The Pitt: 2:00PM
February 21, 2025 8:09 AM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Robby cares for an elderly patient who is related to Pittsburgh's past; the team tries to revive a young drowning victim.
I caught wind that this was a big episode and I wanted to pre-empt getting spoiled, so I watched it this morning before going to work.
That was probably not a good idea.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:13 AM on February 21
That was probably not a good idea.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:13 AM on February 21
So that's a vote for _not_ watching it while eating dinner tonight?
posted by Kyol at 2:11 PM on February 21
posted by Kyol at 2:11 PM on February 21
Noah Wyle, producer John Wells, and creator R. Scott Gemill talk about the medical drama's intense eighth episode, how hospital shows have changed since ER, and what makes their series true to life [Rolling Stone / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 2:42 PM on February 21
posted by ellieBOA at 2:42 PM on February 21
I'd vacuumed the house earlier today and yet it got very dusty in the final half of this episode ... so I guess grief has to go somewhere. "It's a hell of a day."
posted by k3ninho at 4:25 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]
posted by k3ninho at 4:25 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]
I too cried a whole lot.
The person I was watching the show with was like “she’s not going to keep working is she?” And all I could do was scoff at them.
posted by sibboleth at 8:38 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]
The person I was watching the show with was like “she’s not going to keep working is she?” And all I could do was scoff at them.
posted by sibboleth at 8:38 PM on February 21 [1 favorite]
I wasn't as devastated as I might have been, it was pretty clear they weren't hopeful about the little girl. Mel breaks my heart in the way she does the high-functioning autism thing of constantly asking if she's upsetting others. While being incredibly compassionate.
posted by emjaybee at 9:52 PM on February 21 [5 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 9:52 PM on February 21 [5 favorites]
The intensity of each episode is definitely a factor, but the underwater guitar music of the end credits gets me every time. Prob shows my age too. Some switch in my lizard-brain gets instantly flipped when the strumming starts, and I'm instantly moved.
posted by ishmael at 12:06 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]
posted by ishmael at 12:06 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]
yeah - anybody who is or knows high functioning autistic behavior recognizes Mel for who she is - but they are playing it coy for the majority of the audience by deflecting it to her knowing how to care for her sister who is physically more disabled. The markers are all there, and done so well, and it really, really, really puts the burlesque of 'The Good Doctor' to shame.
posted by jkosmicki at 9:04 AM on February 22 [6 favorites]
posted by jkosmicki at 9:04 AM on February 22 [6 favorites]
So who's stealing the benzos?
posted by sibboleth at 11:22 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]
posted by sibboleth at 11:22 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]
Ah yeah, the finger had me wince a bit but was sufficiently ... I dunno, abstract enough that it wasn't too bad. But between the kid dying and the honor walk, well, I kept having to dab my eyes, yah.
Speaking of the honor walk, is that really a thing? Like, I could believe the staff who worked on the patient would give them a farewell as they're wheeled out of the ER and onto transport, sure, but that felt like they went out into the waiting room and said "HEY WE GOT A ORGAN DONOR HERE" and everybody in a 500 yard radius turned up. That was... I dunno, weird.
posted by Kyol at 6:21 PM on February 22
Speaking of the honor walk, is that really a thing? Like, I could believe the staff who worked on the patient would give them a farewell as they're wheeled out of the ER and onto transport, sure, but that felt like they went out into the waiting room and said "HEY WE GOT A ORGAN DONOR HERE" and everybody in a 500 yard radius turned up. That was... I dunno, weird.
posted by Kyol at 6:21 PM on February 22
Kyol, the honor walk is absolutely a thing and word is spread via text and phone calls and word of mouth. It's very somber, very meaningful, and very, very sad.
posted by cooker girl at 8:01 PM on February 22 [4 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 8:01 PM on February 22 [4 favorites]
Gotta say, I fucking loved the Freedom House plotline.
posted by Dashy at 6:05 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 6:05 PM on February 23 [2 favorites]
I gave myself a migraine crying. (Trigger warning for rest of paragraph: graphic child abuse) In nursing school I learned I could never work pediatric ED, or I guess ED that didn't have a separate peds section, because I couldn't handle seeing the accidental, and unfortunately purposeful, deaths. My first pediatric patient ever was a toddler, about the same age and size as my little one at home, who's father had beaten him almost to death and was now blind, deaf and a whole host of other physical issues. All he wanted to was to be held, and since I was a student, I had the most free time to do so. That was the last time before this I gave myself a migraine crying (There was also a nurse who was just *so* amused that I was distraught that she was gloating that there was a worse case of abuse a few rooms over and that this was nothing. I have no idea why she said this besides some sort of "hurt people hurt people" type thing, but I haven't forgotten her cruelty)
I worked in one hospital where they announced the route of the honor walk over the PA, as the patient had to be transported over to the surgical tower, which was opposite side of the hospital from the ICU.
