The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 Review: Celebrate Surviving Another Shift, If You Can

The Pitt Season 15 Episode 15 isn’t the type of season finale that wraps everything up with a nice little bow. Unless you count the absolutely delightful scene during the end credits, there’s no sunny, optimistic happy ending. Even the 4th of July fireworks make for a celebration that’s less celebratory and more one final glimpse at the pain of celebrating a nation that wears down its heroes, rips apart families, and makes healthcare too difficult to access for far too many people. A single day can’t possibly “fix” any of the above, much less bring closure many battles the exhausted, struggling characters the series followed during these 15 hours.

It’s this crushing, gutting sort of realism, coupled with an outstanding cast’s collection of indescribably powerful performances, that earned The Pitt so many honors for its first season. And it’s all of that, coupled with the raw sort of agony that comes from seeing it play out all over again—this time, with the crushing weight of the system’s collapse uglier than before and without the flash of a mass casualty event—that should lead to more honors, even as it also may leave some viewers frustrated. But that frustration, I’d argue, is the point. It just depends on where viewers choose to direct it.

This difficulty in grappling with the outcome, combined as always with the performances, is what does, indeed, make this season finale work. The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 certainly serves up plenty of devastation and concern for an increasingly bleak future, but the hour also seems to be saying “all hope is not lost.” Because there’s a glimmer of light in all of that darkness, between the people who stand to comfort one another, the ones who reach out in support even when it’s difficult, the hints at friendships made that will hopefully last, and our brightest young student finding her way.

MORE: Here’s what we thought of last season’s finale.

Where will Dr. Mohan go next

The first time I screened The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15, the news about Supriya Ganesh not returning for Season 3 hadn’t yet been released. At the time, I wasn’t sure how I felt about ending the day on such a low note for such a widely-loved actor and her character. Now that I know this is the last we’ll see of her (unless Mohan, somehow, works her way back in on some future date), I still feel quite uncomfortable with a character like this one leaving after such a horrible, rotten, no good, very bad day. And, although I actually admire this series’ intellectual honesty in terms of cycling out residents at the completion of their R4 years, the optics of Tracy Ifeachor’s Dr. Collins being Season 1’s major exit and now Ganesh being the name on the chopping block are, are to put it bluntly, pretty f***ing terrible.

All of that aside—and trust me when I say it’s difficult to put all of it aside—looking back, I’m not sure keeping Mohan in Dr. Robby’s department would have done the character any justice, whatsoever. Going back to the Season 2 premiere, I’ve made it clear that I don’t want to lose Mohan. But in the end, since the season has been circling around the point all along, her leaving shouldn’t be a surprise. In the premiere itself, maybe lost in the shuffle of everything that happened during that hour and since, she explicitly said she “committed to a partnership-track position next year at a hospital back in Jersey.” Yes, we’ve seen her try to scramble to find a fellowship to stay at PTMC, thanks to her mom’s…stuff.

But she wanted to leave even before her plans got derailed, so staying here would be settling. Trust me when I say, from experience, that’s a sure way to get stuck. And an even surer path to all sorts of regrets and self loathing. Mohan mentions the job in New Jersey—which she earned—in the past tense, and even in this hour, she says she needs to find a job (rather than even consider taking Baby Jane Doe home). So, I guess we can assume she backed out of her commitment and officially turned it down. I’m hoping, somehow, either that’s not the case or she finds herself something even better. She deserves that. But people like her, who deserve the world, often get the ugliest parts of it instead.

Would anyone truly, in their heart of hearts, want to see Samira Mohan stay at a place where she’s clearly not valued, with an attending who treats her worse than just about anyone on staff? I’m going with…no. Especially not after everything that has unfolded this 4th of July. The most compassionate doctor, who well and truly feels and grieves for her patients, would be a great addition to any healthcare team. So, the character exit is the right choice. (Again, this is neither excusing the optics of Ganesh’s exit nor making assumptions, one way or another, about anyone’s choices behind the scenes. Not my gig, and thank God for that.)

