in here so i’m about to look like i’m having a category five medical emergency. but really i’m all good. also to prevent it i just have to lower the temperature but not too much and also make a quick stop by the X-axis for like five minutes. i’m like a tempermental plant if it was cunty. do you guys hate me
Episode 2.08 The Upside Down, plus one lingering thought from the previous episode.
I forgot to note in last week's episode that it was the first one this season without a flashforward to Hudson Oaks. Is the implication that they didn't have to because we finally had clear signs of Oliver struggling that episode--specifically, the obvious trauma when talking about his dad to Tom and his reaction to the "easy" comment by Josh. (I refer to the "easy" comment and not the fact that Josh is dating someone else because I sense that the comment is the more hurtful part of the conversation for oliver. It would have sucked to hear that Josh is dating someone else and that it's apparently serious enough that Josh isn't just going to toss it aside to drop of a hat. But I don't think it would have sent Oliver to the level of despair--feeling that he'll never experience love again--on its own. The "easy" comment is what ensured that reaction.
Now on to this episode. This was among the least memorable episodes of the season for me. It's not terrible, except for one plot line that really makes me angry. Do I tend not to remember it because Josh isn't in this episode so we get no good Josh-Oliver dynamics?
I do actually like the case with the unusually presenting migraine! I've known people who've gone through much longer processes of getting a diagnosis for migraine with visual disturbance but without headache--although those cases did not involve landing a plane in an emergency. The show didn't take a lot of liberties with the diagnosis or its presentation, which happens with some things (cough cough, mirror touch, cough cough, proprioceptive sensory loss, cough cough cough), so I also appreciated that.
Well, except for how quickly and cleanly they discovered what had triggered Elle's migraine attack and why it triggered it. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all identify our triggers that easily!
Plus promising the accident investigators that her treatment will prevent her from ever getting another migraine attack while flying seems ... beyond sketchy, Dr Wolf. You can get the chances down to extremely low, but I can't see how one attack like this won't preclude her from flying for the rest of her life. Even though I don't want it to!
I do of course agree with the decision not to find her at fault and not to suspend her.
(In an opposite vein, Ericka has now told four different people about her illegal benzo use and no one is worried about the patients she's treating? What the hell is going on here? Make another check mark on my "Silva being morally gray" scorecard.)
I also like how the pilot talked about being in the cockpit. How everything else in the world becomes tiny and she's just focused on her job and maintaining control. Reminds me of how Josh describes what he loves about the OR in 2.19!
Another thing I liked was seeing Thorne and Wolf work together. They're a good team (caveat emptor)!
Carol's conversation with Hector about returning to one's former life after discharge from residential psychiatric care anticipates some of the stuff that Oliver will be doing, and saves the writers from having to later have scenes where his therapist spells out "mindfulness, hobbies, passion" and having a support network with the same detail, so Oliver's story can focus more on major beats and turning points.
Okay. Now here's the part that gets me angry. Charlie talks to Ana about considering plans for hospice if Jorge doesn't get better. The way Charlie did it was wrong. There's no question about that. Having two doctors on the same team develop different treatment goals for the same patient without consulting each other is beyond dysfunctional.
But Charlie was not wrong that they needed to talk to Ana about that possibility. Wolf is not a superhuman genius. He's not magical. Just because he wants someone to get better doesn't mean they will get better. Just because he thinks they get will get better doesn't mean they will get better. Yes, he's developed a much better sense for these things than his interns and resident. But it's clear he has not even broached with Ana the possibility that Jorge might not come out of his coma. I find that unethical and indefensible.
What gets me angry is Jorge's miraculous coming out of a coma at the end of the episode, as if to convey that Dr Wolf is all wise and essentially was in the right to not talk about end-of-life planning for Jorge with the family. To be clear, you can talk about end of life planning without giving up hope that the patient will recover and without ceasing interventions to prolong and improve the patient's life. But we all die eventually, and some people are statistically more likely to die in the near future than others. Individuals in a coma are among those with a higher probability of dying sooner rather than later. So the fact that Jorge wakes up at the end of the episode does not justify Dr Wolf's behavior. Jorge waking up was not inevitable. There was a miniscule chance of Jorge waking up. There's not a great chance of making a complete or satisfactory recovery, either. Of course, doctors treat patients in order to give them a shot at recovery. But Charlie *was* right to be disturbed by the lack of conversation around Jorge's care and what Jorge would want. And, in my opinion, the narrative did not do enough justice to his concerns.
