12:00 P.M. with Patrick Ball, Katherine LaNasa and Valerie Chu

Summary

The Pitt Podcast — Episode: "12:00 P.M."

Date: February 13, 2026
Hosts: Dr. Alok Patel & Hunter Harris
Guests: Patrick Ball (Dr. Frank Langdon), Katherine LaNasa (Charge Nurse Dana), Valerie Chu (Executive Story Editor & Episode Writer)

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Episode Overview

In this companion deep-dive to The Pitt’s sixth episode of Season 2, Dr. Alok Patel and Hunter Harris dissect the most significant events and emotional beats of “12:00 P.M.” They’re joined by actors Patrick Ball and Katherine LaNasa, as well as executive story editor/writer Valerie Chu, to break down pivotal character arcs, the realities of medicine, and powerful storytelling focused on nurses. This episode is especially centered on major character shifts, the cost of caregiving, the role of AI in medicine, and—above all—the humanity at the heart of an urban ER.

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Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Emotional Weight of Loss and Grief in the ER

• Opening Tragedy: Louis’ Death

  • The episode begins with the loss of Louis, a frequent patient and beloved character, providing an emotionally charged start.
    • Hunter Harris (03:02): “We start off very sad. Louis died and Robbie and Langdon...how do we save? And they just can't resuscitate him.”
  • Discussion of medical realism: ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is brought up, signifying Louis's case is hopeless—a nod to the hard decisions in medicine.
    • Dr. Alok Patel (03:34): “When they said he's not a candidate, that kind of was the hint ... there's nothing we can do to save him.”

• Humanizing Frequent Flyers:

  • Louis's backstory emerges only after his passing, showing how staff piece together the “whole person” only as they're lost:
    • Unnamed Character (04:59): “He never really wanted kids, but Rhonda wore him down...a month before the baby was due, Rhonda and the baby were killed in a car crash.”
    • Hunter Harris (05:27): “I love that that is treated sort of as like...we're just now all learning this together, like, with the rest of the staff.”

2. Redemption & Second Chances: Langdon’s Return and Relationship with Dana

• Langdon’s Apology & Dana’s Response:

  • Post-rehab, Langdon tries to make amends, peeling back layers in his relationship with Dana.
    • Patrick Ball (06:00): “I've been working the 12 steps...I was really selfish. I lied to myself, and I lied to you. I'm really sorry.”
    • Katherine LaNasa (06:16): “You can check me off your list, kid. We're good.”
  • Dana’s mix of maternal compassion and no-nonsense toughness is highlighted; her ability to joke with Langdon signals forgiveness and steady support:
    • Dr. Alok Patel (06:26): “It was like layers being peeled back from the onion that is charge nurse Dana.”

• Work as Identity & Addiction to the Pit:

  • Dana and Langdon—each in their way—cannot stay away from the high-stakes environment, which is as wounding as it is fulfilling.
    • Dr. Alok Patel (06:43): “It's like this toxic relationship...hurts you and you have problems, but then you're like, I miss the excitement.”

3. Reality & Dangers of AI in Medicine

• Charting Errors and Accountability:
  • Dr. Santos relies on generative AI for charting, leading to significant, unspotted errors—prompting concern about tech’s evolving place in the ER and responsibilities of users.
    • Dr. Alok Patel (08:03): “Let this be a teachable moment...You have to proofread. The machines are not going to be as accurate as a human is.”
    • Hunter Harris (09:05): “I'm kind of over Santos complaining about the charting. I'm like, girl, just stay late like everyone else.”

4. Exploring Ethical & Practical Dilemmas through Patient Stories

• Gus’s Case: Correctional Facility Neglect

  • Raises issues of medical equity and mistreatment of incarcerated patients.

