#brilliantmindss3

[thewickedbohemian]

Just pinning both my Brilliant Minds petitions (the old one I updated with this news and the new one I made in response to it) and the NBC feedback form so I don't have to go adding them to every post in the Brilliant Minds tag in some kind of colloquially-manic ADHD spiral

The one I made in response to this that's more specific about what I want

Sign the Petition

Give Brilliant Minds's remaining S2 episodes a return date and renew it for a third season

The one with more signatures

Sign the Petition

Renew Brilliant Minds for a third season

Another one I just made to make sure that if NBC doesn't want to give it a second chance it shops it around to someone that will

This campaign needs you now

Save Brilliant Minds for a third season

And here's the comment form to give NBC a piece of your own brilliant minds

So the way it works is you select the broadcast option from the first dropdown, the feedback-about-a-show-or-movie one from the feedback type and you can give either positive feedback about how much you love the show, negative feedback about how much you think this decision sucks or do what I do and submit one of each

But if things don't work out with NBC there's also the backup plans of other networks so I found the feedback forms for ABC and FOX so we can leave feedback saying that those networks should pick this up if NBC lets it go

ABC

and what to select on the dropdowns before you write your message is ABC under brand and Suggestion under category

FOX https://help.fox.com/s/contact-support-feedback

Select programming feedback from the feedback category before you write your message

The show must go on!

Also friendly reminder the six remaining episodes of S2 premiere starting May 27th on Wednesdays at 8 so watch them and stream them when they happen but use this time to get as many people into it and binging it as possible before then

Idea: #BrilliantStreams

What I mean by that is any fan with a streaming service they can watch Brilliant Minds on spends as much time as they can binging when not..

Also here's some solutions for how to do some of the other solutions people have thought up

Had some ideas to help the show's chances, not sure how to get them moving though and does anyone have any other ideas (DNI if you're just g

1. what if we took advantage of the big gap before the return to convince as many people as we can to watch Brilliant Minds enough to catch

We won the TVLine poll let's make that mean something

And make it mean something that the ratings are actually going up and help them go even further beyond

[fandomrelatedshowerthoughts]

This most recent 911 Nashville episode is proof that if NBC can't save Brilliant Minds ABC should and I'm not saying this for crossover reasons because of Roxy formerly working in the Bronx, I'm saying this because of the themes and the vibes (heck Brilliant Minds almost would fit better after both 911s than Grey's does)

[fanficandvidprompts]

If I had a nickel for every time I felt like a show tune (to the degree show tunes can apply abstractly to characters in other media) matched the vibe of characters on a 2020s procedural I've been watching to the degree where I wanted it covered in a particular way to better fit the vibe of the show not so it could be covered that way on the show but so an AMV/fanvid would fit better, I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

First it was Brilliant Minds making me want a male cover of "What Do You Want Of Me" from Man Of La Mancha and now because of 911: Nashville I'm wondering what "What It Sounds Like" would sound like (pun seriously not intended) as a country song because if we're to take the lyrics as generally as the idea of it-still-being-an-in-universe-pop-song would imply then at least for what we've seen of the characters/themes so far and where I think some arcs might be going this kinda really works

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a Brilliant Minds that between Emmy-worthiness, well-written character growth (part of which I hope is what can persuade Nichols Charlie is worth saving as I never expected to care that much about him), and pack working together like well-oiled machine all paralleling Wolf in their own way truly hammers home why this show needs saving

Oliver Samuel Wolf, I should not be interpreting the Biblical middle name as evidence of his potential Judaism

and straight into the uncanny valley and anxiety inducing shit

I spy with my little eye a very familiar cutie pie (ditched the curls have we)

well that's not gonna be awkward for his autism

I feel like this is kinda their way to have it both ways

so the patient of the week back at the ranch is some kind of Nathan Wuornos type?