Okay, enough about me being angry. Now let me talk more about how this plot point relates to Oliver's mental health and season arc.
Just like Charlie was right to be concerned about the lack of transparency with Jorge's family about his actual odds of recovery, Oliver was right to read him the riot act (see above). But the way he does it ... It's clear that there is more going on with Oliver than being upset at Charlie. His tolerance for conflict and disruptions to his routine/expectations has dropped precipitously.
And this is where Thorne and Oliver do not make a great team! Because Oliver realizes that he did not handle it appropriately. He recognizes that his tolerance for conflict/disruptions has gone down. It disturbs him enough that he asks for Carol's input and advice.
Carol gets things back on track. We find out that Oliver is *still* sleeping at the office and that he has not gone swimming in the Hudson since his dad left.
But before Carol can dig into that with Oliver, Thorne steps in and tells Oliver he did the right thing.
Never, ever go to Thorne for non-medical advice, Oliver. I'm telling you now.
While Oliver inches toward help by reaching out to Carol, Ericka takes a much bigger step toward getting help. She recognizes the extent of her problem and seeks treatment.
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Does the flashforward we see at the end of this episode (scene of Hudson Oaks director with Oliver and Hector in her office) ever get directly addressed (that is to say, reproduced within the context of a larger scene) at the end of the season? Did this part get retconned?
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Picking up on my speculation from the Halloween episode about Charlie's motivations and plan of attack: The events of this episode could definitely fit a backstory where Charlie comes to Bronx General with the motivation to assess whether Dr Wolf is still treating patients with the same approach he used with Charlie's mother; if he's not, great, Charlie can learn from him; if he is, then Charlie can try to change him; and if Dr Wolf refuses to change, then Charlie will punish him.
If that is the backstory, then throughout the season, Charlie is conducting a series of tests to find out if wolf is the same doctor he was when he treated Charlie's mother. The situation with Jorge is another test, and in Charlie's view, Dr Wolf fails it. This brings Charlie closer to his decision to do what he ends up doing in 2.10.
Also, if that is Charlie's backstory, it makes him a much less villainous character. Sure, the whole thing is fucked up, and what's not outright unethical is highly questionable. But it would mean that he does have a sense of right and wrong and is less likely to be devoid of prosocial feelings. If that's the case, his abbreviated redemption arc at the end of the season makes a fuckton more sense.
Too bad we'll never find out for sure.
But I do feel like I'm going to have to go with that interpretation if I want to accept Charlie's apology and change in behavior at the very end of the season as genuine and lasting. And I kind of feel like I have no other choice? Because if he's just a sociopath, none of it makes much sense.
Today I rewatched 2.07 The One That Got Away. I love this episode. It also breaks my heart.
Brilliant Minds is good at that.
My thoughts below the cut. Now in paragraph format!
In this episode, Erica continues to campaign for a full workup for Sam to ensure that he hasn't been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Even Dr Wolf is initially dismissive of doing this. And it turns out, after all the tests are done, it's schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (the last episode said schizoaffective, this episode says schizophrenia) and not something organic causing his symptoms.
It's interesting to view this in light of the case that wolf becomes interested in while at Hudson Oaks--the patient who has had a diagnosis of schizophrenia for 14 years, but he suspects something else is going on--and it turns out he's right.
Seems to me that the later episode validates her approach with Sam. Since symptoms can have organic causes and overlooking organic issues can be life-threatening, it's worth it in itself to consider them, regardless of what the ultimate diagnosis turns out to be.
Carol says as much later in this episode, as well.
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Oliver thinks he's not as relentlessly persistent as ericka. That's hilarious!
