The Pitt in Real Time: Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of my real time rewatch and review of The Pitt! There will be spoilers.

Part One will cover Episodes 1-5.
Part Two will cover Episodes 6-10.
Part Three will cover Episodes 11-15.

Episode Six: 12:00PM - 1:00PM

12:00 - This is going to be so, so long… I may end up splitting this into multiple posts. We will have to see.

12:00 - Let’s go, Episode Six!

12:01 - You got a goldendoodle, Langdon? Really?

12:02 - Loving Robby hiding from Gloria, only for it to immediately fail. I do love the small moments of levity the show sneaks in.

12:03 - Also Robby not taking any BS from the businesswoman who wants to buy out the hospital is very much in character.

12:05 - Poor Ginger looking around for anyone’s attention but everyone is avoiding her so that they don’t have to tell her that her daughter may have ditched her.

12:06 - Oh. The ladder fall victim. The start of my absolute least favorite storyline. Blegh.

12:06 - Santos is a Scorpio. Yeah, that makes sense. Also Garcia is definitely flirting with her.

12:07 - Frat boys stole the ambulance. Yeah, that tracks.

12:08 - Langdon’s arms when he pulls the collarbone into place, though. Yum. Okay, okay, I’ll behave.

12:13 - Oh, the Nepali patient! It’s been awhile since we’ve seen her.

12:14 - Javadi clearly wants nothing to do with her mom. Even the patient is picking up on it.

12:15 - McKay coming in clutch with the fake phone call to get her out of there.

12:16 - Santos’ little grin when she finally got a patient who might need a chest tube. Only for it to go wrong! Oof. Foot stuff! No, thank you! Garcia is a beast, though, for continuing the procedure even with the scalpel in her foot.

12:18 - Javadi correcting herself when she cursed is very, very cute. Okay, maybe she’s growing on me a little bit. Just a little bit. Tiny amount.

12:22 - I’m glad that Ginger and Robby got their dance. Her giggling made me giggle.

12:24 - Testicular torsion. I am so glad that I never have to worry about that. Ouch.

12:29 - The debate about when to involve law enforcement when it comes to someone writing violent intentions is a tough one. Robby doesn’t want to ruin a kid’s life, but McKay is rightfully worried that more people might get hurt. Where’s the line?

12:30 - YOU CAN GET TAPEWORM LARVAE IN YOUR BRAIN?! NO! NO! NO!

12:31 - Ahem. I’m good now.

12:32 - Hello, to everyone who has made it so far! I hope you’re having a lovely day, and that you’ve laughed at my ridiculous odyssey here. : )

12:34 - I love how perfect Mel’s braid has stayed. Almost everyone else’s hair has gotten messier. Hers is clean. Also, this is a good moment to mention how great Taylor Dearden is doing in the role. She’s also Bryan Cranston’s daughter!

12:36 - I could never be a family support specialist either. The amount of empathy you must have is insane.

12:38 - Okay, I’m liking Santos a lot now. She lashes out, yes, but she also quickly caught herself after she told Whitaker that he killed a patient. She needs to control her tongue better, but she does have a soft center there.

12:39 - Would someone really be that angry over their child being an organ donor? My parents outright encouraged all of us to tick that box when we got our license. Also, Nick was 18. That’s a legal adult. Can the parents actually prevent that from happening?

12:40 - No, Collins! Don’t buy something for your baby!

12:44 - Her sweater does look incredibly cozy, though.

12:45 - And the episode ends a bit awkwardly this time around with Collins getting a (honestly gentle looking) shove. It’s a moment of tension, but also not? At least not compared to some of the previous episodes. Or maybe I’m just a bit bored of the melodrama involving the pregnant teenager. But for now, I need to go figure out what I’m eating for lunch!

12:51 - I’m so glad I live in a time with frozen food. Three cheese omelet, here I come.

Episode Six Thoughts - Kind of a down episode this time around. Don’t get me wrong, it was still at an excellent quality level. But it felt like nothing really happened. There’s nothing where I could go “Oh, that’s the episode with X.” Even the ambulance chase kind of ended up being nothing. The pay off for it didn’t match the build up.

Still, it was nice to see more of Mel’s backstory and to meet her sister over the phone. I wonder where her parents are if she’s the main caretaker now.

Otherwise, we began an arc that I really dislike, mainly thanks to how it’s resolved. But I’ll talk about that more when we get there.

12:56 - I have no idea what I’m going to call this venture. The Pitt in Real Time? Hmm… I’ll have to work on that a bit.

