RECAP: ‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Episode 9 – “3:00 P.M.”

The emergency department is in a frenzy during The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9. With all the computers shut down to prevent a cyber attack, the doctors and nurses at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center must pivot to handwritten notes and charts, leading to dangerous mix-ups and high tension among the staff.

Of course, it’s time for Mel’s (Taylor Dearden) deposition just as all this analog chaos begins, and right when her sister Becca arrives in the ER waiting room with abdominal pain. Mel rushes her back to a room, frantic to make sure Becca receives the best care she can, even if her deposition is in 15 minutes.

Robby reminds Mel that even with the deposition, Mel can’t see Becca as a patient because of a conflict of interest. Luckily, Langdon (Patrick Ball) is available to talk to Becca. In another wonderful showcase of Langdon remembering things Mel taught him in Season 1 about adjusting to patients’ needs, especially regarding autistic patients, he asks Mel to turn out the lights and begins Becca’s intake, during the course of which Becca mentions that Mel said a lot of good things about Langdon after their first and only shift together.

Mel leaves with the hospital lawyer, looking like she’s left Becca in good hands.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9 goes analog, leading to all sorts of chaos.

Switching gears in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9, Javadi Shabana Azeez) is slow to adjust to analog, forgetting where to update patient information and where to look for patient results and x-rays. This leads to an unfortunate case of symptoms gone bad for one patient, who has to be rushed to surgery. An angry Garcia tells Javadi off for almost killing a patient due to her lack of organization. Whitaker assures Javadi that they caught it in time and now they know how to adjust.

It’s rare for Javadi to mess up this badly, but it’s interesting to see her shaken up by a mistake like this. Her indecision about a specialty in the face of her parents’ expectations keeps her glued to the emergency department, often competing with others over who’s the smartest. Oglvie might be annoying, but Javadi gets just as caught up in proving her worth in the emergency department.

Garcia’s visit to the ER gives her and Santos (Isa Briones) a moment to catch up, although it looks more like Santos running after Garcia as Garcia angrily heads back up to surgery. Santos wants to know if they’re still good to watch fireworks later that night, but Garcia says she needs a rain check. Santos looks disappointed, especially when Garcia reaffirms they’re just keeping things casual. Which apparently counts out fireworks.

Javadi messes up, paving the way for more character development that rattles her core.

All season, there’s been an obvious lack of Black doctors, especially with the departure of Tracey Ifeachor and Krystel McNeil as Dr. Collins and social worker Kiara. While The Pitt hasn’t shied away from discussion of racial bias in the medical field in Season 2, there have been multiple Black patients who comment on the racial bias they’ve faced.

In The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9, a Black woman comes in with PCOS-related pain and says doctors don’t typically listen to her, heavily implying it’s usually white doctors. Even though her exam looks good, McKay decides to keep her longer in case the pain comes back. And later, McKay proves she made the right call when the pain comes back, and they’re able to diagnose the issue.

Verbalizing the racial bias that happens in the medical field in these episodes is obviously a plus, but it also continues to reemphasize the loss of doctors like Dr. Collins and Kiara, especially when Black patients ask for Black doctors. The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9 is no exception.

The Pitt continues to center racial bias in medicine, and the lack of black doctors on the show is felt.

Lest we forget, it’s the Fourth of July. In The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9, a 12-year-old kid named Jude comes in with two of his fingers blown off from an M80. It’s a pretty gnarly injury, but the thing that stands out in this scene is how gentle and caring Santos is with the kid, offering him support and reassuring him that he did well in dropping the M80 when he did because he saved the rest of his fingers. Just another reminder that Santos cares about her patients even if it’s not obvious when she’s charting.

Jude’s case gets a bit more complicated when Santos realizes she smells alcohol on his breath. His guardian shows up in the form of an older sister named Chantelle, who’s surprised by her younger brother’s alcohol intake, saying that he was probably hanging out with the troublesome boys from their apartment complex.

Robby (Noah Wyle), Santos, and social worker Dylan sit down with Chantelle to see what’s going on. Chantelle explains that her parents were deported to Haiti, leaving her as her brother’s sole guardian. She left school and works as much as she can, but that often leaves Jude alone to get caught up in the antics of the other boys at their apartment complex.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9 also introduces the timely topic surrounding immigration in a medical setting.

Chantelle’s story brings the topic of immigration and deportation to The Pitt, and while Dylan clears Chantelle of any wrongdoing (necessary due to a minor’s alcohol intake), they do warn Santos and Robby that a home visit will likely take place, leading to Jude’s possible deportation to Haiti. That’s the last update we get in The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9, so it’s not clear what will happen to Chantelle and Jude yet. Considering Santos’ strong advocacy for them to Robby, their story might not be over here.

Despite the chaos and tension throughout The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9, the show always makes time for some levity, and this time it comes in the form of a patient who comes in from a furry convention, furry suit and all. The clocking of the suit by multiple characters throughout the episode is a great running bit, but it’s also nice that the patient isn’t mocked at any point. Santos and Joy do the patient check-up, and they both seem intrigued by attending a furry con by invitation from the patient, despite Santos’ denial that it’s her scene.

The Pitt Season 2 Episode 9 continues a consistent run of good episodes for The Pitt. Things aren’t as wild yet as the first season at this time, but there’s still plenty of great character dynamics that flourish as the analog chaos continues.

The Pitt Season 2 airs new episodes at 8 p.m. Central every Thursday on HBO Max.

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