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Brilliant Minds Cast & Creator Explain Why [SPOILER] Had to Get Trapped in "Harrowing" Cliffhanger
The Bronx General Hospital team will have to work without one of their own in the next episode ...
Most Brilliant Minds episodes wrap up their case-of-the-week story in a neat — if sometimes bittersweet — bow. The ending might not always be happy by the most common definition, but there is catharsis. The same cannot be said of Episode 11, "The Other Woman," which leaves one of our interns, Dr. Ericka Kinney (Ashleigh LaThrop), in a potentially life-or-death situation: Trapped in an elevator when her apartment building collapses.
Dr. Ericka Kinney's Big "Test"
"Ericka’s been, in my mind, the leader of the interns all season," series creator and executive producer Michael Grassi told NBC Insider ahead of the season's biggest cliffhanger yet. "And she’s sort of really stepped up as a friend, as a support system. And she is so by the books and Type A ... I feel like all of our interns this season have been tested in different ways by patients or experiences, and Ericka’s, I felt, been a real anchor to all of them. And I think we’ve been building to Ericka’s test in a weird way.
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"Putting her in a position where she is scared for her own life, [and] at the same time has to step up and be a doctor for somebody else who’s in danger, you really feel like everything that she’s learned all season long is put into this sequence, which is harrowing, in the elevator, and also really holds up a mirror to herself," he continued.
After putting a stop to her situationship with Dr. Van Markus (Alex MacNicoll), Ericka heads home to do some laundry. She gets into the elevator with a couple other people — a young woman and an elderly gentleman who keeps tapping his hand against his leg — only for the elevator to stop short of the next floor. At first, she and the audience aren't worried; Ericka's more annoyed than anything. But then we pan out and see the team at Bronx General Hospital watching a news report about a collapsed apartment building in the Bronx. Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) jumps into action, telling the team to prepare for the influx of patients they're about to receive.
It's Dr. Dana Dang (Aury Krebs) — not Ericka's potential love interests Van or Dr. Jacob Nash (Spence Moore II) — who clocks the building as Ericka's.
Grassi pointed out that most of Ericka's story this season has been about what an exceptional doctor and student she is, noting that she's focused on "being the best intern." He compared her to Wolf, another character who has a hard time living his life outside work. Like Wolf, Ericka took a leap of faith in her love life already this season — Ericka with Van, Wolf with Dr. Josh Nichols (Teddy Sears) — but now they're on the outs after things got a bit too complicated.
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This elevator debacle and the people trapped with Ericka, Grassi said, will be "holding up a mirror to her" and how she lives her life.
"I do feel like it’s the ultimate test for Ericka," Grassi said. "And at the same time, while she’s being tested, it’s the ultimate test for our other three interns, who are left at the hospital without their leader and their support. So in a way, it’s this dual test for all of our characters."
"Ericka is really good in the hospital," LaThrop told NBC Insider of Ericka's situation at the end of the episode. "She's very good at being in high-stress situations in a hospital, and this is the first time that she is in a high-stress situation not in a hospital, not with her gear, not as Dr. Ericka but as Ericka the regular person who has emergencies happening around her.
"So I think it's really interesting to watch what happens when someone who is so regimented and so used to having control is suddenly thrust into a situation where they are the voice of authority, but they themselves feel like they have no authority whatsoever or power in this situation," she teased. "It's interesting to see what happens..."
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Brilliant Minds returns for Season 1, Episode 12, "The Doctor Whose World Collapsed," on Monday, January 6, 2024, at 10/9c on NBC.