12:58 - I’ve officially come to the decision that I’m going to split this into 3 posts. It will simply be way, way too long otherwise. Also, I have no idea how I’m going to get good screenshots for any of this. But that’s Post-10:00pm Fangirl’s problem. Not mine. [Edit from later: It was actually Next Day Fangirl’s problem.]

Episode Seven: 1:00PM - 2:00PM

1:00 - Episode 7. Almost halfway done! … Wow. I’m actually doing this. Huh. Go me!

1:03 - Whitaker, how do you eat that messily?! That’s not crumbs, that’s chunks all over the desk!

1:06 - Cashew has re-emerged solely to meow at me. She’s still 2 hours away from dinner, but she thinks she should have it now. She was very unconvinced when I told her that it’s too early.

1:07 - Robby is a sadboi. Dana’s Gen Z daughter is right.

1:08 - Cashew has decided that it’s snuggle time. I am pleased with this outcome.

1:10 - I love watching Mel talk to Terrance, the autistic man with the ankle injury. You could see him slowly warm up and become more comfortable when she took interest in his table tennis tournament. More competence!

1:14 - Langdon’s face as he watches her is just lovely. I don’t get romantic vibes from them at all, but if I were to squint… Yeah, this scene would be enough to sell me on it.

1:17 - Annnnnd we get the reveal that the man who fell from the ladder may be a pedophile. Or at least, his wife believes that he is. Which leads to some of the worst writing in the show. I’m just sighing so, so hard.

1:18 - It’s nice to see the head injury man who saved the Nepali lady from the very beginning of the show wake up. I’m glad that we were able to circle back to him.

1:23 - ECMO is so, so cool. I love all of the medical stuff that I get exposed to. Science is awesome. Medicine is awesome.

1:24 - YOU ARE A MANDATED REPORTER. EVEN WITHOUT PROOF. THE PITT, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS! YOU DON’T NEED THE DAUGHTER TO COME FORWARD AS A VICTIM OF INCEST!

1:25 - Sigh. I hate this storyline. It makes no sense. It’s flatout wrong for the sake of a choice made a bit later on in the episode.

1:26 - The moment with the two patients, the Nepali woman and the head injury guy, from the train track made me tear up. No, they couldn’t understand each other. But it didn’t matter. They were able to communicate just fine. I’m so glad they had that moment together.

1:28 - I don’t even know if we’re supposed to trust the wife of the ladder fall guy. Is she telling the truth? Is she paranoid? The daughter seems perfectly fine and eager to see her dad. Is that a sign of grooming? I don’t know but I just hate all of this.

1:29 - Also, I don’t know if Santos is the person who is supposed to do this or not.

1:30 - We’re halfway done!

1:31 - Robby echoing what Dana told him earlier about how you need to lean on friends and family. That happens a lot on this show: characters echoing each other.

1:34 - I’m worried I’m hitting a wall. I will power through, though. Once I get to the back third, I think I’ll be home free. I won’t be able to look away then.

1:37 - That argument between Collins and Robby, though, with Robby pulling rank and Collins refusing to back down to him. It gave the whole episode a jolt of energy and tension that it had been needing.

1:38 - YOU ARE A MANDATORY REPORTER. YOU SHOULD BE REPORTING THIS, DAMN IT!

1:40 - … Sigh. Santos. Okay, I’ll talk about this in my larger episode thoughts. Isa Briones is killing it, though.

1:42 - I am glad that Kristi managed to convince her mom to let her have an abortion. If only so that this story ends.

1:43 - Oh, Collins. The look on her face as she walks to the bathroom like she already knows what she’s going to find and what it means. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Episode Seven Thoughts - Okay. So Santos’ whole conversation with the suspected pedophile dad. I hate it. I hate everything about it. And I hate that it will never, ever be addressed again. I don’t even know how we’re supposed to react to this.

Is this a positive thing? Are we supposed to be cheering Santos on? Or are we supposed to be looking at this like even more proof that Santos is dangerous when she’s confident that she knows what’s going on? Because I’m not convinced that the wife was right in her suspicions. There’s really no proof that she was. Granted, there’s no proof that she’s wrong either, but…

I don’t know. I just hate it. All of it. I’m so glad it's in the rearview mirror now.

That being said, again, Isa Briones is killing it as Santos. And Santos was very clearly speaking from a place of personal experience. I still hate this writing choice.

1:48 - My laptop is almost dead. Time to move positions on the couch so that I can easily reach a charger.

