I was a huge fan of the first season of “The Pitt,” HBO Max’s in-real-time medical drama starring Noah Wyle. The spectacle of the medical crisis at the end of the season, the endearing characters, and incredible central performance from Wyle made it appointment viewing for me.
Released almost exactly a year later, the second season brought me right back to the feelings I had last year. When Thursday night hit, I would be sitting on my couch loading up HBO Max to find out what kind of mental torture my boy Robby would be subjected to.
While the colorful cast of characters is what makes the show special, see the insane online discourse from the show’s fandom online for proof, Robby is the gravitational force holding the show together.
Last season blew up for its shocking cliffhangers and intense medical sequences, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Season 2 was much more low-key. The arc of the last season felt like a slow boil to an explosive conclusion, whereas this story seemed to remain at a high simmer the entire time.
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We find the Pittsburgh emergency doctors on July 4, a day of extreme heat and outrageous fireworks injuries. It’s been 11 months since the events of the previous shift, and the med students are at a pivot point.
Whitaker has developed a relationship with the widow and child of a patient he lost last season, Santos is slammed with second-year student duties, and Mel is stressing out over her involvement in a hospital lawsuit filed by the mother of one of her patients last year.
The characters are certainly busy, but by removing a hefty medical crisis that warrants all hands on deck, there is more time for quiet conversations between characters. By halfway through the season, I felt like every character had grown more in the span of a few episodes than in all of Season 1.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a season of “The Pitt” without some progressive grandstanding from the attending doctors directed at bigoted or ignorant patients. These scenes are so fun, I love them so much.
Does it really add anything to the story? Maybe not. But as President Donald Trump’s arm of fascism reaches into Hollywood and attempts to control narratives at Paramount, it always puts a smile on my face to see nurse Dana school some apathetic detectives about the importance of treating sexual assault victims with respect.
Even though Robby is seriously going through it this season, it doesn’t stop him from standing up to ICE agents in his ER and defending his patients. My woke king.
The mere tackling of such relevant issues as ICE’s invasion in communities nationwide, and handling the story consequences of these issues with aplomb, proved to me that “The Pitt” is going to be on our screens for a long time.
As things in the world continue to change, the atmosphere of “The Pitt” will change with them. Season 2 displays that. To me, that means the writer’s room will never run out of fresh topics for the show to wrestle with.
Additionally, along with deepening audience relationships with the ensemble cast, the show has depicted Robby as an increasingly complicated figure worthy of more exploration. From the first episode of the show, Robby displays obvious signs of suicidal ideation, and it was tragic to watch the people around the ER slowly notice and start to confront him about it.
Wyle’s performance in the last few episodes as he teeters on the edge of driving away from work and never returning, and sticking around to leave some final words of wisdom to the students who look up to him. Season 2 replaces the spectacle of the first with heavy emotional arcs that were extremely satisfying by the finale.