As The Pitt hits the 1/3 mark of its second season, the show continues to plant the seeds of disaster.
Missed a review? Episode 2.01 / 2.02 / 2.03 / 2.04
The ER remains busy and wait times are extending in the fifth hour as the details of Westbridge hospital’s closure remain a mystery (Brandon Mendez Homer‘s Nurse Donnie even throws his money behind sinkhole!). Regardless of the reason, it is causing stress on our favourite medical practitioners, as evidenced by the long wait time for a surgical consult that prompts Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) to yell at a med student, “I need a fucking grown-up here!”
In general, however, The Pitt is playing the long game with several storylines. Sure, there’s plenty of humour to be mined from Santos (Isa Briones)’s recurring inability to get her charting done without interruption, but she also seems ready to blow.
Ditto the passive-aggressive barbs between Robby and Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), which return with a force in this episode, as well as his continued contempt for Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball). At this point it’s been several hours with no real change in behaviour. Add to this the multiple mentions about how badly Robby needs to go on his motorbike sabbatical – something Dana (Katherine LaNasa) and Noelle (Meta Golding) continue referring to as his mid-life crisis – and we have a second character on the brink.
Whether Robby suffers another mid-shift breakdown like last season remains to be seen, but the stress level and the quick-to-temper responses seem to be rising as July 4th inches towards mid-day.
Other Observations:
- Poop humour isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Santos taking out her frustration on both Whittaker (Gerran Howell) and Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson) by making them perform Mrs. Randolph’s “disimpaction” (aka poop removal) was pretty funny.
- Less fun is the emotionally devastating storyline involving the “hospice at home” patient, her put-upon husband Paul, and their death dula Lena (Lesley Boone). Much like episode 2.03 with the couple who didn’t realize how much they had to lose until they crashed their car, this storyline tugs at their heartstrings because of their obvious love for one another and how little time she has.
- But also: her repeated references to not being around could be a tip-off that she may try to end her own life?
- The saga of diabetic Orlando Diaz (William Guirola) and his family persists, because even if Noelle can negotiate a 60/40 price cut for his treatment, the family would still be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars. Leave it to Joy (Irene Choi) to find a clever workaround – in no small part because she had an uninsured grandmother with leukemia that forced her to learn how to
“work the system before it works you.”
- One of the most intriguing cases of the hour is prison inmate Gus Varney (John Lee Ames). He comes in handcuffed, with a broken mandible and several fractured ribs, but also appears to be the victim of mistreatment by the prison more generally. Seeing Mel (Taylor Dearden)’s frustration as she tries to work around the handcuffs here is really effective; I can’t imagine trying to save someone’s life (quickly) under these conditions.
- The sepsis rash patient that Langdon and Robby are working on is pretty terrifying, especially considering she has no idea what’s going on even as they’re knocking her out and Robby is slicing open that boil.
- Sidebar: when he grabs the phone and threatens to sue her boss if she’s fired for being in the hospital? That’s a pretty great moment.
- Finally, as predicted, Louie (Ernest Harden Jr) crashes by episode’s end, right before he was due to be released. The Pitt has been teasing its plans to kill off this character all season, so I don’t have a lot of hope for his recovery!
The Pitt airs Thursdays on HBO Max
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