The second season has come to an end, and we’ve been delivered just enough binge-worthy material to keep us satisfied until next season.
Of course, there is a Season 3, which was announced before the premiere of the second season. Season 2 of The Pitt continued with the consequences of Season 1, which means you will have to (re)watch Season 1 in order to understand the characters’ back stories.
But here’s what makes The Pitt unlike the rest of the medical shows: the characters’ back stories are nuanced in a way that you will catch fleeting glimpses of their personalities and must connect your own dots.
You aren’t just a viewer, you are a bystander in The Pitt, watching these people in the workplace. They become your peers, and the people you know the names of and slowly come to care for.
Was Season 2 better than Season 1?
The second season follows much of the same formula as the first season. While the first led to the high voltage emergency cases resulting from a shootout at a music festival, the climax of season two wraps up the cases and stories from the previous episodes.
There are some similarities. Nurses are attacked. Bets are placed by the security guards, and doctors and nurses are pulled into the gamble. One of the main characters has a family member who becomes a patient, and doctors get into disagreements, but at the end of the season, it’s all kiss and make-up. Not literally, of course.
There are no unnecessary and forced romance scenes, just admiration for each other. Or is there something else going on?
So what is the point of watching the second season of THE PITT?
Here are some reasons:
1) The Almost… Relationships
We’re two seasons in, and characters barely hug each other. It’s unconventional compared to other medical shows where doctors and nurses give precedence to bucketloads of makeup and after-work activities over their actual job.
But the writing is clever, and while we don’t see dramatic declarations of love, we see doctors quietly admiring each other more for their competence than for how they style their hair at the end of every shift.
Most importantly, whether or not any couples were formed during the first season, the fans launched ships, pairing characters they thought had chemistry in the briefest scenes.
And so in this season, the writers made sure that the popular ships are given enough screentime; fodder for the fans.
We have Dr Mohan assisting a shirtless Dr Abbot as he tends to his own wounds. He’s even nice enough to help her pay for the delivery of medical supplies to one of her patients, whom she is worried about.
But perhaps the most popular couple is Dr King and Dr Langdon. The latter may be married and battling addiction, but he is nice and considerate to neurodivergent Dr King. Social media is flooded by memes and fan edits of both of them together. If they merely glanced at each other during a procedure, the fans are obstinate in their belief that they have a thing going.
Will this ship continue sailing in season 3? Or will the writers decide to sink it by making the characters drift apart?
Since many fans tune in to watch the chemistry between these two characters, the writers are more likely to keep feeding them.
2) The human side of doctors and nurses
Season One showed Dr Robby suffering from PTSD following the events of COVID, where he lost several patients and one of his colleagues. He has trouble keeping it together and suffers from depression, which becomes more obvious in the second season. He wants to go off on his motorbike and is constantly discouraged by his peers.
Towards the end of the season, he hints at wanting to never come back.
But it’s Dr Robby. Played by Noah Wyle. Who is the executive producer and one of the writers? He’s not going anywhere, is he?
By the end of the season, he bonds with an abandoned baby, reassuring her and himself that they are going to be okay.
Then we have charge nurse Dana, who is the backbone of the Emergency Department. Even Dr Robby depends on her to run everything smoothly. But Dana is human too, and after she is attacked by a disgruntled patient in season one, she does not take too kindly to those who violently attack nurses. She brings to light one of the main issues nurses face: being attacked by patients and not being protected well enough by the hospital they work for.
We also have Dr Mohan, who is dealing with an intrusive mother who calls her all the time, causing her to consider changing careers. At one point, she has a panic attack after things get too much. Instead of sympathy, she gets chided by Dr Robby, who wants her to leave her personal problems at home.
Dr Mohan represents any human who is overwhelmed with personal and professional problems, and to be told off to get it together or go home instead of sympathy is perhaps a realistic reaction in this case. In the real world, we are barely given a few moments to catch our breath. We have to hold it together and perform regardless of how overwhelmed we get.
