In The Pitt, Season 2, episode 11, Roxie finally died. Since it was such an emotional moment, it would have been great if McKay, Victoria, Lena, and everyone else who had worked on that case got to mourn. That had been rendered impossible by the digital blackout anyway, but then ICE arrived with Pranita, an alleged undocumented immigrant they had injured while nabbing her. Given how this federal law enforcement agency has become associated with racial profiling and illegal arrests, both patients and staff with an immigrant background began leaving the PTMC, causing every department to get angry. Robby tried to fast-track Pranita’s case so that he could get ICE to leave the building and make everyone feel safe again. However, the ICE officers managed to muck that up as well by disallowing Jesse from putting a sling on Pranita, and when Jesse insisted that the officers let him do his job, they arrested him and took him away to an ICE detention center! Amidst all this chaos, Baran managed to save a suicidal mother, who thought that she deserved to die because she couldn’t keep an eye on her son and nearly killed him. Santos and Langdon finally had the argument that the show had been building up to. Ogilvie almost got Green killed because he didn’t examine him properly and cut some corners. During the concluding moments of the 11th hour of the shift, Emma found herself in a sticky situation as Curtis, the alcoholic golfer, suddenly woke up and put her in a chokehold. What happened next? Let’s talk about episode 12 to find out.
Spoiler Alert
Dana Saves Emma
The 12th hour of this shift of Season 2, starts off with Dana rushing to save Emma from the clutches of Curtis. As Robby is informing Donnie about Jesse’s possible status, he gets word of what’s going on with Emma. By the time he gets to Curtis’ room, the patient is on the floor with a bloody nose, and Emma is out of the chokehold. Dana claims that Curtis slipped and fell as she was trying to sedate him, but Robby (and everyone watching this show) knows what the truth is (Dana punched Curtis in the face to get him to let go of Emma). Robby tries to distance Dana from the case as well as Emma, but she refuses to leave Emma’s side until she’s feeling alright. While Curtis is taken away for his CT, Robby suggests to Emma that she get a full-body checkup, just to make sure that the patient didn’t harm her seriously. Dana tells McKay to perform that task, and she gladly comes to Emma’s aid. In the meantime, Robby grills Dana to get her to tell the truth about what she has done to Curtis, or at least admit that she’s not in the correct frame of mind to lead the charge during this shift or any future shifts. Dana walks away from this conversation and goes to the loo to let off some steam.
Emma Is Not A Quitter
Robby tries to continue their conversation about her actions, and he makes a comment about how she isn’t being as professional as she usually is. Dana, with Robby’s permission, takes off the kiddie gloves and delivers a verbal gut punch by telling Robby he thinks that everyone around him is acting weird because he himself is the one who is being weird. She says that Robby’s “I am feeling suicidal because of the nature of this job” shtick has gotten to his head and he thinks that everyone should treat him like a martyr for not killing himself and for doing his job properly. And due to this level of ignorance, Robby refuses to see that his whole staff is on the brink of ending things because of the stress they are dealing with. So, yeah, Robby should put a lid on that nonsensical behavior before judging others. Since more cases start coming in, Robby is unable to give Dana a reply, and Dana uses that opportunity to recompose herself. After finishing Emma’s assessment, McKay says that she’s doing fine, but Dana advises Emma to call it a day and rest up before the next shift. However, Emma says that she isn’t a quitter, and she won’t leave until the shift is officially over, which is something that really impresses Dana.
Baran Learns About The Reason Behind Santos And Langdon’s Beef
Langdon, Mel, and Baran check in on Brenda, and they assure her that Micah is doing just fine and that she shouldn’t take such extreme steps to punish herself for what can be considered an honest mistake. Baran informs Langdon and Mel that the kid’s father is in the building and is with the kid upstairs; given how he has not come down to check on his wife, Langdon casts some aspersions on his character, but Baran says that it’s possible the man is just panicking and wants to make sure that his kid is alright first (and he’ll get to Brenda eventually). Baran then drags Robby into the stairwell for a conversation on the proper functioning of the ER. She says that they need 2 attendings (instead of 1) at all times, and she is worried about the dynamics between the staff, especially Langdon and Santos. She is shocked to learn that Langdon is technically a criminal, and as Robby senses that Baran wants him out of there, he actually defends Langdon by saying that he’s one of the best doctors and he shouldn’t pay for one mistake for the rest of his life. As for the ER’s future, Robby makes a pretty harsh statement about how it’s been running alright so far with one attending; so if anything goes wrong while he’s not there, it’ll be Baran’s fault. Interestingly enough, Robby never waits to hear what the other side has to say after making such a remark; he just storms off. And I am glad to report that by the end of this hour of the shift, Robby gets a taste of his own medicine. However, I am getting ahead of myself.