Also hilarious that Oliver thinks he can impress a historian of medicine with the fact that mercury was the primary treatment for syphilis for hundreds of years before the discovery of penicillin. Oliver, even I know that!
But it is really adorable how cute-excited-flattered-bashful Oliver gets when he realizes that it's The Tom that he's talking to.
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For everybody trying to build a coherent timeline of Oliver's life: in this episode, Oliver refers to his summer with Tom when he was 18 as "30 years ago." Also in this episode, he refers to his dad dying / leaving when Oliver was 14 as "30 years ago." I'm going to conclude that Oliver, like many of us who have lived five decades (more or less), uses "30 years ago" very loosely. It's a rounding error.
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Silva says that if he wanted to make his ex-boyfriend jealous, he would tell that ex-boyfriend that his other ex-boyfriend came to see him specifically for his hot British seizures. Then wolf goes into nichols' office, tells him about Tom's case, and as they start to leave the office, mentions that Tom is his ex because he "doesn't want things to be awkward."
So, class, is this Oliver taking Silva's advice? Or had he been planning to mention it anyway?
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Carol gives advice that summarizes some of the season's main themes: "You can't wave a wand and just make someone's life magically different. You can't erase the past. Healing takes time and work and acknowledging reality. And sometimes that's as difficult for doctors and it is for their patients."
If I were a gif maker, I would superimpose the pieces of this quote over scenes from the season.
Obviously it applies to Wolf's journey with his mental health and family issues, but also to Ericka's journey (not just sam, but with her own PTSD), Nichols' issues with his father, and of course the Wolf - Nichols relationship (can't erase the fact that wolf broke Josh's heart; later in the season can't erase the fact that Josh made a stupid decision to hitch his wagon to Beau).
Within the episode, Carol's statement illustrates Tom's journey as much as Ericka's journey with Sam. Tom fantasizes about erasing his past (his husband and children), waving a magic wand and making everything different.
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I remembered that Oliver took Tom to the beach to give him the "we can't go back to the past" speech. I did not remember him spewing out that stuff about his dad! Which just has me so 😯.
Because this is the most emotional we've seen him over that situation since the first episode of the season (maybe even the season 1 finale?). And part of me is "it's good he's saying it" and another part of me is "is this a little bit of an inappropriate trauma dump on someone you haven't seen for the past 30 years?" and another part of me is "do you know how much it would have meant to Josh if you'd talked about this with him at any point in the past few months?"
(a final part of me is thinking "isn't it unseasonably warm and green for New York City in November?" But I digress.)
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There's something else that strikes me about this scene. Oliver uses similar language to what he used with Josh in the season 1 finale: "You don't know me, Tom." And it's tied into the same topic: Oliver's father.
Why does Oliver think that his father now being alive means that people (lovers, particularly) can't possibly know him? It must be because he no longer feels like he knows himself. And why is that? Why should his father's return shake his sense of identity?
For Oliver, losing his father was not just a part of his history. It was part of his identity. At least, it was part of the story he told himself about who he was. He told himself he became the doctor and person he is because the system failed his father and he wanted to do better by his patients.
So finding out that his dad has not only been alive all this time, but also has apparently been doing pretty darn well (he has a new family, and the letter he wrote when he left Oliver says that he never had another mental health crisis in the years he's been gone)--it destroys the entire premise of Oliver's life story as he tells it to himself.
What's interesting is that this story has never been accurate. He showed interest in being a doctor before his dad ever left. He did cadaver dissections with his mother and enjoyed visiting patients with his father. And the feeling that his dad was misunderstood and getting inadequate care also commenced way before Noah's faked death.
Oliver constructs a new narrative for himself at Hudson Oaks. We don't learn all the details of it, but we get hints (which I'll have to save for when I watch those episodes). He gains a new understanding of his life story and what makes him tick. He knows himself again. Which means that others can know him, as well. And maybe that's why by 2.20, he's finally at a place where he can say, "You know me, Josh."
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Oh hey! Ericka trying to hide her mental health problems parallels Wolf hiding his mental health problems!