Dr Mohan is forced to do exactly that. Following Dr Robby’s admonishment, in the next scene, she gets it together, performing, but you can see her breaking when she realizes that her personal problems got in the way of her work and two of her patients had died.
3) Social and Political Causes
Dr Javadi has a TikTok where she gives helpful medical advice. She is turning 21 years old and is considered a prodigy. In essence, she does get rattled by extreme medical cases, yet she has a maturity about her to use her knowledge to help people. So when an incident regarding a nurse takes place in the hospital, she uses her followers on TikTok to spread awareness and get him some help.
The incident in question is about the notorious ICE agents who are shown as forceful towards their detainees. When one of the nurses intervenes, he is arrested too, which disturbs the staff at the hospital since one of their own was unfairly taken away. We will find out what happened to him only in the next season.
Then, of course, there is the spotlight on healthcare and medical insurance. Of course, the cost of healthcare everywhere is really high. Medical insurance is supposed to offer some respite, but not everyone qualifies for every plan. This season, we see patients struggling with costs, their fear of burdening their families, and preferring to get themselves voluntarily discharged rather than get help.
This was perhaps the most relatable aspect of the show. Considering the tests the patients are put through, one can only imagine their final bills.
4) Mental Health Issues
We see Dr Robby struggling with PTSD that transforms into what appears to be suicidal tendencies.
Then there is Dr Santos. On the surface, she appears rude and often remarks on her peers’ weaknesses. But in at least two significant scenes, we see her in the washroom with scars on her upper thigh, indicating she used to self-harm. Later, we see her considering taking a scalpel, clearly struggling with her addiction to self-harm during a difficult day. Eventually, she gets through it by ending her day with karaoke with Dr King.
As for Dr Mel King, we see her struggling with her deposition. She can’t believe she is being sued for malpractice when she had just been helping a patient in season one. The first few episodes highlight her distraction and nervousness. Later, just as she is called for her deposition, we see her sister, for whom she cares, come to the hospital.
Dr Mel King struggles with her sister finally being independent and not wanting her as much. But that was her whole life, and in her mind, she has lost her purpose. But a quick word from Dana helps her bounce back to work.
5) The Conflicts
In the last season, we saw Dr Robby and Dr Langdon get into an argument because Dr Langdon was stealing his patient’s medicines to feed his addiction to painkillers. Dr Robby throws him out of his department, but Dr Langdon still shows up later to help with the influx of patients due to the Pitt Fest shootout.
In season two, we learn that Dr Langdon had been seeking help for his addiction and returns to his position after 10 months of sobriety. His first task is to apologize to everyone he has hurt, including the patient he stole from. Dr Robby may not want his protege in his department, but based on the character’s popularity, we will definitely see more of Dr Langdon in season 3.
Dr Robby picks another conflict with the new attending, Dr Al-Hashimi, who has been suffering from seizures, which she thought were under control. Dr Robby threatens to report her despite Dr Al-Hashimi reminding him that he didn’t officially report Dr Langdon for stealing medicines. Dr Robby still stands his ground on Dr Al-Hashimi seeking help, but he would probably back off if it means Dr Langdon’s job could be jeopardised.
Along the way, we see more conflicts between characters. Dr Santos is in no mood to forgive Dr Langdon after he gaslit her in season one. Dr Javadi isn’t too keen on her mother hovering around her and repeatedly interfering in her career decisions, and Dr Whitaker stands up for himself against Dr Santos and Dr Langdon when they make jokes at his expense.
The Pitt Season 2 can be accused of using much of the same formula from Season 1 and interchanging characters, but it manages to keep you engrossed because of the excellent characterization.
The Pitt shows us that doctors are not only the heroes we think them to be. They get distracted, have low moments, are crushed when they lose patients, and are still expected to function as they move from one patient to another.
The emergency department is chaotic and heartbreaking.
The Pitt provides insight into the lives of these doctors and how they, too, are human, working long hours and stretched thin emotionally.
It is an important message that has, fortunately, reached many through its popularity.
Can't get enough of THE PITT? Check out the podcast.
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