The second hour of the latest fifteen hour shift of The Pitt takes its foot off the gas for a more subdued episode.
Missed a review? Episode 2.01
“8:00 A.M.” feels more like the second half of the premiere than a standalone episode as nearly everything that happens is follows a storyline from the previous hour.
Front and center is the continuing battle of wills between Robby (Noah Wyle) and Dr. Al (Sepideh Moafi). The latest struggle is whether to sedate/intubate a man who has a piece of broccoli lodged in his throat (Robby is correct again, for those keeping track). It feels like writers Joe Sachs & R. Scott Gemmill are setting him up for a fall down the line, particularly Robby’s stubborn refusal to review Dr. Al’s proposal (which is where the episode ends).
Elsewhere we have the continuation of Santos (Isa Briones)’s storyline as she treats 9-year old Kylie (Annabelle Toomey). I liked how Robby immediately wants Santos to check in with a trauma counsellor (trans actor Becca Blackwell) because of Santos’ history with childhood sexual assault, as well as how the senior attending protects her by deflecting Dr. Al’s questions about why.
The other significant storyline of note is Javadi (Shabana Azeez)’s competition with fourth year medical student James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson). This kicks off when Javadi realizes that Ogilvie is essentially her competition and will undoubtedly be angling for a residency gig (ie: hers) the following year. There’s lot of good comedy as the two attempt to outdo each other by proving their book smarts, prompting amused looks from Whittaker (Gerran Howell) and Mohan (Supriya Ganesh).
Other Observations:
- Whittaker still hasn’t gotten much to do outside of treating Evelyn Bostwick (Jayne Taini) who suffers from Alzheimers and keeps having to (re)learn that her husband Ethan has died. It’s sad, but not nearly as upsetting as I expected (The Pitt tends to destroy me with these kinds of cases).
- It is depressing, however, to learn from Caleb (Christopher Thornton), the Psychiatric Attending, that there’s little support for Evelyn because spaces at (senior’s) assisted living facilities are so hard to come by.
- Mel (Taylor Dearden) continues to get distracted by the lawsuit, and her problems intensify when she’s accosted by Liam (Jesse Lambright), the cute guy who was flirting with her. He knocks her down when the police walk in, and we later discover that he’s wanted for robbing a liquor store. Mel winds up concussed…and may have to testify in court against him down the line (irony alert!)
- It’s a nice moment when Langdon (Patrick Ball) continues his apology tour by admitting to Mel that he messed up when he should have been setting an example.
- I got a big chuckle out of Langdon’s exchange with Mr. Randall, the guy with the erection lasting more than four hours because he doubled his dick pills. Langdon asks: “Is it a big one? <pause> The anniversary”
- Mr. Randall winds up being a PSA of sorts because watching how much blood they drain from his (prosthetic) dick is a) horrifying and b) could take several hours to complete?!
- It’s a comedic moment, but also a bit ick to assign poor new nurse Emma (Laetitia Hollard) to massage the member to work out “the clots.”
- As I hoped there is more to the story of unhoused man Troy (Charles Baker), but it’s mostly just the gross-out sight gag of maggots growing under his long-expired cast.
- Love the speed and ease with which Dana (Katherine LaNasa) clocks Robby’s affair with bed manager Noelle Hastings (Meta Golding). Meanwhile McKay (Fiona Dourif) only notices the vibe is off.
- I knew The Pitt planned to cover AI this season and it pops up in this episode when Dr. Al uses an automated speech-to-text application to take notes during an examination. I appreciated that Whittaker immediately points out errors and Dr. Al clarifies that human review is still required.
- Sidebar: the statistic that doctors spend 40% of their time charting is mind-blowing.
- Finally: Louie (Ernest Harden Jr) has six litres of fluid pumped out of him. He’s totally going to die this season, isn’t he?
The Pitts airs Thursdays on HBO Max
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