We open on in Daniel’s class as Lewicki chops a watermelon in half. Daniel says he’s just performed a “hemispherectomy,” meaning he removed the diseased part of the brain. Daniel says they save lives and show that humans can function with half a brain. He then asks the class if it means one has more brain power than needed or one has “vast amounts of unused potential.”
Daniel bumps into Paul after class, who tells Daniel to dress differently for the event that evening because “faculty endowments don’t fund themselves.” Daniel replies that it’s a fundraiser for Parkinson’s research. As they are walking they pass by Lewicki making out with a girl. Lewicki then introduces Paul and Daniel to Eva. Lewicki then asks Daniel if he could talk to Eva about the extension school. Daniel declines saying that he and Paul are on their way to “see one of the greatest violinists in the world and we can’t be late.”
Daniel and Paul are in the audience as this male violinist, Sario, performs. As Sario plays, he starts off well but then begins to play off-key then collapses. Daniel rushes to his side as Sario appears to be having a seizure. He finds a device in Sario’s pocket and activates it, it stops the seizure. As the EMT’s take Sario away in an ambulance, Daniel says that Sario could have side effects from his “DBS, deep brain simulator” (the device Daniel found in his pocket.) Daniel then explains that Sario has “electrodes implanted in his brain to help relieve his Parkinson’s symptoms.” Paul then asks Daniel how he knew how to help Sario. Daniel says there was an article about him in the paper about how he had to retire but since he had the electrodes implanted he could play again. Sario screams for his violin and Daniel tells him that he’ll make sure it’s safe. Sario then begs Daniel to come to the hospital with him but Daniel thinks he should call his usual doctor. Sario then tells Daniel to tell his doctor what happened. Daniel agrees.
In Sario’s hospital room, Sario’s doctor, Dr. Vetter, tells Sario and Daniel that the settings on Sario’s DBS were too high. Daniel asks how that could happen. Vetter doesn’t know and is grateful for Daniel’s quick action. Sario then tells Vetter that he wants him to turn his DBS back on. Vetter says it’s too dangerous. Sario doesn’t care. Then, a woman named Tess come into the room. She’s from the company, OsciDyne, which makes Sario’s DBS. Vetter says he will Tess what happened. Daniel listens as Vetter tells Tess that Sario’s levels surged just like in other patients he’s seen. Vetter then introduces Tess and Daniel and credits Daniel with saving Sario’s life. Vetter then tells Daniel about his other patients who have had similar incidents, but thankfully none of them died. Daniel then concludes that the device is flawed but Tess says the 5.0 device is working properly. Vetter then says he is taking Sario’s DBS out and recommending that all his patients fitted with the 5.0 device have them removed and that OsciDyne needs to cover the costs. Tess doesn’t see that happening. Vetter replies that he’s afraid for his other patients and his wife. Tess then asks Vetter how his wife will feel when he removes her device and her hands start shaking again. He says she’ll be mad but alive.
Daniel and Kate watch OsciDyne’s video explaining their 5.0 DBS. Daniel tells Kate that OsciDyne’s model is clearly defective. Kate then asks Daniel what he wants her to do. He wants her to help him investigate OsciDyne. Kate says it’s a product liability issue and he should go to the FDA. Daniels says they won’t help because they’ve already approved the device. Then, Donnie comes in and tells Kate and Daniel that they are re-opening a case and needs Kate to do new interviews. Kate then tells Daniel that now she couldn’t help him even if she wanted to.
Donnie goes to Daniel’s house and tells him “OsciDyne is leveraged up to their electrodes. If they admit the 5.0 DBS is defective it could bankrupt them.” Daniel asks Donnie if he thinks there’s a cover-up. Donnie says he’s willing to look into it because he it’s his job to protect the public and that he needs Daniel to understand all the “psychological mumbo-jumbo they would try to snow me with.” Donnie also tells Daniel that he already called Vetter told him they need his statement and Vetter said he’d meet them at his house in an hour. Daniel questions Donnie wanting to team up with him given how’s he has treated him and how he’s undermined his friendship with Kate. Donnie replies that they’ll just stick to talking about the case.
