We think of the ER as a place where actions matter most, where the fastest surgical hands or the right intubation is the difference between life and death. But the truth is, it’s also a place where words are just as important. Logistically, communication matters: Each trauma case begins with a verbal report from the paramedics and an exam where the doctors and nurses shout out stats in order to get on the same page. But words also matter emotionally too. When Robby tells Mel he’s been training residents for years and she’s one of the best, she practically blossoms before his eyes. When he tells Langdon that he’s not sure he wants him working in his ER anymore, you can almost literally see the confidence drain from Langdon’s body.
Like most episodes of The Pitt, “1:00 P.M.” is filled with gruesome injuries and ongoing medical mysteries. But—building off the staff’s lovely eulogy for Louie—it’s the power of communication that truly takes center stage this week. In the most literal sense, our deaf patient is dealing with the logistical nightmare of not being able to properly communicate with her doctors when the hospital’s video relay interpreter system glitches. But there are tons of other nuances of communication at play too.
Legally, Dana’s role as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) is about knowing how to collect a complete, uncontaminated rape kit. But it’s even more so about knowing how to speak to her patient Alana in a way that puts her agency and humanity first. As medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy have also highlighted over the years, the process of collecting a rape kit feels unfairly invasive to assault survivors. The only thing that can help with that burden is the calm, empathetic, but also professional way the examiner conducts it. Here Dana continually emphasizes that Alana is in control, that she only has to file a police report if she wants to, and that she can take all the time and space she needs throughout the process—which she does as she starts to panic about the fallout of accusing a drunken member of her friend group of rape.
The SANE storyline is by far the most compelling part of an episode that otherwise returns this season to its slightly all-over-the-place baseline. While the idea of the hospital shutting down all its tech to prevent an impending cyberattack is a great hook to send us into the back half of the season, we get a somewhat scattered transitional episode to bring us there first. That starts with reintroducing Robby’s bestie/night shift attending Dr. Abbot in perhaps the most confusing way possible—strolling into the ER in a SWAT uniform while treating his gunshot wound victim co-worker.
We eventually learn that Abbot has taken up a side job as a SWAT physician, after his therapist suggested he needs a “hobby.” But while that sort of tracks with his history as a war vet, I could have used way more communication about what actually happened with the SWAT team. I guess “something went wrong in an armed robbery at a goods warehouse” is enough, but I couldn’t quite get a grasp on what had actually unfolded there. (Did the robbers barricade themselves inside until SWAT was called? Were they killed after they shot an officer?) Or maybe I just don’t love the vibe of Abbot randomly becoming a hero cop for no discernible reason.
Regardless, his return to the show is most interesting for another moment of communication: his first meeting with Al-Hashimi. It turns out she also spent time in the Middle East, specifically in Kabul with Médecins Sans Frontières (a.k.a. French Doctors Without Borders) and at the maternity hospital in Dashte Barchi in 2020, which Abbott notes was “a tragedy.” As I only discovered while researching for this recap, a suicide attack targeting the maternity ward killed 16 mothers and 8 children on May 12, 2020.
Though the show hasn’t yet delved into the details for those who don’t know about the real-life attack, it’s a crucial reveal in the slow parsing of who Al-Hashimi is. Her time in Dashte Barchi presumably explains her odd reaction to Baby Jane Doe in the season premiere. And for the first time since that moment, we see another crack in her composed exterior. Talking with Jackson’s parents about their son’s mental-health issues sends her to the bathroom in a slight panic, where she calls her therapist to try to get an appointment with him as soon as possible.
Whatever is specifically going on with her, at least her impulse is to try to talk it out rather than bury it down as so many of our doctors and their patients do. Samira’s diabetes patient Orlando Diaz can’t bear to tell his family that he’s already $100,000 in medical debt. Instead, he just ditches the hospital to try to avoid any more bills. Similarly, the sister of our troubled college student Jackson is shocked and frustrated to only just now learn that her uncle committed suicide rather than drank himself to death like her parents told her. As Javadi reminds her, “Some families just have a difficult time talking about mental health.”
Of course, The Pitt doesn’t suggest that communication is the be-all, end-all solution to every problem. Though cancer patient Roxie has a clear sense that she wants to stay in the hospital rather than return to at-home hospice care, she’s struggling to get her husband and kids to understand her perspective. And Langdon’s attempts to make amends with Robby obviously don’t go so well either. But starting those hard conversations at least provides a sense of forward momentum that awkward elevator rides and repressed feelings never will.
Maybe the healthiest conversation in the whole episode is actually the sweet, unexpected one between Samira and Abbot, who she finds stitching himself up in Orlando Diaz’s empty room. She gets to unburden herself about her stress over her patient, which Abbot solves by offering to pay for an Uber to drop off the necessary home care supplies at his house. And he finds someone who will help stitch up his wound without going through the rigmarole of official paperwork.
Supriya Ganesh and Shawn Hatosy have great quiet chemistry together. And—much like the scene where Santos fills Robby in on everything Whitaker is juggling at the moment—it’s a lovely reminder that The Pitt still has so many character combos it has yet to fully explore across these two madcap shifts. Of course, we’ve still got our central pairings in the mix too. Robby seems notably upset that Al-Hashimi is the one who got called up to have the convo about the hospital shutting down its computers. But as the ER goes analog next week, who knows what kinds of new conversations that crisis will bring out.
Stray observations
- • One good thing comes out of the Westbridge cyberattack: Princess won the betting grid!
- • We finally get to meet Javadi’s dad, played by Usman Ally. He’s also pushing her toward a specific field (dermatology), but Javadi seems way less frustrated by him than she is by her mom.
- • The moment Dana almost grabs Alana’s hands in support but holds herself back is such a heartbreaking detail.
- • Santos telling the crying baby “I’m starting to understand why you got left here” really made me laugh. We also learn she has a beautiful singing voice and some notable (perhaps self-inflicted?) scars on her thigh.
- • The ER is slammed and yet the doctors somehow have the time to personally chase down family members to give them pep talks.
- • Some other new patients who join the ER this week: a high-school football player who collapsed on the field; the victim of a swimmer vs. propeller boating accident; and two heatstroke victims, a 32-year-old who got dizzy washing his car and seizes at the hospital and a 62-year-old who got dizzy making a salad. Plus, prisoner Gus is getting a room upstairs, and Digby has gone MIA.
- • Night shift resident Dr. Parker Ellis (Ayesha Harris) will be clocking in for an afternoon shift. I’m excited to have her back!
- • Gnarliest moment of the week: May none of us ever have to see a displaced trachea again.
Caroline Siede is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
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