• Brandon Lee: The Motorcycle Accident and Robbie’s Sabbatical

  • The “Evel Knievel” patient mirrors Dr. Robbie’s ongoing conflict about leaving for a risky journey, with helmets, risk, and responsibility as undertones.
    • Dr. Alok Patel (10:48): “Do you think that this case is going to have...impact influence on Dr. Robbie and the sabbatical...Is there a foreshadowing moment?”
    • Hunter Harris (11:04): “I don't know if Dr. Rappi's gonna actually make it to his sabbatical. ...I do think that there's definitely some type of foreshadowing.”

• Roxy & End-of-Life Choices

  • Roxy's resistance to leaving the hospital highlights agency, dignity, the burdens of caregiving, and unspoken family tensions surrounding terminal illness.
    • Hunter Harris (12:55): “I think it's emotional to be at the end of your life and also to see the kind of toll that she's taking on her husband and on her family.”

5. Nursing: The Heart of the Episode

• Nurse Dana’s Stand and Emotional Range

  • Dana forcefully defends Emma from an aggressive patient, showing no-nonsense authority and referencing her trauma from last season.
    • Katherine LaNasa (14:18): “Aggressive behavior toward healthcare workers is a felony. $2,000 fine, possible jail time.”
  • The contrast between Dana’s toughness and her private, deeply felt moments—especially in dealing with Louis’s body—demonstrates the emotional core of nursing.

• Respect for Nursing Staff

  • Notable wisdom from the show about nurses’ essential role:
    • Dr. Alok Patel quoting Whitaker (15:02): “Always listen to the nurses. They run the ER. We just try to stay out of their way.”

6. Industry Commentary: Burnout, Admin Gestures, and “Blood Pastries”

• Management Disconnect
  • Nurses react cynically to well-intended but insufficient admin treats (“blood pastries”), pointing out the futility of token gestures in lieu of real support.
    • Katherine LaNasa (16:52): “Every single one of them can forget about extra shifts. Want to hire more nurses, pay a decent wage...but absolutely send donuts.”
    • Dr. Alok Patel (17:08): “Usually the joke is about pizza parties...like, oh, hey, everyone's burned out. ...but they bought us pizza.”

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In-Depth: Guest Conversations

Patrick Ball & Katherine LaNasa on Langdon and Dana’s Dynamic

• Langdon’s Vulnerability (18:56, 19:56):
  • Coming back after 10 months, Langdon feels like he’s “jumping on a moving train”—grappling not just with professional pressure but deep personal shame and the need for redemption.
  • Patrick Ball: “He probably feels a little bit like jumping on a moving train.”
• Dana’s Processing Trauma and Forgiveness (20:43):
  • Dana is “white-knuckling” through her trauma, having sought therapy and self-defense to regain empowerment after the assault last season.
    • Katherine LaNasa: “She kind of run away from her own grief her whole life.”
• Maternal Wisdom and Redemption (22:39):
  • Dana’s motherly perspective informs her belief in second chances for Langdon—she doesn’t take his failures personally but urges Robbie to “give him a second chance or fire him.”

Valerie Chu (Executive Story Editor) on Crafting the Episode

• Toward a Nurse-Centric Story (31:51):
  • This episode was designed to uniquely spotlight nurses, focusing on Dana as the team’s “mother hen” and diving into her internal world.
  • Valerie Chu: “We tried to go through the nurse lens to kind of highlight Dana...Once Langdon is six hours in, who is that person he's gonna talk to? Who's that confidant?”
• Real Research and the 'Blood Pastries' Moment (39:06):
  • Chu volunteered in an LA County hospital to grasp ER life, leading directly to authentic “admin gesture” scenes like the infamous “blood pastries.”
  • Chu: “The blood pastry idea was pulled from my experience there...I just saw the charge nurse, similar to how Dana reacts, so furious. Refused to have any...just so angry.”
• Storytelling Beyond Sensationalism (35:02):
  • Deciding whether Louis should die was “a big debate”—the focus was never on drama for its own sake but reflecting real ties between nurses and “frequent flyer” patients.
  • Chu: “We didn’t want to just throw in a death for no reason…we tried to set up the mystery of who was this person.”
• Most Moving Moment:
  • Valerie Chu (43:09): “When Catherine is wiping down Louis body...she just delivered that in such a way...the combination of her humanity cleaning up the body...it moved me to tears in a way that doesn’t happen often.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI charting errors:
  • Dr. Alok Patel (08:03): “Let this be a teachable moment for all medical trainees...The machines are not going to be as accurate as a human is.”
• On Dana’s approach in tense moments:
  • Katherine LaNasa (14:18): “Aggressive behavior toward healthcare workers is a felony. $2,000 fine, possible jail time.”
• On the reality behind “blood pastries”:
  • Katherine LaNasa (16:52): “Every single one of them can forget about extra shifts...but absolutely send donuts.”
• On nurses’ value:
  • Whitaker via Dr. Alok Patel (15:02): “Always listen to the nurses. They run the ER. We just try to stay out of their way.”

