In episode 1 of The Pitt Season 2, we were brought back to the titular medical center so that we could watch what Independence Day is like for its staff. The major conflict of the season was set up as well, which was between Robby and Baran, because Robby was about to go on a sabbatical and Baran was supposed to take care of the ER during that period. But Robby and Baran’s approach to handling a crew was so different that they kept clashing. Langdon returned to the helm as well and was sent straight to Triage, because Robby didn’t want him anywhere near drugs. The shift started off with a John Doe who had to have his lung turned by 180 degrees to be saved. Amongst all the cases of the day, the ones that took up most of the screentime were Kylie and Williams. And then the ER was blindsided by a baby that had been abandoned in the bathroom. When the point-of-care CBC report for that baby arrived and Baran looked at it, she was rendered speechless. Why? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
The Baby Is Still A Big Question Mark
Episode 2 of The Pitt Season 2 doesn’t exactly resolve the cliffhanger of the previous episode, because Baran just tells Samira and Jesse to inform her when the rest of the baby’s tests arrive. And then she attends to Princess’ request to head over to Trauma, leaving Samira and Jesse understandably confused. Santos informs Robby that Gina, Kylie’s dad’s girlfriend, has failed to provide any real information about the dad, who has still not arrived at the hospital because he’s in New Castle, for work. Santos says that she hasn’t yet consulted with the trauma counselor, but she will eventually. Princess informs Robby about the case rolling into the trauma center, and as he is about to head there, he doubles back to listen to Baran and Santos’ conversation about Kylie, and the clashing resumes, because Robby wants Santos to follow her gut while Baran clearly wants things to be a bit methodical. Robby even makes a jibe about AI because he has heard how much Baran loves that tech. Santos interrupts this back and forth by stating that she doesn’t want to “trust her gut” when it comes to Kylie, or else she’ll be treating her as someone who has been abused by her father. Robby and Baran tell Santos to inform them once she knows more about Kylie, and on that note, they go their separate ways.
Garcia Is Probably Interested In Baran
Baran tries to get a read on Santos from Robby so that she can be wary about her habit of jumping to conclusions. Before Robby can clarify his stance on Santos’ habits, McKay interrupts the conversation to inform the duo about Williams, who seems to be getting worse with each passing second. So, she wants to order a CT scan and see where that takes them. Before McKay can do that, Robby ropes her as well as Mel into the case that’s being wheeled into the trauma center by Dana, Princess, and the first responders; Garcia joins them too. So, who’s the lucky guy that gets to start the proceedings of Hour 2, which is 8 AM to 9 AM? His name is Allen Billings, and he has been injured because a pallet of roofing tiles fell from a height and hit his upper arm, leading to an open dislocation, and it seems like a part of the humerus has popped out through his armpit. Hence, the need of the hour is a traction-countertraction method to reposition that bone back into its place. Baran says that Allen should be moved to the OR and handled by the orthopedic department, but she quickly learns that ortho moves at its own pace, and that pace doesn’t exactly agree with the urgency of the treatment that the patient needs. So, Baran has no choice but to let things play out in the trauma center. I love the look that Garcia gives to Baran amidst all this exchange of information. Okay, so, something that I had supposedly missed in the first episode was Garcia’s fling with Santos, which was proven by Garcia knowing about Whitaker’s (who is Santos’ current roommate) toothbrush mess-up. That look from Garcia might just mean that she is interested in Baran. The question here is whether or not Baran is interested in Garcia.
Allen’s Armpit Is Fixed
Once Allen becomes unconscious, Mel cleans up the armpit. I quite like the fact that the term “irrigate” is used to refer to washing the wounded area. “Irrigate” is usually used when we’re talking about agriculture; seeing it used as a medical term is interesting. Once that’s done, McKay grabs hold of Allen’s right arm, while Garcia, who’s on the opposite side of the table, grabs onto a piece of cloth that’s gone over Allen’s right arm and chest, and they pull. Theoretically, this method is supposed to push the exposed bone back into the body, but that doesn’t work. Baran still thinks that they should take him to the OR, but Robby advises Mel to stick her fingers into the wound so that when McKay and Garcia begin pulling again, she can gently guide the bone back into the body. Yeah, that works, and although I am talking about this moment in a casual way because I am discussing it upon a rewatch, I must make it clear that while watching this whole thing unfold for the first time, I nearly hurled. Once the operation is done, Mel starts to mentally shut down, and Robby and Baran notice and ask her what’s going on. Mel mentions the deposition, and Robby tries to assuage her fears by telling her that he himself has been sued multiple times; hence, it’s not a big issue. Baran is given the opportunity to also say something similar, but since she has a clean track record, her statement about how she has never been sued causes Mel to panic and return to her workstation (the whimpering sound that Mel makes on her way out is funny and sad).
