Brilliant Minds Boss Promises All Is Not As It Seems In Oliver's Season 2 Mental Health Crisis: 'There Are Still Some Surprises'

Dr. Oliver Wolf got the holiday gift no one wants: the knowledge he'd inadvertently ruined a life.

In the midseason finale of "Brilliant Minds," second-year resident Dr. Charlie Porter revealed why he hated Wolf so much: Years before, Wolf had been the doctor attending to Charlie's mother, who was terminally ill with a brain tumor. Though Wolf gave Charlie and his dad hope that Charlie's mom could recover, she did not. "I realized that her doctor sold her a fantasy because he couldn't bear to help her face the truth," Charlie said in a speech at a hospital gala. Though he did not name Wolf as the physician in question, Oliver came to the devastating realization as he stood in the crowd and remembered a young Charlie crying in his mother's hospital room.

When Wolf confronted him after, Charlie explained that grief led his father to develop a drinking problem. He later died, making Charlie an orphan at the age of 13. And so Charlie has spent the intervening years devising a way to destroy Oliver's life the way he feels Oliver destroyed his. All of this culminated in Charlie giving Oliver a nearby address where he claims Noah has been staying since abruptly leaving Oliver's home.

Though Oliver warned the younger doctor that the refusal to process trauma could have terrible effects on a person's psyche, Charlie didn't seem to care. "Let's see who breaks first," he sneered. By the end of the hour, Oliver went to the address Charlie gave him and, seeing that no one was home, broke a glass pane to get into the house.

How worried should we be about Dr. Wolf, played by Zachary Quinto, whom we know winds up at Hudson Oaks mental hospital at some point in the near future? And how much hope should we hold out for a Wolf/Nichols reunion in the new year? Those were two questions I posed to showrunner Michael Grassi when I spoke to him ahead of the "Brilliant Minds" winter premiere, which will air on Monday, Jan. 6 (NBC, 10/9c). Check out an exclusive photo from an upcoming episode above, then scroll down to see what he had to say!

TVLINE | So we left Oliver in crisis, I would say. Is that overstating it?
MICHAEL GRASSI | No, I don't think it's overstating it. I think he's dealing with a lot.

TVLINE | So let's recap. He now kind of knows where his father, Noah, is. He learned that he ruined the life of someone — Charlie — who's playing a very long game to ruin his life. As we come into the second half of the season, we know that there's the Hudson Oaks of it all in the background. Talk to me about how quickly we go from where we left him in the midseason finale to "Oh my God, I need to be in a place that can help me."
We are going to get answers about what Wolf is up to sooner rather than later, and a lot is going to unfold, and a lot will be revealed. And I would say that there are still some surprises, along the way, as we head to why Wolf is in Hudson Oaks.

TVLINE | I feel just a little bit bad about how much I wanted to punch Charlie at the beginning of the season... and kind of still do. He was pretty villainous since he showed up! So let's talk about dropping his big reveal right before the break.
Yeah. Well, Charlie is somebody who has been holding on to something from a very long time. He lost his mom, then he lost his dad, and I think that that was the defining thing that has happened to him. It's driven a lot of his life. We have been doing a lot of research and talking to people about the psychology and neuropsychology of this idea of revenge and how it can really drive you and how it can really take over your life.

A lot of the characters we introduce are struggling with something. We've seen some of our interns struggle with anxiety. We've seen Van has a condition called mirror touch, which is really challenging for him. A lot of what Charlie's dealing with is this anger and this idea of revenge that's consumed him. As we continue his storyline, we're going to be peeling back more layers of Charlie, and he's going to sort of start to understand all of the things that he's been building towards. Is it going to satisfy him, or not? And what does that look like if it does or it doesn't? It's going to be a bit of a ride for him.

TVLINE | I want to come back to Noah. Oliver's done a really good job of making it seem like he doesn't care that his dad took off again. Clearly, that's not the case. How much of a presence will Noah be in the back half of the season, whether it's Mandy Patinkin on screen or just the idea of Oliver's father and/or his absence? It's interesting to me that Oliver never chose to look for his dad, but when Charlie hands him Noah's address, he can't stop himself from going.
One of the interesting things about when you're struggling, it's like, uou can still show up to work and like be an amazing doctor, and you can seem OK. But I think we've sort of started to hint at little things in Wolf's physical life, and outside of work ,that are starting to show that he's fraying a little bit, you know? His ferns are dead. He hasn't been swimming in the Hudson. Some of his favorite things, his coping mechanisms, are sort of going away. His tools are maybe getting a little blunter. We see him lose his temper with Charlie. That's not something we've never seen happen with before really.

A lot of this started, as you said, Kim, when his dad knocked on his door, when he came back. That kind of rewiring isn't easy. Wolf is dealing with that, and I don't think it's something that happens overnight. We are going to see that play out, but in ways that I would say are unexpected and surprising — even to Wolf.

TVLINE | Carol and Nichols both care deeply about Oliver, and they see that he's not doing well at the gala. How are they managing their concern for him in the second half of the season, given that he is an adult who can make his own decisions, but we also know that Carol was instrumental in getting him to Hudson Oaks. So there's got to be a point where someone is like, "Something has to change." What can you tell me about that point?
OK, well, you're talking about my favorite triangle of the show, which is Josh, Carol, and Wolf. Josh and Carol love Wolf deeply. They care about him so much. It's hard with Wolf, because he is eccentric and quirky, and moody, and weird. So it's like, what's going on with him? And I think Josh learned, really early on, that when Wolf was going through something — for example, his dad coming back into his life — he got shut out. So Wolf isn't necessarily ready to let people in that easily. All of the walls that we saw come down over the course of Season 1, they're built back up in an unhealthy way right now.

So we have these two friends: Carol, his best friend, and Josh, who [with Oliver] had their enemies-to-lovers and all that stuff. There was a deep connection that was built there, and I think we will see them step up and step in in ways that will be grounded and real. Because, as you said, Kim, these are adults in the world. What is it like when you think a friend of yours might be struggling? What do you think when somebody in your hospital, who works with you, might be struggling? How do you navigate that? And we start to sort of take some steps in various directions to explore all of these ideas.

TVLINE | I mean, my two cents? I just want hot elevator kissing back. So as soon as we can get to that, I will be a happy girl.
[Laughs] Stay tuned! Buckle in, and stay tuned!

Are you as concerned about Oliver as we are? Hit the comments and let us know!