They drive to Vetter’s house. They find police there. A cop tells them that there were two victims and that one is dead with his head bashed in. Kate arrives. Donnie and Daniel tell her a dog walker found Vetter dead and his wife barely alive and how the police think it was a home invasion gone wrong. Both Donnie and Daniel question this theory since nothing was stolen and think OsciDyne sent someone to shut up Vetter. Kate then asks what they’re doing there. Donnie tells Kate that he and Daniel are working together on a product liability case. She’s surprised. Daniel wants to go see Vetter’s wife at the hospital to see what she knows.
At the hospital, Daniel talks to Vetter’s wife, Susan’s, doctor. Her eyes are open but she’s unresponsive otherwise known as a “minimally conscious state.” Donnie asks if she’ll wake up and Daniel says there isn’t much the doctors can do. Kate then talks to the Vetters’ son, Ian, and asks him if he knew anyone who would want to hurt his parents. He says no. Kate then tells the guys that she has little to go on but Donnie thinks once they start digging into the product liability case “we might be able to nail these bastards for murder.” Kate stops them and questions Donnie about bringing Daniel in on a case now when in the past, he’s been against it. Donnie says he needs Daniel because they are investigating a brain device but Kate replies that since he showed up he’s tried to drive a wedge between her and Daniel and think it’s part of some plan to get her and Donnie back together. He replies that she’s imagining things.
Donnie and Daniel meet with the owners of OsciDyne, who insist there is nothing wrong with their 5.0 DBS. Donnie then asks them to explain “nine failed units.” The owners they’ve double-checked everything from distribution to production and haven’t found a problem. Daniel then blatantly asks if someone from OsciDyne was sent to attack Dr. Vetter and his wife. One owner says they need to leave if they don’t have a warrant. Donnie then threatens to convene a press conference to inform the public that OsciDyne is impeding a federal investigation into one of its products and questions what that would do to the company’s stock price. One owner, Dr. Singh, then says there he designed the 5.0 DBS using wireless technology so the doctors can make adjustments to the devices remotely. Daniel questions if someone got patient’s access code they could tamper with their device. Singh says that it’s possible. Donnie asks why someone would do that. Singh then tells Donnie and Daniel about a neurosurgeon who worked for OsciDyne about a year ago then quit to go back to academia. Not long after that OsciDyne’s biggest competitor, MediVolt, funded his clinical trial for $4 million.
Donnie and Daniel go see the neurosurgeon, Dr. Bowen. He tells them that Singh is blaming him for a fault in his (Singh’s) design. Bowen replies that the patient needs to be within 50 feet of the computer with the 5.0 software and that’s the only way the settings can be changed. Daniel whispers to Donnie that Sario was nowhere near a computer when he had his seizure. They move to leave but Bowen stops Daniel to discuss a “professional matter.” Donnie goes off to make a call. Bowen tells Daniel that he’s read all of his books, and that he’s going to apply DBS in his next clinical trial, which will test DBS as a treatment for schizophrenia. Daniel doesn’t think it will work. Bowen says he’s had success in animal trials. Daniel doesn’t think it will work on people. Bowen asks Daniel to be a consultant on the study. Daniel declines. Still, Bowen begs him to read his research. Daniel takes the research.
Kate shows Daniel the security footage from Vetter’s garage at work. It shows Singh confronting Vetter.
Kate and Donnie question Singh at the station while Daniel watches behind a two-way mirror. He denies killing Vetter but Kate says they have him on tape confronting him. Singh tells Kate that Vetter filed a complaint with the FDA. Donnie accuses Singh of lying and he denies doing so. Donnie then brings up Singh’s criminal record in India. He was charged with assault for basking a coworker in the head. Singh says those charged were “trumped up” otherwise his Visa would never have been approved. Kate then asks Singh for his alibi and he says he was at home asleep. Donnie thinks Singh is guilty and wonders if he killed Vetter himself or hired someone to do it. Daniel sees why Singh would want to get rid of Vetter but why the wife. Donnie says that she was a witness. Kate then says they have nothing to hold Singh on while Donnie insists he’s a flight risk and says he’ll get a material witness warrant.
