In The Pitt Season 2 episode 8, we saw the PTMC going fully analog. Roxie’s condition continued to worsen, and Robby essentially said that she should be allowed to die on her own terms instead of being forced to live like that. Harlow’s issue was caused by bad posture and not much else. And based on Samira’s work with the elderly, Baran suggested she pursue a career in elder care instead of going for, well, anything else. After an awake nasotracheal intubation, Knox, an overweight patient, was sent to the Presby for his CT, because the PTMC’s CT machine couldn’t handle his weight. Brooke, who was suffering from sudden-onset blindness, decided to risk it all by taking a medication whose chances of taking her out of the trenches were pretty low. Jackson was either suffering from BPD or schizophrenia, and since his parents, especially his father, thought that he could be fixed with some medicine, Caleb brought in Nicole to convince them neither BPD nor schizophrenia was a death knell; it’s treatable. Langdon and Santos worked together on a patient who had almost bitten her tongue off, but it was evident that they still weren’t on good terms. Dana finally got done with Ilana, the sexual-assault victim, and returned to the hub to take care of the chaos caused by the digital blackout. What happened next? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Santos Fights for the Augustins
Episode 9, or Hour 9 opens with Robby, Baran, and Dana addressing any and every query that his staff has regarding handling this chaotic digital blackout scenario. Once most of the questions have been answered, Robby orders Santos and Victoria to assist him in tending to a 12-year-old kid named Jude Augustin who has blown off 2 of his fingers while playing with a firework. What about the other 3? Thankfully, they are functional. Garcia arrives to have a look at the kid, because she’ll be the one to clean up and close the wounds on the affected area. But she can’t do that until she gets parental consent, because Jude is a minor. That’s the least of the complications centered around him, though. Santos smells alcohol on Jude’s breath, which means that the kid was not only being an idiot by playing around with an M-80, but he was also drunk while doing so. We get two other updates during this mess: Billings is still in surgery because of some insurance glitch, and Garcia doesn’t want to “see” Santos anymore because she isn’t all that invested in that relationship. Going back to Jude, Olive informs Robby and Santos that his legal guardian and sister, Chantal, has arrived.
Once Robby and Santos tell Chantal what Jude has done, she goes ballistic on him. So, Robby and Santos don’t have an option but to ask her to step outside, because they know that if they bring up the alcohol issue while they are in there with Jude, Chantal is probably going to whack him. It’s sad to see Chantal come to the realization that she doesn’t know her brother as well as she thinks she did once she learns that Jude has started drinking at such a young age. Either way, this means that they have to do a social service consultation to see if Chantal can continue being Jude’s legal guardian. Chantal refuses to go through that process, because she’s convinced that the authorities are going to separate her from her brother. Once she has calmed down, she chooses to sit down with Dylan, Robby, and Santos in the family room to talk about how her and Jude’s parents were deported to Haiti (this is a commentary on the present-day anti-immigrant politics of the USA). Hence, Jude had two choices: going back to Haiti to live with his parents, or staying with Chantal in the USA. Since the parents wanted Jude to complete his education, and since Chantal promised that she could take care of Jude all on her own, they let him stay.
So, after this incident, if Jude is deported, that’d mean that Chantal has failed. While Dylan continues their conversation with Chantal, Robby and Santos step out. Santos, whose parents probably were or are immigrants, tells Robby that she doesn’t want Chantal and Jude to be separated because of one stray moment of neglect, and Robby reminds her that some things are out of their hands. They can give Jude the treatment he needs; they can connect Jude and Chantal to Dylan, but what happens after that is not in their control. Later on, Dylan informs Santos and Robby that they are not bringing in family services yet, because Chantal is a “responsible young woman” and a “good guardian” to Jude. But when Chantal and Jude go home, then they’ll need to answer to family services, and, hopefully, they’ll come to the same conclusion and not separate the siblings. With all that said, Dylan is of the opinion that Jude will be better off with his parents in Haiti instead of struggling with his sister in Pennsylvania.
