‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: Tech No
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Break out the carbons. White for patient clipboards, canary for physician’s orders, pink for posterity. And press hard. With ballpoint. As the Pitt reverts to performing emergency medicine in lo-fi conditions, Robby’s younger staffers look at him like he’s speaking an ancient language. And that’s before he unearths a fax machine from some forgotten storage locker. But the work can’t stop, even if it will now be handwritten. Dr. Robby’s adjusting course and guiding, with Dr. Abbot converting nurse coverage into a zone defense, and Dr. Al-Hashimi allowing a half-smile at the inevitable zinger from Trinity Santos. “Is your generative AI program still going to be working?”
And what Ogilvie characterizes as the “Dark Ages” would be even darker without Joy Kwon. With gridded whiteboards trundled into the central work area, but no patient information to replicate from the digital board – Whitaker’s snapshot was blurry – Kwon reveals a power. “I kind of have a photographic memory.” Dr. Al grabs a dry-erase marker, and the med student recites with perfect accuracy every patient name, their condition, their listed doctor and room number. Even 20-year-old student doctor and former child prodigy Victoria Javadi is like “Damn, girl.”
Last episode, Jackson Davis’s arriving parents, Demi (Latarsha Rose) and Charles (Dylan Mooney), were distraught to learn their still sedated son was on an involuntary psychiatric hold. In consultation with Dr. Jefferson, it emerged that Charles’s brother struggled with mental illness before he took his own life, and this made Jada distraught. But here in Episode 8 of The Pitt (“2:00PM”), potentially crushing news is delivered with sensitivity and support. Jefferson and Javadi introduce the Davises to Nicole Steadman (Adargiza De Los Santos), who leads a parent support group; her own daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia while she was Jackson’s age and attending Georgetown. It’s frustrating and scary to not yet know anything definitive about their son’s condition. But Nicole beams with calm and a parent’s love as she describes possible upcoming chapters. “This a new version of Jackson,” she says, just like it was with her daughter. Demi and Charles seem to find solace in this clarity.
The quietly powerful scene is also an example of the other, decidedly non-analog thread winding through this episode of The Pitt: the boundless empathy applied to their jobs by the hospital staff. New patient Howard Knox (Craig Ricci Shaynak) is suffering from intense pain, exacerbated by his weight. They can’t digitally order a CT scan, but it wouldn’t matter anyway – his back pain won’t allow him to recline in the machine. Robby, Abbot and McKay stay positive with the patient while they quietly consult with Dr. Garcia about potential surgical issues. Talk about analog – they even bring in a bariatric lift, which hoists him comfortably so he can be treated. (They also correct Ogilvie’s coarse bedside manner concerning the man’s weight. “We can help by treating him with respect.”) As Abbot prepares to ride shotgun with Mr. Knox for more treatment at a different area hospital, the patient gathers the team. “Before I can’t talk, I just want to say, thank you for everything.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Dana’s patient in her own trauma bay when Ilana, the sexual assault victim, returns to finish her exam. “I’m glad you were here today,” she tells the charge nurse, still emotional but grateful. Dana gives Ilana a heartening smile. “Me too.” Inside a hot mess of a professional workday, there are moments of profound warmth.
As Dr. Abbot departs with Mr. Knox, another night shifter arrives. Dr. Parker Ellis (Ayesha Harris) pulls Dr. King aside – she’s got goss on the deposition that’s been swirling in the background of Mel’s life and throughout Season 2 of The Pitt. The case goes back to the end of last season, when anti-science parents balked at allowing a spinal tap for their kid, super sick with measles. (Remember Robby pulling the dad into Pedes to convince him, which the PittFest shooting had transformed into a morgue for teenagers? Ugh.) After her own deposition in the case, Ellis tells Mel to “shut up and listen” to her monologue on the situation, in which the senior resident calls the malpractice claim against them “frivolous.” It’s more reassurance for the younger resident’s worry. Mel also might be a little terrified of Ellis, with all her confidence and swag. It’s an interesting dynamic. Colleagues, not friends, pulled together to defend their professional lives.
Robby is ready to build offline clipboards and scratch out old-school prescription cards the entire rest of this shift if they have to. He’ll lead the charge once more into the analog breech. But at least twice this episode, he also references his short-timer status. We’re just about halfway through Season 2, eight hours into Robby’s 15-hour haul, and he might be looking past pressing the issue of stuff like leadership squabbles with Al-Hashimi, because this will all be her problem pretty soon. Above his work brain, he mostly seems to be thinking about “Duke,” his motorcycle mechanic buddy who’s supposed to be visiting the ED. He surveys a central area now operating with black ink, screeching faxes, and a med student’s big brain as a backup server. “How we gonna get through this mess?” he asks Dana Evans. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
We can think of a few people in positions of power who’d deserve a shove back into line by someone like Dana. Emma’s eyes go wide as the all-powerful charge nurse calls Pittsburgh PD to light a fire under their asses. They expect instant treatment for their cops? Well get over here and pick up these crucial chain of evidence rape kits.
Roxie Hamler’s pain and disorientation is only advancing, so Robby authorizes McKay and Javadi to increase her morphine. Dangerous? Maybe. But it’s part of the “doctrine of double effect.” He explains this ethical principle of palliative care. As doctors, they give all to treat the patient’s pain, and accept certain side effects. Even if that might mean death.
When Langdon assists Santos on repairing teeth-sized holes in the tongue of a pub crawl party animal, Trinity’s evil eye gets a workout. Especially when treatment turns to suggesting rehab for the young woman’s excessive drinking. On the other end of the Langdon Watch™ spectrum though, Cassie McKay checks in on Frank’s sobriety. The first year’s the hardest, she agrees; “I’m nine years and counting.” It’s a reminder of her own journey in Season 1, which culminated with Cassie taking an IO drill to her ankle monitor.
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.
