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Dr. Mel King is facing the most daunting moment of her day as she is about to confront a crucial deposition in her malpractice case. This looming event has weighed heavily on her throughout the season. As the stern hospital attorney arrives to escort her upstairs, the anxiety is palpable. The potential outcomes are overwhelming—losing her medical license or being unable to support her autistic sister are just some of the fears running through her mind. Her brother, Robby, tries to calm her with supportive words. Adding to the day’s challenges, her twin sister Becca King, portrayed by Tal Anderson, unexpectedly arrives in the emergency department. Becca, who left her care facility due to severe stomach pain, is excited to meet her sister’s colleagues. Dr. Langdon, who will treat Becca while Mel attends her deposition, is noted for his impressive hair. Meeting Dr. Robby, the charismatic charge nurse and co-senior attending, is like a celebrity encounter for Becca. “You’re Dr. Robby? Cool!” she exclaims.
Meanwhile, a makeshift team works to stabilize The Pitt’s operations, which are under the threat of a cyberattack. “Take the T-sheet to the bedside, not the whole chart!” Dana and Robby manage staff inquiries while maintaining order, but they need assistance. Enter Monica Peters, played by Rusty Schwimmer, a seasoned clerk summoned by Dana. Monica, who was “laid off by the digital revolution,” swiftly brings organization to the chaos. She instructs two novices handling paperwork to step aside, telling them to find tasks they’re familiar with. It’s clear that Dana has a mental list of highly competent individuals she can call upon for crucial support, even on a busy holiday like the Fourth of July.
Elsewhere, Mr. Knox returns from tests with Dr. Abbot. Despite the severity of his condition—bacteria leaking into his abdomen from a perforated colon—Dr. Garcia is optimistic about his recovery following emergency surgery. The team goes the extra mile by locating his sister in Arizona, facilitating a FaceTime call in the ambulance bay. This touching moment serves as a fitting conclusion to Mr. Knox’s storyline, which began in Episode 8 and left a lasting impact on the staff. Abbot and Robby remain hopeful for his successful surgery.
This episode of The Pitt also showcases Dr. Garcia in various scenarios. When assessing a 12-year-old boy who lost two fingers to an M-80 firework, Garcia encounters Santos, who suggests they hang out later. “We’re just keeping it casual, right?” Yolanda responds rhetorically, mentioning she has other plans, leaving Trinity disappointed as the elevator doors close. It seems their interpretations of “casual” differ significantly.
Dr. Garcia’s sharp wit is on full display when addressing the inefficiencies of the hospital’s temporary filing system, which has misplaced an X-ray of one of Victoria’s patients. This oversight means the patient now requires major surgery for what Garcia could have easily remedied. Victoria, feeling humiliated and concerned, apologizes to Garcia, who is unimpressed. “Not good enough, nepo baby. You messed up,” Garcia retorts bluntly. Such a reprimand might have anyone considering a workplace change or at least a long break.
Becca drives so much of Mel’s worry over the malpractice suit since, all at once, she’s trying to be a good sister, the primary caregiver, and their only breadwinner. And in another corner of the Pitt, a story with similarly trying parts. The kid who almost blew his hand off with fireworks also had booze on his breath, which prompted a visit from social services, and it turns out his overworked older sister has become his guardian, caregiver and surrogate mother. When their parents attended a standard immigration hearing, they were instead detained, then deported to Haiti. The injured boy is in danger of being sent there, too. Even though, like his sister, he was born in America.
While the situation has some promise – Dylan the social worker will work with the siblings to help them stay together – it’s a pain point that keeps recurring in The Pitt, where a damaged healthcare system meets destructive federal policies on the front lines of what counts as a safety net. It’s not right, Santos says, that the boy would be separated from his sister and guardian. Like Becca and Mel, they are all they have. But Robby can’t offer much more than a veteran caregiver’s jaded assessment. They will continue to apply their best efforts, even with faulty fax machines and handwritten charts. But. “A lot of what happens to people around here isn’t right.”
Nurse’s Desk for Season 2 Episode 9 of The Pitt (“3:00 PM”):
- Abbot’s leaving again, to catch a few winks before his night shift, but he catches Robby’s shoulder. So he’s really leaving? For three months? When he never took a vacation that lasted even three days? That’s a lot of time for self-reflection. “You just make sure you come back,” Abbot tells his friend. “And if it gets dark, you call me.” We know these guys have been talking each other off ledges for years.
- “You must have seen a lot of death. Any advice? I’ve never died before.” Advanced lung cancer patient Roxie Hamler’s line to McKay is incisive, even funny in its starkness. But Cassie can’t do much of anything for her patient, who asks for more morphine. It seems she is preparing to die.
- Samira, with more encouragement from Cassie, who once told her “this job can’t be your life,” decides she can no longer wait around for her career to perfectly align with the time to find someone. Mohan: “That painful lonely silence is the sound of my eggs dying.”
- When Louie passed, Mr. Digby, who knew him from the streets, rang the short-order diner bell located in the chaotic central work area. His friend received his angel wings. Will Digby now replace Louie as a kind of ED mascot? After a team works to stabilize a patient, he gives them a thumbs-up from the next bed. “Nice!”
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.