Are Brilliant Minds’ Van And Jacob Really Leaving

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the winter premiere of “Brilliant Minds.” Proceed accordingly. 

Welcome back to Bronx General, where the number of medical residents just went down by two.

Monday’s winter premiere of “Brilliant Minds” revealed that both Dr. Jacob Nash (played by Spence More II) and Dr. Van Markus (played by Alex MacNicoll) are leaving the hospital.

The reasons behind their departures vary greatly, so let’s handle the happy one first. We’d known that a doctor affiliated with Jacob’s old football team had offered him a spot in his residency program in Texas. By the end of the hour, Dr. Nash informed Oliver that he’d accepted the position.

“When I got injured, doctors were in and out of the room, telling me what was best for me. No one ever took the time to get to know me. Not the way you take the time to get to know your patients,” he told Wolf. “I want to give athletes the kind of care you taught me every patient deserves, the kind of care I wish I got when I was a kid. I’ve gotta go.”

Van’s reason for leaving was decidedly more depressing. His ex-wife, Michelle (played by Stacey Farber), did not recover from injuries sustained in that terrible car crash at the end of the fall finale. Though Van spent most of the episode refusing to believe that she was braindead, and therefore refused to take her off life support, he eventually agreed to turn off the machines keeping her alive. After collapsing in grief into his friends’ arms, Van came to a realization he shared with Oliver.

“Dr. Wolf, I’ve been thinking. I need to step away from the department,” he said near the end of the episode. “I need to be there for Liam. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Wolf urged him to stay, but Van was resolute, so the decision was made. “I’ll miss you,” Oliver said, looking stricken as he reminded them: “My door is always open.”

That’s also very much how series creator Michael Grassi is viewing the characters’ exits, he tells TVLine.

“What I’ll say is: I love Van and Jacob. I love their characters, but I also love Alex [Macnicoll] and Spence [Moore II] so much,” Michael Grassi says. “They’ve been with us from the beginning of ‘Brilliant Minds,’ and I’m their Number 1 fan.”

He continues, “Similar to what Wolf says in that scene in his office at the end of the episode — he says ‘My door is always open’ — and my hope is that they’re very much still in our world, and this is not the last we’ll see Van or Jacob on ‘Brilliant Minds.'”

So there you have it, “Brilliant Minds” fans. Now go to the comments and let us know how you feel about the exits!