Brilliant Minds – Chapter Five: The Haunted Marine – Review: Our Minds Can Be a Haunted House

“Coping mechanism: […] we need them to deal with traumas both physical and emotional.” Tonight’s episode of Brilliant Minds puts the audience in the mind of former Marine, Steve Hill, who is seeing the ghosts of those he once served with. There’s also been development in the case of John Doe.

-In last week’s episode, John Doe showed some more signs of life (which was great because he would’ve been sent off to another facility otherwise) and Dr. Wolf and his team try to build on that. It turns out John Doe is suffering from “Locked-In Syndrome” (basically he’s paralyzed with whole-body sensory loss due to damage in the brain stem) which is the result of a stroke he more than likely had. They’ve noticed that he’s been trying to communicate, but it’s mainly with his eyes. When Carol stops by needing Oliver’s help, he leaves it up to the team to find a way to get John Doe to communicate. 

Dana is the comic relief that is very much needed given the subject matter of this show. When Dr. Wolf asks Van his opinion on John Doe, hinting at his mirror touch synesthesia, Dana picks up on it and later asks him about it. Once Van came clean, he asked that she not say anything since he’s still trying to figure out what it means himself, she swore she wouldn’t tell him “you can’t spell Dana without NDA”. 

Dana and Van work with John Doe, trying to get him to communicate with a “Yes” and “No” board, but it doesn’t seem to be a genuine connection. Here’s the funny thing (and it’s interesting that no one thought of this beforehand), a hospital visitor, Mrs. Petrov walks by his room (I believe she was speaking Russian), and John Doe’s eyes go insane Dana and Van quickly realize that John Doe hasn’t been responding because they weren’t speaking his language. It looks like things are looking up for John Doe, but will there be much development beyond this point? 

Steve Hill, a veteran Marine, is dealing with severe anxiety, depression, and dealing with intrusive thoughts, which Carol explains to Oliver. This isn’t at all out of the ordinary for veterans except for Steve’s case, he’s seeing ghosts of those he served with who passed away. The VA has tried to help him, prescribing medication to treat his…issues, but they didn’t work (everyone is always so quick to prescribe medication – everything can’t be fixed with a bandaid). When Steve started acting erratically, he was dishonorably discharged, losing all of his military benefits. Still seeing “ghosts”, Steve goes to Bronx Medical in hopes of finding the help he desperately needs. 

Steve’s paranoia hits close to home with Oliver, when flashbacks reveal that his father suffered from this as well. If left untreated, there’s no telling how far the mind could be lost. Oliver asks Steve a few questions and he learns that someone he served with recently passed away and this could be what’s triggering Steve’s paranoia. He tells Oliver that he believes the military put a chip in his mind to control him and that’s why he’s seeing things. An MRI disproves the existence of said chip, but Oliver tells Jacob and Ericka to play into his paranoia (just to make sure he stays safe). 

We can all agree something is going on with Steve, so when Carol and Oliver dig a little deeper into Steve’s military past. Could it have been some sort of injury they missed? Turns out, he was never on the frontlines and never battled and that’s as much as they are allowed to learn (confidentiality). Dr. Josh Nichols has a military background and offers some insight. He confirms that Steve and his unit never saw combat, however, more than half his unit is now dead (some by unintended overdose and others by suicide).

-Another look at Steve’s MRI scans show that it’s possible he’s suffering from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy – brain disorder caused by repeated head injury), but a diagnosis like this is more common in athletes, so how is this possible? Josh brings Oliver to a shooting range; he believes Steve’s gun training could be the cause. As Oliver shoots the gun he’s suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of shock waves throughout his body. Now, someone who experiences the same with a much larger gun, multiple times a day for months (as Josh points out) could explain why Steve (and his unit) are the way they are. Only way to be sure is to check Aiden’s brain. 

Carol and Oliver convince Aiden’s parents to let them exhume Aiden’s body to test his brain. Once tested, the results show definitive signs of CTE. Oliver explains the results to Steve; I can’t help but love what Steve said after finding out what’s been going on with him. He tells Oliver that he tried to convince himself that it must’ve been a chip inserted by the military causing his behavior because an alternative to that would’ve been difficult to handle. It was his coping mechanism; the delusion was more manageable than the truth. Steve says it was like he was “handed […] a life sentence” which could possibly be true, however, now that there’s a diagnosis, he could work towards managing it. Oliver speaks to a panel at the VA and pleads Steve’s case. He uses this rubber band method to show how repeated abuse causes little tears until eventually it snaps – which is what was happening with Steve’s brain. Thankfully, this was enough to get Steve’s benefits reinstated. 

Using Steve’s “planted chip” theory, Oliver talks to Josh about the possibility of planting a chip into John Doe’s mind. This would allow him to communicate since it was proven that he’s still very much in there but Josh is hesitant. The tech Oliver is referencing is still experimental– is it worth a shot? 

What’d you think of tonight’s new episode of Brilliant Minds? Share your thoughts below or connect with me on X/Twitter @chenfordhugs.