At his house, Daniel is reading through Bowen’s research as “Natalie” asks him why he can’t be more open-minded about Bowen’s research. He replies because his research is funded by a “soulless profit-driven corporation.” “Natalie” then asks Daniel if he’s scared that Bowen’s research could lead to a cure and then he’d have no excuse for being sick. Daniel thinks that is preposterous and says he doesn’t want electrodes in his brain. Then, Lewicki arrives with Eva. Lewicki tells Daniel how she’d be perfect for the extension school, which could lead her to a scholarship. Daniel then asks Eva what she’s interested in studying. Eva then whispers to Lewicki that she didn’t think this would be an interview, offers Daniel a free haircut at her salon and rushes out. Lewicki leaves too, miffed at Daniel. Then, Daniel hallucinates another version of himself in a suit and tie, who calls himself “Dan,” who says he’s “considerate and open-minded.” “Dan” says he knows Daniel and says his illness changed him. “Dan” then opens a space in his head, reveals an electrode and says, “The future is now, my friend. No more hallucinations, no more delusions.” Daniel insists that treating schizophrenia with DBS is just a theory and that “Dan” and his electrode are just a hallucination. “Dan” then tells Daniel that Vetter’s wife, Susan’s is real and Daniel can use it to wake her up.
Daniel talks to Bowen about using Susan’s DBS to wake her up. Bowen says Daniel needs to be there when they try. Daniel doesn’t want be in the operating room. Bowen just wants him to monitor. Then Daniel says they’ll need Ian’s permission for the surgery. Ian isn’t sure and wants to see of she’ll wake up on her own. Bowen tells him that Susan’s brain activity is slowly declining and this may be her best chance. Then, Tess from OsciDyne shows up and tells Ian that Bowen’s surgery is not a FDA-approved usage of the 5.0 device and that OsciDyne won’t be liable for the outcome of the surgery. She then gives Ian her card and leaves. Ian stops looks at his mother lying in the bed and tells Bowen to go ahead with the surgery.
Daniel watches on a monitor during Susan’s surgery. Daniel tells Bowen when to stop and then he tries to revive Susan. It doesn’t work initially so he tries a higher pulse. “Dan” appears to Daniel as Susan still doesn’t wake up. They’re starting to lose Susan and Bowen wants to end the surgery. Meanwhile, “Dan” is egging Daniel on calling him incompetent. Daniel tells them to pulse Susan’s brain in a different spot. Susan wakes up. “Dan” praises Daniel.
Daniel asks Susan routine questions in her hospital room. He asks her the last thing she remembers before waking up in the hospital. She says she was in her kitchen, doing dishes and Vetter had just left for work. Then, her tremor suddenly got worse and she felt like her DBS was back on, which didn’t make sense because Vetter had turned it off the night before. Then, she said she started to feel angry that Vetter had made a mistake and then he came back into the kitchen. We see Vetter try to calm Susan down but she got angry, pushed him, he hit his head on the counter and then she said she must have blacked out. She then asks Daniel where Vetter is. She then starts sobbing that she killed her husband.
Daniel tells Donnie and Kate that Susan accidentally killed Vetter. Donnie doesn’t buy it since she was practically dead when they got there. Daniel explains that she was in a “highly agitated state” then had the seizure. Kate then reminds Daniel that he said the same thing about Sario. Daniel says Sario and Susan’s levels’ both surged. Kate then says that Susan’s DBS was off when she got to the hospital. Daniel then thinks that Singh was right about the sabotage. Kate thinks it was Vetter since he was close and had Susan’s code. Donnie then asks Kate to explain how Vetter turned off Susan’s DBS when he was dead. Kate explains how he could have done it and Daniel adds that it would have be the perfect cover. Donnie relents but says they are still going after OsciDyne for the eight other failed devices. Daniel agrees. Kate then says she’ll get Fleckner and the cyber division to get on Susan’s device to prove it was tampered with, but they still need a motive.
Kate and Daniel talk to Ian about his parents’ relationship. Kate then tells Ian that Susan could still be facing manslaughter charges even though it was an accident. Ian tells them that Susan thought Vetter was having an affair with his secretary.
