In The Pitt Season 1 Episode 6, Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) finally gets to put in a chest tube — a procedure which, as the actress put it during our interview, “for five episodes, she’s been begging to do.” But things do not go according to plan (and that’s putting it mildly). As we see in the episode, Santos doesn’t pay attention in a key moment. So, instead of placing a used scalpel on a tray or carefully handing it off, she just drops it…right onto Dr. Garcia’s foot. Or, rather, right into it. “And I think it’s a big character development moment for her to really be humbled in a big way. Because she had kind of one ally, and she’s literally stabbed her in the foot,” Briones told us.
In the aftermath, the normally self-assured intern is completely horrified. And, yes, at least part of her reaction is because of who she stabs just as much as the fact that she’s, well, unintentionally stabbed another doctor. From Dr. Santos’ perspective, Dr. Garcia is “kind of the worst person it could happen to.” Even though “there are people who are more senior to her, that maybe that would be worse…Garcia was kind of the one person that she could kind of confide in and like, saw her, and respected her and also kind of liked her. And…there was a little bit of that tension, too.”
So, with “all of that wrapped up, that’s kind of the most embarrassing and traumatizing thing you could do to someone who you respect — and kind of have a crush on, too.” In fact, “it’s like, that’s a nightmare to me…If I think about accidentally stabbing my crush in the foot, I want to cry.” Pretty sure we can all relate.
MORE: How has the season gone so far? Read what we thought of The Pitt Season 1 Episode 1, The Pitt Season 1 Episode 2, and The Pitt Season 1 Episode 3.
On what’s next for Dr. Santos
Now that Dr. Santos no longer has the record to back up her arrogance, how will that affect her behavior for the remainder of The Pitt Season 1? Admittedly, since each episode of the series covers only one hour of the doctor’s shift, we probably shouldn’t expect a major transformation. But we will get to explore the character a bit more. “This is just kind of the beginning of more emotional growth for her,” Briones told us. “Obviously, not so much can happen in one day. But it’s a long day, and a lot happens.” So, as we move forward, “going into seven, eight hours, you’re starting to get tired.” But there’s no opportunity to recharge or process it all because “more and more patients just keep on coming…And more and more things come up to confront your own emotional issues and your own backstory.”
In fact, “this moment kind of cracks her open a little bit.” But Dr. Santos is “going to keep trying to close that wall again. She’s going to keep trying to build those walls up, but it’s going to keep falling down.” That might include her temporarily treating the med students, Whitaker and Javadi, even worse than usual. “In classic fashion for anyone who is like this, who has their wall up and likes to punch at people before they can punch at her, she’s just going to get more defensive…Because that’s…unfortunately, when someone is that guarded, there’s usually vulnerability and pain hiding underneath. And that makes them really want to hide.”
What pain, though? Well, some of Santos’ need to be defensive comes from who the intern was before she became a doctor. Briones told us Dr. Santos is “an ex-athlete, probably a gymnast. And that’s kind of what I’ve landed on, is she used to be a gymnast. And I think there’s a lot of competitiveness that goes into that. I think there’s a lot of mind games that can go into that, too…So, I think when she pivoted to medicine, she brought that same energy and was like, ‘I’m alone in this now. And I’m going to just kind of tunnel vision, go forward and do what I can to get ahead.’ And that is where that kind of aggressive nature comes from when she’s punching at the fellow students.”
As we look forward to the rest of The Pitt Season 1, “Episode 7 is a really big one for Santos [that] I think shows her vulnerability a little more. Obviously, she doesn’t let her guard fully down. But you…you start to understand why — why she does what she does and where those walls come from.” Also, in “the last couple episodes, there’s some really lovely character growth that I think happens for every — every character. Everyone gets lovely moments of wrapping up. Because they’ve been through Hell that day…and there’s no way that people are walking away from it unscathed. And the writing is so beautiful that it can show, even though it’s so many characters, they still are able…to show a glimpse of every character being changed after that day.”
MORE: Here’s a reminder of what happened in The Pitt Season 1 Episode 4. Oh, and we’re still wondering about that vial Dr. Santos had trouble with in The Pitt Season 1 Episode 5.
Watch our The Pitt Season 1 Episode 6 post-mortem interview with Isa Briones
Don’t miss Isa Briones in The Pitt. New episodes stream Thursdays at 9/8c on Max.
