Part One will cover Episodes 1-5.
Part Two will cover Episodes 6-10.
Part Three will cover Episodes 11-15.
Episode Eleven: 5:00PM - 6:00PM
5:00 - Episode 11!!! Whoo!!!
5:01 - Robby getting that tone of voice where you’re literally an inch away from screaming at someone but you can’t so you sound so, so happy. That’s not a good thing for anyone.
5:02 - Robby. Robby. What are you doing? Are you planning on flushing those meds? Was it an impulse? It seemed like an impulse to try and hide it before his common sense came back.
5:03 - Someone please get our sadboi some therapy. He really needs it.
5:04 - I did love the reveal that Santos can understand Tagalog. A little cliche, sure, but still. It’s a fun beat.
5:05 - David posting that on social media is a massive red flag. It really is.
5:06 - Collins was trying to have a baby on her own with IVF. Robby’s face when she told him was just everything. Although, of course, now she gets the woman who just went into labor. Because the universe (and writers) have a sense of humor.
5:07 - To quote Mel: “I see hair!” And a lot more than that! Uh… yeah. I did not expect to see a crowning baby the first time around. At all. I don’t know if I needed to see it either! Or wanted to! But it’s there! And it will be there multiple times!
5:09 - Okay, but the behind the scenes on how they filmed the birthing scenes is actually super interesting. It’s worth looking up.
5:10 - Ivan here from New York is played by Carmine Giovinazzo, who also played one of my favorite characters on CSI: NY. I love that he still has his strong New York accent. I never realize just how few TV characters have it until I hear it again. Feels like home.
5:12 - Oof, a wave of tiredness just slammed me like a truck. I must get more tea.
5:13 - Giving birth seems absolutely terrifying. So many things can go wrong. You’d think nature would make a better, easier method by now.
5:14 - Chloe with the bright pink Bonus Mom shirt, complete with the rhinestone heart taking the place of the “O” in Mom is like every worst stereotype about The Other Woman. She does have an excellent dismissive side-eye, though. It’s very impressive. I aspire to that level of dismissive side-eye.
5:18 - Robby literally has his hand inside of this woman’s vagina. That’s… something I didn’t want, need, or expect to see either.
5:21 - Langdon, why did you call the main line? Don’t call the main line.
5:22 - Mel’s massive grin when she got to pick up the baby and hand him to his fathers. That is all. But wow, they really take the baby away that quickly? Or are they just moving him out of the ER? Unclear. Probably the second one.
5:24 - “I haven't met a charge nurse who wasn’t a stubborn bitch.” My mom, who has been around a lot of charge nurses in her life, agrees. Some of her favorite people were charge nurses.
5:25 - It is nice to see McKay be a great doctor outside of just the triage stuff that we saw her do at the beginning of the season. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I love the sheer competency.
5:28 - I am so, so glad that both mother and baby survived that birth. So glad. I didn’t want to watch one of them die. It would be too sad. I’m also very happy that the concurrent hepatitis patient is also going to be okay.
5:29 - McKay’s face when the hepatitis patient’s daughter explains the bond she has with her mother. Was she an addict until she found out that she was pregnant with Harrison? That would fit what we know of her.
5:31 - Did I fully expect there to be sounds of a mass shooting while Robby was on the phone with Jake and Leah? Yes. Yes, I did.
5:34 - This ambulance scene with Collins talking about her previous abortion. The way Robby’s face freezes and changes when he realizes just what Collins is talking about. Collins is doing all of the emotional heavy lifting here, and I love how Robby is being subtle to not overpower that.
5:35 - What a fantastic scene. What a great way for Collins to end the night. This is the last we will see of her this season. Godspeed. Go take a bath and sleep and all of those lovely things.
5:36 - Chloe is only 24? Wow, no wonder she looks like a bratty child.
5:38 - Even while being pissed at Mohan, Robby still defended her and went to bat for her. He really is juggling so many things and doing so much emotional labor. Mohan actually looked surprised that Robby defended her.
5:40 - Why is Theresa still Robby’s problem? Isn’t there someone else who should be handling this? Someone who doesn’t leave her waiting in the lobby for an hour?
5:43 - Mel just wanted to tell Langdon about the delivery.
5:45 - Robby is just losing everyone and everything today. Langdon is an addict, Collins had a miscarriage, Dana wants to quit…
5:46 - You can hear the sirens in the background right before they get the call of a mass casualty event.