Joy Seems Disinterested In Her Job
Whitaker, Ogilvie, Joy, and Perlah tend to Louie, who is ready to get the fluid from his stomach drained. Whitaker teaches Ogilvie and Joy how to safely pull off this maneuver, and while Ogilvie is clearly interested in doing more and learning more, Joy is busy scrolling on her phone. To be honest, Joy doesn’t surprise me, because I have been to enough hospitals and emergency departments to know that they are filled with student doctors like Joy. Robby shows up to see how Whitaker is treating Louie, and what the response is from his shadows. He tries his best to get some observations out of Joy, but, as mentioned before, she doesn’t seem to be interested in anything that’s happening before her, which is why Ogilvie keeps answering all of Robby’s queries. I’m going to give Joy the benefit of the doubt and say that, eventually, during this shift, Joy is going to perform in the clutch while Ogilvie chokes, thereby proving that she might seem disinterested, but when push comes to shove, she can knock it out of the park. Let’s see. Baran joins the lot to see how they are doing, and Robby confirms that they are performing well; he doesn’t mention the fact that Joy is unwilling to get her hands dirty. Langdon looks after a patient who has glued one of her eyes shut in the process of trying to put on a fake eyelash with the help of super glue. The patient wonders if there’s an ophthalmologist available, but Langdon assures her that he knows what he’s doing.
Nun Matthews Has Gonorrhea
Santos asks Dana if Kiara, the trauma counselor, is available, and Dana says that she has supposedly taken the day off for some reason and her replacement is Dylan Easton. While Dana brings Dylan to the ER, Santos begins chatting with Victoria, who senses that Santos is still gunning for that double residency program under Shamsi. Victoria dissuades Santos from pursuing that dream, because if she can’t do it, Santos is hopeless. Santos obviously doesn’t take Victoria’s assessment too seriously because sometimes grit can outperform genius. Victoria shifts the topic to Ms. Matthews, who has seemingly contracted gonorrhea. While Dana takes it seriously and asks the lab to see if they have mixed up Matthews’ swab, Santos starts cracking Jesus jokes, which are legitimately hilarious (I would have applauded them more than Dana or Victoria did). Dana then tends to Emma, who has put Digby in a room and is wondering where his clothes will be washed. Dana says that they are going straight to the incinerator, because no amount of dry cleaning is going to remove the stench and dirt off of those clothes, and assures Emma that Digby will be provided with a fresh set. But before that, they’ll need to take off Digby’s ancient cast, which’ll be a teaching moment for Emma and the rest of us. I say “teaching moment” because I didn’t know that cast saws cut through plaster but not skin. It has this oscillating blade, which doesn’t penetrate the skin; I know that’s a very common thing now, but I still think that it’s awesome.
Digby Has Maggots in His Cast
Dana and Emma are joined by Samira, who is in charge of the cast-cutting business. What do they find inside Digby’s cast? Maggots chomping on Digby’s arm. If there’s a doctor or anyone with any medical knowledge that’s reading this, please, let me know in the comments if this can happen. I know that maggots feed on dead bodies. But a live one? I haven’t heard of that. Anyway, Samira tells Emma to get some ethyl chloride spray to freeze the maggots so that they can remove them and then treat the area. Samira then goes with Victoria to deal with Matthews’ gonorrhea situation. Victoria tries to learn if Matthews has had any sexual activity that might have led to that, but Matthews clarifies that she’s a nun (not a numbskull) and she hasn’t been having sex secretly. She does work at an unhoused shelter, though, where she handles bedsheets and other stuff without any gloves. So she could have touched something shifty and then rubbed her eye with it, thereby causing the infection. Victoria tells her that the eye is totally treatable, while Samira says that she’ll get her some boxes of gloves that she and her crew can use while dealing with stuff with potentially harmful substances on them. Whitaker is informed by Dana that he needs to tell Evelyn Bostick, the Alzheimer’s patient who was brought in along with Allen, that her husband, Ethan, has passed away. Whitaker gets the job done, causing Evelyn to break down into tears. Santos has finally gotten the chance to meet the replacement trauma counselor, Dylan, and she has also received the ultrasound, which shows that Kylie has no intra-abdominal injuries, all of which she conveys to Robby and Baran. Dylan says that they’d like to talk to Gina away from Kylie to get a proper read on the case, and Santos confirms that she can arrange that.
