The Pitt Season 2, Episode 4 Review – “10:00 AM”

Though the end of “9:00 AM” and the reveal of patients being re-routed to The Pitt only brings in three new patients into season two’s fourth episode, “10:00 AM” is still an incredibly busy, occasionally workman-like hour of The Pitt, as it works through a smattering of minor reveals, slowly ratcheting up the personal and professional tensions across the emergency room for the entirety of the almost too-brief 43-minute episode. And although it remains a moving, entertaining – and in some of the most expected places, exciting and/or cathartic – “10:00 AM” is the first time you can feel the mechanisms of the season, an episode inevitably stuck between the setup of season two’s first act and the percolating stories awaiting the rising crescendo of its middle episodes, just barely able to hang on and keep its wits about itself as it whips around to observe the many personalities and medical situations contained in what’s becoming a surprisingly expansive second season.

Some of this feeling comes from some stories with rather obvious setups; the parkour streamer who falls 10 feet and completely evaporates Ogilve’s confidence, the father trying to live without health insurance, and a black woman with an eating disorder that almost goes undiagnosed. In these stories, it feels like The Pitt putting its voice first and its stories second, in ways that are a bit naked and a little too self-aware at times: this is a series with an earnest approach to storytelling, so this is all expected to some degree, but the naked construction of these stories around simple, obvious ideas leave a bit to be desired (especially the Latino family without health insurance).

And it isn’t as if they are inherently flawed stories – but the specific arrangement and pacing of them in this episode feels a bit off, an episode pushing in each scene to leave specific bread crumbs – Mel leaving in five hours for a deposition, Louie being told he has three hours left, or even something a bit more amorphous, like the Very Bad Day new nurse Emma is already having – that are all a bit blatantly placed, directly in front of the viewer’s eye. Al-Hashimi bothering Santos about her paperwork is another one of these; the reminders are delivered overtly (often with little ambient noise in the background, to further focus the viewer’s attention) and repeatedly – it’s classic TV writing structure, but the naturalism of its delivery falls away a bit when it repeatedly uses the same mechanisms builds up these stories across multiple episodes.

When it does break away from these cadences, it proves its still capable of surprise; the reveal of the superglued eye girl’s “Dr. J” to be Dr. Javadi, social media influencer is a strong one, because it is able to play off what we know about Javadi’s character, and upend that with an angle that is both interesting for her character, and one that provides the societal reflections The Pitt often wants to weave into its patient stories (in this case, examining the impact of celebrity someone like Doctor Mike has on a working medical facility, though I imagine The Pitt will avoid the whole Zionist angle fluttering under the surface there). And in other moments, like Ogilve’s sudden, almost disastrous moment of ego (pulling a shard of glass stuck in the parkour dude’s artery), “10:00 AM” is already starting to pay off some of the pins it set up in its opening trio of episodes; in those moments, it feels exactly like the confident, focused sophomore season anyone would’ve hoped it to be.

Whitaker’s continued arc of growth is another one of season two’s stronger elements – though his attempts to become an adult may be stretching a bit too far, as we learn he’s not just a doctor capable of recognizing a rare, but dangerous condition on a patient’s EKG, but also is “playing farm” with the widowed family of a semi-recent patient. Again, The Pitt is clearly weaving in bits and pieces of character to surface later in the season (or even the series, now that the series has a bit of confidence in its existence), but through Whitaker – and often, other characters talking about him, letting the story flow into the narrative a little more indirectly – the show’s still able to finds new pockets of intrigue to build on existing characters with.

There are still some bits that need a bit of fine tuning – Robby’s approach to Al-Hashimi being the most obvious, blunt object of the season’s first four episodes – and “10:00 AM” bears the weight of so many stories at once, that the less engaging stories stick out like sore thumbs a little bit (the father rejecting the family GoFundMe being another one of these; solid idea, slightly saccharine execution). Nonetheless, The Pitt is clearly off and running in season two – “10:00 AM” isn’t a stumble, but its slightly labored (and slightly overstuffed) delivery is a byproduct of the season’s expanded ambitions, a trend that hopefully dissipates as the larger, more dramatic stories begin to take hold.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Al-Hashimi warns Santos about her paperwork, because it “delays billing” during continuity of care. I do like the ideas behind her character, but they’re a bit blunt in how they’re being weaved into the narrative.
  
• Joy suddenly becoming a patient is an interesting twist, but one I’m wondering if they’re really committing to (her lackadaisical approach certainly could’ve led to her getting cut, but are they really going to give her a transmitted disease?)
  
• Boy, that old man getting his… butt put back into place (for lack of a better term) is having quite the morning.
  
• Well, that is certainly one way to write off Dr. Collins. Sheesh, that was cold!
  
• Ok, the concept of “tiny, expanding homeostatic sponges” that are delivered through a needle is a pretty cool one.
  
• Robby’s last two therapists haven’t been quite “his speed”. Okay, sure, Motorcycle Boy.
  
• MRSA is very bad! Let’s hope Langdon’s bumpy road to redemption doesn’t go completely off the rails here.