The other big theme this week is about “following your gut”—the phrase that Robby lives by and Al-Hashimi can’t abide. That’s probably why Robby has been part of four lawsuits and Al-Hashimi has never been involved in even one. It’s an obvious point of division between our protagonist and his new foil. But the idea of gut instinct is also at play for McKay and Santos. Last season, Santos seemed to figure out Langdon’s drug habit almost improbably fast, and it’ll be interesting to see if her worst-case-scenario gut instinct may steer her wrong with her abuse concerns for her nine-year-old patient this time around. On the other hand, McKay never got closure about her instinct that one of her patients was being sex trafficked last season. And solving the mystery of Mr. Williams could give her gut a sense of redemption now.
Following my gut, however, I have to admit there are a few elements of this episode that just didn’t quite track for me. I’m a little confused by the logistics of the “Alzheimer’s widow,” whose husband died after he was brought in from an assisted living facility with a “POLST Order.” This feels like it’s supposed to be the story of what happens when the at-home caretaker of someone with Alzheimer’s dies. But if the husband was at an assisted living facility himself, he couldn’t have been the one at home taking care of her. And if she was living at the facility with him, why is she now being treated like a patient with nowhere else to go?
Similarly, I was a little baffled by McKay’s confusion over Robby and Nurse Noelle Hastings (Meta Golding) obviously flirting with each other, which she for some reason misinterprets as them talking in code about transferring her patient for insurance reasons. Maybe she’s just supposed to be so engrossed in her work she’s lost perspective on everything else. But her confusion made me more confused, which is a weird way to introduce a new romance to the show—especially when Robby cites it as an example of how McKay’s empathy makes her good at picking up on stuff. (Noelle literally enters the scene saying, “Belay that order, sailor!” She might as well have done a wolf whistle!)
We’ve also got The Pitt firmly wading into the world of AI, which, unfortunately, feels more stressful than watching that open shoulder dislocation. While I had assumed that Al-Hashimi’s love of AI was about analyzing patient imaging or something, it turns out she’s literally just hawking an app that records patient consultations and transcribes notes so doctors can spend less time charting. I don’t know if it’s a real app, but the whole thing has the weird feeling of an ad, right down to the caveat about how “generative AI is 98-percent accurate at present—you must always carefully proofread and correct the minor errors.”
Of course, Al-Hashimi’s perspective isn’t necessarily the perspective of the show. And I suspect we’re getting her tech-heavy POV in order to challenge it later in the season. But, right now, the whole thing feels like an attempt to be topical in a way that doesn’t suit the show’s more lived-in style. Then again, if Al-Hashimi’s problem is that she’s never learned how to follow her gut because she’s too busy worrying about how not to be sued, perhaps her odd, robotic sales pitch is just supposed to reflect that.
Either way, it’s hard to be too mad at an episode that nails an erect penis reveal with perfect comedic timing. Working in an ER is serious business, but it’s also a place where the embarrassing foibles of being human come, well, rising to the surface. Dana suggests peds is the hospital department that will make you “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.” But considering that comes just before she admits “punchy’s my new baseline,” maybe that’s not exactly true. How could a place so eclectic and weird and sometimes flat-out ridiculous ever be codified into an algorithm? Al-Hashimi remains adamant that she can streamline the department with high-tech solutions, but in a high-octane, unpredictable world that might not be so simple.
Stray observations
- • I’m glad this episode clarified that Whitaker has graduated from a fourth-year med student to an intern because I was getting a little concerned about how much he was doing on his own.
- • Social worker Dylan Easton is covering for last season’s social worker Kiara this day/season, which brings a new energy to that element of the show.
- • I love how good Robby is with babies!
- • Last season ended with Santos inviting a homeless Whitaker to move into her apartment, and it feels like we should have more clarity on if that happened and how long they lived together.
- • The “live” camera feed of McKay grabbing that piece of broccoli was a great effect.
- • The police officer asking Mel for a statement and then immediately telling her she might have to testify in court kind of felt like a leap. But I like the idea that after a season where Mel thrived in ER chaos, we now get to see exactly what kinds of things actually stress her out.
- • So what do we think is up with Al-Hashimi and the baby? It’s such an abstract mystery, I don’t even know how to theorize about it.
- • Gnarliest moment of the week: I thought I was prepared for the inevitable “maggots in the cast” reveal. But can anyone ever truly be ready for the “maggots in the cast” reveal?
Caroline Siede is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
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