REVIEW: ‘The Pitt’ Episode 12 — “6:00 P.M.”

Considering the past eleven episodes of The Pitt have consisted of nonstop chaos, The Pitt Episode 12 is a quiet affair. That’s probably a weird way of describing an episode involving the aftermath of a mass shooting event, but it is. Almost like how it’s calm in the eye of the storm, this episode showcases a perfectly in-sync ER as they transform into a triage station and distribute patients based on the severity of the injury, making it one of the best episodes of the season.

There’s an immediate contrast between The Pitt Episode 12 and all the previous episodes. The personal lives, quirks, and grievances of the doctors often showed up in their care for patients throughout the season, but here, all of that falls away as Robby (Noah Wyle) corrals everyone and starts flipping the ER into a trauma center. As he gives out instructions and reintroduces Dr. Abbott (Shawn Hatosy) from The Pitt Episode 1 for an all-hands-on-deck situation, everything starts to fall into order, even with the medical students’ panic-stricken faces on full display. But once the first patients arrive from the mass shooting, it’s go time.

From there, it’s a never-ending stream of patients but everyone’s so in sync it’s like watching a perfectly choreographed dance. Even as they run into obstacles, a solution is already falling out of another doctor’s mouth. With this, though, the highlight of The Pitt Episode 12 is the medical students.

The Pitt Episode 12 highlights the team’s synchronicity.

Robby assigns Dr. King (Taylor Dearden), Dr. Santos (Isa Briones), and Dr. Whitaker (Gerran Howell) to one area. It is wonderful to watch them work together after their rocky starts at the beginning of the shift, and it is also wonderful to see how Dr. King takes charge. When they run out of O-negative blood, she offers her own for donation and then still assists in the transfusion.

Dr. Javadi (Shabana Azeez) also gets her time to shine. Despite her initial worry at the start of The Pitt Episode 12, she outperforms her own mother when she improvises a chest tube after the ER runs out of them. Praise comes from Mateo (Jalen Thomas Brooks), a thread from a few episodes ago in which Javadi might have sort of asked him out, so that’s a wonderful little follow-up there.

But the real win is Javadi finding her own confidence in leading a procedure but also in going up against her mom when her mom is wrong. While she’s done so before, this particular moment, in a high-stress and very public environment, feels like the true moment that Javadi steps into her own.

Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) finds his way back into the ER, there to help during this emergency crisis. But there’s no time for confrontations, not with Robby or with Dr. Santos, a sign of growth from her as well, as she chooses her battles in the midst of her patients. His and Dr. King’s interactions remain just as wholesome as ever, too.

Dr. King takes charge in a chaotic situation, stepping up to the plate.

As for Robby, despite the similarities, there’s no time to let the COVID-19 days affect him during this mad rush of casualties. However, the past is still present in his face and his eyes. This provides a contrast between him and the other doctors in the midst of this horror.

The lead triage doctor, John, appears very nonchalant, sipping on an iced coffee as Robby goes over the triage procedures. John says this is his first mass casualty event, and the difference in stature and experience is clear between the two doctors. It’s a great way to showcase Robby’s emotions without flashing back to the COVID-19 days. In fact, those flashbacks from earlier episodes prime the audience for Robby’s mental state during The Pitt Episode 12.

Despite the calm with which he’s directed his entire staff of doctors and nurses, Robby slowly unravels as The Pitt Episode 12 goes on, trying to reach his stepson, Jake. The arrival of S.W.A.T. and the FBI at the hospital suggests that our doctors might be in for another attack in their final three episodes.

The Pitt Episode 12 makes it hard to look away from the screen, an episode that’s simultaneously calm and chaotic. While it’s difficult to remember all the jargon-filled directions of this emergency set-up trauma center, it’s an episode that flows so well it hardly matters.

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

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