I first saw just the ending of "Brain Child" many years ago when fairly young; my family had been watching it (I walked in late) and said the character Joleen Collins (Robin Dearden) had an I.Q. of 200 (in fact, her I.Q. is never specified in the episode, though that's hardly important). As a supposedly 'gifted' kid myself (but nowhere even vaguely in sight of a 200 I.Q.), I was sorry I had missed most of the episode, as TV series with unusually smart characters was a rarity in those days.
Just recently, I finally saw the full episode on Dvd and was very impressed. I thought this was a remarkably sensitive and perceptive episode. The principal character, Joleen, is not a 'radiation accident' or 'genetically engineered' freak of some sort. She was just born with a remarkably gifted mind.
Her mother, an uneducated woman, couldn't relate to the quiet child who was seemingly only calmly rational and very emotionally subdued, and didn't think the child really needed her in any way, so she turned her over to a research institute where she could be properly educated.
But Joleen, naturally enough, feels abandoned and shunned, though even now she continues to express these feelings in intellectual terms. For example, she tells the scientists working with her that she wants to find her mother to 'learn more' about her past rather than out of emotional need.
Joleen is so naturally brilliant that at age 16 she is already learning advanced physics, is a talented pianist, speaks multiple languages, and is well-read in multiple fields including cultural anthropology and medicine. She designs an artificial intelligence named Max, perhaps her only real friend, and jokes with Max that she needs to find her 'Lancelot' to help her find her mother.
The Institute has tight security, as Joleen is seen as a valuable government asset, but she easily escapes and goes looking for her mother, last in Los Angeles. She runs into 'David' Banner (as a comics fan, never liked the name change from Bruce) who has car trouble. She offers to fix his car if he'll give her a ride to Los Angeles. David, who is no dummy himself, doesn't think anyone can fix the run down, hunk of junk car that he had been driving, so he agrees. When she fixes it easily, he balks at first in keeping his promise, but agrees when she produces a convincing-looking fake ID (generated by her computer pal Max), claiming she's 18 but just looks young.
David has to make a stop along the way to earn some money (as a laborer, working with migrant farm workers; Joleen is happy to work as well, as she has never experienced such a thing). David quickly realizes she's remarkably intelligent after she easily beats him in chess and exposes a local medicine woman as a fraud, exploiting the poor and ignorant laborers (the latter incident enrages the fake medicine woman, requiring Hulky's help; she witnesses his transformation but is not frightened by it.
David asks her what her story is. She tells him about herself to learn more about his 'condition' in exchange. She had likewise perceived that he is obviously educated yet does manual labor, seeming to be on the run from something. They quickly realize just how much they have in common as outsiders from most of society.
However, she doesn't want to lie to him any more and reveals that she's really only 16. David reluctantly realizes he has to turn Joleen over the police as she's a minor, so she can be returned to the Institute. But numerous twists follow...
I won't spoil the big denoument, but I will note that this episode had several outstanding elements:
1) Terrific performances all around, especially by Robin Dearden and Bill Bixby, but also good performances by the mother and even by such minor characters as the medicine woman, David's Latino farm worker friend, and the police and FBI, all portrayed realistically;
2) Joleen and Bruce's fast friendship, as she comes to see him as her 'Lancelot' and one of the few people who can understand her due to his own status as a freakish outsider;
3) Both Bruce and Joleen's strong humanism as they are obviously very kind and decent people who just happen to have very difficult lives. Even her mother is portrayed sympathetically; not as someone who hated or even disliked Joleen but rather as one who simply felt utterly irrelevant to Joleen's life, as she could not help her intellectual development and perceived Joleen as not needing her emotionally either, as Joleen always came across as strong and independent enough to be fine with the Institute and without her (and, in fact, Joleen is indeed strong and independent, but, like all children, does need her mother, though she has difficulty expressing that need);
4) Excellent writing, with even the segments of Joleen occasionally revealing flashes of her brilliance to be well-done, particularly for a 70's TV series. Unlike, for example, the laughably bad writing of William Shatner as a super-genius as a guest star on an episode of "Six Million Dollar Man" ('Burning Bright'), spouting nonsensically, the writing here is smart enough (by TV standards, anyway, though I'm not faulting TV series in general, as there is very little time to crank out those weekly episodes) that Joleen feels like an authentically brilliant young woman;
5) A very nicely done ending, which rang emotionally true to me and which I did not find even the slightest bit maudlin or cliche'd;
Overall, a fittingly brilliant episode (in my opinion, of course), apropos to the title character.