So, that brings us to what actually unfolds in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15. Mohan certainly doesn’t go out on the highest note, but I’d argue it’s not the lowest of lows either. In some sense, bringing the character back for another season to fully wrap up that R4 year and leave things in a better place with Dr. Robby—one where he admits what a loss not having her in his department is—would be nice. But overall, I’m left with the feeling that leaving things unresolved like this actually, strangely, settles them better than a full resolution might.

Dr. Robby tries to smooth things over out in the ambulance bay, but Mohan really does not make it easy for him. And shouldn’t. If she was either too willing to forgive or too nasty, I think that would be a bad outcome. Robby being a d**k again would be the worst. This is something else. More human, in its own weird way.

When Robby first begins speaking to Mohan, it’s awkward. The two are standing fairly far apart. Wyle plays the moment like he has this urge to say something but doesn’t know what or how. (I would suggest “I’m sorry” and then tons of praise. And yet.) Mohan’s worn out, distracted, trying to studiously avoid him. (Because, really, how is he trying to be casual/friendly about her picking an elective after he messed up so badly earlier in the day?) Robby only receives the tiniest glimpse of the warmth that’s usually Mohan’s trademark after he lets his own armor slip and shows her how messed up, how full of regrets and what ifs, he is. It costs him something—raw honesty.

It’s not actually Samira’s job to be the bigger person here, and she owes Dr. Robby absolutely nothing. However, her choice to take the high road reaffirms everything right and good about the character. In the moment, she recognizes all those broken pieces for what they are, and she acknowledges that. Not by being overly indulgent or pitying, but through the act of engaging in the conversation. And it’s easy to spot the exact moment when Mohan fully sees how badly Robby’s struggling. Ganesh is as great as ever throughout this hour, but that pause and long look before the half dismissive, half genuine, “it’s never too late” is alarmingly good for as simplistic as it may seem.

And then, even when it’s obvious that Mohan’s empathy is as intact as ever—never, not once, broken by this place, or her attending’s cruel lashing out, or even by the pain of not being able to save Orlando Diaz—Ganesh doesn’t play the scene as if all is forgiven. Because it can’t be. Instead, she portrays a slow sort of warming up throughout this all-too-brief goodbye. But their presence, no matter how many small softenings we see unfold, remains guarded. Hesitant. Tense. Even so, in spite of all of that, they bring plenty of sincerity to Mohan’s comments about this hospital needing Robby. Because it does.

Samira Mohan, on the other hand, does not. And after so many missteps with Samira specifically, Robby doesn’t deserve her on his staff, anyway. The patients always did, but he never showed her he valued her enough to earn that privilege. At the risk of being overly repetitive, I’ll say it again: She deserves to know her worth and go where she will be valued. So, sure, we leave her with a very clear anxiety about the future. But I choose to believe it works out, somehow.

If we pick back up in Season 3 and some character or another tells us that things didn’t work out well for Dr. Mohan, I won’t be particularly happy about it. But, horribly, I’ll also probably think “yeah, that checks out” if it turns out that the system chewed up and spit out the best and brightest. Burnout doesn’t exactly care how excellent we are at what we do, after all.

MORE: Dr. Mohan was one of our favorites from very early on because of her dedication to actually putting the care in healthcare.

Dr. Al-Hashimi’s medical condition jeopardizes her medical career

After ending this season’s penultimate episode with Dr. Al-Hashimi showing Dr. Robby her medical history, The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 begins with the same “Baran…is this you” that closed out the previous hour. From there, Sepideh Moafi takes viewers on a gutting emotional journey. What Moafi does in this finale, from the very start, is well and truly some of the best work I’ve seen on this series. And that’s saying quite a lot, considering.