How many weeks was Dr. Collins? On the quick ultrasound it looked like a completely empty uterus.
Nth how great the Freedom House plotline was.
I liked that they showed the senior residents showing/allowing the more junior staff to learn how break devastating news with compassion. My read is that Mel was initially overwhelmed by emotion (thinking of her sister) but once she left the situation, regrouped, and then bought the bear.
Whitaker is gonna be so tired from all the CPR he's doing. At least he's stayed dry the last two episodes.
The benzo plot so far doesn't make much sense. Unless it's common that pharmacy delivers meds to patients before discharge, how would that implicate anyone that the frequent flier was missing 10? And the cap issue, Nurse Dana had to show Dr. Santos how the med station worked because typically doctors don't grab their own meds except for anesthesia and meds nurses don't give. Accusing another doctor of diverting, to a different doctor, when you've only been there for 8 hours, is bananas. I wonder if that's the end of that flirty plotline.
posted by lizjohn at 6:55 PM on February 23 [4 favorites]
I worked in one hospital where they announced the route of the honor walk over the PA, as the patient had to be transported over to the surgical tower, which was opposite side of the hospital from the ICU.
How many weeks was Dr. Collins? On the quick ultrasound it looked like a completely empty uterus.
Nth how great the Freedom House plotline was.
I liked that they showed the senior residents showing/allowing the more junior staff to learn how break devastating news with compassion. My read is that Mel was initially overwhelmed by emotion (thinking of her sister) but once she left the situation, regrouped, and then bought the bear.
Whitaker is gonna be so tired from all the CPR he's doing. At least he's stayed dry the last two episodes.
The benzo plot so far doesn't make much sense. Unless it's common that pharmacy delivers meds to patients before discharge, how would that implicate anyone that the frequent flier was missing 10? And the cap issue, Nurse Dana had to show Dr. Santos how the med station worked because typically doctors don't grab their own meds except for anesthesia and meds nurses don't give. Accusing another doctor of diverting, to a different doctor, when you've only been there for 8 hours, is bananas. I wonder if that's the end of that flirty plotline.
posted by lizjohn at 6:55 PM on February 23 [4 favorites]
I loved this episode. Loved it. LOVED IT. Even though it hit home for me in a very painful way because I had doctors and nurses of my child that attended her funeral. I remember how much that meant to me at the time.
I had never heard of Freedom House and I am grateful to have learned at least now, although I should have sooner. Every aspect of that story line was so powerful. In reading about it, I found a link to this WQED documentary (YouTube) about it and I cannot wait to watch and learn more.
Mel bringing the bear to the little sister of the drowned girl. I too agree that they are signaling hard that she has Level 1/low-support need autism, and I think they are doing it in such a lovely way. Those of us who identify with the condition may see aspects of ourselves or our behavior in her, and as jkosmicki said above it is refreshing to see something better than the shows like The Good Doctor where it's "person with TV's version of autism can be a professional, too!" in a way I think is very patronizing and trades in biases and stereotypes about autism. To buck a stereotype, Mel's quiet but meaningful and consistent empathy hits me hard.
I understand but do not understand the honor walk. I would have hated that if it had happened to my child. She was not a candidate for organ donation because of her genetic disease and the effects on her organs, but we did donate tissue to scientific research and we know some research that her samples were used in (and survival rates have increased since!) which has so much meaning. I acknowledge it as a sign of respect and, well, honor but my own perspective is the poor parents having to be looked at and subjected to that attention. Totally subjective, not indicating how other people should feel about it or anything.
I was a little meh on the mercury patient but I cheered for Dr. Mohan, as a woman of color, standing up to a white, male superior and being right. It made me think about what that experience is like IRL for female-presenting and/or POC doctors. Robby respected her instinct in the end, as I understood it.