Becca is in the ER
Jesse says that Brooke needs to be taken to the ICU for observation, and he tells Mel that Brooke’s eye is a bit reactive. So, Mel does a little test to check if her eyesight is coming back, and it turns out that her sight is returning, albeit very slowly. Mel is happy with this development, and decides that this is the perfect time to take a break so that she can put the final touches on her mental preparation program for the deposition hearing. But that’s hindered by Becca’s arrival (I predicted this when Becca called up Mel and told her about her stomachache) at the Pitt, which causes Mel to panic and rush to the waiting room. She helps Becca bypass the queue and brings her into one of the rooms so that she can be looked at; I know that’s a breach of protocol, but I think if a family member of the staff is in jeopardy, they are, or at least they should be, given first priority. While Mel is instructing Becca how to get ready for her tests, Becca senses that Mel is incredibly tense, which is why she tells her to calm down a bit, because it’s just a stomachache. That doesn’t exactly work, which is why Robby has to assign Langdon to Mel’s case so that Mel can go for her deposition with Morgan; Mel signs off on that, because she trusts him more than anyone else in the world. Meanwhile, Robby orders Santos to take up Mel’s patients and tells her to do her charting once her shift is over. Becca is almost immediately smitten by Langdon and seems ready to blindly rely on him. I like the fact that parts of this episode are dedicated to admiring Langdon after him getting relentlessly dunked on by Robby because, later on, we see Jackie and Jaquie also flirting with Langdon before the former gets discharged.
McKay Tends to Amaya and Roxie
McKay tends to Amaya, a patient with PCOS who is in a lot of pain. Whitaker joins McKay, and as they start asking her about her history with PCOS, they come to the realization that she doesn’t trust doctors a lot because, historically speaking, brown women with PCOS have been ignored a lot. Which means that McKay and Whitaker not only have to treat her properly, they also have to win her trust. So, instead of sending her back home with naproxen, McKay says that they should keep her under observation until they can get to the bottom of the issue. In the meantime, McKay checks in on Roxie, who is still in a lot of pain and is not getting the alone time she needs to probably just die in peace. I don’t entirely blame Roxie’s family for not leaving her side, because that just shows how much they care for her. It’s easy to say that if you love someone, you should let them go; but, in practice, it’s tough as hell. Going back to Amaya, her pain suddenly becomes intolerable, which means that McKay has done the right thing by keeping her under observation instead of sending her home.
McKay brings in Whitaker, and they do yet another transvaginal ultrasound. That’s when they find out that Amaya’s ovary is twisting and cutting off the blood supply. Hence, they need to perform surgery immediately; Amaya signs off on that because, well, she wants to get this issue fixed as soon as possible. McKay then goes back to Roxie to see how she’s doing, and it seems like her family has finally left so that she can relax. They have a little chat about fate and death, and it’s quite evident that she wants to die. I know that a lot of people were confused why exactly Roxie wanted to go for that eternal sleep option, and they kept saying that maybe she’s in an abusive relationship with Paul. I hope this clears things up; Roxie knows that, simply due to bad luck, she has become a burden on her family. She knows that her family is ready to go to any length to be with her, but she doesn’t want to “punish” her people by making them look after her. In addition to that, she doesn’t want to endure this pain. It’s a perfectly understandable sentiment, and it’s a good thing that Roxie is the one making this choice, because if Paul had to do the same, he’d probably choose to keep her alive, thereby prolonging her suffering.
Knox Finally Reconnects With His Sister
Whitaker informs Robby that Knox’s estranged sister is willing to talk to him once he’s back from the Presby after his CT. Later on, when Robby is hovering around the hub, he spots Abbot returning to the Pitt with Knox. Robby tells Abbot to get him settled and calls in Garcia so that they can take a look at his CT results and decide what they need to do to get him out of this bind. Garcia, Perlah, Whitaker, and Langdon join them, and they learn that Knox has a small hole in his colon that’s spilling bacteria into the abdomen. That can lead to peritonitis and sepsis, which means he has to immediately go into surgery if he wants to stay alive. Given how there’s a 50 percent chance that he might die despite the surgery, Knox says that he wants to talk to his sister in case he doesn’t get to do so again. The ER doesn’t have cell service in there because of the preemptive digital blackout. Hence, Abbot has to wheel him out to the ambulance bay so that Knox can get on a call with his sister. Although Garcia isn’t okay with this, because this is a time-sensitive issue, she understands Knox’s sentiment and just tells him to hurry up. Once outside, Whitaker and Abbot help Knox have a small but pretty heart-wrenching chat with his sister. It’s sad that this is what it took for them to bury the hatchet and make plans to meet each other over the holidays.