So, it begins, as she has to answer Robby’s question. Is this her? Yes. But there’s a pause, a breath for Dr. Al to steel herself, already knowing and dreading how this ends. She grimaces, almost, immediately before speaking. It’s very obvious, right away, that as a physician she knows to prepare for the worst—but some part of her, still, wants to live in denial and hope for the best.

As she explains her diagnosis, there’s a trembling sort of tightness to her voice, and as Al-Hashimi answers each and every one of Robby’s questions with an “everything’s under control. I have an answer for everything” sort of confidence, Moafi’s body language—that look in her eyes that’s equal parts terrified and grieving what she stands to lose, the shaking her head no, the anxious buzzing energy—tells a very different story. For his part, Wyle is very present as Robby mostly listens, fully in doctor mode. His profound reaction to Dr. Al’s admission—that it’s been “well over a year” since her last seizure, but she’s had two today—keeps the audience clued in that yes, this is bad-bad.

And when Al-Hashimi begins to spiral, trying to ask herself why—why now, why today, why so much—she’s had this relapse, Wyle brings a sense of measured calm and rationality to Robby that has rarely, if at all, been seen this season. Least of all with Dr. Al. But, in answer to Robby’s question about Al-Hashimi’s options, let’s just say they’re not good. To say the least. Moafi hesitates, closes eyes as if in pain, her breathing as shaky as ever here. And when he hears what will happen to his colleague if medication changes don’t do the trick, Robby’s head just hangs in defeat.

There’s a fight in Dr. Al after Robby tells her she needs to disclose, a certain fire and determination as she tells him she knows and has a plan. A brief interruption totally shatters that, though. As Al-Hashimi makes excuses and rushes out to see patients, Moafi’s performance is one of someone on the verge of breaking—someone who needs to get out of here now so she can live the fantasy of everything being ok a little longer. We’re left with the image of Robby, alone in the knowledge that the coverage he thought he had for his sabbatical…can’t. It’s yet one more weight on the shoulders of this attending, and the conversation isn’t even anywhere near finished.

(Whatever you do, don’t think about how many times we’ve seen Robinavitch make the same sort of speedy exit Dr. Al does here, when everything is on the verge of being too much.)

Later in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15, Dr. Al-Hashimi and Dr. Robby really have it out. For all the many times Moafi and Wyle have absolutely risen to the occasion, in their characters’ many heated arguments over these 15 hours, this one is easily the most brilliantly written, performed, and filmed. If I had to be corny and relate this all back to the 4th of July, I’d say they’ve given us a fireworks display all season. And this is well and truly the grand finale—loud booms as these two absolutely roar at each other, abrupt end, and all

Dr. Al is so pleased, hopeful, because the neurologist on call says she can work with double coverage, but Robby says she can’t. The thing is, given the nature of the work we’ve seen these doctors do, he’s right. A split second here can change the outcome from life to death, from a full recovery to severe disability. That’s bad enough. Forcing Baran to see herself as someone whose illness makes her currently unable to do something she’s otherwise so f—ing good at is bad enough. But then, Robby brings up her driver’s license, and that makes it all even more real.

One of the best images of this entire season finale is the one shot from Dr. Abbot’s perspective, on the outside looking in. Moafi’s sharp, frustrated gestures are those of a person who’s held it all in, suffered one slight after another, and is just totally done. There is a passion, a sense of betrayal, a righteous anger in every single movement and in every muffled sound. Then, it’s back into the room with both doctors, where Dr. Al reaches for one last defensive blow. Tense, stubborn, determined, she reminds Robby he “didn’t rat out Langdon for stealing f**king drugs.” But that doesn’t work either. Robby reminds her, he “kicked him out of this department until he got the appropriate help that he needs.”