Santos Is Offended That Whitaker Is Moving Out
Robby, along with McKay, Joy, and Santos, tends to Dante, who has been severely injured due to a fireworks explosion in a storage unit. Garcia arrives too to help Joy with sealing the gaping wound on Dante’s skull. While they are doing all that, Robby tells Santos that Whitaker is moving into his house; Santos doesn’t know what to do with that information, so she focuses on Dante. The more Dante talks about his accident, the more anxious Robby gets, because he probably thinks that that’s going to be his fate if he goes on his sabbatical. Robby takes some time off to chat with Duke, but Joy informs him that Dante’s condition has worsened because of some blood pooling inside his chest. He immediately rushes to the trauma room and works with Santos, Joy, Mateo (yeah, he’s here), and Garcia to bring Dante back from the brink. Once that’s done, Santos bids goodbye to Robby and begins working on her charting so that she actually leaves when her shift is over. Also, it looks like she wants to cut herself before dealing with her charts because she’s addicted to that pain. That train of thought is thankfully derailed by Whitaker as he engages her in a conversation about moving out from her house and moving into Robby’s. That’s when he senses that Santos is actually angry that Whitaker won’t be her roommate anymore, and he tells her that if she just requests him not to move out, he won’t move out. Santos is too egotistical to say that, but I think Whitaker has gotten the hint, and he’ll continue to be Santos’ roommate (so adorable).
Baran Sidelines Langdon
Victoria can be seen trying to upload the video of Jesse’s arrest by those ICE agents onto her social media pages but is failing to do so because of the digital blackout, even though she’s in the ambulance bay, which should be outside the periphery of the blackout. She spots Monica smoking a cigarette, and when she tries to prevent the old-timer from ruining her lungs, they get into an argument about each other’s age and sensitivity. Whitaker enters the ambulance bay to have a chat with Amy, but he has to hang up because a young kid, Mason, rushes into the scene with his father, Oliver, who is having respiratory issues after missing his dialysis. After Victoria and Whitaker take him to one of the trauma rooms, Langdon, Baran, and Robby join them. Baran can judge Robby’s professionalism all she wants, but she turns out to be as petty as him (or maybe his attitude is rubbing off on her) as she starts subtly mistreating Langdon, which must be so confusing for the dude. He had just started to lean on Baran because Robby was playing hardball with him, and it seemed like Baran was treating him based on his merit and not his past. So, to see her acting like Robby all of a sudden must be giving Langdon some heavy whiplash.
Langdon’s Spirit Can’t Be Quashed
Every suggestion that Langdon makes is almost instantly shot down by Baran, as she keeps prioritizing Whitaker and Victoria over the former addict. To make matters worse, Langdon’s suggestions don’t turn out to be as practical as that of Baran’s, thereby allowing her to undermine Langdon without any repercussions. So, even if Robby wants to side with Langdon, he can’t, because, well, Baran is in the right and Langdon is in the wrong. Once Oliver stabilizes, Langdon goes to the hub and gets a breather as he has a little heart-to-heart with McKay, who has received Roxie’s blanket while dealing with an extremely sunburnt Ms. Stevens (she’s hilariously red) and has gotten really emotional. He even checks in on Dana and assures her that she did nothing wrong while dealing with Curtis. It’s nice to see that, despite getting so many lashes, Langdon generates empathy in case anyone else thinks that his “transformation” is just an act (just look at him get excited upon seeing the guys from the Fort Pitt Museum; it’s so sweet). Going back to Oliver, he has stabilized and seems to be recovering, but his case shows that the government’s irresponsible slashing of funds for the country’s health department is leading to the closure of entire hospitals. So, instead of reaching the nearest hospital in a matter of minutes, patients have to be driven around for hours before they can make it to a hospital that’s open. If that’s not proof that the government has stopped caring about its people, I don’t know what will be.
Samira And Mel Deal With Frida And Eddie
Samira, Mel, and Robby take care of an elderly woman, Frida, who has been hit with a car that her husband, Eddie, was driving at an extremely low speed. Samira and Mel start with the checkups as Robby takes off to convince his buddy Duke to sit tight until his turn for his CT arrives. He apologizes for the delay and assures Duke that he won’t leave the building until Duke gets the help that he needs. Going back to Samira and Mel, they spot some heavy bruising around Frida’s hip, and Samira orders a CT. Eddie is worried that he has broken Frida’s hip; even though Mel wants to wait for the CT results, she assures Eddie that all signs point to the fact that Frida hasn’t suffered a fracture. Now, while Frida is being taken to the CT room, Mel and Samira notice something’s off with Eddie, and decide to examine him as well. Eddie keeps saying that he’s fine because he was inside the slow-moving car, but Samira and Mel manage to convince him to partake in a routine check-up (because low-intensity accidents can cause severe damage too). Eventually, the elderly couple’s daughter, Carrie, arrives at the PTMC, and she complains to Samira about how she has tried to get her parents into some kind of elder care home and how they continue to refuse because of ego and financial issues, I suppose. Samira and Mel use their legal expertise to try and do the job that Carrie has been struggling to do for what seems like years by telling Eddie that if Frida’s injury is serious and Eddie’s motor skills are limited, then they’d have no choice but to recommend moving into a home that provides assisted living. Eddie starts getting agitated, so Samira and Mel leave him in Carrie’s capable hands for the time being.