Episode Eleven Thoughts - This is actually the end of our second arc, and no, I still don’t have a name for it. But it’s the end of our “normal” shift here at the Pitt, even if it honestly seems like the shift from hell.
Now, I have never seen ER, but apparently there’s an episode called “Love Labor’s Lost” that is… traumatic, and a lot of viewers were worried that our surrogate mother here would follow the same arc. Happily, she and the baby both survive, and it really does serve as a nice ending note for Collins. There’s symmetry there. And I have to praise the scene out by the ambulances again. Great work by both Noah Wyle and Tracy Ifeachor.
All of this culminates in the call that there’s an active shooter at PittFest, which people online had been expecting for weeks. In an instant, that is all that matters. Buckle up. Episode 12 is a lot.
I don’t know how many notes I’ll make. I might be caught in a stranglehold. I was the first time I watched it.
5:54 - Which means I need to prep to be locked in for the next 40 minutes. I have turned on my lights. We’re in the home stretch. Four more episodes. We got this. I got this.
5:57 - In the meantime, I’m skimming an article about the Giants drafting Jaxon Dart as QB. I want to like the pick, but the Giants have hurt me so many times before. I don’t know if I have any hope for them.
5:58 - I also kiss Cashew on the head. She glares at me but allows it.
Episode Twelve: 6:00PM - 7:00PM
6:00 - Deep breath. Here we go.
6:01 - Very glad Gloria is no BS right now. Everyone is only being professional. It is all hands on deck, and they know it.
6:02 - Hello, Abbot! It is very, very good to see you.
6:03 - You think we had competency before? They just turned it up another 3 notches.
6:05 - We’re getting a bunch of new characters, but Head of Surgery Dr. Walsh makes an immediate positive impression. Also love that Abbot just has a bag of tricks with him.
6:09 - There was just a 4 minute exposition dump and I was on the edge of my seat as if I was about to hop in there and have to take care of patients.
6:10 - Another very natural exposition dump as Robby tells Shen (whom I also love) how to handle triage. It gives the audience all of the information that they need without it feeling like it was there solely for the audience.
6:11 - They really only have a 12 minute warning before patients start arriving. That’s nothing to prepare. But now it begins.
6:12 - Omar is signing “I love you” as he’s wheeled away.
6:13 - New character Ellis (whom I also love) quietly saying “help” as she gets started working at triage. Ahhhhhh. I am so tense.
6:17 - LANGDON! Hi! Should he be here right now? Absolutely not. Am I happy that he is? Yes. Obviously. Like we’ve established, I’m slightly pathetic.
6:19 - Go, Javadi. Her mom really does need to learn how to read the room. Loved McKay’s little grin in response.
6:20 - Love the old hippy man with a head injury. “It takes a village” indeed.
6:21 - Even in the middle of everything, Robby is giving praise when necessary. Mohan is on fire indeed.
6:22 - Mel’s “You’re here!” with Langdon accurately mimicking my own reaction.
6:24 - I’m glad that Chad got to see McKay in action. I think that he finally got a little respect for all of the work that she does every day.
6:28 - Santos’ face when she realized that Langdon was back. Talk about awkward.
6:30 - Reporter slipping on the blood was nicely set up by Mel almost doing the same thing earlier. Although, I did honestly expect his head injury to end up being serious.
6:32 - Mel just instantly volunteering to donate blood once she realizes that they need it. Hell yeah! That’s my girl! And now others are doing the same!
6:34 - Sharp difference in how the people waiting to hear news from the mass casualty compared to people waiting in the chairs. It’s amazing what the seriousness of a situation can do to make people more understanding. Or maybe people are just in shock.
6:35 - Mel literally squeezing the still warm blood that was just taken out of her into a patient with her bare hands is freaking badass. And Abbot continuing to work while donating blood? Even more badass.
6:40 - And I think I just took my first real breath in 40 minutes. Okay. I need to find dinner. And then get my thoughts in order.
Episode 12 Thoughts - Damn. This is one of the most intense 40 minutes of television that I have ever seen. It is what instantly catapulted this show into one of my favorite shows ever. I rewatched it twice in the week leading up to Episode 13. Even now, even on my fourth watch, I am still breathless. I am still right on the edge of my seat.