And that’s where it sinks in—that’s where the fight goes out of Al-Hashimi. Moafi pauses in betrayed horror, eyes scanning rapidly back and forth as Dr. Al searches for something, anything, to say…but there isn’t anything. So, the last we see of her in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15, she’s on her way home. She’s in her car, nervous, agitated, chewing on those nails. She makes her decision, shaking her head “no” to try to clear Robby’s warnings about driving out of her head. As we see, she doesn’t get far. When she stops, everything about the grief Moafi portrays here is as raw and real as it gets.

This is giving in. Breaking down in silence, alone, shoulders and upper chest jerking from the power of her sobs as she covers her eyes, mouth twisted in that ugly sort of expression—these are all things that absolutely hurt to witness. And yet, it all adds up to a depth of emotion, and of a certain recognizable emotion, that’s as honest as it is heartbreaking, as truthful as it is terrible. When you thought this thing that has ruined your whole life was finally under control, only to have everything come crashing down around you, that’s what it feels like. You try to fight against it, work around it, keep doing the things you loved doing…and it just beats you. It’s scary, it’s upsetting, it’s unfair, and it’s all too common that the people experiencing it do so alone.

Dr. Al-Hashimi is right to give Robby hell for how he’s treated her all day, for his refusal to turn his department over to anyone because he thinks it’s his and no one else’s. She’s probably also correct that she’d be fine 90% (or more) of the time, especially with a second attending on shift. There’s ableism in medicine, in this world, maybe even in how Robby won’t even entertain the thought of letting Dr. Al try things her way. But patients’ lives are at stake. The harsh reality is, the risk is too great. And when Dr. Al doesn’t have someone else to defend herself to, she can’t lie to herself anymore.

Of all the things The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 does so well, maybe showing what Dr. Al asking Dr. Robby for a second opinion costs her—and what he sees it costing her, even if he doesn’t see that final breakdown—might be the best executed of all. What happens when the healthcare system’s failure isn’t about systemic societal issues, but about medicine simply not having the cure for a brilliant physician’s own condition? Also, how does someone who’s fighting their own demons, unable to see a way out, find the right answer to a complicated moral dilemma knowing how it will affect someone the job hasn’t yet destroyed? Those questions don’t even begin to tap into the many things we can think about, thanks to this specific plot point. And yet, they’re absolutely fascinating.

Furthermore, possibly most importantly, it’s all too easy to feel for Dr. Al—without her being set up as someone to pity. She’s smart; she holds her own. At times, it’s been difficult to read her; at others, she’s maybe even been a little bit too organized, or too by the book. And yet, at the end of the day, she’s the hero we can root for without feeling the need to call out bad behavior, all, “but also, this was way out of line.” Here’s hoping she does get to come back after getting some help.

MORE: We weren’t fans of Dr. Al-Hashimi’s AI demonstration

“I’m trying to be your friend”

Before Robby leaves for his trip, one last friend tries to reach out to him and let him know he has a place—and people—that need him to come back. Dr. Abbot is the perfect one to save for last. For one thing, he knows what it is to at least contemplate what the end might look like. It was Robby who found him on the roof in the series premiere and, with just the right touch of gallows humor, talked him down before he even really needed it. These two understand each other and the job in a way that, for as close as Robby is to people like Dana and Duke, no one else can. Also of note, back in that very first episode, it’s Robby who brought up “suicidal tendencies” as one of this job’s many gifts to those who do it.

Another reason Abbot counts as saving the best for last? He doesn’t like worrying about things, so if he tells you he’s worried, he’s really, truly worried. It’s dire. This is it. Our last shot at getting through.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 features Shawn Hatosy and Noah Wyle both at their absolute best, as Robby does his usual—avoidance, lashing out, struggling against his own emotions and failing before our very eyes—and Abbot tries so hard to keep things as loose as ever but just…can’t. Even from the very start, as Robby tries to blow him off, he can’t manage to keep that waver out of his voice. He doesn’t back down, though, as Hatosy seamlessly switches from that more relaxed posture to almost soldier-like rigidity. The blocking here, these two actors so unbearably close to each other so that Wyle can’t turn back in the direction Robby needs to go without his scene partner standing in his way, is really effective, too.