Just recently, I finally saw the full episode on Dvd and was very impressed. I thought this was a remarkably sensitive and perceptive episode. The principal character, Joleen, is not a 'radiation accident' or 'genetically engineered' freak of some sort. She was just born with a remarkably gifted mind.
Her mother, an uneducated woman, couldn't relate to the quiet child who was seemingly only calmly rational and very emotionally subdued, and didn't think the child really needed her in any way, so she turned her over to a research institute where she could be properly educated.
But Joleen, naturally enough, feels abandoned and shunned, though even now she continues to express these feelings in intellectual terms. For example, she tells the scientists working with her that she wants to find her mother to 'learn more' about her past rather than out of emotional need.
Joleen is so naturally brilliant that at age 16 she is already learning advanced physics, is a talented pianist, speaks multiple languages, and is well-read in multiple fields including cultural anthropology and medicine. She designs an artificial intelligence named Max, perhaps her only real friend, and jokes with Max that she needs to find her 'Lancelot' to help her find her mother.
The Institute has tight security, as Joleen is seen as a valuable government asset, but she easily escapes and goes looking for her mother, last in Los Angeles. She runs into 'David' Banner (as a comics fan, never liked the name change from Bruce) who has car trouble. She offers to fix his car if he'll give her a ride to Los Angeles. David, who is no dummy himself, doesn't think anyone can fix the run down, hunk of junk car that he had been driving, so he agrees. When she fixes it easily, he balks at first in keeping his promise, but agrees when she produces a convincing-looking fake ID (generated by her computer pal Max), claiming she's 18 but just looks young.
David has to make a stop along the way to earn some money (as a laborer, working with migrant farm workers; Joleen is happy to work as well, as she has never experienced such a thing). David quickly realizes she's remarkably intelligent after she easily beats him in chess and exposes a local medicine woman as a fraud, exploiting the poor and ignorant laborers (the latter incident enrages the fake medicine woman, requiring Hulky's help; she witnesses his transformation but is not frightened by it.
David asks her what her story is. She tells him about herself to learn more about his 'condition' in exchange. She had likewise perceived that he is obviously educated yet does manual labor, seeming to be on the run from something. They quickly realize just how much they have in common as outsiders from most of society.
However, she doesn't want to lie to him any more and reveals that she's really only 16. David reluctantly realizes he has to turn Joleen over the police as she's a minor, so she can be returned to the Institute. But numerous twists follow...
I won't spoil the big denoument, but I will note that this episode had several outstanding elements:
1) Terrific performances all around, especially by Robin Dearden and Bill Bixby, but also good performances by the mother and even by such minor characters as the medicine woman, David's Latino farm worker friend, and the police and FBI, all portrayed realistically;
2) Joleen and Bruce's fast friendship, as she comes to see him as her 'Lancelot' and one of the few people who can understand her due to his own status as a freakish outsider;
3) Both Bruce and Joleen's strong humanism as they are obviously very kind and decent people who just happen to have very difficult lives. Even her mother is portrayed sympathetically; not as someone who hated or even disliked Joleen but rather as one who simply felt utterly irrelevant to Joleen's life, as she could not help her intellectual development and perceived Joleen as not needing her emotionally either, as Joleen always came across as strong and independent enough to be fine with the Institute and without her (and, in fact, Joleen is indeed strong and independent, but, like all children, does need her mother, though she has difficulty expressing that need);
4) Excellent writing, with even the segments of Joleen occasionally revealing flashes of her brilliance to be well-done, particularly for a 70's TV series. Unlike, for example, the laughably bad writing of William Shatner as a super-genius as a guest star on an episode of "Six Million Dollar Man" ('Burning Bright'), spouting nonsensically, the writing here is smart enough (by TV standards, anyway, though I'm not faulting TV series in general, as there is very little time to crank out those weekly episodes) that Joleen feels like an authentically brilliant young woman;
5) A very nicely done ending, which rang emotionally true to me and which I did not find even the slightest bit maudlin or cliche'd;
Overall, a fittingly brilliant episode (in my opinion, of course), apropos to the title character.