REVIEW: ‘The Pitt’ Episode 8 — “2:00 P.M.”

There’s one surefire way to get someone crying during an episode, and that’s to kill off two kids. One would have done it, too, but The Pitt Episode 8 also decided to officially close the books on Nick Bradley, sending him off on an honor walk in the same episode where a six-year-old girl dies from drowning. Have the tissues ready, friends.

Despite two major deaths in this episode, The Pitt Episode 8 showcases how much the medical students have learned in their seven hours working in “The Pitt.” Each one either gets a moment to shine or reaches some conclusion regarding what they’ve each experienced so far this shift.

Thankfully, there’s a lovely conclusion to Ginger’s (Shu Lan Tuan) missing daughter, Rita (Kayla Blake), in The Pitt Episode 8. Rita’s disappearance provided insight into Dr. King’s (Taylor Dearden) character and her experience caring for her sister. But Rita just needed a moment and accidentally fell asleep in her car for a few hours (I’m not sure why they didn’t check the parking garage, but no worries). Dr. King and Kiara (Krystel Mcneil) walk Rita and Ginger through their options.

The success here is nicely contrasted with a later scene in The Pitt Episode 8 involving Dr. King, in which she has to distract a little girl in the wake of her older sister dying. In both scenes, Dr. King lets her compassion drive her. Despite the two widely different outcomes, it’s a great culmination of what we’ve learned about Dr. King.

In The Pitt Episode 8, Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) makes amends with Dr. Garcia (Alexandra Metz).

After accidentally dropping a scalpel on the latter’s foot, the two team up to address a patient who’s experiencing abdominal pain and being difficult about who she would like to talk to. Dr. Santos says they must also bring in Dr. Javadi (Shabana Azeez). It is a good call since the patient’s regular doctor is Dr. Javadi’s mom. This is a win for Dr. Santos, who gets the patient talking by getting her to speak with Dr. Javadi. It’s also a win for Dr. Javadi, who goes against her mother’s diagnosis when she realizes the patient was bit by a Black Widow spider, increasing her confidence on the ER floor.

Much like her meddling in The Pitt Episode 7 with the sexual abuse case, Dr. Santos is also on the curious case of Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball). Previously, Dr. Santos has noticed some mislabeling/mishandling of drugs. Dana has reassured her both times, but in The Pitt Episode 8, Dr. Santos ruins her new goodwill with Dr. Garcia by taking her suspicions that Dr. Langdon is stealing the drugs from her. It is hard to say if this is true about Dr. Langdon, as there hasn’t been a lot of focus on him beyond his very blunt and annoyed demeanor toward the medical students.

Dr. Whitaker (Gerran Howell) is not often around in The Pitt Episode 8, but he shows up during a critical time. Once again, Dr. Whitaker’s job is to perform CPR on Amber, the six-year-old drowning victim. This time, he jumps right in instead of letting himself think about Mr. Milton, his patient who died earlier in the shift. He keeps at it until Robby (Noah Wyle) calls it. While The Pitt has played some of Dr. Whitaker’s plights as darkly comical (the multiple scrub changes, his bad luck with receiving patients needing CPR after Mr. Milton’s death), Amber’s death doesn’t quite send him into another spiral.

Instead, he takes it seriously and realistically. He asks Dana (Katherine LaNasa) how she’s able to handle working in the ER for 30+ years when they see stuff like Amber’s death happen all the time. Dana tells him she does it for the people who fall through the cracks, a nod to her sex-trafficked patient earlier in The Pitt Episode 8.

The Pitt Episode 8 is just another day in the ER.

However, this exchange is essential for Dr. Whitaker and the audience to realize. It is funny that Dr. Whitaker seems to have the worst luck during his shift, but in reality, he’s not having a day different from what usually happens in the ER. They’ve all experienced days like today. He’s not unique. Yet, they keep working because they must—for the people who need them and the ones that others forget about.

This philosophy shows up in one of Robby’s patients, Willie, who has come in with a detached pacemaker. Willie makes many offhand remarks that make it sound like he used to be a doctor. They question him a lot about it throughout the episode, but he always replies that he just delivered mail. When he was a kid, Willie was a medic for the Freedom House Ambulance Service, otherwise known as the first emergency medics in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid.

The Freedom House Ambulance Service was founded to serve the predominantly Black community of the Hills District in Pittsburgh. Before the service, police paddy wagons would transport people to the hospital in the back of a police van. Since the police consisted mainly of white officers and ran rampant with racism and white supremacy, Black medics made up the Freedom House Ambulance Service to serve their community. The service set the standard for ambulance services and EMS training found in modern medics today. Robby’s regard for Willie and the Freedom House Ambulance Service is clear as day, a tribute to those who came before.

When it comes time for Nick’s honor walk in The Pitt Episode 8, his parents’ gratitude for Robby is also significant. While it might have seemed like Robby drew out all the tests for Nick so he could put off breaking the news to his parents, Robby’s compassion and patience for the parent’s grief is probably one of the only things that got Nick’s parents through this. Robby’s asking permission to attend Nick’s funeral with some of the other staff members and Nick’s mother hugging Robby is a tremendous payoff to this whole story.

The Pitt Episode 8 feels like a culmination for many characters, a sort of calm before the storm, if you will. It was a wonderful showcase of what each student has learned and a tragically moving send-off for the Bradleys.

The Pitt airs new episodes every Thursday on Max, formerly HBO Max.

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