The Pitt Season 2: Hell Is an ER
by Jasmine Edwards
How does a stellar breakout television series top its groundbreaking first season? Unfortunately, it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean The Pitt Season 2 is bad; it simply stumbles more than expected. With a lot less momentum than Season 1, Season 2 is less compelling episode to episode. Perhaps the weekly release schedule is to blame, especially when I watched Season 1 in about a day. Yet with a focus on mental health, tense character dynamics, and realistic political atmospheres in a medical setting, The Pitt retains the allure and appeal which previously skyrocketed this HBO series to pop culture stardom.
The everyday horrors persist in this Pittsburgh emergency department. Season 2’s slower pace does not make it any less unrelenting in its plot decisions. Set on the Fourth of July, this season of The Pitt expertly straddles all the comedy and tragedy that comes from taking care of people during a holiday weekend. The series is an emotional rollercoaster that propels viewers through joy and heartbreak alike, jerking us from an awe-inspiring save to an utterly brutal death, then back toward a background visual gag. Where a lesser series may seem disjointed, The Pitt makes this bumpy ride work. After all, according to many healthcare workers, it is incredibly accurate to their own day-to-day experiences and emotions.
It’s unlikely, however, that their day-to-day is so . . . preachy. While I previously praised Season 1 for its lack of melodrama, Season 2 veers a little too hard toward hand-holding. In its attempt to cover a variety of topics, it inserts clunky dialogue and underwhelming guest actors who regurgitate online therapy speak or internet phrases that can be easily recognized, digested, and moralized. In doing so, it joins a collection of television series so afraid of offending or confusing their core audience that it takes very few truly impressive risks—calculated or otherwise. I miss when writing could be fundamentally divisive, because it demands something smarter, too. It demands something better than fanservice and low-hanging fruit to impress said fans.
Although easy to relate to, there is still a vital lesson in The Pitt Season 2 resonating from Season 1: It matters who we connect to and how we reaffirm those connections daily. In Season 2, both people and patients slip through the cracks—of society as well as our screen. Sadly, Season 2 sidelines many of its female characters in favor of male storylines, somehow fridging the women via onscreen writing decisions instead of offscreen murders.
While their scenes are interesting, they are too brief, and the most impactful moments rest squarely on the shoulders of Doctors Robby, Langdon, and Abbot. Even when Nurse Dana is leading the charge, it is in conflict with Robby or as his “mom friend.” Like many other TV shows, women are vehicles. It is disappointing, to say the least, of a series which touts otherwise liberal and leftist concepts.
There is a potential for course correction. With an emotionally laden and stress-inducing finale, The Pitt Season 2 bursts and then fizzles out like a firecracker. We are left wondering at quite a few characters’ fates. The fact that I still very much care about their health and happiness means the show still has me hooked. But I’d like a little more from and for the women when Season 3 premieres, or The Pitt may just lose me.