Episode Eight: 2:00PM - 3:00PM

2:00 - Episode 8. I still can’t believe I’ve managed to make it this far. This whole project suddenly feels very feasible.

2:01 - Robby very clearly clocking Collins taking an ultrasound of herself but also not pressing her about it.

2:02 - Louie the Drunk only has 10 out of 20 pills. Specifically watching Langdon’s face during that scene was very telling and very easy to miss.

2:03 - Oh, I’m so glad that Rita came back for her mom, Ginger. I’m so glad that it was an innocent mistake instead of her intentionally ditching her.

2:07 - I love Willie.

2:08 - OH SUDDEN FINGER BONE! Blegh.

2:10 - Cashew is very insistent that it’s dinner time. She needs to wait another 50 minutes. She disagrees. Unfortunately for her, I’m the only one with thumbs.

2:13 - Oh no. The drowning victim. Oh no. I’m already tearing up.

2:15 - It’s a six year old girl. The Pitt, why are you doing this to me?

2:17 - Garcia absolutely using Javadi as a human shield with a difficult patient should not be amusing, especially when also cutting to the drowned girl, but it is.

2:20 - God, no one did anything wrong when it came to the little girl. The gate to the pool was locked. She deliberately found a way to climb the fence. That makes it even worse. And Robby handling the mother so gently, even as he knows that there’s almost no chance that her daughter is going to survive.

2:23 - It has been seven hours, and Santos is worried that Langdon is stealing benzos. That does feel like a very small amount of time to grow that suspicious of someone.

2:24 - Oh, we saw Piper and Laura waiting in line several hours ago. They didn’t say or do anything, but they were there! You can say the same for a lot of the patients throughout the show as well. I love that little bit of continuity.

2:25 - Although having your boss know when you started to feel burning when urinating is very, very creepy and weird. Just saying.

2:27 - Javadi should have cleared it with an attending or a resident before giving her patient spider anti-venom, but I’m glad that she got a win in front of her mom. I really don’t know if she actually wants to be a doctor, but she is talented.

2:29 - Piper looks like she has no idea why having her boss in the room while she gets a pelvic exam is weird. Something super off is going on there.

2:31 - I love learning about the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Such a cool bit of history that I had never heard of before. So, so cool. I’m glad that they dedicated time to it. If you don’t know about it, look it up. It’s a great piece of history.

2:36 - The show lied. It is not 14:51. It is 14:36.

2:37 - I can’t get a read on Piper. Is she lying or does she not realize just how sketchy the situation she is in actually is? Or are McKay and Dana’s instincts wrong and she’s not a red flag for sex trafficking?

2:38 - Oh no. Not Bella talking about her now dead sister Amber. And she saved her? Amber saved her sister and helped her out of the pool? Damn it, I’m crying now. Full on sobbing.

2:41 - And Mel with the teddy bear! I’m crying harder now.

2:43 - And now we have the honor walk for the fentanyl overdose? Just keep stomping on my heart. And the Pittsburgh Steelers blanket too. The lack of music is really noticeable here, but not in a bad way. It’s respectful. It lets the moment just be as it is.

2:45 - What a great way to end the episode. So powerful. Alright. Now I get to pull myself together and feed my cat.

2:50 - I have acquired a snack of cheese, graham crackers, dried cranberries, and chocolate. Yum, yum!

Episode Eight Thoughts - So, yeah. This was an incredibly heavy episode. There is a lot of emotion to process here. It’s draining. It’s absolutely excellent, although I almost hope that the next hour is a little calmer so that I can calm down a little.

Even with all of the emotion, we got a lot of progress on some overarching storylines as well. Robby has now figured out that there is something wrong with Collins, something that would require an ultrasound, and Santos is very suspicious of Langdon and seems set on pursuing this, even with multiple people telling her to slow down and not worry about it too much. None of this will end well.

I’ve been pondering what to call this middle arc. I don’t know if there’s an obvious name for it yet. Everything seems very set on breaking down our characters and pushing them to their limits, though. The hits just keep coming. Willie was a desperately needed piece of levity.

2:57 - Occasionally, the siren call of a nap echoes in my ears, but I know that such a call is the Devil talking and I shall not listen. More caffeine it is!

Episode Nine: 3:00PM - 4:00PM

3:00 - Episode 9. Opening the episode will watching Esme clean up Amber’s room and Langdon’s voice cracking as he asks to be put on the phone with his son? Not helping my very delicate hold on my emotions.