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Also! I want Oliver and Tom to stay friends! I know they live in different cities and Oliver doesn't do social media but maybe they can send letters to each other a few times a year? Occasional phone calls? Rashid can become his buddy too!
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Motherfucker!
I'm at the heartbreaking scene where Oliver goes into Josh's office to tell him he wants to get back together.
And I just realized Josh is reading a text from Beau when Oliver walks in!
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!
We know this not simply because Josh is looking at his phone laughing and shaking his head. It's because he puts his phone FACE DOWN on the desk when he sees that it's Oliver. Just like later in the season when Josh is looking at the list of surrogates Beau has sent him and he slams his computer shut when Oliver walks into the office.
Because Josh is STUPID and DUMB and apparently thinks this is perfectly normal behavior to be trying to hide your current boyfriend from your ex-boyfriend, as if the fact that you are now dating someone else means that you are cheating on your ex-boyfriend.
It's almost like Josh is so in love with Oliver that dating anyone else feels wrong.
Of course, Josh manages to push down that feeling of wrongness most of the time.
And then he sees Oliver and the wrongness of his decision slaps him in the face.
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(What did Beau say to make Josh laugh? I find it impossible to imagine. They made Beau's character as milquetoast as possible. That guy cracks jokes? He has a sense of humor? Who knew?)
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There's a lot to unpack about their conversation, particularly what I think is a disconnect in what Josh means by "easy" and what Oliver understands by "easy", but I'm not going to do that because I've already written fic that I think gets to the point better than me pontificating:
The Life-Changing Magic of Oliver Wolf: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87444706
All I will say here is that Josh doesn't sound that enthusiastic when he uses the word "easy." It doesn't come across to me as something he's looking for in a relationship.
It does come across to Oliver that way, however, and I know why. I am also one of those people who has been told they are "too complicated" and "too much." If you get told that enough times, you start believing that's what everybody thinks about you. It takes a lot of work to unlearn that.
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Ericka and Wolf watching Casablanca together is both heartwarming and 😭. Van said that she was becoming more Wolf than Wolf in an earlier scene, and this episode really highlights their similarities (although we won't understand all of them until later in the season): their commitment to their patients, their struggles with mental health, hiding their struggles from loved ones and, of course, dealing with the effects of having a parent with severe mental illness.
My thoughts on my rewatch of episode 2.06, Doctor's Graveyard. Now in paragraph form!
This is the Halloween episode. Like Dr Wolf, I am not a big fan of Halloween. I blocked a lot of this one out. Except the one part that becomes super super relevant later in the season. Let's see what I notice this time around.
In the opening scene, the interns/resident are visiting a haunted house set at an "asylum." Is this, combined with Ericka's commentary about stigmatizing mental health conditions, too on the nose as an announcement of major themes of the season? No, because I didn't pick up on it the first time around.
Charlie being the one to bring (or "send") them there while being insensitive is also pretty on the nose.
Next, we see Oliver in his entryway, wearing the tuxedo Josh gave him. He's buttoning his shirt and the bow tie is not yet done. He hears a knock on his door, and he thinks it's his dad. But when he looks, no one's there. Is it his first hallucination of the season? No! Because that, along with the ghostly apparition coming down the stairs, turn out to be a dream.
What this does tell us, however is that Oliver still has anxiety around his father he should probably deal with, despite what he's told Josh.
I like how neither Wolf nor Nichols gives one flip about Silva cracking down on Halloween decorations.
I forgot about Josh being served. I don't remember what that's about at all.
I forgot that this is the episode with the guy who died of possible hypothermia in the bathtub, was revived, and is trying to live pretty much forever. Makes sense though, he's basically a vampire, just gets his blood in different ways.
What I do appreciate is how much Charlie seems to be side-eyeing that whole longevity bro culture. As I said before, we don't get a ton of insight into Charlie's character this season, which can make it hard to process his movement toward a redemption arc at the end of it. And maybe side-eyeing longevity culture doesn't make a person a saint, but to me, it doesn't make him a little bit likeable. Because I side eye that stuff, too!