That’s just the beginning. There’s the ambulance bay. It takes Robby trying to pass Dana’s concern about him off as just her having her “own issues” for Abbot to start raising his voice. When Abbot points out what he’s doing (“sounds like projection”) there, a totally exasperated Robby just goes off about his friend “trying to have this f***ing conversation” with him—and Wyle holds his fists up, in a defensive position, as if he’s trying to hold off blows. Hopefully, this goes without saying, but just in case: He’s been taking an emotional beating for as long as he can remember. Abbot pointing out what it’s done to him, trying to get him help to heal the damage, makes the pain he’s tried to avoid real.

…saved by the “wild birth” patient. Yet another casualty of science denial and disinformation. Robby, Abbot, and their fellow healthcare workers actually being able to save two lives—despite a very scary several moments in which the mother goes into cardiac arrest—reminds our protagonist he does have a purpose. His relief after the fact is one of the rare times we see him really, truly pleased this season. And it’s also what gets him moving toward actually going on sabbatical.

Afterwards, and after Robby has started to say his goodbyes, Abbot gets one more chance to help. He bears his soul here, with some beautifully-written dialogue that Hatosy delivers in a way that’s equally passionate, desperate to get the other man to listen, and somehow…just simple. The calm within the storm. When Abbot mentions his wife dying, he fidgets with his ring; when he mentions how “unbearable” life can be, he actually plays a man who’s giving up—has given up—because he literally can’t bear it. There’s so much emotion when he mentions “that woman today,” and all the while, Robby is just there…quietly taking it all in, fully present, wearing that heart that aches and bleeds right on his sleeve.

Wyle brings so much soul to Robby’s words about how the job is breaking his soul, and after a little bit more back and forth—not a word, not a breath, not a change in expression of which is wasted from either actor—he takes that pause before Robby asks his friend, “am I F—ed up?” He’s finally ready to hear it. Abbot tells it to him straight. It’s a pitch perfect several moments, set apart from a 30-hour journey, that just shows how much someone out there…gets it.

We end as these two guys began when we first met them in Season 1: The tension breaks, with some classic gallows humor. And so it goes.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 leaves Dr. Robby’s story very much unfinished and in a very, very sad place. He pours his heart out to Baby Jane Doe. As he does so in the still, dark room, we learn a lot more about just how far back his own dark period goes. There’s no quick, simple fix.

Leaving Robby on such a fragile note is smart. A person doesn’t just become less depressed all at once, after a single day—even with the series of people, up to and including Langdon as he’s on his way out the door, who see what’s going on and want to prevent the worst from happening. At the very least, Robby’s not lucking out with the only person who sees him fully break down keeping it a secret for him like on PittFest day. Here, so very many people who know him, love him—even those who can’t stand him from time—have watched a man drowning, refusing a life raft, as they just keep trying to toss him one.

It will be interesting to see what this series does about that after a break for what should be a three-month sabbatical…but everyone has been saying all season wouldn’t last even half of that.

MORE: Our overall thoughts on The Pitt Season 2.

And now, the happy endings

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 isn’t only a strong season finale for its more devastating parts. Although Dr. Whitaker never finds the brand new doctor ID badge he managed to lose within hours of receiving it, we see how really, honestly happy he is as he drives off with Amy and her baby to go help out on the farm. (“Ready to get funky, indeed”.) Speaking of Whitaker, the moment when student doctor Javadi throws her arms around him and calls him a genius because he’s helped her figure out what was right there in front of her (on her TikTok) all along…wow. Such a great moment for Shabana Azeez—and an even better one for a character who’s been so unsure of where she fits.

Langdon and Mel have another one of those touching talks that only Langdon and Mel can have. Here, after they both acknowledge how rough the day has been, she shows such warm, genuine pride and joy for her friend’s impressive save with the closed cervical reduction. Honestly, if we could all bottle the magic that is Taylor Dearden’s portrayal of Mel in her brightest moments and replicate it, we might be able to heal the world.