3:01 - I’m so glad Collins told Dana about her miscarriage. I’m glad that she told someone.

3:01 - Langdon side eyeing Santos as he walks by in an out of focus background shot. Again, I adore this subtle stuff.

3:02 - Robby really telling everyone to bury their feelings 6 feet deep. That’s healthy.

3:03 - I was wondering how long it would take for anti-masking and anti-vax to pop up. Also Dana yelling at people that this isn’t Philly shouldn’t be nearly as funny as it is.

3:05 - Doug Driscoll is still there and still angry. And getting angrier. He may be my favorite recurring character.

3:06 - Oh, I’m already not ready for the tooth in the knuckle. It’s going to be gross.

3:07 - Cashew is very, very snuggly after she eats. Again, I am very happy about this.

3:08 - Langdon noticing Mel isn’t handling the stress and chaos around the fight and then sassing the anti-masker… just a very good sequence.

3:09 - Yes, yes, I know. I’m pathetic and I don’t even care.

3:11 - Langdon outright attacking Santos. Or at least being very snarky and not offering praise when she got a question right. That’s a bit of a sharp change for him.

3:12 - Whitaker New Scrub Count: 6. Also that nurse was totally into him. She has good taste.

3:17 - God, Laura the Creepy Boss is very, very Creepy.

3:22 - Interesting callback with Santos relying on her personal knowledge and it being the correct answer as opposed to earlier when Santos’ personal knowledge was the wrong way to approach something. Also Santos covering for Mohan immediately when Langdon starts to lash out at her.

3:23 - Langdon is very much out of line when he’s yelling at Santos. But the way he froze when he heard Robby behind him like he knew he fucked up. And Santos looking like it’s taking everything in her power not to cry and it’s just a great scene all around. All of the emotions that had been building for hours finally bubbled over and I love it. I always love it.

3:25 - Though also the hypocrisy of Robby telling Langdon not to yell and degrade and belittle someone before doing the same exact thing to him.

3:26 - A really great moment where we circle back to “the Kraken.” I’m glad that we got to see him in a non-altered state. We got to see him as a human being, which is important.

3:28 - Langdon’s conversation with Mel is so sweet. He handles her much better than he does Santos. Probably because he actually respects her. And Mel’s voice when she asks “1,000?” is just precious.

3:30 - Earl getting dinner and a show with Javadi trying and failing to ask Matteo out. We do all need a “Utah” in our life. Multiple “Utah”s. They make life a brighter place.

3:38 - Whitaker joining the street team is such a lovely moment. I’m glad that he’s joining it. He seems to have his feet under him now.

3:39 - The small aside about anti-fat bias in medicine feels a little clumsy, although I am glad that they gave it to McKay, someone who is shown to be very aware of other biases, as opposed to someone else.

3:41 - That nurse totally has the hots for Whitaker.

3:42 - Whitaker’s day just keeps getting better with catching (and killing) the rat! There’s that farm boy experience at work!

3:43 - Ooh, cops talking to Thresea and DOUG DRISCOLL WITH THE RIGHT HOOK OUT OF NOWHERE! What a way to end an episode. Although it was very short at only 43 minutes…

Episode Nine Thoughts - Apparently, this episode was written by Noah Wyle. Cool! But yeah, this wasn’t really the chill episode that I had hoped for after the trauma of Amber dying and the honor walk! It wasn’t as emotionally heavy, but the tension was still at an all time high.

There was a strong focus on Langdon, which you know I loved, even if he’s being a little erratic now. Okay, very erratic. Or at least irritable as we get towards the end of the shift.

Of course, the shift is only 12 hours. It should end at 7:00pm, but the show goes until 10:00pm. You know something is going to happen to extend the shift by a few hours, and we got several more references to PittFest, a music festival currently happening. And you got the “incel kid” David. It doesn’t take a doctor to put 2 and 2 together and realize where things are heading.

But for now, we have smaller concerns, like the fact that Dana was assaulted by our angry friend Doug. I told you smoking would be bad for you, Dana! I told you!

3:49 - I want to start the new episode right away, but I must stay strong and wait until the hour hits. I’m starting to ponder dinner. I kinda of want to order food, but I don’t trust it to arrive in between episodes. Episode 12 will be only 40 minutes. That’s probably going to be my window to actually cook something. Luckily, that’ll be at 6:40. Perfect dinner time!