(Does Dana's statement that some women are into longevity culture contain a subtextual reference to Charlie's mom's efforts to extend her own life? Maybe.)
We now learn what the lawsuit is about. It's over the hospital bills charged to Sarah Kim's parents. Sarah Kim was one of the teen witches and had pseudosyesis. Now, what I love about this scene is Josh asking Oliver if you remember Sarah Kim; Oliver saying of course he does, he remembers all his patients; then Josh mentioning the pseudosyesis and Oliver going, "Oh, the witches!" because he just remembered who Sarah Kim is.
Oliver, you might remember your patients, but you clearly didn't remember her name. You can't pull a fast one on me and you sure didn't pull one on Josh!
For all of Josh's insecurities about Wolf, one thing he can be confident in is that Wolf is completely incapable of deceiving him.
Josh leaves Oliver's office and we get Oliver's first confirm to hallucination of the season. Is this triggered solely by Oliver's stress about his father and it being death anniversary of the patient over his just hallucinated? Or does the interaction with Josh play a role? Oliver was pretty flippant through the whole thing, exuding an air of lightness and ease; but as we know, Oliver sometimes uses flippancy as a coping mechanism to avoid feeling too much.
So apparently it's the anniversary of Charlie's mom's death and he seems totally normal? For someone who has been so traumatized by his parents death, I'm surprised he doesn't have issues with Halloween, given she died on Halloween. (Not everyone who has a loved one die on a holiday is traumatized by the holiday itself. I was surprised, anyway.)
Really interesting and definitely I didn't catch this on my first watch: when Wolf tells Cyrus that "your obsession with your own mortality could lead to other risk factors that you won't be able to mitigate", Charlie is standing to his side in a little bit back, slightly out of focus from the camera, but we can see his facial expressions. And he looks pretty grim. Almost like he's holding back tears? Not quite, but at that point the actors must have known the backstory because he definitely looks like someone who has personal experience with someone trying to extend their life excessively and it leading to suffering.
Charlie: "what about you, Dr wolf. Do you fear death?"
Wolf: "... For my patients, yes." [Walks off]
Charlie: [grim look with hints of frustration and anger. We all know what that means.]
This interaction makes me wonder. Was Charlie's plan from the beginning to try to make Wolf break no matter what? Or was it more nuanced? Did he want to first find out if Dr Wolf had changed and then base his actions on that? If wolf had changed in the direction that Charlie wanted, would Charlie have let It go (possibly eventually telling Wolf who he was, but in a friendly rather than confrontational way)? And if Wolf hadn't changed, then was Charlie going to try to force change? And if the change still didn't happen, was Charlie going to punish him?
Because thinking about what leads up to the holiday party, the version of events where he is testing Wolf and then trying to get him to change is plausible.
It's also plausible that he was going to try to punish Wolf no matter what.
I am intrigued in a way I was not on the first watch.
The scene switches to Jorge's hospital room. Josh is in there with him, his hands clasped in a way that is reminiscent of a Christian prayer position, whispering to Jorge and telling him that he needs to believe in miracles. I had totally forgotten about this scene. But ooooh, all the things that says about this character! It's easy to pigeonhole Josh into the "logical scientist believes only in what he can see and measure" trope, but this episode is definitely telling us he is not that. The dude burned sage in his office!
(I am not pointing this out just because I have written two three fics already in which Josh has spiritual leanings. But hey, it's always nice to find a little bit of support in canon! Or perhaps it's more likely that the idea was informed by canon, I just didn't remember all the instances that informed it.)
At the end of the episode, Charlie sees the same "ghost" that Oliver has seen throughout the episode. This made no sense to me on first watch. Did it make sense to anyone? Did I wonder if Brilliant Minds was jumping the shark? What was all this supernatural shit?
It makes sense in retrospect. Brilliant Minds did not go supernatural. It just looked that way at the time. But I wonder how many people who did a first watch of this episode thought "This is not the Brilliant Minds I know and love." And how many of those like the episode anyway, and how many of those went "eh."
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