That, of course, brings us to the real grand finale: Santos and Mel?! The pairing I never, ever knew I needed. But now, I don’t know how we could ever survive this series without them! An overly-exhausted Santos is just, like, done charting and extends the invitation to the one person most people have overlooked and isolated most. So, already a huge win for me. But them actually doing karaoke, there at the end? It’s such a delight. And as a person who focuses on movement because of my dance training, I can’t begin to express enough how much I adore the absolutely genius contrast between what Dearden does there at the end—Mel having a wild abandon all her own, not quite on beat but who cares—and Isa Briones’ fantastic embodiment of that Alanis attitude.

They’re both letting it all out, letting their hair down (literally for Mel)—Briones showing us how covering this song is done—and just…living. After a horrible day, it’s those moments, and those people—however oddly matched and unlikely—who remind us that, as Abbot said as part of his plea to Robby, life may be all the unbearable and ugly things. “But it’s also beautiful…and hilarious.”

This is another one of those “nothing is going to be magically fixed in a day” situations, and I’m not delusional enough to believe that Santos and Mel are going to be BFFs without Santos going back to being, eh, Santos about it. But at least there’s hope. With so much hopelessness in this hour, at least there’s that. On such a serious, soul-crushing series, let’s all take the silly, fun stuff where we can get it.

MORE: Here are some of the moments that made us love the characters on The Pitt.