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Key Timestamps

• Louis’s death and aftermath: 03:02 – 05:27
• Langdon’s apology to Dana: 06:00 – 06:26
• AI charting subplot: 07:14 – 09:10
• Motorcycle patient & Robbie’s sabbatical: 10:23 – 11:46
• Dana defending staff from aggression: 14:09 – 14:27
• Admin “blood pastries” & burnout: 16:46 – 17:08
• Interview: Patrick Ball & Katherine LaNasa: 17:57 – 28:19
• Interview: Valerie Chu—nurse-centric writing, episode themes, ER research: 29:21 – 45:55
• Valerie’s favorite scene (Dana with Louis's body): 43:09

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Tone & Style

The discussion flows between playfully irreverent and heartfelt, with the hosts celebrating both drama and realism. The language is conversational, embedded with warmth, dark humor, and a deep respect for healthcare workers.

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For New Listeners & Fans

This episode is a masterclass in how medical drama can balance accurate detail, wit, and emotionally rich storytelling. It’s especially rewarding for fans interested in the lives of nurses, ethical complications of modern medicine, and the redemptive arcs of flawed but deeply human characters. Even for those new to The Pitt, this podcast dissects what makes the show authentic, thanks to a writer’s dedication to research, a cast’s depth, and a willingness to linger on the small, meaningful moments in life and death.

Transcript

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[Katherine Lanasa]

You check on her need to brush about my asl. You know sign language, too? Princess here knows six languages. I know French. Okay, it's not a contest. No shit talking in front of me. I get enough of that from or Umbrella.

[Hunter Harris]

Welcome to the Pitt Podcast, the official companion to HBO Max's the Pit. I'm Hunter Harris, a screenwriter and cultural critic.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And I'm Dr. Alok Patel, a physician journalist. And I just finished watching episode six, 12pm in the pit. A lot happened, a lot of interesting character moments. We're going to get into all of it. We're going to be joined by Patrick ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon, and Katherine Lanasa, who plays charge nurse Dana, also known as Hunter's favorite pit character.

[Katherine Lanasa]

I definitely felt a sense of disappointment in him. I mean, I really felt heartbroken. But I think when you're a mother, you know, not to take this stuff personally, that you know, that people screw up. And we'll also talk to one of.

[Hunter Harris]

The show's writers, Valerie Chu, who worked on this week's episode, about how the writers work on character arcs and dramas while also weaving in the medicine.

[Valerie Chu]

Those tiny moments of humanity from Dana. We talked a lot in the room about how her exterior and her toughness is almost like she's calcified this season. But then you get little peaks of light coming through. And this is one of those moments.

[Hunter Harris]

Today's shift starts now. Episode six. I want to do like a little recap on all these really big and important character moments that happened this episode because there were some real moments of tension and friction that I want to talk about.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Oh, for sure. And you know, obviously, you know me, and I love all the medical jargon and terminology, but there's. There's an underlying message with each patient scenario and each kind of encounter. Also, like, there's so much happening in this episode.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah, let's get into it. So we start off very sad. Louis died and Robbie and Langdon kind of have a moment where they're looking at each other thinking, how do we save? And they just can't resuscitate him. It was. It really, like, broke my heart. I love Louie.