Whether or not Knox is going to make it all the way to the end is still a big question mark; however, after this conversation, I’m sure everyone will be rooting for Knox to make a full recovery just so that he can meet his sister again. Do you know who’s most definitely not making it all the way to the next season? Robby. Yeah, after sending Knox to surgery, Abbot and Robby have a conversation about Baran being a good replacement for him, and Abbot tells Robby to get in touch with him if he goes into his “dark place” during his sabbatical. If that’s not proof enough that this is probably Robby’s final season, after giving Whitaker his doctor’s badge and telling him not to get too personal with Amy, Robby gives the keys to his house to Whitaker. Yes, he says that it’s for housesitting purposes, but Robby also says that if he doesn’t make it back from the sabbatical, Whitaker can consider that house his own. I mean, at this point, it isn’t even a case of subtle foreshadowing anymore; it’s really obvious that Robby is about to die or be in the clutches of death for a long time.
Monica Returns To The Fray
Princess gets paid by Ahmad for winning the Westbridge dead pool, and Perlah almost rats her out for cheating. Yeah, Princess didn’t just correctly guess the exact reason why Westbridge announced Code Black. She has a friend there, Rose, who gave her insider information. That’s just unfair and hilarious at the same time. Princess doesn’t want to get outed, though, which is why she chooses to pay Perlah a hefty bribe to keep her mouth shut, and Perlah accepts. With that out of the way, Perlah focuses on bringing in some runners, because if the fax machine isn’t working, they’ll need people to manually relay information from one department to another, just like they used to back in the day before every sector in the world began relying on digital communication to make things easier.
Anyway, Dana introduces Baran and everyone else to Monica Peters, a clerk who was laid off because she couldn’t keep up with the “digital revolution” and who is gracious enough to return to the fray, that too on a holiday, to help the Pitt through a modern version of the Dark Ages. That allows Dana to take a little break, which is interrupted by Emma because it seems like Princess isn’t used to Monica’s militaristic way of operating the hub. Before they head back into the ER, Dana tells Emma that she is doing a great job, and if she continues working like this, she’ll certainly make it to the top. Although Emma is a little apprehensive about being in this profession, it seems like Dana’s words of encouragement are going to motivate her to keep contributing to the realm of health care.
Samira Has Mommy Issues; Ogilvie Has Daddy Issues
Perlah, Samira, and Ogilvie tend to Mr. Green, an English teacher who is suffering from pain in his abdomen. Previously, he had suffered from kidney stones, and he assumes that it’s happening all over again. Yet, Ogilvie and Samira order some tests just to make sure that it’s a kidney stone-related issue and not something more serious. A few minutes later, while going through Green’s lab results, Samira and Ogilvie see that he is in the clear. Still, they continue to treat him for the pain and let him stay in the room for a while longer, just in case they spot something off. Samira catches up with McKay and tells her that her encounters with a regular patient at the Pitt, who fakes an ailment just to be in her company, have brought her to the realization that it’s possible that her own mother is lonely and is going on that wild trip with her boyfriend to get Samira’s attention. She probably just misses her daughter, and she’s doing the most out-of-pocket thing imaginable to get Samira to spend time with her. McKay, a relatively recent divorcee, says that that’s totally possible and subtly advises Samira to check in on her mother to make sure that she doesn’t do something stupid. I like the fact that Green has unknowingly highlighted Samira’s mommy issues and Ogilvie’s daddy issues. I mean, we knew about Samira’s dynamic with her mom already, but Ogilvie having a fraught relationship with his dad despite being such an academic student is a bit of a shocker. Since Samira has understood what’s been troubling her mother, I am sure she’ll be able to work things out with her. I don’t know about Ogilvie, though; maybe he’ll process his feelings about his dad by forming some kind of a bond with Green.
