We were all waiting for it, myself included. Some catastrophic disaster would befall the cast of “The Pitt,” much like the mass shooting from last season. Perhaps there would be another incident of mass terror, or some fireworks going awry with deadly consequences.
We thought it might be related to the cyberhacker, or the damaged water slide. Instead, “The Pitt” seems interested in not one catastrophe but instead how internal conflicts, struggles and inconveniences ferment a stressed and dysfunctional workplace.
Mel finds out about her sister’s private (and sex) life, Langdon botches an attempt to make amends with a severely-stressed Santos, Robby takes out his frustrations on Mohan (right after a panic attack of hers) and McKay, Javadi struggles to live up to her mother’s lofty expectations and that’s of course neglecting to mention the intrusion of ICE agents and their mistreatment of the staff.
Who said anything about a ruptured water slide? It actually feels somewhat minor in the grand scheme of things, aside from a few grisly injuries. The water slide “victims” barely even appear in Episode 11, which was mildly disappointing.
All of these threads might come across as overwhelming, and perhaps it is in an intentional sense, but they all build up fairly naturally and through stressful collisions between characters. I do think that, while the stakes were higher in the first season, the interpersonal drama has been stronger in this one thus far.
The two episodes feature some more quiet moments, too. I teared up at the conclusion of Roxie’s storyline, particularly when McKay encouraged her son to say goodbye before his mother’s passing. I also liked seeing Ogilvie gain some more humility, even if his mistakes were mostly pinned to Mohan’s chest.
On the subject of Mohan and Robby, their dynamic has emerged as one of the most interesting on the show. Mohan is obviously the more sympathetic one of the two, but one can draw a clear parallel between how Robby berates her for losing her cool when he broke down himself at the end of the last season. They’re both dedicated to the job to the extent of their well-being, and his criticisms of her almost felt like they were practiced in front of a mirror.
At its core, “The Pitt” has been praised for three main aspects of its identity — its realism, its characters and its moral clarity. The second season, while perhaps not as focused on a single incident as the first, nonetheless checks off these boxes through a novel “death by a thousand scalpels” approach to storytelling.