[Patrick Ball]

Should we get pcc?

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Too late for that. And he's not an equal candidate.

[Patrick Ball]

Nothing else we can do?

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

No, I. I think we're done.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I think the Lou's development throughout multiple episodes kind of came to this climactic moment. And like, I was. I felt like we were there in the hour with them also being like, oh, and when Dr. Robbie said, not an ECMO candidate. ECMO? Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. Fancy way to say a life saving invasive technique to basically give someone artificial lungs and hearts. Oxygenating your blood for you. When they said he's not a candidate, that kind of was the hint to them. They're like, there's nothing we can do to save him if we can't save him right now in this moment.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah. Watching everyone kind of come to conclusion that there's nothing more that they can do was really sad.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I know. I was like, oh, man, Louis. But there's one little. One little moment that I have to give Dr. Robbie, or I should say Noah Wiley credit for. Remember we were talking to some of the actors and they were mentioning how hard it was to do chest compressions in this setting and how hard it was to fake it. Noah Wiley's nailing those chest compressions, I think. Like, I'm looking at that. I was like, those. That was some good chest compressions.

[Hunter Harris]

No, it was. It was like, kind of sad to see him. Like, like the physicality of that moment I thought played really well. Like, it really tugged at the heartstrings. And of course, this episode ends with, like viewing Lou's body. And I think it's Langdon, right. Who finds a photo. And then we have all this kind of like, wonderful, lovely, but very heartbreaking moment.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I didn't expect this, but that hit me the hardest emotionally out of anything we've seen so far in the show.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

He never really wanted kids, but Rhonda wore him down. And when she finally got pregnant, he changed his tune. He got excited. And then about a month before the baby was due, Rhonda and the baby were killed in a Car crash, Though he never really came back from that.

[Hunter Harris]

I love that that is treated sort of as like, a. How would we find that out otherwise? Like, that he's known this forever and that we're just now all learning this together, like, with the rest of the staff. That was really special. Emma holding his hand was really sad because it is, like, her first day. And compare that to how Ogilvy reacts. I mean, my goodness, Like, Emma's a good egg. So then later, we have a pretty, like, tender moment, I would say, between Dr. Langdon and Nurse Dana where Dr. Langdon kind of apologizes for his behavior. He's, like, doing the 12 steps, and Dana's like, no, we're good. Don't worry about it at all.

[Patrick Ball]

Look, I. I've been working the 12 steps trying to make amends. I was really selfish. I lied to myself, and I lied to you. I'm really sorry.

[Katherine Lanasa]

You can check me off your list, kid. We're good.

[Patrick Ball]

Okay.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Yeah. Got a lovely patient for you, too. Let's get you back on the horse.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

It was like layers being peeled back from the onion that is charged nurst. Dana.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Because she's such a tough, tough person, and she was, like, revealing a little bit of her softer, human side that.

[Hunter Harris]

She couldn't stay away from the pit, that she, like, went home for a couple weeks and got bored. And I'm like, I get it. Like, you have kind of the coolest job in the world.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

It's like this toxic relationship, you know, where it, like, hurts you and you have problems, but then you're like, I miss the excitement. I miss the roller coaster. And it's also part of her identity.

[Hunter Harris]

And we also get a little moment where she calls Langdon slow, Like, he coming back is not as quick as he used to be, which I thought was pretty satisfying, which I also thought.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Was important for her to say to, like, somehow she's the one to say that to him, and he would get it the right way. He wouldn't be insulted. She, like, gave him that little, like, kick. Like a little brother. Like, all right, you healed. You're good. But, like, I need. I need Dr. Langdon back now.

[Hunter Harris]

Right, like, up. That's the attention that Robbie isn't giving him.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Hunter, I feel like throughout season two, we've had these light touches on technology in the clinical setting. We've been talking about this tension regarding AI that's buil building up between Dr. Ravi and Dr. Al Hashimi. Now Santos, with her charting issues, starts to use AI and there's a little bit of an error in a patient chart because she didn't proofread what the generative AI wrote for her.