3:52 - If I were smart, I would start going through and making edits to what I have written already. But if I were smart, I never would have started this project in the first place so…

3:59 - I’m slightly doubting my decision to split this into multiple posts. I should, right? I don’t even want to know how long this would be otherwise. I’m already at over 8,000 words and we still have a lot of time left to cover. [Edit from later: By the time I finished, I would be over 13,000 words.]

Episode Ten: 4:00PM - 5:00PM

4:00 - Episode 10. Coincidentally, the first episode that I watched as it aired as opposed to binging it. And to start with McKay calling the cops on David? Without Robby’s knowledge or permission? Oof.

4:02 - Ahmad threatening to rain hell down on the man who hurt Dana. Same, dude, same.

4:03 - I hate seeing Dana shaken like that. She’s been so, so strong all day that it’s wrong to see her otherwise.

4:06 - McKay’s ex showing up with their son is a little bit of soap opera… but I do love this particular drama.

4:08 - I would die for Dr. Mehta and his puns. That is all.

4:10 - Chad is such a great douchebag ex name. He’s so clearly jealous of Matteo that it’s hilarious. Also his new girl, Chloe, is why McKay has an ankle bracelet? What? What happened? I want to know!

4:11 - I’ll say it. McKay was right to call the police about David.

4:14 - Violence against healthcare workers is a very serious problem. But the writing here was very preachy and after school special-y.

4:15 - Umm… was that a pencil in that woman’s ear?

4:16 - 16 year olds were born in 2008? Oh, I feel old. Also, this is an eye thing. I already know I’m not going to look at the screen when they treat it.

4:17 - Matteo does have fabulous, fabulous hair.

4:18 - I do love how the baseball player keeps calling everyone “ma’am.” That’s a polite young man.

4:20 - Langdon, why are you acting so sketchy right now. (Okay, I know why but still. You’re not playing this cool at all, dude.)

4:21 - Okay, I’m barely looking at the screen while they work on the eye injury. I can’t do eyes at all. Absolutely not. Nope nope nope. Taking refuge in Cashew. She will protect me.

4:24 - Whitaker will be a very, very good doctor one day. I’m rooting for him.

4:25 - NOT THE EYE STUFF AGAIN! CASHEW HELP! Oh, just the sounds are awful.

Cashew, protecting me from scary eye stuff

4:27 - I’m glad that Robby acknowledged that McKay had a point in calling the cops on David. And that the eye stuff is over. But mostly the first one.

4:30 - Langdon, don’t poke the bear. And yes, this was the moment that I realized that Santos was right about him.

4:32 - How many sandwiches has Earl had? Oh, I should have kept track.

4:39 - The gut punch of the burn victim having only a 10% survival rate after spending all episode with his lovely, very pregnant wife. Oof. I’ve said this before, but I could not do this job.

4:40 - Javadi snapping at the baseball player’s dad to just be a dad was inappropriate, yes. But also… she wasn’t wrong! At all!

4:41 - Love Mel going from not understanding Dr. Mehta’s jokes at all to eagerly playing along with it.

4:42 - Ahhhhh Javadi being awkward makes me cringe because I hate secondhand embarrassment so, so much.

4:43 - And now it begins. Santos and Langdon have finally come to a head.

4:45 - I will have Thoughts but right now I’m just screaming. I will expand upon them in a few minutes. Promise.

4:47 - And the episode ends with Langdon being kicked out of the ER.

Episode 10 Thoughts - Yeah. So Santos was right and Langdon was stealing benzos from the ER. I really didn’t want her to be completely right. I had hoped that she would be correct in that someone was messing with the drugs, but wrong in who was doing it.

But it makes sense to be Langdon. He was the only one who didn’t have a Thing. McKay has her ankle bracelet, Robby has his PTSD flashbacks… Langdon had nothing. He was the only one who made sense. But oh, that did not make the scene of Robby confronting him any less painful.

I need to highlight the blocking in that scene, specifically how Langdon was framed so that the bracelet his kid made for him was almost always in view. I also need to highlight the slight tremor and jaw twitch as Langdon opened his locker. He knew that it was all over. Excellent piece of acting by both Patrick Ball and Noah Wyle. Excellent, excellent, excellent.

I still don’t know what to call this middle chunk of episodes, although I think I’m going to extend it to include the next one as well, since that one will wrap up a lot of other storylines too. Any ideas?

But… yeah. One of the best episodes of the season so far. Easily.

4:54 - I just realized what Episode 12 will cover. I’m suddenly very glad that I’ll have the 20 minutes to decompress.

~~~~
An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.

• Find Part One here!
• Find Part Three here!