I am still in awe of just how well information was given to the audience in the 10 minutes leading up to the flood of victims. It was essentially 10 whole minutes of exposition, and I still couldn’t look away for a moment. I didn’t dare. I was like I was there, like I was listening because this was information I truly needed to know so that I could save patients.
There was no BS. No politicking. Just people doing their job to the best of their ability, and they were all placed in areas that they would thrive at. “Slow-Mo” Mohan is killing it in the Red section, where you need to think fast before you lose the patient. Mel looked nervous, but she’s natural at leading the Yellow section.
And then we get introduced to a whole new crop of characters, each of whom feel like a true, fully fleshed out person. It’s insane. This level of quality is insane. It’s amazing. It’s magical. I still can’t catch my breath. I’m going to go and eat my fried mac and cheese wedges now.
6:53 - I realize that I have no idea if any of this will be any good or not. If it’ll be fun or entertaining. I hope that it is if you’ve made it this far with me. And I don’t think that I regret it either way. I’m having fun. At this point, it’s almost invigorating to be this close to the end.
6:57 - Also… sunk cost fallacy. No way I’m stopping this close to the end.
Episode Thirteen: 7:00PM - 8:00PM
7:00 - Back into the fray with Episode 13.
7:03 - Whitaker drilling an IO into an awake patient with no warning should not have been as funny as it was. Mel’s face when she asked him why he did that is what got me. Santos: “Unless it’s a mime. Then they can’t scream” also made me giggle.
7:05 - I continue to love Abbot and his bag of tricks.
7:06 - Oh, the morgue in pediatrics is so quiet compared to everywhere else. It’s bracing.
7:08 - McKay just destroyed her ankle monitor. That will definitely come back to haunt her later, but it’s kinda badass.
7:12 - I am so glad that the old hippie didn’t die... yet. I like him.
7:16 - We were all waiting for Jake and Leah to arrive. It’s now happened.
7:17 - It’s worse when you remember that Leah took Robby’s ticket to PittFest. It very easily could be him lying on the table right now.
7:19 - You’re really starting to get the sense of everything and everyone being overwhelmed. More and more patients need immediate care, but everyone needs that and all of the medical staff are getting pulled in six different ways. They had it under control in the first hour, but now they’re starting to get buried.
7:22 - I love how we have a chain reaction of people taking action and doing what is necessary to save patients. First Robby, then Langdon, and now Mohan. (And Santos later on in the episode.)
7:24 - Robby really shouldn’t be working on Leah. This is bad. He’s going completely off script. It’s almost painful to watch.
7:25 - There’s almost more dread-inducing than last episode. Last episode was tense, but I was so caught up in it I didn’t have time to do anything else. But this is dread. Things are starting to go wrong, and people are slipping through the cracks and it’s freaking stressful!
7:26 - Dana silently looking at Abbot to help her get Robby to let Leah go is heartbreaking. But even though she knows it’s a bad idea, she’s still following Robby’s orders.
7:29 - David is back. And swiftly tackled by police. But he isn’t the shooter, which is honestly a massive relief. It would have been far too convenient if it truly was him. (No, the characters don’t know this yet, but it’s still nice to know now.)
7:30 - The show says that it is 19:47. Again, the show lies. It is 19:30.
7:35 - Oh, Robby. Don’t tell Jake that his girlfriend died. I know that it almost has to be you, but this will not end well at all. For anyone.
7:37 - ROBBY! Do not bring Jake into the makeshift morgue!
7:40 - Yet another scene for the Noah Wyle Emmy Nomination. Also just all of the patients that he listed off. Like, I binged it all today and even I forgot some of the cases he had to deal with. “And I’m going to remember Leah long after you’ve forgotten her.” Wow. Just wow. The desperation to get Jake out of the room before he completely broke down.
Episode 13 Thoughts - Yeah, a very different episode than last time. It was intense, but in a very different way. If Episode 12 fully swept me away, Episode 13 made me feel like I was drowning. Watching Robby work on Leah for so long and to go so off script was painful. I wanted to shake him, but at the same time, there was no way that he could ever do anything different.
And then he finally broke down, like we knew that he was building to all day. Dread. That really is the only word that I keep coming back to. This episode was full of dread. Surely, they need to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel soon, right?
7:49 - The end is in sight. Two more episodes left. I am just drained at this point. I thought that these last two would be the easy ones, but they’re not. They’re going to be the hardest, I think.
7:53 - I could very easily close my eyes and fall asleep. Again, this is the Devil talking and I must not listen.