Robby’s Bigotry Starts To Show Up
Samira arrives with more data on the abandoned baby, and Baran kind of grabs the tablet before Robby, which does irk him a bit. Samira addresses that cliffhanger moment and asks Baran why she was so concerned before, even though everything looks normal. Baran doesn’t give a straight response and says that they need to put a catheter on the baby and extract some urine. Robby says that he has an alternate method of getting that done, one that’s not intrusive and painful. Also, when Robby says that, he goes from calling Baran “Al” to “Al-Hashimi,” which isn’t exactly a very subtle way of underscoring that Robby is probably racist. I mean, the first thing that Robby wanted to know when he heard her name is where she’s “actually” from. Baran explicitly told him to call her “Baran,” but he kept calling her “Al,” and now he has gone to “Al-Hashimi.” Robby and Baran’s approaches are different, but to resort to bigotry and micro-aggressions is not right. Anyway, Robby’s method yields the desired result, and with some help from Jesse, Samira, and Baran, they are able to get the urine from the baby, which’ll now be sent for testing. The next step involves informing the police and considering foster care options, but that’s only after the urine dip results come back.
Baran Shows Off Her App
As soon as Baran heads out of the Pedes, she encounters Langdon, and she makes it clear that she knows about his history. Instead of dwelling on that for too long, Baran focuses on Langdon’s latest patient, Linda Stevens, who seems to have some kind of intellectual disability, and she has come to the Pitt complaining of some chest pressure, which has been resolved with rest. But she needs to be kept there for further observations. Since the facility is a teaching hospital, Baran asks Linda if she is willing to become the subject of analysis for her students. Once Linda consents, Baran brings in Whitaker, Victoria, Ogilvie, and Joy. This is when we learn that the demo isn’t actually about Linda herself but an app that Baran has devised that can record the medical observations of the doctor who is tending to a patient, convert the voice notes into text, and then upload it into the system, thereby reducing the time spent by a doctor on logging their observations and required medicines. While this is going on, McKay spots Williams being wheeled away for the CT scan, and she has a little chat with him. Williams seems to be doing better than he was when McKay last checked him. His mood is clearly better, but that isn’t a solid indicator of how he’s doing physiologically. Things can go bad at any time, and I hope McKay is mentally prepared for that.
Sanders Is A Criminal
Mel tends to Sanders, and just when they start talking about the Renaissance Fair, Sanders spots two police officers entering the ER and makes a run for it, knocking over Mel in the process, and she hurts her head. Dana takes care of Mel while the officers go after Sanders. Langdon leaves Linda in Baran’s hands and goes over to check on how Mel is doing. Dana and Perlah inform him that she is relatively fine, fine enough to bring up the Captain Scurvy patient from Season 1. Langdon takes Mel to a room that has been freed up and does some basic checks to see if she’s actually doing alright. Mel uses this opportunity to tell Langdon how glad she is that he’s back, and Langdon comes clean about why he had to go away and that he’s still in the process of becoming a good doctor. Langdon says that he feels that he has let a lot of people down, including Mel, but Mel assures him that that’s not the case at all. Before they can pursue this topic any further, officers Freeman and Underhill enter the room to talk to Mel about Sanders and if she has any legit information on him. No, Sanders hasn’t been caught yet, but the officers are sure that the liquor store robber will be arrested soon, and when that happens, Mel will have to testify in court. She is already worried about the deposition, and the idea of going to court for another case puts her on edge. So, Langdon requests the officers to exit the room, kills the lights, and tells Mel to rest there for at least 10 minutes so that she can reorient herself after that traumatic altercation.
Robby Is In A Relationship With Hastings
With Williams out of the way, at least for the moment, McKay checks out how Allen is doing and updates Robby on his status. She also gives Robby some info on Williams, who, in her opinion, is doing fine. Robby says that Ortho can take Allen in for surgery, but that’s when case manager Hastings jumps in and says that since Westbridge Memorial is associated with the insurance company that covers Allen’s health insurance, he’ll be shifted there. McKay is not okay with that, because she thinks that he should be treated there properly instead of letting Westbridge decide his fate. McKay can sense that Robby is so amenable to a “simple insurance transfer” because he is in a romantic relationship with Hastings. In the first season, when Gloria used to tell him to free the beds, Robby used to put his foot down and not allow legal issues to come in the way of proper treatment. Now that someone he finds attractive is telling him to let go of a patient, he’s fine with that? That’s problematic, to say the least. Dana notices what’s going on between Robby and Hastings too, and she subtly warns the latter to tread carefully. Robby takes off to see what’s going on between Dylan and Gina, and he promises to meet Hastings again before leaving for the day and going on his sabbatical.
