RECAP: ‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “11:00 A.M.”

There’s a slight ramp-up in activity during The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5. As the episode takes us through the 11 o’clock hour, Robby (Noah Wyle) and Langdon (Patrick Ball) finally are forced to talk to each other while Joy (Irene Choi) comes in clutch for the Diaz family and Santos (Isa Briones) continues catching up on her charting. It’s another great episode that really propels the story of this shift forward.

Perhaps the most compelling part of The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5 is the tension between Langdon and Robby. The situation with the waitress forces the two to work the case together, which means Langdon finally leaves the triage. As the waitress’s infection spreads, Robby continues to question Langdon about his initial diagnosis, and Langdon responds with clear, confident answers.

Despite Robby standing up for the waitress by threatening to sue her employer if they fire her for being in the hospital, he still shows no empathy toward Langdon. It’s understandable; Langdon betrayed Robby’s trust. But as Dana tells Robby, all this avoidance and passive aggressiveness isn’t helping. If Robby thinks Langdon messed up with the waitress, he needs to tell him. If he didn’t mess up, then Robby needs to let it go so they can actually work the case.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5 showcases Santos’ immersion into the ER.

It’s a tough hour for Langdon. Not only is Robby constantly questioning him, but Whitaker takes over an order of benzos from Langdon in front of a patient and other nurses. It’s definitely awkward, and it doesn’t seem like Whitaker meant it, but that gut reaction says a lot about the trust Langdon needs to regain from everyone, not just Robby.

Santos’ adventure in charting keeps getting interrupted. Her annoyance is hard to miss, but what I love about this part of The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5 is how it showcases Santos’ immersion into this ER. It’s the same for all the season one med students, but the way Santos complains to Dana, who then snarks back at her, speaks to Santos’ history at PTMC, even though we’ve technically only known her for about twenty hours.

She also spends a lot of time supervising Olgevy (Lucas Iverson) in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5. This is where, despite her annoyance and general standoffish nature lately, she reminds us that she knows what she’s doing, even if she’s going to take every opportunity to turn her bad mood better by getting Whitaker to do something she doesn’t want to do. And that’s all there is to say about that disimpaction moment.

Joy comes through for the Diaz family in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5.

After almost killing the parkour kid in the last episode, Oglevy seems nearly disillusioned with being a doctor. His surprise at how easily he can be exposed to viruses makes him look like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s a little satisfying to see his smile after Joy had to sit out after damaging her finger.

Speaking of Joy, she gets a major win in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5, coming in clutch for the Diaz family during a discussion with Hastings about cutting their hospital bill down. Even though the Diazes will only have to pay 60 percent of their bill, with PTMC covering 40 percent, they’re still talking about a bill that could reach $100,000 if Orlando stays there for even a few days.

Mohan thinks there’s no other choice, but Joy cuts her off and, in her usual dry tone, says Orlando doesn’t have to stay in the ICU. They can transfer him to med-surg, or “medical-surgical,” a unit where patients who aren’t in serious condition can be cared for more closely than in the ICU. This is good for Orlando, whose insulin intake needs to be monitored. Even better, it’s much cheaper than staying in the ICU. Mohan looks shocked at the suggestion, but Hastings says she’ll call upstairs to see if they can take him.

The medical hoops the Diaz family must jump through in this episode are a sad reality.

Later in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5, Hastings returns with good news: med-surg can take Orlando, and he doesn’t have to be on an insulin drip either. This means their cost, with the 40 percent off deal, drops down to roughly $20,000. Still a lot, but it’s not the $60,000 they were estimating.

Outside Orlando’s room, Mohan apologizes to Joy for not believing her med-surg pitch at first and asks how she came up with it. Joy explains that growing up, her family had to think outside the box to afford medical care for her grandmother, who had leukemia. Their mantra: if the system doesn’t work for you, you work the system. It’s an unfortunate reality for many people. The hoops they all had to jump through just to knock a few thousand off Orlando’s bill, and they’re not even sure how long he’ll need to stay there, still.

Joy concludes this interaction with one of her best moments and line deliveries yet, which speaks to a fascinating contradiction in her character. She tells Mohan that watching her grandmother slowly die taught her a valuable lesson — that she doesn’t want to watch people die.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5 holds things steady even as the first true ramp-up of the season begins, as more Westbridge patients arrive and Langdon and Robby rush to save Louie’s life to close this episode out. 

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 5 is streaming now on HBO MAX, with new episodes at 8 pm Central every Thursday.

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