[Hunter Harris]

A little bit of an error. I'd say a pretty substantial error. A few, actually.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Dr. Alishimi.

[Valerie Chu]

Yes.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Dr. Santos was just using your AI tool for her charting, and it hallucinated a history of appendicitis.

[Hunter Harris]

As I mentioned to Dr. Santos, generative AI is not perfect. We still need to proofread every chart it creates.

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

The patient also has a history of headache, followed by Dr. Park from urology.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

That should probably be neurology.

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

Unless urologists are now treating migraines.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Let this be a teachable moment for all medical trainees or people adopting tech. You have to proofread. I'm just going to. I'm just going to take a stand and say the machines are not going to be as accurate as a human is.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah. I'm like, what else could be in that person's chart now? Or like, how many other mistakes have happened that Santos, like, hasn't caught yet?

[Dr. Alok Patel]

But also, neurology versus urology. I've had to fix that correction on the phone with someone that's like, people hear like, neurology at 2am and they're like, wait, are you talking about urology?

[Hunter Harris]

Urology is like bladder, right?

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Urology, yeah. Think kidney and bladder.

[Hunter Harris]

Okay.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Neurology, think brain.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

But even if I was saying something like clonidine or clona pin, two different drugs, we're talking about the difference between treating blood pressure and anxiety. And that's so easy to make that. That mistake.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Wow.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

But this is an interesting full circle moment because you see Santos, like, trying to figure out, use these tools. Then she finally uses the tool that Dr. Al Hashimi is like, Use AI. Use AI. And then a mistake happens, and someone angry comes down and is like, what is this appendectomy? What is this mistake?

[Hunter Harris]

I mean, my goodness. I'm kind of over Santos complaining about the charting. I'm like, girl, just stay late like everyone else.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Also, I don't understand why she's the only one who, like, do the other ones. Are they. Are they not doing their charting? Because I don't see them charting, but somehow she has all the charts. I don't know. Something's not adding up.

[Hunter Harris]

And I don't know why Dr. Alhashmi is so hard on her about it. Like, repeating your R2 year. Come on.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

That was very aggressive. Like, I am very team doctor Al Hashmi. But that was that one little moment when I was like, homie, no one's repeating R2 year because they didn't finish charting in one shift.

[Hunter Harris]

We're Santos defenders over here.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I would be in residency forever if it came down to not finishing charts on time. And all my colleagues listening or watching this podcast are nodding their heads. There's a lot of interesting patient encounters. One thing I love about this show is you get an interesting patient coming through, and you just never quite know what the lesson's going to be or what the writers are trying to teach us. You have this potential case of poor treatment and malnourishment in a correctional facility. And this patient, Gus, also a great moment to really see some of the heart come out in the staff. And then you have this Evel Knievel style accident with this motorcyclist, Brandon Lee. Presumably, he, like, fell from a motorcycle pyramid or something. And there is this again, this back and forth about motorcycles and helmets and this undertone of what Dr. Robbie is doing, the risks and all this. What was your takeaway?

[Hunter Harris]

Well, I mean, you know, of course, this patient is the one who's, like, so gung ho on Dr. Robbie going this sabbatical. And it's like, well, sweetheart, you're laid out right now. You're literally in the hospital. I don't know if I should be taking your advice. I like how everyone is like, hmm, a motorcycle accident, Dr. Robbie, what do you think?

[Dr. Alok Patel]

They're, like, looking at him and, you know, there's. Were you wearing a helmet? And he's like, I was, of course.

[Valerie Chu]

So that's.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Someone said, like, oh, they're still in fashion.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah, it was nurse, of course.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Of course, of course. Here's my question, though. You know, aside from the. The fun of the moment, if you will, do you think that this case is going to have some type of impact influence on Dr. Robbie and the sabbatical, him wearing a helmet. Is there a foreshadowing moment that we're seeing here?