He knows Amelia Bedelia, not surprised

said no overeager interns, said nothing about residents

and let's play is this metaphor for show's fate-hanging-in-balance or setup for potential S3

directed by Zachary Quinto, hmm

with you on both the working away from the group and the why can't a therapy activity be just a therapy activity

is it just him being acting-attending or is Charlie kinda giving off a different metaphorical aura here (and maybe even looking kinda cute )

another patient parallel and how the hell do you tell him

and now Nico in blue, que tal?

wow that's an interesting bit of Dana lore (and another Wolf parallel)

are you selfless Wolf or just an avoider

and now the show gets on its soapbox and gets really fucking confusing morally

seclusion room? doesn't sound ok

ooooh two doctors walk into a bar

parallel group fucking therapy too

so Ericka visits before Charlie?

oh so it's business not pleasure

anyone want to bet he's not gonna believe her that it came from Wolf

and here comes the awkward confrontation (not in the angry sense in the my brain couldn't help make a Jekyll-Hyde reference sense)

I'm not crying you're crying

guess I was right about even when I thought she was real describing Sofia as Wolf's platonic-Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl

so was Sofia right as there's no unreliable-narrator here

and we're back where the season started, are we gonna go through other flashforwards in order

girls in the field like Wolf would do

that ain't good

I think Charlie probably saved them an awkward conversation

oh so that's where those scenes come in

that was a different tone and wording than he said in the flashforward but he is right about the department, y'know, Charlie-Dana-Ericka power trio (and one more reason we need a S3)

and Nichols says what I've been thinking since that flashforward when I still thought Charlie was a bad guy, somebody perhaps a little too eager to overstep their bounds?

Ericka getting into her Wolf bag

don't rub it in dude's face

more parallels paralleling the parallels

and now what

so he's getting help but we're not doing the stupid House thing on the plane with telling people to act like certain colleagues

again with the periodic table motif

wonder what this says about neurologist heal thyself that the patient paralleling him was being hurt by his comfort mechanism

Charlie going all alpha and Ericka made him Realize Some Things

ooh Charlie and Nico drinking buddies (and now he's wearing the maroon scrubs again what gives)

and a little bit of meta-commentary with how letting this show stay cancelled would be a similar kind of slight to everything it represents

please tell me Charlie's gonna be fine and this is just late-season-tension-heightening

has she used his first name before

ok what is it with 2020s procedurals and elevator kisses

whole episode about venting?

the truth is that Wolf needs a hug

slight veiled title drop

and we're back to the usual monologue (and really well-chosen sequences)

Charco confirmed?

Wolfnichols reconfirmed?

[thewickedbohemian]

Now that I've finally got a regular group of shows I've been watching for basically the first time since the pandemic I wanted to try and spread their hype as I noticed some thematic similarities between them and some of the Broadway shows I've hyperfixated on so I thought I'd turn that into an IYLYWL (if you like, you would like) that applies vice versa of if you know and like these musicals you should watch this show and if you like this show you should check out these musicals

So here's what musicals you should check out based on which of the current procedurals I've been watching and loving you love too

Musicals you'd love if you love the NBC show Brilliant Minds and that if you love you should watch Brilliant Minds if you haven't seen it

Next To Normal

Fun Home

Rent

Musicals that if you like you should check out the CBS show Elsbeth if you haven't

Legally Blonde

Thoroughly Modern Millie

The Prom

Musicals that you'd like if you like the CBS show Elsbeth (more obscure than the other list's imho as Elsbeth's more likely to attract theater fans)

Amelie

Anyone Can Whistle

Wonderful Town

Musicals you'd love if you love the CBS show Tracker and that if you love you should watch Tracker if you haven't (and I swear these shows share more with Tracker than its needle drops and their soundtrack all being country-adjacent but you're gonna have to trust me on the spoiler-y plot/theme connections)

Hadestown

The Outsiders

Bright Star

Musicals you'd love if you love the ABC show High Potential and that if you love you should watch High Potential if you haven't (some of these might seem a bit of a stretch but that's because some musicals I put in another category might suit High Potential better they just suit that other show more than it) and yeah these are all fantastical in a way High Potential doesn't quite deliver on itself but it's about the vibes /certain-plot-elements-or-arcs-as-best-as-they-can-translate-cross-setting

Seussical

The Addams Family

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Musicals you'd love if you love the FOX show Best Medicine and that if you love you should watch Best Medicine if you haven't

