If you haven’t watched The Pitt on HBO Max, what are you waiting for? Recap for those of you out of the loop. The Pitt is a medical drama starring ER veteran Noah Wyle, which portrays the stories of the medical professionals who work in the Pittsburg Trauma Medical Center. Every episode equals one hour of elapsed time throughout the shift. Episode one starts at 7am and the last episode is the end of the day shift.
The Pitt Season 1 had audiences gripped to their seats, but Season 2 took some missteps which diluted the tension and underutilized the characters we loved.
What made The Pitt season 1 so engrossing was how it encapsulated the chaos of an emergency room. The attending physician has to teach the next generation of doctors while patients are dying on the operating table. There is a huge cast of characters, and I can’t possibly list everyone. So, here is the IMDB cast list for your reference pleasure.
Before we dive into season 2, let me clarify I am not trashing the show. If given the choice between watching any other medical show on TV, I’m going to choose The Pitt.
There’s a few reasons why I think season 2 of The Pitt is the weakest and I’ve boiled it down to three key factors:
- Plot threads go unresolved.
- Too much focus on Robby.
- ER stories not as compelling.
Unresolved plot threads
Season 2 of The Pitt has way too many unfinished story lines or stories with anti-climactic endings. Let’s start with:
The Deaf Girl – Harlow
Out of all the patient stories, the deaf girl’s was the most anticlimactic. She arrives in the first episode at 7am. The camera focuses on her hands and facial expression with closeups and tilting shots, showing an important story beat with the character. In any TV show or movie, the camera will spoil any surprise. If characters are going to kiss, they’re going to stand a certain distance with the camera set on a medium shot. If there’s going to be an accident or a surprise, the camera will be in position just before the moment happens. The Pitt broke this rule and implied moments that never happened. Normally this is fine if there is a big payoff in the end, but there wasn’t.
The receptionist calls for Harlow, but she doesn’t hear her name because she’s deaf. She waits even longer until the receptionist finally sees the ASL tag and finds her, but there are no ASL interpreters available. Santos draws the short straw and is unable to communicate with the patient. Santos orders an ASL machine, which results in Harlow waiting even longer.
After another two hours, they brought the ASL machine, but it malfunctioned. Rather than ask Harlow to write what’s bothering her, Santos gets frustrated, abandons the patient, and tells the staff she needs a working machine before she can treat her.
The staff finally fixed the machine, which allowed Harlow to say she’s having neck pain. Santos gives Harlow a shot in the neck and, voila, she’s cured. That’s it. That’s the end of the plot. No self-harm, no crash, no bizarre medical illness. She needed a shot because the primary care office was closed for the July 4th holiday.
The point of the story was to show how easy it is for people with disabilities to fall through the cracks of the healthcare system.
However, the camera lied and made the viewers believe this woman was going to have a dangerous medical complication or something way more serious than a pain in the neck. When neither of those two happens, the audience can’t help but feel robbed.
True to life? Most definitely. Compelling drama? No. The story built up too much tensions for no payoff.
Someone mentioned in the comments that her being there was part of the overarching theme of the system failing everyone: Deaf Woman – Anticlimactic Ending
I think that’s a separate story between what happens in real-life and what makes for compelling drama. Anyone who lives in the U.S. knows how broken the system is. ADA stories are crucial and shed light on those who fall through the cracks. However, I don’t think The Pitt told a story that would resonate with the mass audience.
The Pitt S2 sidelines Dr. Mohan
Throughout season 2, Doctor Mohan found herself distracted by the constant phone calls from her mother. Eventually, Dr. Mohan picks up the phone and finds out her mother has sold the house, is getting married, and is leaving on a year-long cruise with the earnings made from the sale. This upended Dr. Mohan’s plan of returning to New Jersey to be closer to her family.
Dr. Mohan is also in-between choosing a fellowship to specialize in. Throughout the S2 Dr. Mohan receives a barrage of phone calls from her mother even after telling her the news of selling the house. This causes Dr. Mohan to have a panic attack which forces her to take a much needed breather. But when Robby finds out Dr. Mohan’s baggage is affecting her work, he chastises her for not being able to compartmentalize. Which is hypocritical considering how he had been lashing out at the staff from his own underlying issues
I don’t know about you, but if someone calls my phone multiple times in a row, I’m assuming it’s an emergency.
The show made it seem as if the constant phone calls were building up to a moment where Dr. Mohan’s mother says someone in the family has died. But that call never happened.
Instead, Mohan and Robby have a little incidental chat in the ambulance bay, bridges burned, feelings hurt, leading to an anticlimactic end for a memorable character.
The Mohan from Season 2 of The Pitt is nothing like her character in season 1. Mohan from S1 was attentive and compassionate. She treated many patients better than other doctors and showed a deep well of medical knowledge for such a young age. In season 2, Mohan becomes a background character except for a few minor scenes. The Pitt Season 2 sacrificed Dr. Mohan’s character to give more screen time to Robby’s mental health crisis.
The storyline was ultimately a letdown, and it painted Robby in a poor light.
The water slide disaster was not that big of a deal
In season 1 of The Pitt, there was a heavy amount of foreshadowing referencing the music concert where an active shooter started killing people. This was the big climactic moment at the end of the season because Robby’s sort-of-stepson was at the concert. This sends the hospital into disarray as swarms of ambulances converge on the hospital to drop off victims, including the dead girlfriend of Robby’s stepson.
