The Pitt: 5:00PM

March 14, 2025 9:48 AM - Season 1, Episode 11

The pressure builds on Dr. Robby as his team is now short-staffed.

Recap (archive)

Behind the scenes: It Takes Two Puppeteers and a Custom Rig to Birth a Baby on The Pitt (archive)

posted by 1970s Antihero (13 comments total)

Jeez, the hospital is going to run out of blood, isn’t it?
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:50 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Aaaaand place your bets -- the PittFest Shooter will be revealed as:

a) the missing incel boy
b) Dr. Langdon
posted by tzikeh at 11:04 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

yikes. I can't really imagine it being Langdon, that would be seriously fucked up. I assumed we're being set up for it to be incel boy and the ER will get flooded with victims :(
posted by supermedusa at 11:07 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I assumed we're being set up for it to be incel boy

Me too, it's just fun to speculate - with how hard Langdon was trying to get in touch with Robby throughout the episode, wonder what's going through his mind other than the obvious.
posted by tzikeh at 11:43 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

Dr. Langdon is in the “bargaining” phase, not “anger”. Plus, he has a wife and a kid and a dog.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:45 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

Langdon would never!

Poor Mohan has been doing pretty good work all season and still can’t seem to win for winning with Robby :(
posted by sibboleth at 12:54 PM on March 14

This show feels like a new high water mark for television, right?

It's surprised me and made me gasp quite a few times, and I'm thoroughly engrossed. The attention to detail and commitment to present this world as true to life as possible is stunning.
posted by ishmael at 4:49 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]

I don't think any other birth scene in any other fictional tv or movie comes close.
posted by ishmael at 4:51 PM on March 14 [2 favorites]

I mean yes to the birth scene but also no ER show can resist the "everybody relaxes when baby is ok OH NO MOM IS BLEEDING OUT" scenario do by now you're just waiting for it.

Same with "the one normal and good thing in an ER doc's life is disrupted by a mass casualty event bringing their wounded loved one into the ER." I mean, I'm sure they will do a great job but we have seen it so many times.
posted by emjaybee at 5:28 PM on March 15

Also now I know this show is a fantasy - kiddo had enough bandwidth to videochat from a festival? Rrrrrright, pull the other one.
posted by Kyol at 8:46 PM on March 15

I suppose it's the unpacking of detail that strikes me as novel. Routine issues like births or cpr or a baseball to the eye are of course way more complicated than I imagined, and I appreciate the seriousness and professional attention that they give to each treatment.

As stressful as this show is, I guess it's oddly soothing for me. Serious people doing their level best to help people despite overwhelming odds. Exactly the kind of counter example that I need to see right now.
posted by ishmael at 10:33 PM on March 15 [2 favorites]

My wife asked me if that's what it looked like when she gave birth, because apparently I had the same perspective as the camera for our two kids, and I told her no, your hips and legs were definitely moving, which is why I suspected it was a practical effect probably done with puppets.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:38 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Also, "I see hair" was Shakespearean level comic relief. I really needed that laugh.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:42 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]