Victoria Almost Kills a Patient
Baran brings Nick and his radiology equipment to the ER so that they don’t have to send runners to that department in order to see their X-ray results. While Dana thinks that Nick is taking up too much space, Princess and Victoria are too enamored by Nick’s beauty to care about the fact that he and his machine are such an inconvenience. Perlah has to snap her fingers before Princess’s face to break her out of that trance-like state. Robby has to kill Nick’s aura a little bit because the understandably adorable dolt doesn’t seem to know how to use the USB port on his machine to make the job of the doctors and nurses a little easier. And then Donnie points out a discrepancy on the whiteboard that’s been caused by Victoria, which finally brings her to the realization that the ER is working through a digital blackout on Independence Day, not a soiree on Valentine’s Day, and they don’t have the luxury to ogle at Nick. This wake-up call prompts Victoria to get ahold of Whitaker and tend to this 58-year-old woman, Mrs. Burns, who has been suffering from nausea and vomiting after eating a warm potato salad at a barbeque. Whatever was left of Victoria’s optimistic demeanor evaporates instantly when she sees that Burns has lost consciousness.
Whitaker immediately alerts Perlah, Robby, and the rest about this situation, and they start working on resuscitating Burns right there and then instead of taking her to one of the trauma rooms; even Digby chips in by getting out of his bed so that it can be shifted and some more space can be created for the doctors and nurses to operate. Thankfully, Burns’ heart starts beating normally after defibrillation, which allows Victoria to heave a sigh of relief. However, Burns isn’t in the clear yet. Robby, Victoria, and Whitaker rush to Kenny, an imaging technician, before the portable radiology machine is taken back to its home so that they can look at Burns’ X-ray. They ascertain that this is a classic case of sigmoid volvulus (which means that the intestine has twisted around its own blood supply), and she needs to be taken in for surgery as soon as possible. Garcia reprimands Victoria for this lapse of judgment pretty harshly, and sensing that she’s going to beat herself up about it for the rest of the shift, Whitaker tells her to not get too hung up on it because, eventually, they ended up saving her. Now they know what caused the issue, and they’ll make sure that the mistake isn’t repeated again; that’s all that matters. While Victoria has learned her lesson, it seems like Princess continues to be smitten by Nick, even though he can’t assess an X-ray plate properly. I mean, Joy is better than him, and it’s not even her department.
The water slide incident will change things
Santos and Joy tend to Iris Hewett, a furry enthusiast who has been put in a room along with a mist machine so that she can cool down and also get rehydrated, because she felt sick after walking around in her fursuit in that July heat at the Anthrocon. Yeah, Santos knows about Anthrocon, Pittsburgh’s annual furry convention. Iris suggests that Santos should attend it. Even though Santos says that it’s not “her scene,” Iris offers to whip up a dragon costume for her so she feels comfortable socializing with furries. Santos doesn’t say “no,” and the amused expression she exchanges with the equally amused Joy is just too hilarious. Back at the hub, it seems like Dana and Monica are finally starting to get a hang of this post-digital blackout state that the ER is in. But that’s when the red phone, which is only meant for emergencies, starts to ring like a dark omen. Why? At the end of episode 9, when Donnie is walking Iris out, he sees a news report on the TV in the waiting room that states that there’s been a deadly waterslide collapse at the local water park.
One person has probably died, and there are multiple people who have been injured who are being airlifted to where? You guessed it! The PTMC. I was under the impression that the digital blackout is going to be the major conflict of this season of the show. I stand corrected; the digital blackout is just the spice that’s gonna be added on top of all the issues that the PTMC is going to face. Just when Monica and Dana started to properly orchestrate the ER despite having access to little to no technology, I should have anticipated that something like this was going to happen. But I was too distracted by the image of Santos as a furry to notice that the worst is yet to come. We know that most of the members of the PTMC are in a lot of stress, and some of them are at their breaking point. So, please, be prepared to watch them crash out. And if the waterslide case doesn’t get to them, given how this is a 15-hour shift, I can assure you that something worse than the waterslide incident is waiting for them on the horizon. What will it be? Let me know in the comments section below.