7:54 - I’m starting to think that I made far too many entries for each episode. Why did I ever think that I would be satisfied with only 5 comments each? I should know myself better.
7:57 - Why the hell did I think that this was a good idea again?
Episode Fourteen: 8:00PM - 9:00PM
8:00 - Episode 14. Almost there.
8:03 - Mel’s’ braid is somehow still perfect.
8:04 - I’m glad that Whitaker is the one who found Robby. Could you imagine Santos walking into that room?
8:06 - Even after a breakdown, Robby is immediately praising and encouraging everyone. How? I don’t even understand how he can possibly have the emotional capacity for that by now.
8:07 - Cashew has returned for snuggles. I shall draw strength from her to focus and carry on.
8:09 - Even I know that you should never say that it’s quiet at a hospital! Superstition or not, some things are just true! Oh! That kid in the back of the car is freaking blue.
8:10 - Brad Dourif! I’m thrilled that they got him (Fiona’s dad) to play McKay’s dad! That’s the voice of Chucky right there! Of Child’s Play fame!
8:11 - The tension of Santos and Langdon walking into the same room at the same time for a patient. Especially since now things are calming down now so that they can actually focus and give more attention to people.
8:14 - Love hearing Brad Dourif call Chad a douchebag. He appears for literally 90 seconds, and they’re 90 perfect seconds.
8:16 - We now get official confirmation that David was not the shooter. But that’s all we learn. We don’t know who the shooter is, or why he did it. Like Dana said, does it matter? It won’t change the carnage. It won’t change the lives lost and affected.
8:17 - From here on out, we’re now slowing down and returning to normal. If there can be a normal after dealing with a mass casualty incident.
8:18 - Shen! That’s twice now that you’ve jinxed it!
8:21 - Robby, don’t even start with the “I told you so”s when it comes to David. Don’t even.
8:24 - They’re really leaving David, so clearly freaking out and in emotional distress just by himself? With no reassurance that he’ll see his mom soon? That doesn’t seem like a good idea. At all. Or kind or literally positive at all.
8:26 - Ellis is a much better mentor to Santos than Langdon was. Tough love without being demeaning.
8:27 - I’m glad that Jake’s mom isn’t blaming him for not saving Leah.
8:28 - This episode was filmed before the measles outbreak in Texas happened. It’s one hell of a coincidence.
8:31 - That little “he knows my name” from Javadi is very cute. I don’t think I want her and Matteo to actually become a couple, but her crush is adorable.
8:34 - Oh, stop it! Robby! McKay did not make a mess with David! You’re the one who told the cops to talk to Theresa because her son is involved! You!
8:36 - “Besides, it was a little too risky for me to do it myself.” Abbot??? What does that mean??? Was that just a joke? Or is there something else going on that we just don’t know yet?
8:39 - Robby is not okay. At all. Even if his vent about Dr. Google is right.
8:40 - Love Robby talking specifically about his Jewish faith. Whitaker was an undergrad theology major, which actually makes some sense. Also love him repeating Robby’s words from earlier back to him. Find balance if you can. That’s wise words for anyone in any situation.
8:42 - McKay, this is why you don’t ignore calls from the courthouse after you destroy your ankle monitor.
Episode 14 Thoughts - For a penultimate episode, things actually calmed down instead of ramped up. The climax really happened in Episodes 12 and 13, when we were dealing with the mass casualty. Now that the immediate situation has been handled, things can slowly return to baseline.
Which… yeah, this kind of disappointed me on my first watch, but I’m appreciating it a lot now. I need the time to come down myself.
It surprised me that they were already accepting new patients, but people don’t stop getting hurt or sick just because a tragedy happens. Someone still has to help them.
I keep hoping for Langdon and Mel to get another scene together, but alas that won’t happen. And it does make sense that she wouldn’t find out about his drug use, since they’re trying to keep that as quiet as possible. I was pleased to get some Langdon and Santos, though. I’m glad that there was that tension between them, to the point where even Ellis was noticing it. That will be an incredibly interesting dynamic come next season.
I still can’t believe that they put in an unvaccinated measles case, though. Talk about timing!
8:54 - One episode left. I can’t believe that we’ve made it.
8:56 - I am very, very tired.
Episode Fifteen: 9:00PM - 10:00PM
9:00 - Episode 15. The final episode.