Come From Away

The Music Man

Pirates! The Penzance Musical (and not just because this one would be perfect for if Best Medicine ever did a community theater episode that was musical theater, e.g. I mean even if he'd be playing Sheriff Mark playing him and not fitting subbing in in the role into his schedule if that show's still open, the thought of Josh Segarra playing the Pirate King kinda works imho)

Musicals you'd love if you love the ABC show RJ Decker and that if you love you should watch RJ Decker if you haven't (these may also seem like a stretch but I'm trying to assign it musicals based on 9 episodes of show so far so I don't have much to work with)

Newsies

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Escape To Margaritaville (yeah I know some people feel some type of way about jukebox musicals but this definitely suits the show's vibe being the Jimmy Buffett one)

[thewickedbohemian]

I feel like this may be an unpopular opinion to some Brilliant Minds fans but...

Now that we've seen deeper into both character and incident I don't think Charlie's as connected to the Hudson Oaks storyline as some fans might have initially thought at least not in the way we think. Just thinking of how indirectly he had to do with Oliver ending up there if he was somehow working with Dr. Frederick to screw him over or something the amount of things that would have to go according-to-keikaku and the amount of control required to set all that up so that could happen without looking too suspicious would require Dr. Frederick to be a level of would-be-essentially-a-supervillain-if-Brilliant-Minds-wasn't-still-nominally-a-realistic-fiction-show comparable to Pelant on Bones and we all saw fan reactions to that arc being not-so-great. Also, I think they are genuinely trying to redemption-arc him from his initial impression and have Oliver catalyze that growth (which gains a lot more emotional heft with the brother theory which I still maintain the show's leading towards the reveal of being the case, makes too much sense not to be true even if it would mean he might not have the relationship to the "ghost patient" we think as if he and Oliver are half-brothers current evidence says it's more likely that Muriel's the common parent given Silva's gossip about Muriel's dalliances and Charlie's use of the nickname Muriel called Oliver) and how much even-more-poetic would it be if whatever rescue-mission-for-lack-of-a-better-term the "wolf pack" (which was even Watsonianly coined by Charlie) needs to mount once they realize what's going on (nevermind the day-to-day case-by-case of somehow being able to run the neuro department as a second year resident until then), in order for Charlie to be an effective leader, would need him to use Oliver's empathy strategies or w/e on Oliver himself to see how he sees to see the value of it and lead how he leads while still being himself. Also, given both Dana's parallels to Oliver and how the story seems to be finding excuses for her and Charlie to share scenes maybe if Charlie is headed for twist-hero-disguised-as-a-seeming-twist-villain status she and any (strictly platonic as she's both seemingly-purely-lesbian and taken, and maybe even platonic in the pseudo-sibling sense as there's things that hint that at its best Dana's similar platonic relationship with Oliver might be kinda big-brother-little-sister-coded and if in-all-but-blood he sees her as some kind of sibling that means Charlie could too if they're half-brothers) connection she might be able to form with Charlie especially in Oliver's absence might also be as pivotal

Also, saw some interview with either showrunner or some sort of other high-ish-up-behind-the-scenes-person ask among other things about a certain way Charlie's arc could develop (not being vague to avoid potential spoilers I genuinely don't remember wtf it was) and they said that that's more of a S3-S4 sort of thing (meaning in the likelier-than-you-think event of the show going on #renewbrilliantminds #brilliantmindss3 Charlie isn't some kind of one-arc-and-done snake-in-the-grass even if he has kinda trouble-starter tendencies but considered a genuine regular part of the pack)

TL;DR Occam's Razor says despite my first impression Charlie's not some kind of metaphorical-spy and potentially on a path towards redemption that both Oliver (esp. in the likely event of long-lost-sibs) and Dana might play key roles in and despite technically being the reason Oliver ended up there in the first place his eventual role in the Hudson Oaks arc as things start picking up speed might be less "Disney twist villain" and more the hero (even if it's anti-hero and insert obligatory Taylor Swift joke here though that song kinda does fit his vibe) that nobody expected but everyone's glad literally-and-figuratively showed up in hindsight