Kate questions Vetter’s secretary, Gabby, at the station, while Daniel and Fleckner watch behind a two-way mirror. She denies any affair but said Vetter flirted with her and they went out for drinks a few times. Gabby then says she too thought Vetter was having an affair. Then, Fleckner shows Kate, Daniel and Donnie an MP3 player that was found at the Vetters’. It has the OsciDyne 5.0 software on it. It was the last program run on the device and synched to Susan’s DBS access code and had the sync codes for the other eight failed devices. He then says that someone was using the MP3 to sabotage all of the devices and there were never any malfunctions. Looks like Vetter made the malfunctions so his wife’s murder would look like one. Kate then says she’ll check Vetter’s travel records and if she can pinpoint him near any of the victims’, he’s their man. Donnie doesn’t believe it.
At Daniel’s house, Daniel is watching a basketball game when Lewicki comes in and tells him that Eva broke up with him – by text and wished he knew what he did wrong. Daniel suggests that he pushed her too hard. Then, the doorbell rings. It’s Donnie with cans of beer ready to watch the game with Daniel. Daniel asks Donnie what he’s doing there. Donnie says he’s bummed and wanted the DBS to be defective. He explains about Lexomycin, which is antibiotic linked to heart problems. Donnie explains when he first started, a case against the drug came across his desk and he didn’t pass it on to his boss because he thought it looked lame, but 47 people died because of the drug. Donnie doesn’t think it was all his fault but that he had a hand in it. Donnie then says he wanted redemption and that thought that taking on OsciDyne would prove to Kate that he’d changed. Donnie falls asleep on Daniel’s couch as “Dan” appears and bugs Daniel about getting a DBS and says how Daniel isn’t even willing to try new drugs or therapy. “Dan” then shows Daniel that he has a wife and kids and that could too if he took care of himself. “Dan” then implies that Daniel knows who really shut off Susan’s DBS.
Kate questions Tess from OsciDyne. Meanwhile, behind a two-way mirror, Daniel tells Donnie that Tess didn’t look at Susan in the hospital once because she didn’t want to look at the woman she tried to kill. Daniel then tells Donnie that he thinks Tess and Vetter were having an affair. Daniel goes in and asks Tess when the affair started. She says she met Vetter three years earlier but Vetter still loved Susan but wasn’t attracted to her anymore. When Susan got DBS and her tremors stopped, Vetter started spending more time at home, which said Tess said hurt. Daniel and Kate then accuse Tess of messing with Susan’s DBS so she could have Vetter to herself. She denies everything, but Kate tells her they found the MP3 with her fingerprints. Tess then confesses to raising the patients’ settings only a few levels so they’d have side effects. We see her target Sario. We see Tess watch Vetter leave for work that day. We see her watch Susan doing dishes and Tess raise her levels with the MP3. She saw Susan accidentally kill Vetter, Tess then turned off Susan’s DBS and rushed to Vetter’s side. Tess then cries to Daniel and Kate that she just wanted Vetter for herself.
Donnie then apologizes to Daniel for barging in the night before and thanks him for not throwing him out. Donnie then asks Daniel not to tell Kate. Daniel says that he won’t but that maybe Donnie should. When Kate comes over, Daniel tells her that Donnie isn’t that bad and maybe she should cut him some slack.
Lewicki meets with Eva and tells her that he knows why she broke up with him. She agrees that he made too big a deal about her maybe getting a scholarship. Lewicki then tells her that in high school he felt like he didn’t measure up, but that going to college and getting a scholarship made him feel better about himself. Eva then asks him if he thinks she feels insecure like he did. He says he wanted to help her and she says to ask her what she wants next time. “Next time?” Lewicki says. Then, Eva takes his hand.
Daniel is in surgery watching on a monitor as Bowen is operating on Sario. Daniel gives Sario back his violin, which he plays off-key at first then when Bowen lowers the pulse on his DBS, Sario plays beautifully.
Daniel is lecturing his class about striving for improvement. Meanwhile, we see Kate arresting Tess.