>The benzo plot so far doesn't make much sense. Unless it's common that pharmacy delivers meds to patients before discharge, how would that implicate anyone that the frequent flier was missing 10? And the cap issue, Nurse Dana had to show Dr. Santos how the med station worked because typically doctors don't grab their own meds except for anesthesia and meds nurses don't give. Accusing another doctor of diverting, to a different doctor, when you've only been there for 8 hours, is bananas. I wonder if that's the end of that flirty plotline.
Agree with this take by lizjohn 100%. Nothing to add.
posted by fennario at 7:56 AM on February 24 [3 favorites]
I had never heard of Freedom House and I am grateful to have learned at least now, although I should have sooner. Every aspect of that story line was so powerful. In reading about it, I found a link to this WQED documentary (YouTube) about it and I cannot wait to watch and learn more.
Mel bringing the bear to the little sister of the drowned girl. I too agree that they are signaling hard that she has Level 1/low-support need autism, and I think they are doing it in such a lovely way. Those of us who identify with the condition may see aspects of ourselves or our behavior in her, and as jkosmicki said above it is refreshing to see something better than the shows like The Good Doctor where it's "person with TV's version of autism can be a professional, too!" in a way I think is very patronizing and trades in biases and stereotypes about autism. To buck a stereotype, Mel's quiet but meaningful and consistent empathy hits me hard.
I understand but do not understand the honor walk. I would have hated that if it had happened to my child. She was not a candidate for organ donation because of her genetic disease and the effects on her organs, but we did donate tissue to scientific research and we know some research that her samples were used in (and survival rates have increased since!) which has so much meaning. I acknowledge it as a sign of respect and, well, honor but my own perspective is the poor parents having to be looked at and subjected to that attention. Totally subjective, not indicating how other people should feel about it or anything.
I was a little meh on the mercury patient but I cheered for Dr. Mohan, as a woman of color, standing up to a white, male superior and being right. It made me think about what that experience is like IRL for female-presenting and/or POC doctors. Robby respected her instinct in the end, as I understood it.
>The benzo plot so far doesn't make much sense. Unless it's common that pharmacy delivers meds to patients before discharge, how would that implicate anyone that the frequent flier was missing 10? And the cap issue, Nurse Dana had to show Dr. Santos how the med station worked because typically doctors don't grab their own meds except for anesthesia and meds nurses don't give. Accusing another doctor of diverting, to a different doctor, when you've only been there for 8 hours, is bananas. I wonder if that's the end of that flirty plotline.
Agree with this take by lizjohn 100%. Nothing to add.
posted by fennario at 7:56 AM on February 24 [3 favorites]
Honor walks are 100% voluntary. The family absolutely can refuse.
Forgot to add above: the people attending the honor walk who were wearing visitor badges were Nick's friends and family who had come to say goodbye. So it was a mix of them and hospital staff.
posted by cooker girl at 9:07 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
Forgot to add above: the people attending the honor walk who were wearing visitor badges were Nick's friends and family who had come to say goodbye. So it was a mix of them and hospital staff.
posted by cooker girl at 9:07 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
>Honor walks are 100% voluntary. The family absolutely can refuse.
Oh that's good to know, I imagined it as being more spontaneous than planned with advance discussion. Why on earth would I imagine it that way? I don't know. Makes no sense given that, as the show pointed out, visitors well in excess of the normal limit had been admitted.
posted by fennario at 9:21 AM on February 24
Oh that's good to know, I imagined it as being more spontaneous than planned with advance discussion. Why on earth would I imagine it that way? I don't know. Makes no sense given that, as the show pointed out, visitors well in excess of the normal limit had been admitted.
posted by fennario at 9:21 AM on February 24
Benzo plot: Santos is going to steal meds now that she knows how to log "returned" meds. She's creating doubt / a cover for herself in advance.
They have kind of made her the wildly unstable, about to explode one, and it seems a little gratuitous and obvious as a plot line.
posted by Dashy at 10:16 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
They have kind of made her the wildly unstable, about to explode one, and it seems a little gratuitous and obvious as a plot line.
posted by Dashy at 10:16 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]
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posted by ellieBOA at 9:04 AM on February 21