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a Brilliant Minds that felt like a 911 episode on metaphorical amphetamines (in the ADHD-med sense), gave the best case so far for autistic Wolf and ADHD Silva, had an ending that proved my theories wrong in the most confusing way possible and yet I know what Tumblr's gonna focus on

ok feeling like this is kinda starting like a 911 episode again

and with even worse consequences

that Bach?

okay let's play what is this camera hell foreshadowing

nice to see they've got irl's blizzard outside wonder if that's gonna come into play

and we end the nausea trip on Wolf sleeping on the job again

I thought for a minute he'd honed in on the problem

of course again Nico being xoxo-gossip-gay

kinda a parallel with the Sarah Steele characters with the "New York mayors and chief medical officers" thing

and Ericka's the only one not being snarky

and I was right on the blizzard thing and Nico looking way too fucking smug

Sofia again giving Dana

this feels like it's just waiting for the other shoe to drop

and now I'm getting a different kind of flashback to 911 with Chimney and the rebar

Nichols you doing okay

and the most offended party isn't offended so why are Wolf and Dana feeling like as much of a Wolf and Charlie parallel as we thought about Sofia

CHARCO INTERACTION! that I hope leads to more to come than just the overwhelm they're feeling now

why does he sound like he has ADHD

oh that's why

getting thematic

ok what the fuck

I see that there

Dr. Pedrosa with the save-we-hope

why did I never notice until now that Nico has earrings

I feel that Nico with the needing to get up on the freaking stool to make everyone listen #shortpeoplegetnorespect

so where the fuck are we evacuating to in a fucking snowstorm

and what about the patient getting kinda Home-Alone-d here

has 911 ever done a thing that puts the whole team in danger but everyone makes it out (closest thing was the lab but A. y'know, and B. that wasn't everyone)

Sofia's out and Sofia's kinda icing out Wolf just like Dana did

and of course things went from bad to worse

pack passing around the oxygen like it's a bottle

Ericka the odd one out trying to call Charlie out on his crap when I think he knows what he did and is regretting it (kinda paralleling Dana)

ooh I saw that Charco

things feeling like a cross between the 911 lab arc and Scorpion right now

and another Wolf and Charlie parallel with who's on the inside

really you're gonna be that obvious

I can only imagine what must be going on in Dana's anxiety-brain right now

tell me we did not just hear him say what I think he said

and now everyone knows

and now everyone lives to doctor another day

Dana did a good thing and kinda having a Wolf moment

I wonder who he's supposed to parallel with the speaking the truth thing

Carol with the foreshadowing

dude keep the comments about her ass to yourself

here comes "the talk"

I hope a S3 gives an excuse for Beau to recur even if they break up he seems cool

and looks like Wolf and Carol are headed for a similar conversation

Wolf spilling the beans to her about Sofia and looking like he's kinda having an autistic meltdown

and as if he couldn't sound even more autistic and now I'm being reminded of TBBT with Sheldon and the neutrinos

okay so what is this trying to imply

please don't do anything stupid (though if my "SQUIP" was that cute...)

please tell me promo full of flashforwards just because we've caught up not because they're foreshadowing another expectation-switcheroo of Charlie reversing all that development and Hudson Oaks being good because the idea that I fell for the writers "fight-club"-ing us is not helping my anxiety in terms of what the writers think they can get away with subverting

[thewickedbohemian]

My damn connect-y brain just can't stop itself

I swear I'm not doing it on purpose but the two weeks so far Brilliant Minds has been back (please don't let these six/this pride month be the end of the road) there've been songs I've listened to later the night of an episode's airing that I've randomly connected lyrics from to the show and especially that episode

Last week it was these lyrics from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared fansong "As Above, So Below"

"A prison's not always a dark place/with grey closed-in walls and big loud chains/it can hide in the skin of a home"

Making me think of that episode's story and let's just say the stuff about the patient-of-the-week that paralleled where Wolf's arc was at

And now tonight I'm listening to "In The Ghetto" by Elvis Presley and these lyrics are making me think of Wolf and Charlie

"People don't you understand/your child needs a helping hand/or he'll grow to be an angry young man someday/Take a look at you and me/are we too blind to see/or do we simply turn our heads and look the other way"