Season 2’s climactic moment is when the computers shut down and the water park experiences a major disaster with one of their rides. Nurse Donnie even says, “Oh shit, they’re coming here!”
“They” ended up being only two people. A father and a girl who lost her leg.
Then the computers go down, and the hospital returned to the pre-internet world where they had to fill out forms and sheets by hand. Although it was messy, the hospital managed, and the impact wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the trailers made it seem.
The overall theme in season 2 of The Pitt is systemic failure of the healthcare system. But the way it was shot implies that Robby’s story is the most important story in the whole show. In season 1, it was the reverse. Robby was there to support everyone else while dealing with his own problems.
There are way more stories I could cover, but these were the big ones that came to mind.
The Pitt Season 2 puts too much narrative focus on Robby
In season 1 of The Pitt, all the characters had time to shine and show what they’re made of. Dr. Mel King showed compassion, patience, and an ability to identify medical conditions quickly (she also got sidelined for a court hearing). Dr. Samira Mohan was understanding of patient needs, non-judgmental, and caring to the point of slowing her down. Langdon was the golden child and Dr. McKay portrayed the human side of a doctor with a criminal history.
Season 2, the focus shifted to the petty first-world problems of the staff and the interpersonal drama rather than terrifying medical emergencies. We barely see Dr. Mel King who disappears to deal with a legal deposition. Mohan has family drama. And Santos is Santos.
Dr. Robby has suddenly become a misogynist from out of nowhere and is more focused on chastising people than helping them. Dr. Al-Ashimi (the new attending) demonstrates she has the wherewithal to run the hospital while Dr. Robby is gone, except she has a medical condition that causes her to zone out for a few minutes. She informs Dr. Robby of her condition and he chews her out for it.
In season 2 of The Pitt, all roads lead to Robby.
We get it; mental health issues are a major problem in healthcare. We saw it in Season 1 when Robby struggled with the passing of one of his co-workers. It’s an important topic, but season 2 sacrifices all the other storylines to shine a light on Robby. That’s not great, because it makes it seem that the other characters are unimportant.
For example, everyone knows that Don Draper is the main character in Mad Men. But Mad Men isn’t only about Don Draper. It’s about Peggy climbing from secretary to ad executive. Roger Sterling clinging on to his youth. Pete Campbell evolving from smug, cocky account executive to a seasoned, experienced partner.
The Pitt said, “Nah, screw all those characters. Let’s focus on Robby and his problems, and his friends, and how his hospital can’t run without him, and how his mental issues are more important than anything Dr. Mohan, Dr. King, Dr. Whittaker, Dr. Langdon are going through.” Though Robby is important, the rest of the characters makes the show successful. Honestly, it was bad writing and it’s hard not to point the finger at Noah Wyle who serves as an executive producer of the show, writer, and main protagonist.
Side note about Santos stealing disposable scalpels
The show thinks it’s cleverly having the camera reveal to the audience that Santos stole disposable scalpels. However, I think this was a mistake because rather than provide backstory that Santos was relapsing, the scalpel created Chekhov’s gun. “If an object, character trait, or plot point is introduced early on, it should pay off later.”
Example: If a story or episode shows a gun on the wall and the camera focuses on it. That means the gun will be relevant near the climax of the story.
We don’t get that resolution with Santos. I thought for sure near the end of the season we were going to see her bleeding out and needing medical attention. NOPE! The show just wanted to remind everyone that Santos cuts herself and is about to have a relapse. You see what I mean when I say the camera lies?
The Pitt’s season 2 ER stories not as compelling
I covered it enough, but the stories from the ER were completely forgettable this time around. There were no emotional high stakes to keep us on the edge of our seats.
In S1 McKay had an ankle monitor that set off alarms while treating patients in the hospital. Dr. Robby’s step son was one of the victims of the shooting. Dr. Langdon lost his job due to an untreated addiction. Javadi’s trying to learn how to be a part of the hospital without screwing up. Mel’s a new transfer lacking confidence in her own abilities. These stories were the emotional glue that kept us hungry for another episode.
Season 2 got rid of all of that and I can’t help but feel it lost some of the magic that made season 1 so special.
The Pitt outclasses any medical show out there, but how long can the magic last?
Noah Wyle did an outstanding job portraying a man on the edge of a nervous breakdown. But the repetitive beating over the head about his mental state detracted from the ensemble cast who made The Pitt season 1 succeed. The Pitt is not the Dr. Robby show; it’s about the staff trying to stay afloat in a broken healthcare system. With Noah Wyle as one of the producers and writer’s of the show, the focus on Dr. Robby felt self-aggrandizing.
Dr. Robby is the steward, a vessel who takes us around the hospital to see what the staff are doing. He can have his flaws and personal story arcs, but those personal issues should not overshadow the character development of the ensemble cast. Although the novelty of the 24 hour format worked well for season 1, the format is creating giant gaps where we’re unable to see the character progressions. Dr. Robby is there to guide, teach, and sometimes chastise characters who are learning to become doctors.
The Pitt doesn’t revolve around Dr. Robby. Dr. Robby revolves around The Pitt. Hopefully the writer’s will see where they fumbled and make changes before it has time to shoot itself in the foot.