More The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15 reactions

That scene where Dr. Langdon has to give his sample…wow. Every single shot, every single awkward, self-conscious attempt Langdon makes to try to make the whole thing less awkward and invasive, just makes it feel so real. My skin actually crawled a little bit, as if I was the one in that uncomfortable situation.
Dana’s little smile trying to get Robby to take Baby Jane Doe, as if that wouldn’t be a disaster…
“Don’t look at meeeeeee.”
Lovely little exchange, too, where Dana and Robby still aren’t them yet…but nearly get there by the end. They can’t actually fight it out because the baby’s there, but Katherine LaNasa and Noah Wyle bring a certain combative energy to the scene—right up until they’re just fun.
“Screw you!” “In front of the baby? Nice.” Her fond, little grin.
“We are the night crawlers; we deal with the weirdest and the wildest because…” “We are the weirdest and the wildest of them all.” “That is right, and tonight, they are reallllly gonna be crawling. Now, go get some!” “Hooah!” I love them.
Briones has been in the background a bit more this season than I feel like she was in Season 1 (likely because the whole surgery she’s mentioned in some interviews?), but man, does she know how to steal a scene. Santos’ reaction to the night shift cheer, that little jump in her seat to wake up, the just…”tired of this sh—” heaviness throughout the hour…so good.
“Sorry to wake you.” “I was thinking.” That slowwww, tired speech!
“Everyone’s gonna be fine without me.” This is usually an ok thing for a mentally healthy person to think—you’re not the center of the universe! But where Robby is mentally…no.
Abbot will not let this man get away from him and rest. (Good.)
“Ooh. Now you’re a shrink?” That one hand he’s holding out and down to try to get this to stop! (And the tone.)
Thank you, The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15, for highlighting preeclampsia. More people should know about this.
“What are you talking about? You’re gonna be a great doctor.” Nothing but respect for our effin’ Huckleberry.
The side-eye.
“I mean, look, no offense, but look at what this place does to you. Langdon’s an addict.” “…is a person with a substance use disorder.” (Good boy.) “McKay was on house arrest. Dana’s a time bomb. Santos is one of the angriest people you are ever going to meet.” “Sarcastic, yes. Cynical, definitely. I don’t know if she’s, you know—“ “Mel? Samira has no life. Abbot’s an adrenaline junkie who gets shot at for fun. Robby’s got, like…PTSD or something way f—ng worse.” That’s it, friends; that’s the show.
But can we talk about how she just says “Mel?” and just…that speaks for itself? We really do need to have a conversation about healthcare workers not being respectful of neurodivergent folks. Period.
Also, also: Azeez’s tone and those increasingly-judgmental looks. The whole bit is brilliant. Javadi is reading the sh** out of this place. And then, the way she makes a show of that grin after Whitaker says he hates to know what she thinks of him? Oh, golden.
“Well, it’s a wild pregnancy. So, that means no medical care.” “Ok. Then, why are you here?” I cracked up. Because, really, it’s always “I know better than medical professionals” with people like this—and turmeric lady, and the measles kid’s parents—until it gets to a point where they’re about to drop dead, huh. If people choose to make the choice to roll back their options for care to the olden days that they want to romanticize, so be it. But…there are consequences.
“OkByeMel!” Amazing.
Poor Mel, though. She tries—she tries so hard. But this hurts…and she worries.
Duke continues to cut right through robby’s BS. Wyle plays the “self-conscious little kid who’s trying to lie and failing” sort of reaction here very well. And that looong look as he considers before the “I’ll think about it” is, uh, a lot.
“What was his chief complaint?” “Hemorrhoids and constipation.” “No sh—.” “…hence the constipation.” That laugh! “Throw me a slow one, I’m gonna hit it.” I LOVE YOU, DANA.
(The Pitt is a very serious dramatic series!)
See how Abbot’s trying to meet this lady where she is and mention a midwife or a birth doula? Literally, anyone who’s trained! …but no.
“Women have been having children on their own for thousands of years.” “Yeah, with an infant mortality rate of 30% for most of those thousands of years.”
“This dude dead?” “…nope.” Night shift forever, y’all. They’re the best.
Ayesha Harris and Ken Kirby just selling that humor and hamming up for the camera, too.
“Yeah. I was supposed to see them with Becca, but she is at her boyfriend Adam’s family’s house instead.” Really well done from Dearden with that disappointment and frustration. Mel’s fighting to force all those feelings to stay down. She almost succeeds there, just not quite fully.
The camera capturing both Mel and Langdon in profile adds how…careful and sensitive these people are, too. Neither one can fully be too much right now, or the other will run. And they get it. But ohhh, when Mel makes the effort to look at Langdon directly, what a moment.
“I don’t need any kids—I need to find a job first.” Ganesh’s voice here…so rough. This poor doctor has been wrung out. Chewed up and spit out by this place. Awful.
Deserves better!
“What about Sleeping Beauty over here?” “She’s already babysitting Whitaker.” A full-time job all on its own! Let Trinity Santos take her nap!