Whitaker Takes Evelyn To Ethan
Baran’s AI-assisted experiment with Linda initially impresses her students, but Whitaker points out that the speech-to-text translation isn’t perfect, and if they aren’t observant enough, they could end up prescribing the wrong meds to their patients. Baran admits that the program isn’t perfect; hence, once the data is entered, they need to thoroughly analyze it, iron out the kinks, and Bob’s your uncle. But is that reducing the time the doctor spends on logging or increasing it? Only time will tell. The discussion on this topic is tabled for the time being, as everyone goes their separate ways. Dylan informs Whitaker that he needs to take care of Evelyn, as, due to her Alzheimer’s, she has forgotten about the fact that her husband has died. So, this time, Whitaker decides to take her to Ethan’s body in the hopes that that’ll help the sad revelation stick in her mind. I have said this before while talking about other movies and TV shows with a dementia or Alzheimer’s plotline, and I will say it again: this really gets to me. I think memory loss is one of the scariest things to happen to a human being, and I wish that nobody had to endure something as devastating as that. The focus of The Pitt Season 2 Episode 2 shifts from Evelyn to Kylie, who is being questioned by Robby and Perlah so that she is relaxed enough to let them take her blood. Robby notices that Kylie didn’t even flinch while Perlah pricked her arm, and he discreetly conveys that observation to Santos. He hopes that this isn’t proof of the fact that Kylie has become so accustomed to pain that she is okay with it, and says that they should examine her genitalia for any signs of trauma. Robby thinks that that could be disturbing for Santos, and hence he could ask Baran to get it done. Santos assures Robby that she can get the job done, because Kylie is her patient, and if she keeps transferring her cases to someone else out of fear of getting upset, then she’ll never progress as a doctor.
Santos Thinks Ogilvie Is Victoria’s Competition
Robby goes to check how Whitaker, Ogilvie, and Joy are dealing with Louie. Joy has finally started to become more active, and Ogilvie continues to become more and more arrogant about his medical knowledge. As Louie’s about to wrap up, Whitaker goes to his workstation and catches up with Victoria about his paycheck and the med students working under him. Santos is present when the topic of Ogilvie comes up, and she points out that Victoria finds him obnoxious because she knows that he is better than her. To get under her skin, Santos hilariously advises Victoria to “step it up” or else she’ll end up losing the “genius doctor with lots of potential” label. After Santos leaves, Whitaker tries to change the topic to the nicknames that Santos gives everyone; for the record, I think both Huckleberry and Crash are cool nicknames. Langdon interrupts that conversation, but as soon as he senses that things are not as easy-going as they used to be, he resumes his duties, and so do Huckleberry and Crash. Perlah and Princess are seen having a conversation about what they should do about Victoria’s party and how the Pitt accelerates everyone’s aging process because of its stressful environment. Langdon spots Donnie with Clint Hansen and his cousin, Mona. Mona had allegedly dumped a whole bunch of bacon grease into the sink while Clint was washing dishes, and when he reached for the soap, the grease fell on his arm; hence, the burns. Clint and Mona begin bickering about who is wrong and who is right, which prompts Langdon to put a lid on it so that Donnie can focus on treating the injury.
Victoria Clashes With Ogilvie
Lupe directs Langdon towards a patient named Orlando Diaz, who has lost consciousness on his way to the ER after tripping over some rebar. The guy who has brought him in doesn’t exactly know the circumstances that led to the incident. Langdon smells ketones on Orlando’s breath and takes him to one of the trauma rooms. Robby spots Caleb and Whitaker talking about Evelyn’s fate, and it seems like Caleb wants to have an important conversation with Robby too. Robby puts it on the backburner for the time being, and Caleb has no choice but to oblige. Santos and Dylan approach Robby with some updates on Kylie, but that’s interrupted by Langdon and Orlando. Robby takes Orlando away, and Langdon doesn’t hang around at the hub for too long, because Santos is there—they haven’t cleared the air yet—and Triage is still very busy. With Robby unavailable, Santos decides to get the lowdown from Dylan herself. As per Dylan, Gina is confused, which means that her assessment of Kylie’s dad is inconclusive. This furthers Santos’ theory that Kylie’s dad is abusive, but Dylan gives her the same advice that Robby gave her: don’t jump to conclusions. Dylan says that they’ll talk to Kylie before the dad arrives and then make a proper assessment of the situation. Going back to Orlando, he’s being looked at by Victoria, Samira, Jesse, Ogilvie, Baran, and several others. Since Baran goes off to the other trauma room to deal with a respiratory problem, Robby doesn’t clash with her. However, a battle of wits breaks out between Victoria and Ogilvie as both try their best to prove that they have the most amount of medical knowledge. Thankfully, that doesn’t derail the operation because Robby reminds Victoria and Ogilvie that they should learn how to work as a team before engaging in an intellect-measuring contest.