[Hunter Harris]

Okay, so I don't know if Dr. Rappi's gonna actually make it to his sabbatical. I don't know if he's gonna go because I feel like they keep mentioning it in all of these little, like, cases that come in and kind of challenge, like, the motorcycle thing. Should he really leave? Like, is he leaving the ED in good hands? I don't know. I'm thinking that maybe he's gonna bail at the last minute. But I do think that there's definitely some type of foreshadowing that maybe the motorcycle of it all might shift or change. Cause I know he's looking forward to it, though. We'll see.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

So you think it's deeper than just this Evel Knievel mishap?

[Hunter Harris]

Oh, totally.

[Katherine Lanasa]

100%.

[Hunter Harris]

I think that Dr. Rabi's really being faced with what is the real. What's really at stake here for him going the sabbatical. What is he looking for on this long ride? I think we'll see.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And again, kind of continuing on with the theme of this episode, I feel like, which is patient encounters and their underlying meaning, which I cannot wait to talk to Valerie Chu. But we see Roxy and she's with her death doula, but then also some type of pull it, push and pull with her husband and her not wanting to go home. Is it because she doesn't want to be at home? Is it because she doesn't want to be with him? We don't quite know. We also have this powerful moment with this patient who needs a sign language interpreter. And again, to me, that scene strikes me as a moment of really being able to be there for patients with cultural competency and accommodating them and making sure that we have the same amount of resources and equity for all cases. But I want to just. With Roxy, what do you think is happening at home with her? Do you think? What is the reason that she doesn't want to be around her husband and she's like, go away, dude.

[Katherine Lanasa]

I want to be right behind you?

[Dr. Alok Patel]

No, no, I'm riding in the back with you.

[Katherine Lanasa]

You know what? I'll stay.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

You sure?

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Okay.

[Hunter Harris]

I don't think it's that she doesn't want to be around him. I think that she. That it's emotional to be at the end of your life and also to see the kind of toll that her. That she's taking on her husband and on her family. You know, being a caregiver is a lot of work and very, like, personally draining. And I feel like maybe she feels responsible for kind of taking over his life with her care. And it's almost maybe a way of exercising her own agency, like, regaining a little bit of, like, dignity. Like, I want to stay in the hospital. I don't want to be burdened anymore. And I think it's. It's very moving, and I wish you could understand that a little bit more. But, I mean, he can. He loves her. He can't see past that.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And I. I respect his persistence. And when he says things like, I want to take care of you. You are my wife. And like you mentioned, she, I. She must feel some type of Guilt. And it's. The caregiver population in this country is only growing.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And I feel like this is probably a very common scenario, sadly, that a lot of people are going through.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah. I wonder, too, how much of it is, like, I don't want to, like, have to adjust their home to her illness. Like, if she stays in the hospital, then it's just one less piece of medical equipment that their sons have to be surrounded with and see every day. And I think it's real moment of, like, her trying to caregive for everyone else in her life. Moment of the episode for me, though, was nurse Dana. When that man, like, grabs Emma's arm.

[Katherine Lanasa]

They'll beg, spit, and curse for food, but you gotta stay strong.

[Patrick Ball]

Hey, I've been waiting for an hour.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

When am I gonna see a fucking doctor?

[Valerie Chu]

Excuse me.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

You spoke the last time.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Perhaps you didn't see this, which is strange, because they're all over the place. Aggressive behavior toward healthcare workers is a felony. $2,000 fine, possible jail time.

[Valerie Chu]

Got it.

[Hunter Harris]

Dana immediately springs into action, and you also see kind of the trauma response to, like, how she was treated last season when she was punched. And she's very. No nonsense about it. And I like that Emma is introduced to the pit with that moment, you know, that she sees. Like, you can really advocate for yourself, and you should not take that kind of behavior lightly or you should stand up for yourself. I thought that was really good.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And she deflated that dude's anger.

