'The Pitt' Season 2 Episode 6 Recap and Review: "12:00 pm" - Nursing the Show to New Life
As we reach high noon on this season of ‘The Pitt’ and the sun is directly overhead, the light is shone upon the unsung heroes of the Emergency Department.
This review of The Pitt contains spoilers.
It goes without saying that this writer did not grow up watching shows like ‘The Pitt’. Granted, my parents would have ‘ER’ playing and I would often watch it with them, unaware of the truly gifted nature of the troupe of actors, or just how brilliant the storytelling was. No, Star Trek: The Next Generation was much more my speed. Granted, that is lightyears away from anything even remotely close to the subject matter of The Pitt, yet both shows have reached me at different times of my life for arguably the same reasons; they give audiences simple, compelling storytelling with a crew of characters that despite the ‘alien’ adventures they are a part of, seem relatable and real.
The reason the subject of TNG was broached is any fan will tell you that one of the most compelling episodes was one in the final season entitled “Lower Decks” - an episode so brilliant it later inspired an entire animated Star Trek spinoff that just ended its run in 2025.
The episode focussed on a group of junior officers who keep the ship in tip-top shape, and those who are worried about a different kind of politics and relationship than the command team we usually follow and know so well. It was a fascinating look at a handful of new characters and how they are the unsung heroes of this fictional universe. “12:00 pm” of this second season is The Pitt’s “Lower Decks”, which perhaps is a generalization, but not an unfair one, as we really get to follow the unsung heroes of The Pitt. The nurses.
It wasn’t until approximately 10-15 minutes into the episode that one begins to realize the camera isn’t following our favorite doctors. Instead, the kinetic game of cinematographic tag jumps brilliantly to give the nurses their due, and give their perspective on the storylines that carried over from last week. Most notably, the beloved Louie (Ernest Harden Jr.) sadly passed away after complications from liver failure. It was a death that could have been avoided, which perhaps makes it that much more tragic, but the episode dealt with it as a way to bring the cast together, and show how bonded our nurses are. While the A-story revolved around Louie’s death, it was used to uncover a little more of the mentor-mentee relationship between Dana (Katherine LaNasa) and newcomer Emma (Laëtitia Hollard). Dana has been an irresistible force within both seasons of The Pitt, as her duality is deftly brought to life as a soft-spoken mother figure who can Hulk out with the best of them and set up some much needed walls in order to survive what is arguably one of the toughest jobs out there.
Those walls seem to scare Emma, and in fact, within a conversation with Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball), Emma admits as much. Hollard has been such a welcomed addition to the cast because her energy is dichotomous when compared to Dana’s, and that December-May friendship has been one of the most intriguing story threads of this second season. You can see how Dana perhaps started as a fresh-faced optimist, much like Emma. One who merely wanted to help people, and you still see that often from Dana and the beautiful soul LaNasa has infused into the character. The scenes in this episode between the two as they treat Louie post-mortem are certainly enough to remind any viewer why LaNasa took home an Emmy for her work in the first season. She delivers her lines, which under a weaker performer could be seen as exposition or soapbox preaching about the state of healthcare are delivered with such sardonic realiness, that even the line “I’m not accepting admin’s blood pastries” makes a serious problem like understaffing seem true.
One actor that is finally getting his recognition as well, who has been utterly enjoyable this season, has been Brandon Mendez Homer as ‘Donnie Donahue’, a nurse who sounds as if he were named by 60s era Stan Lee as the next great superhero. But in fact, Mendez Homer has been an absolute hero in these half dozen episodes, as the character has been given a lot more deserved screentime. Donnie is a new father, and as sleep deprived as he is, he seems to be one of the most consistently optimistic, funny and soulful characters. His on screen bromance with Langdon this season has already produced just as many beautiful moments talking about fatherhood and life as a young man in today’s world.
Donnie’s storyline this episode is perhaps the most obvious moment from the writers where they clearly wanted to point the spotlight at the character and the solid actor who portrays them, but one can forgive the rather transparent attempt at hero worship because, as mentioned, Donnie is an aptly named superhero. This episode features a moment where he humbles even the most un-humbleable of student doctors in Ogilve (Lucas Iverson) as Donnie, (who has trained to be a medical provider at this point), shows the new kids how to sew up a patient with the deft touch of any (overpaid) surgeon, for a portion of the price. There was a touching moment where the new father reveals what his wrist tattoos mean to Joy (Irene Choi) which represents both the show and the real life balance medical workers must go through all the time. One small, initialed tattoo represents “Death and Chaos” and the other “Miracles and Blessings”, recognizing last season’s mass casualty event, and more recently, the birth of Donnie’s daughter.
Balance has always been key in The Pitt, both within the fictional world and what the show chooses to portray. Earlier, Ogilve, who seems to be merely an overanxious teacher’s pet at times, was shockingly callous towards Louie’s death. It’s been a careful balance of the writers not to have Joy or Ogilve leave too much of a bad taste in your mouth for too long, otherwise you would dismiss the new characters immediately. Ogilve’s outburst was the second time the new medical students have remained completely cold towards the life of a patient as Joy laid a foundation of sardonic heartlessness early in the season as well. Ogilve’s rude comments about Louie really affect Perlah (Amielynn Abellera) who rightfully swears at him in Tagalog. Here’s hoping that like the Farsi he learned because of his Persian friends, he’s learned enough from his Filipino friends to understand what she said.
Perlah and Princess (Kristin Villanueva) have been highlights throughout the show’s run as well, and while they often provide some gossip and comedic relief, the two actors really showed tremendous depth and tenderness in their performance this episode.
The technical aspect of the show was adroitly choreographed as well, and while it may not win any major awards, director Noah Wyle, adding another hat to his Pitt resume brilliantly shot the beginning of the episode utilizing the nurse characters as key pieces. Often the shot lingered longer on those characters, or shot over their shoulder to subtly indicate whose story we’re following this episode. The writers also used some creative balance to center the perspective of the episode. Often the side conversations about life, sometimes the lighter aspects of the episode would be directed at a nurse, not the easy choice of shifting the focus to a doctor or a patient.
This was an episode that seemed perhaps the most ‘episodic’ as it is more self-contained than most. The development however came in the side conversations, and it will be intriguing to see how things play out. We discovered a little more about Langdon’s recovery, we got a much needed update on Dana’s assault last season, there was tension between Santos (Isa Briones) and Garcia (Alexandra Metz) just barely after we discovered they have in fact been seeing each other. Let’s hope it isn’t conducive to an earlier writing faux pas, as they did with Collins’ (Tracy Ifeachor) fate, merely writing a one-line, exposition latent explanation to merely satiate curiosity rather than develop characters.
Luckily it was balanced with some true development. We got to see Nurse Kim (Ambar Martinez) a little bit more, after it was worrisome how little we’ve seen of her this season. Kim was almost literally an unspoken hero of this writer last season, and hopefully we see much more of her. Jesse (Ned Brower) , a real-life trained nurse, got some backstory for the first time, and we learned that Princess can sign on top of the six languages she knows. Perhaps the most notable tangent of development came between the relationship of Robby (Wylie) and Whitaker (Gerran Howell), as Whitaker seems to have replaced Langdon as Robby’s favorite, and their bond has been something special since the climax of last season.
This is an episode of relationships though, and utilizing the nurse characters to show how these places of healing thrive and survive was a brilliant touch. For a season that claims it is all about healing (not so much in the literal but spiritual sense) it seemed like a balm for the soul, focusing on kinship and unsung, hard working people who make our life special.