Baran Tells Mel Not To Worry About The Deposition
McKay and Baran take care of Barry Mitchell, who has been having trouble breathing after having his breakfast at Pamela’s. They are joined by Joy and Princess, and when Robby comes in to orchestrate this show, Baran goes for the exit door, because she realizes that he won’t let her do things her way. Robby’s method does get the job done, and the stuck broccoli in Barry’s throat is carefully extracted by McKay, but that doesn’t mean that it’s fair for Robby to disallow Baran from handling the situation the way she sees fit. If he cares about the Pitt so much, he should stay instead of going off on his sabbatical; if he wants to go for the sabbatical, he has to let Baran be his replacement instead of constantly getting in her way. If she doesn’t make mistakes, she’ll never learn how to choreograph an ER. Langdon returns to Clint to treat his arm, and he gets familiar with them over the topic of Clint and Mona’s celebrity grandparents. That’s when he is pulled into another case by Donnie. So, while Donnie takes care of Clint, Langdon hands over Ian Randall, who has been phallically erect for the past eight hours because he took two ED (erectile dysfunction) injections, to Mel, Santos, Baran, and Emma (who is brought in there by Dana). I know that a lot of HBO viewers were shocked to see full-frontal nudity in The Chair Company. I’d love to know what they thought after seeing blood being drained from a fully erect penis. I’m sure it’s going to range somewhere between Santos’ “That’s what she said” joke and Emma’s perplexed expression. Amidst all this, the topic of Mel’s deposition comes up again, and this time, instead of accidentally increasing Mel’s stress bar, Baran assures her that if she just sticks to the facts, everything will be alright. Baran doesn’t have any cases against her, but she is familiar with a lot of great doctors who have been sued. So, based on that experience, she is able to calm Mel down and convince her to not worry too much about this whole legal situation.
Robby’s Behavior Continues to Devolve
Dana announces that Allen is being moved to Westbridge, and since McKay can’t really do anything about that, she asks Dana about Williams; Dana says that the lab results on him or Kylie haven’t come back yet. The lab results on the baby have arrived, though, and Robby takes a look at them and discusses them with Samira. They go through it very quickly, but from what I understood, the kid has some kind of a respiratory disease and that the Pedes want the baby to undergo a toxicology screen and an HIV antigen before taking her upstairs. Some viewers said that Baran froze up at the end of the previous episode because she has figured out that the kid has AIDS, and it seems like their assumption might just turn out to be true. While they wait for more details on the baby, Robby asks Dana about Baran, and she says that Baran was with Mel, Santos, Emma, and that erect penis. That prompts Robby to make an inappropriate joke, and although he apologizes for it, I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that there’s something off about Robby. He has changed a lot since the first season. His sense of warmth is gone, and he isn’t missing a single opportunity to be salty about Baran. I don’t know if this has something to do with Dr. Heather Collins not being around, because maybe Robby would have preferred the Pitt to be in her capable hands rather than that of Baran’s. Even if that is the case, this is no way to talk about Baran.
Baran and Robby Can’t Reach a Middle Ground
In the ending of The Pitt Season 2, episode 2, Robby checks in on Louie and Whitaker and then heads to the ambulance bay for a breather, but that’s where he is confronted by Baran about his unwillingness to incorporate her ideas into the ER’s daily functioning. Baran focuses on the AI-assisted logging thing that can make the department more efficient, but that discourse is interrupted by an incoming ambulance with a college kid in it who is quite literally flipping out for some reason. He is heard screaming “2901,” which is code for kidnapping. How’s this case going to affect Baran and Robby’s dynamic? I don’t know, but I am certainly intrigued. Look, there’s no doubt that Baran and Robby handle things very differently. However, the need of the hour is reaching some kind of a middle ground before the Fourth of July celebrations begin. Because when that starts, the ER is going to go haywire, and if Baran and Robby continue to clash like this, it’ll cause more harm than good. Based on the teaser for the rest of the season, the Pitt is going to lose power, thereby shutting down all the computers. That can either be a wake-up call for Baran’s dependence on tech, or it’ll show Robby that Baran’s app can continue to record prescriptions even if the ER’s system is dead. What are your thoughts on this conflict, though? Let me know in the comments section below.