9:01 - These officers are very frustrating. There’s a lot that I could say about it and the fact that they only let McKay go after other officers told them to back off. But I don’t know if I have the bandwidth. [Edit from later: Yeah. Even with the mental bandwidth, I don’t want to go into that too deeply. But I do like that it was shown, even if it feels slightly like a cheap excuse for a cliffhanger.]
9:02 - They only lost 6 patients. That feels so low, especially since they got 112 patients total. Although, I guess a lot of the bodies would have never made it to the hospital in the first place.
9:04 - Oh, the smug superiority of the measles mom. I want to punch her. But Robby, that does NOT mean that you bring the dad into pediatrics to see a bunch of dead bodies! That’s so far outside of protocol it’s ridiculous!
9:09 - I’m glad that Santos is getting the blue boy as her final patient. Much like Collins, it’s someone that she needs to end with in order to come full circle and resolve some things.
9:10 - Mohan, you got crazy eyes right now.
9:14 - Oh, Langdon. You’re being very manipulative right now with Dana. At first, I thought you were encouraging Dana to stay because she’s important and critical to the work, but no. You’re just being selfish. Maybe that’s a little mean. He’s scrambling very hard to try and fix things that can’t be fixed.
9:17 - Mohan, you still got crazy eyes. In fact, they may be even crazier. Now with a crazy smile. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, huh?
9:21 - It shouldn’t have been McKay’s mess to fix, but I’m hopeful she managed to get through to David. Hopefully, he can get the help that he needs.
9:23 - This final Langdon and Robby conversation is great. Neither of them are in the right state of mind for this, but neither of them are saying anything wrong or false right now either. They’re both very messed up. But Langdon has a path forward to keep his medical license. Now we need to work on Robby getting help.
9:28 - Oh, Robby is just disassociating right now. I’ve been there. Also, they all have to be back at work tomorrow at 7:00am??? I guess you don’t get a day off after a mass casualty event, huh?
9:30 - Santos has had a really tough upbringing. She’s a fighter. She had to be one. But it still hasn’t completely killed her heart. Alright. I think I’ve fully talked myself into liking Santos as a character again.
9:34 - I had a feeling the measles dad was going rogue with approving the spinal tap. Loved Ellis’ subtle gesture to Mel to hurry up and finish the spinal tap while Mom was still talking.
9:36 - AH FORK THROUGH NOSE NO THANK YOU! We almost got out of here without another body injury jump scare.
9:37 - The small blood smears still in the bathroom are such an understated but great detail.
9:42 - There’s no way that Dana doesn’t come back. Maybe not tomorrow, but she’ll come back. This is in her blood.
9:44 - There have been plenty of hints all season that Whitaker was struggling economically. But this is why he knew that there was an empty wing at the start of the mass casualty event. He’s been living there. I’m glad that Santos offered to let him crash at her place. They’re actually a fun dynamic.
9:48 - I’m glad that they didn’t show Robby talking to Leah’s parents. Honestly, we didn’t need to see it. It was enough to know that it happened. Even if he was in that room for literally 2 seconds. Makes me wonder if there wasn’t an implied small time jump in there.
9:49 - Mel having to come off that shift and immediately become a caretaker for her sister, complete with dinner and an Elf viewing. That’s still several hours before she can stop and rest. She really is superhuman.
9:50 - “You’re in my spot” and “Grubhub will not deliver to the roof, but there’s a DoorDash guy…” are both excellent lines. We had to bookend things. Abbot and Robby both end up on the roof. They both need someone to pull them back. It's in their DNA to help, to protect the hive.
9:53 - And the ER fills right back up again. It never stops.
9:54 - Funny pay off for the rest of the rats.
9:55 - Abbot being an amputee is a great character detail.
9:56 - It’s weird seeing the female characters with their hair down. They look so different.
9:57 - This was Javadi’s first shift. That’s insane for a first shift.
9:58 - And we end the same way we began, following Robby as he walked with his headphones in. What a journey.
9:59 - End Episode 15. And End Season 1.
Episode 15 Thoughts - Much like Episode 14, this was a quieter episode as things returned to normal. It was nice, but also a little unfulfilling. I don’t know why, or what else I was expecting.
There’s hope for the future. For everyone. I think that is the biggest takeaway I had. Even though it seems dark and grim, all of our major characters have some spot of hope or light moving forward.
Maybe it’s just because I’m drained after 15 hours, but… I’ll leave my thoughts there for tonight.
Good night, everyone.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
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