[Hunter Harris]

Yes. And the way that she even, like, brings the hospital bed, like, arm back up to, like, block him even more. Just the physicality of that, I thought was so good.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I don't know if I have a moment. I have, like, five moments of the episode, but I'm. I have a quote award.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Okay.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

The quote award, in my opinion, goes to Whitaker, who says, always listen to the nurses. They run the er. We just try to stay out of their way.

[Hunter Harris]

I mean, everyone should be agreeing with that. Like, no, they're really, like, I love all of the nurses, and I think this is a great episode where they're just as quick, just as, like, interested in patient care, obviously, but, you know, no, they're good at reading people. All of these nurses. I think that's, like, they're really good interpersonally, especially when you have, like, medical students, like, Ogilvy, where I'm like, oh, my gosh. Even when he, like, tells Whitaker, oh, Louis croaked. I mean, oh, my gosh. No, they're the nurses that are, like, understanding the push and pull dynamics emotionally. Did you guys hear about Louie?

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Yeah, a chronic alcoholic.

[Patrick Ball]

Go figure.

[Hunter Harris]

Hey, Fento D and South 20 is.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Ready for discharge, but could you get.

[Hunter Harris]

Lupe to call him a ride? I need to check on Louis. Actually.

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

Whitaker.

[Patrick Ball]

He croaked, what, Five minutes ago.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Robbie called. Because they're teaching residents at more than just patient care. They're teaching them about empathy.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

About bedside manner. And, like, the minute Ogilvy says that, and then Perla and Tagalog is like, you guy.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah. Yeah. That was a really good moment.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I was like.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah, because we were all feeling the same way, too. I mean, I was like, ogilvy, you don't know what you're talking about.

[Katherine Lanasa]

This is.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Louis, there's a fun. Fun. I mean, there's many little quick medical moments that I really like in this episode. One line again, charge nurse Dana. She's so fast. When they had those pastries, and it seems that, like, administration sent them down.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And there's always comments about frustration, you know, about. Again, like, we are burned out. They are not getting a staffing. They're not doing anything, but they're giving us food.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah. What do you like? Blood money donuts, Admin.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Blood pastries.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Which is awesome.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Every single one of them can forget about extra shifts. One hire more nurses, pays a decent wage, want our security that can actually protect us from patients. But absolutely send donuts. Sure you want to go into this.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Line of work, come and get you one?

[Katherine Lanasa]

Of course I do, but I'm not taking admits. Blood pastries. A two daughter.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Usually the joke is about pizza parties. I think that's like a corporate burnout joke where they're like, oh, hey, you know, everyone's burned out. We can't afford rent, but se bought us pizza.

[Hunter Harris]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I honestly think hospitals stopped buying so much pizza, especially around the pandemic, because of how much people made fun of it on social media. Straight up.

[Hunter Harris]

No, you could be right. That's. That's very astute.

[Valerie Chu]

Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

People were just like, I don't. We don't need a pizza party. Like, during. During Nurses Appreciation Week. Nurses are like, wait, we can't pay for parking. We're burned out. We don't have support staff. Please do not buy us more pizza.

[Hunter Harris]

Right? Yeah. Pizza over. Support staff is crazy.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Yeah. Or admin Blood pastries. I'm gonna open up a donut shop called Admin Blood Pastries.

[Hunter Harris]

You know, I'm a nurse Dina fan. Like, I write for her like no one else. We got to talk to Katherine Lanasa. Who plays nurse Dana and also Patrick ball, who plays Dr. Langdon.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I just immediately wanted to salute how incredible they are in the show. They're acting, but in my mind I was like, you got Dr. Langdon, heroic senior resident, goes through a struggle end of season one, comes back season two. What is that like for the character? And then with Katherine, I want her to be like every single nurse I work with salutes you and how you.

[Hunter Harris]

Portray charge nurse Dana and even non nurses like myself.

[Katherine Lanasa]

You look good, kid. How you feeling?

[Patrick Ball]

Oh, yeah, great. You know, it's been. It's been a journey.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Not bad.

