*Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers.
The heart-pounding season finale of “The Pitt” has aired, and it was fantastic. For those who haven’t had a chance to watch this gem of a medical drama, spoilers ahead for the entire series thus far.
First of all, let’s talk about how great this show is and what makes it different from other medical dramas. Each season follows a single day shift at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center and stars an impressive cast, including Noah Wyle as attending Dr. “Robby” Robinavitch. Wyle is also known for his work in another popular medical drama, “ER.”
“The Pitt” is widely regarded as one of the most realistic shows of its kind. The show has been lauded both for its accurate display of medical procedures (the entire cast of doctors and nurses underwent real medical training for their roles) and for the way it shows the grittier side of a 12-plus-hour shift in a major hospital’s emergency department.
Season one focused mainly on patients and issues within the medical institution, ending with the emergency department going into crisis mode to treat victims of a mass shooting. The second season, of course, also focuses on patients, but there’s another, deeper level revolving around the personal struggles of the hospital staff. To put it simply, if season one was about external conflict, season two is about internal conflict, and there is a lot of it.
Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) deals with personal problems involving her mother. Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) struggles to reacclimate to the emergency department after returning from rehab for the drug addiction revealed last season. Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) is buried in charting and the stress of her R2 year and is revealed to have a history of self-harm. Dr. Javadi (Shabana Azeez) seriously considers changing her specialty to emergency psychiatry after seeing what the stress of the emergency department does to her co-workers and herself.
Attending Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) is set to fill in for Robby during his three-month sabbatical but appears to freeze up multiple times during her shift. These episodes turn out to be symptoms of a long-term seizure disorder, revealed in the penultimate episode.
The emergency department’s charge nurse, Dana (Katherine LaNasa), processes her trauma from being attacked by a patient in the first season and even goes as far as carrying a sedative syringe to protect herself during her shift.
Dr. Robby worries that his emergency department won’t manage without him when he leaves on his sabbatical. However, this stress goes deeper; Robby casually mentions that he may never return from his trip at multiple points throughout the shift, much to the concern of his colleagues, whom he pushes away when they express concern over his mental health.
Needless to say, “The Pitt” is 15 hours of fast-paced chaos.
The first person to really get through to Dr. Robby is his friend Duke (Jeff Kober), whom Robby insists come into the emergency department because he has been experiencing hoarseness. Robby discovers that Duke has a life-threatening ascending aortic aneurysm that requires a vital but risky operation. Later, Duke talks with Robby about things he regrets and how some things can’t be changed.
“Like death can’t be changed,” Duke says.
Robby thinks he is nervous about the surgery, but Duke cuts him off, bluntly claiming, “I’m not talking about me.”
For the first time, Robby doesn’t push someone trying to have this conversation away. “Yeah, I don’t know if I want to be here anymore,” he says after a long pause.
Duke tries to tell him it’s natural for the stressful environment he works in to affect him, but Robby explains, “No, that’s the only place that I can be. I have purpose in there. I can be distracted in there. I don’t know that I want to be … anywhere anymore.”
On screen, the scene is beautifully acted and filled with emotion.
Another pivotal moment — perhaps the most powerful moment of the season — occurs near the end of the season finale. After trying to avoid him, Robby is finally forced to talk to his close friend, the attending doctor on the night shift, Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy). Dr. Abbot tells Robby that the emergency department needs him as much as he needs it, so he should get away for a while and seek help. He reassures him that no one works in their field as long as they have without getting “screwed up,” as Dr. Abbot puts it. He recommends that Robby find someone to help him “dance through the darkness.”
In the final scene before the credits roll, Robby opens up to one more person, the character known as Baby Jane Doe. Baby Jane Doe was an infant found abandoned in a restroom in the season’s first episode. In the final moments, Robby swaddles her and rocks her in his arms as he speaks to her and the audience. He reveals that his mother abandoned him when he was 8 years old but says he got through it, just as she will.
“You got so many wonderful things to see and so many people to love ahead of you,” he says, reassuring Baby Jane Doe — and himself — that it will be OK as the screen fades to black.
“The Pitt” is breathtaking in its portrayal of mental health issues, especially among health care workers. It brings awareness to a stark reality: In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 46% of health care workers felt burned out and 44% intended to look for another job. The United States health care system faces a mental health crisis.
