‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Episode 10 Recap and Review: “4:00 pm” - It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
If there ever was a reminder that ‘The Pitt’ doesn’t always try to glamorize the high stakes, high pressure world of emergency medicine, this episode cranks the interpersonal tension as high as it can go.
This review of The Pitt contains spoilers.
It is somewhat ironic that only a few short weeks ago, this writer had mentioned how much ‘The Pitt’ is like a family, full of father figures, little siblings and the occasional cool uncle that allegedly does naked yoga at sunrise. Like any family though, that means that even more occasionally, not everyone gets along. You can’t choose your family, and in the case of “4:00pm”, this week’s episode, the show reminds us, you can’t always choose your coworkers either.
“4:00pm” is arguably one of the most tense and biting episodes of television this writer has seen in a long time. Simran Baidwan, the writer of this particular hour should be praised for the reality, as a pressure cooker like an emergency department surely has days where staff are short with patients, their loved ones, or even their fellow doctors, and we get that in spades in this particular episode. We, as an audience would like to think that the staff, and conversely, the characters will always be there for one another, even when the going gets tough, but that would never be realistic, however, this writer does question if everything would happen in one day as it was portrayed in this episode. Personally, it’s easier to watch a show where the audience knows that this emergency department is built on a layer of strong bedrock, one of respect and trust. Then again, the show has never shied away from challenging viewers, and the particular challenge of this episode is knowing there are at times massive rifts between the staff.
The first crack in the otherwise steady foundation the characters of The Pitt was once again shown between Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) and Dr Langdon (Patrick Ball) as the helicopter is bringing two incoming severe injuries. Robby decides to once again (literally) overlook Langdon and his help to go with no one’s favorite this season, Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson). While we’re now two-thirds of the way through this season, this particular storyline needs to be aired out, and perhaps this episode is serving as warning that this has been boiling under the surface this entire shift, and that something needs to happen in the final five episodes for there to be any kind of understanding between Robby and Langdon, at least for the audience’s sake.
As a fan of Langdon, it’s been a very realistic thread that he wasn’t welcomed with open arms by anyone, but for the sake of dramatic ease, it does feel like certain conversations are long overdue. Robby and Langdon had a brief moment where Robby revealed he’s not sure if Langdon should be employed within The Pitt anymore, but since then, it’s been back to Robby continuing to be less than understanding.
Robby isn’t the only one either, as Santos (Isa Briones) has given Langdon more than enough attitude since his return, and has played the victim for far too long. Santos is one of the most layered characters within the show, and her depths remain some of the writing’s best dramatic irony, where the audience is often privy to her softer side, or her more protective side, especially when it comes to children (or Whitaker, played by Gerran Howell). She can be an extremely empathetic character which in turn is refreshing from her hardened, sarcastic and abrasive shell she puts forward, but this writer has personally had enough of her blaming Langdon for some ill-conceived pariah complex. Santos does get a dose of reality in a conversation with her casual-triste, Garcia (Alexandra Metz), who notices how unprofessional Santos is towards Langdon. Langdon, rather purposefully, has been made to be a saint this season, as he puts up with every bit of attitude and doubt that is thrown at him with grace and patience. Garcia reflects how this writer feels, letting Santos know she is far from a victim here, and that Langdon, as much as he has messed up, has taken steps to get clean, and atone for what he has done. It’s arguably time that more people simply say what is on their minds, although that wouldn’t play as well for the sake of dramatic tension.
Yet it is a bit of a strange episode where all this tension comes at the audience all at once. Javadi (Shabana Azeez), who already was on the receiving end of a Garcia tirade now gets even more guilt and frustration from her mother, Dr. Shamsi (Deepti Gupta). It would be best that this storyline remained dormant in this writer’s eyes, as it was seemingly a complete arc last season when Javadi finally stood up to her mother during what was the most tension-filled episode of that season. That felt like a natural conclusion with Shamsi respecting her daughter a little bit more, but here we are again.
It felt like it was perhaps a bit of a recurring theme, as Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) can’t face her mother either, nor the incessant phone calls that come her way to the point where her panic attack feels like a heart attack. After his initial concern, Robby once again, who was in fine jack-ass form, finds out what the cause is, and that it is ‘simply’ a panic attack, chooses to chew out Mohan, despite Robby’s infamous mental health attack last season. This is a character who has the mother of all surrogate-parental issues, pun-intended, and yet he showed no understanding towards Mohan at all.
It may be an interesting ploy from the writing team of the show to create a tug-of-war between Robby and Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) for the audience’s allegiance. Undoubtedly, the fictional characters are torn between two attending doctors, who thus far, could not have more drastically different approaches on how to run The Pitt. Moafi has been an excellent addition to the cast, and while all the new characters this season have been interesting, she seems to be the one with the most layers, a testament to Moafi’s craft. As mentioned, this writer has hated the way most people are dealing with Langdon and his return, but Al-Hashimi’s empathy towards her staff members has been a welcomed change.
This might also be the perfect time to mention that for the first time in 25 episodes of this amazing show, a character was introduced that didn’t feel like he belonged. We’ve seen some new faces in the Pitt this season, simply for walk on parts or one line here and there, and so far characters like Olive (Kassie Thornton) or this week’s Vivi (Dominque Star) have fit seamlessly, as if they were there all along. Enter Dr. Park, and yes, that is in fact baby Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno Jr. who plays the role. Park, better known as “Park the Shark” comes in to examine a severed leg and devise whether reattachment is viable, and pretty much for no other reason other than to be a jerk. With his slicked back hair, as if he literally dove out of the depths of the darkest part of the ocean and accompanying attitude, the character felt cartoonish, or more of a caricature than character. For what was essentially a walk on, 30 second part, he served no other purpose than to establish what we already know - surgeons are asshats with god-complexes. It was more anger heaped upon an already tense episode, and at this point, the entire episode truly gave an uneasy feeling due to all the tension.
One more interesting tidbit of tension came when Ogilvie checked on Austin Green (Johnny Sneed), his patient who won’t let anyone forget that a public school teacher can be as pretentious as any ‘shark’. While his story seems far from over, it was a chance for Ogilvie to reiterate what he had mentioned to Robby, that he’s beginning to question if emergency medicine is in fact his calling. In the meantime, he hands Green a copy of “Notes of a Native Son” which is a collection of essays written by the great James Baldwin. This writer did find it ironic however that they specifically chose that collection of essays, as it deals with social injustice, and the complexities of race and identity. Could it have been merely a reflection that Ogilvie has yet to find his identity? Perhaps.
But remember that his show, as much as this writer praises it week after week, chose to not bring back one of its most beloved characters from the first season, a character who also happened to be the only predominant black woman in the cast in Tracy Ifeachor. To this writer, choosing a Baldwin work seemed almost like an empty gesture compared to where they actually stand in supporting certain individuals, despite having an otherwise spotless reputation for having a diverse and inclusive cast. Was that a specific choice by Baidwan? Was it a bit of an oversight? Was it a major oversight considering the interesting situation in not bringing Ifeachor back?
…Or perhaps this writer is a little too tense, himself.