Warning: This review contains full spoilers for The Pitt Season 2, Episode 8!
One of the big questions surrounding The Pitt Season 2 from the start has been what unexpected disaster will throw this already chaotic emergency room into complete turmoil. Last season, it was the mass shooting at Pitt Fest. This season, if these past few episodes are any indication, it’s the steadily worsening fallout caused by a ransomware cyberattack. As Season 2 moves past the halfway mark, it’s only becoming more intense and stressful a viewing experience, which is exactly where the show shines best.
Episode 8 is definitely at its strongest early on, when we see the doctors and nurses scrambling to come to terms with the fact that they’ve just been cut off from every digital lifeline they’ve come to take for granted. It’s an especially ironic twist given how much Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) has been pushing generative AI on her underlings. The sense of fear and unease is palpable in these scenes. That’s what happens when you ask a hospital staffed primarily with students and interns to suddenly backpedal 20 or 30 years into the past.
Adding to the tension here is the fact that Dana (Katherine LaNasa) is otherwise indisposed, forcing Princess (Kristin Villanueva) to step up as temporary charge nurse. It’s both entertaining and anxiety-inducing watching her struggle to stay afloat, particularly as it becomes clear her support staff aren’t The Pitt’s best and brightest. Even in the most frantic of times, The Pitt finds room for a little humor.
As with last week’s episode, LaNasa is really dominating the screen at the moment. We see two very different sides of Dana over the course of “2:00 PM.” First, she’s the calm, compassionate source of strength as she guides the sexual assault victim through a very difficult process of gathering evidence. That only changes when Dana finally explodes in righteous fury upon discovering that the previous evidence kit was never picked up. Then she transitions into a more familiar mode, taking command of the E.R. and instilling order through sheer force of will. It’s a very strong and layered performance from LaNasa, who may well turn out to be the MVP of Season 2.
Elsewhere in the ER, the series manages to continue building on Dr. Langdon’s (Patrick Ball) subplot in a compelling way. Following Langdon’s brief but emotionally crushing conversation with Robby (Noah Wyle) last week, he’s now silently feuding with Dr. Santos (Isa Briones). It’s a reunion the series needed to get around to eventually, given that Santos is the one responsible for exposing Langdon last season. I enjoyed how their conflict played out here, with Langdon trying to reassert himself as a resident and Santos responding with cold hostility. With each exchange, you can see Langdon contemplating whether to speak up or silently take his lumps and keep moving forward.
Conversely, there’s a great scene between Langdon and Dr. McKay (Fiona Dourif), who is much more understanding of and empathetic towards Langdon’s plight. Given McKay’s own personal demons, it makes sense to position her as one of Langdon’s few allies in an otherwise hostile workplace. Season 2 hasn’t been great about using Dourif to her fullest, but moments like this go a long way toward rectifying that problem.
Overall, “2:00 PM” serves as a very solid addition to Season 2. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of certain recent installments, but the combination of strong character drama, fascinating medical cases, and occasional bursts of humor is a very effective one. There’s just one fly in the ointment, and his name is James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson).
I wish the series weren’t quite so determined to make us hate Ogilvie. It’s an odd choice, considering how well-rounded most of the characters are. Even Ogilvie’s fellow student doctor Joy (Irene Choi) has been coming into her own of late. But with Ogilvie, we have this oddly two-dimensional caricature of a doctor who’s defined by two traits: He’s an insufferable know-it-all, and he has a startling lack of compassion for his patients. In the wake of his behavior in this episode, it’s getting to the point where I want the show to borrow a page from its cousin series, E.R., and drop a flaming helicopter on top of Ogilvie. I’d just as soon the series not make me feel that way about any of its ensemble characters.
