Warning: This article contains full spoilers for The Pitt Season 2, Episode 6!
We made it through the first third of The Pitt Season 2 with a relative minimum of tragedy in the ER, but that was never going to last. As most viewers probably predicted, fate had another shoe to drop for poor Louie Cloverfield (Ernest Harden Jr.). Episode 6, “12:00 P.M.,” is at its best when it focuses on the fight to save Louie and the emotional fallout that comes after.
The only real question with Louie was what would go wrong for this affable but clearly very ill man. The tooth abscess turned out to be a red herring. In the end, Louie’s liver simply couldn’t endure what he was putting it through any longer. There’s a certain abruptness to his death in Episode 6 that feels very fitting. No farewell speeches or long, tearful goodbyes. One minute he seems ready to be discharged, the next he’s bleeding out. This series succeeds because it embraces the stark reality of emergency medicine rather than opting for a more sentimental approach.
This episode is bookended with strong scenes, as in the closing moments, we see most of the staff gather round to pay their respects to Louie. Thanks to Robby (Noah Wyle), we also get some sad insight into who he was and what drove him to essentially commit suicide by alcoholism. It really provides a different perspective on the character and his interactions with the various doctors and nurses. It all serves to offer a sad, tender farewell to the character. But again, the show stops short of being melodramatic or saccharine.
Episode 6 is also great about using Louie’s death to fuel some key emotional moments along the way toward that final farewell scene. We get strong performances from the likes of Gerran Howell, Patrick Ball, Amielynn Abellera, and Katherine LaNasa as their characters process their grief. The exchange between Dr. Langdon (Ball) and Dana (LaNasa) in the break room is a particular highlight here, as we see Langdon continue to try to make amends.
Unfortunately, a few frustrating choices do hold the episode back compared to Episode 5. For one thing, there’s a surprising amount of emphasis on the new motorcycle accident patient, considering that it’s not a particularly interesting case from either a medical or dramatic standpoint. Maybe there’s another curveball being deployed here, possibly involving Robby and his motorcycle sabbatical. But as it stands, I would have preferred more progress on one of the more compelling cases being juggled right now. In particular, it would be nice to have more momentum on the front of Jackson Davis (Zack Morris), the college student showing signs of paranoid schizophrenia.
The other problem is that this episode seems to go out of its way to make viewers dislike two of the new Season 2 additions, Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) and Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson), even more than past episodes. With the former, it’s her insistence on pushing a clearly deeply flawed A.I. system and her bullheadedness about acknowledging said flaws. The series has shown little interest in integrating Dr. Al-Hashimi into the cast and not have her simply feel like the interloping outsider and antagonist to Robby. Episode 5 offered some welcome progress on that front, but Episode 6 basically undoes it all.
As for Ogilvie, it’s pretty hard not to loathe the character after his obnoxious reaction to Louie’s death. And I suppose that’s the point. Clearly, we’re meant to be put off by this insufferable know-it-all with a serious empathy deficiency. But I do wish there was a little more balance to his characterization. Why is it so necessary for us to hate him? Why is he so two-dimensional when none of the other characters are? The series definitely has some work to do on the Ogilvie front.
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