Robby can actually just hear these muffled voices and singles Javadi’s out more clearly. Wow. Sound on point.
Poor Victoria, thinking she’s getting another lecture and just rushing to defend herself. But at least Robby supports her! Unlike Mohan…
“I think they’re great.” “Really good.” Stunning from Azeez here. Javadi’s totally shocked and moved.
“I think that you can do anything that you put your mind to, Victoria.” The Robby who stands up for Victoria Javadi is the one we deserve. But the one who treats Mohan like dirt…no.
When your attending doesn’t understand the universal “don’t bother me” symbol of wearing headphones, you give him that look.
“Al-Hashimi?” “With how this day’s going, she probably quit.”
Snorted at that glove snap to wake up a very disgruntled Santos, I sure did. She brings out the obnoxious older brother in Robby, which would be great if he wasn’t the boss. Eh. Somehow, it’s actually, in fact, still great. A blast, even.
“She’s sensitive.” Thank you for figuring out what Langdon recognized on Mel’s first day here.
“Mel-feasance.”
I can’t explain how much I love every second of this. Those awkward “what now” looks Dearden and Briones kind of share? Mel’s pleased surprise at being invited? Santos kinda…recognizing how alone and sad Mel is? And her even, actually, noticing the panic after her dark humor doesn’t land and shutting it down? Growth.
“What I do is more like primal scream therapy. There’s nothing like getting wasted and just absolutely wailing to shake off a s**t show like today.”
“Well, it’s on somebody. It’s not bad enough these poor women go through an assault, plus the indignity of the whole collection process. But nobody from the police department even has the human decency to come get these things? Like nobody there gives a flying F—?!” HER FACE. I’m so glad Dana got to go off on these cops like this. Thank you, The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15, for that. We owe SA survivors so much more.
Wyle’s eyes when Robby’s looking over, desperate for a win with this baby…and the emotion when we get the good news.
“Good. You leaving now?” She is so soft.
Yeah, you jerk, you do have to find Langdon.
When Langdon goes upstairs to check on that early-morning patient he thought he failed, Patrick Ball brings such vulnerability to the scene. I’m so glad that was a good outcome—or, eh, better than most likely ones—and really appreciate that sigh of relief.
“I know that life can be challenging, especially when it doesn’t work out the way you expected.” …and I feel attacked.
“Ok. I see what you did there. Was that true or something you just said to make a point?”
The real star of The Pitt Season 2 Episode 15: Dr. Al’s hair when she lets it down. Gorgeous.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!” So powerful. Just incredible.
“I am not your f**king patient!”
“Oh, ‘my department,’ ‘my patients.’ All you F—ing think about is yourself! Do you hear yourself!” GET HIM. Like, I can have empathy for what he’s going through, but he still needs a good throttling from time to time.
RIP to the bell.
“You want to know why I never killed myself? After what I saw, lived through? Losing my leg, losing my wife? Because it comes for all of us, man. You and I know it more than most. We see it, every shift. But we can’t let ourselves succumb to it. Yes, life can suck. It can be unbearable, and—and brutal, and ugly, and heartbreaking. But it’s also beautiful…and hilarious. And that woman today…her baby, they’d both be in the morgue if you hadn’t been here. That’s us. That’s you and me.”
“The most important things I’ve ever done in my life have been in this hospital. Nothing will ever matter more than what I’ve done in this hospital. But it is killing me. You know how they say that a part of you dies when you lose someone you love? I’m not convinced that a part of you doesn’t die every time you see a fellow human pass. And I’ve seen so many people die that I feel like it’s leeching something from my soul…”
The whole “I’m tired” thing, too…I get it.
“You gotta…find somebody to help you. Dance through the darkness.”
DIGBY.
That well of emotion from Amielynn Abellera is absolutely everything. How do you celebrate this country with things like what happened with ICE during this shift?
Dana holding her tight…my heart.
McKay with her arm around Javadi. ADOPT HER.
“I think you’re afraid to admit that the mighty Dr. Robinavitch. Isn’t perfect.” “Oh, I never claimed to be perfect.” “No. But you expect it of yourself, and it’s not realistic, man. How can any of us live up to your standards if you can’t even do it?” Langdon has come so far, and honestly, the fact that this doesn’t devolve into a screaming match gives me hope for Robby, too.
That super high “yeahhhh, you’re ok.”
“Do you need to be swaddled again? Is that it? I wish somebody would swaddle me. Yes, I do.”
“I got a good feeling that you’re gonna be just fine. Everything’s gonna be just fine. You’ve got so many wonderful things to see and so many people to love ahead of you…so many wonderful things to see, people to love ahead of you.” He finally cries, I’m crying, the baby’s…not crying as much anymore.
Robby’s totally trying to convince himself of this.
Again, doesn’t excuse the bad parts…but man, do I ache for this guy.
Wish for next season: More Noah Wyle with babies, less Robby being in this much pain.
Directed by John Wells. Ah, yes. That explains a lot.
SANTOS AND MEL.
The way they turn to each other on “you, you, you oughta knowwwww.”