Samira Will Probably Stay At The Pitt
Once Frida’s results arrive, Samira and Mel inform the family that although Frida has only suffered a hairline fracture, at her and Eddie’s age, it means that they need assistance. Carrie echoes Samira and Mel’s sentiments, but Eddie gets angry for the umpteenth time. So, Samira takes an alternative approach and asks Carrie to give her a list of all the medications that Eddie takes. They show it to Megan Nordt, a clinical pharmacist, and after listening to her expert analysis, Samira and Mel approach Robby with their assessment of Eddie and Frida’s case. They say that Eddie’s long list of medicines is the reason why he’s so unstable; so if they stop it and start his medical analysis from scratch, maybe they’ll be able to honor Eddie and Frida’s choice to not go into assisted living and allow Eddie to take care of Frida all by himself. Based on this, Robby advises Samira to choose geriatric care as her elective. Samira doesn’t accept or reject this advice, especially because that’s the same thing that Baran has told her to do; maybe she’s going to think about it a little more and then decide what she wants to do with her career. When Eddie thanks Samira for listening to him, which is something that people rarely do when it comes to old people, I think the scales are tilted in favor of Samira staying in Pittsburgh (instead of going to New Jersey) and choosing geriatric care as her elective.
Dana Gives Robby an Earful
Dana gets the blood results on Curtis and aggressively hands them over to McKay. McKay tries to get Dana to calm down, but she isn’t in the mood to do anything synonymous with “chilling.” She just tells the police officers stationed there to let her know when they’ll be ready to take her statement and storms away. McKay goes to Curtis to give him the lowdown; she tells him that they have found cocaine and alcohol in his system. That explains why he acted so aggressively when Emma approached him. Curtis wonders what’s going to happen to him, and McKay tells him that they’re going to observe him for a few hours. In the meantime, Robby checks in on Dana and, instead of taking a calm and measured approach, begins his “I’m a big, emotional, loud man, and I’m carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders” routine. However, Dana is having none of that. She tells Robby pretty explicitly that he has become arrogant. He thinks that he is the PTMC and the PTMC is him. His sabbatical is probably not his way of refreshing his mind; it’s most likely an attention-seeking move, and he wants everyone in the ER to beg him to not go and tell him that the ER will not function without him. Since nobody is doing that, he is getting annoyed and he is taking his annoyance out on people in all these weird ways. I mean, when Baran tells Robby that he doesn’t follow protocol all the time, he disparages her. When Robby needs to reprimand Dana, then he brings up protocol. So, clearly, adhering to protocol isn’t the problem here; Robby’s self-importance is. And I am really glad that Dana says it is because Robby needed to hear that. Going back to Curtis, McKay informs him that as soon as he is discharged, he’ll need to go with the officers stationed outside to the police station because, firstly, he had cocaine (which is illegal) and secondly, he assaulted a nurse (which is also illegal). This causes Curtis to freak out, and he says that he’s going to sue the hell out of the PTMC; McKay wishes Curtis all the best with that endeavor.
Orlando Is Back
At the hub, Dana tells the day shift staff to focus on their charting so that the night shift doesn’t have any issues taking over all the cases. Baran informs Robby that Westbridge has paid the ransom to the cyber-hackers, which means that the PTMC will hopefully be able to bring their digital blackout to an end. Duke is finally wheeled into the CT by nurse Vivi. McKay says her goodbyes to Robby; she can see that he is probably suicidal and tells him to not look into the void because the void always looks back at you. Joy heads home even though Langdon tells her not to, largely because they are dealing with an unprecedented situation. That doesn’t stop Joy in her tracks, because she is a firm believer that if caregivers don’t take care of their mental health, they won’t be of any help to the patients.
In the ending of episode 12, another case rolls into the ER, and Samira identifies him as Orlando. Yes, the same Orlando that Samira was fighting tooth and nail to keep in the ER until he had stabilized. Orlando literally escaped from the ER because he thought that he wouldn’t be able to bear the expenses. Samira had told her that if he didn’t take care of his health right now, his problems would increase and the amount he’d need to pay then would be even more unaffordable; and I’m not talking about money, I’m talking about paying with one’s life. Anyway, Orlando’s back, and now we know one of the reasons why this 12-hour shift is going to turn into a 15-hour shift (at least for Samira).