[Katherine Lanasa]

Thanks.

[Patrick Ball]

Robbie, you're on.

[Hunter Harris]

He's in with the trauma, but if.

[Katherine Lanasa]

You hurry back, you can catch some of the pass ons there in north.

[Unnamed Actor/Character]

Thanks.

[Katherine Lanasa]

I'll keep an eye on him.

[Hunter Harris]

Patrick, we want to start with you. Langdon starts season two on the outs after having to deal with his drug use and goes to rehab. How do you think he approaches reintegrating back into the team?

[Patrick Ball]

I think it's probably a pretty scary day. I think he's been away for 10 months. I think last we saw him, he said some pretty desperate things to. To his mentor, Robbie, who I think is very important to him and has been probably one of his closest relationships in his life. And I think that relationship has been greatly damaged. I think over the last 10 months, he has gone through rehab and has probably had to do some soul searching that he hasn't previously had to do. And he's probably been at home with his wife and two kids and had to be present as a father and a husband in a way that he has not. And I think he's also been, you know, parked. He's been stopped. I think there is an inertia to being in the pit of just moving fast and always jumping on the next grenade. And there's a rhythm to that and he is not on that rhythm. And he's come back in and I think he probably feels a little bit like jumping on a moving train.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

A lot of moving parts. Katherine, I gotta tell you, I work with a lot of nurses and charge nurse Dana is like a crowd favorite.

[Hunter Harris]

Thank you.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Because you come across as like, charge nurse Dana is running the er, but then also is like mother hen, like part badass, part burned out healthcare professional. Then there's compassion in there that we see in the bedside and with colleagues. But we know that Charshna is also human. And in this episode, in the very beginning, starting to kind of express him in this experience with the assault, how is charge nurse Dana processing It what's going through her mind?

[Katherine Lanasa]

I don't think she's processing anything very well. Like, I had a little story that I made up for myself, which was that she was kind of white knuckling it after the punch. And, you know, she decided not to press charges. It's the story that we'll find out. One of her daughters was like, you know, this isn't really working for you. Maybe you need to get some therapy. And so in my mind, she's did a little bit of, like, group therapy. You know, her mother died when she was 16 is the backstory on her. And that's around when she started volunteering at the hospital. So I think she's kind of run away from her own grief her whole life. So I think the punch was really significant in that way. And I think we're gonna see. I think I made up that she did that and that she probably did some self defense so that she could feel a little empowered. It just was what came into my imagination. But I think we're going to see someone that is really still not that well knit together. You know, when any type of violence comes up in the er, any type of aggression comes up, you'll see a Dana that's responding to that in a different way. I think that, you know, that's a Robert Creeley poem, a North Carolina poet, actually, that says, you know, something like, never deny the people in their place. It's just like, that's the whole poem. But there's something about taking people out that's very humiliating, you know, And I think that's a place where she felt a lot of pride. She probably lifts her whole family up with that job. And, you know, it's a hospital in her town, and here she is running this big part of it, you know, and I think it was a really big deal. Very significant.

[Hunter Harris]

Can you talk to us a little bit about the dynamic between both of your characters? Because at this point in the season, we see Torch and Dana kind of tell Robbie, hey, either you're like icing or you're letting him back in. You need to make up your mind. How do you think she feels about Langdon coming back? And how does he. Does he see her as like a supporter of his?

[Katherine Lanasa]

I think that, you know, I have a child around Patrick's age, and I have a younger child as well. You know, I think Dana is a wise old mother that has seen a lot, you know, and kids mess up. You know, Dr. Ravi doesn't have any kids. As one stepson, he doesn't really know the journey that you take with children as they become young adults, that some of them go astray and they mess up. And I think Dana believes in redemption. I think she really believes in this kid. I definitely felt a sense of disappointment in him. I really felt heartbroken. But I think when you're a mother, you know, not to take this stuff personally, that, you know, that people screw up. And so I think she wants Robbie to. To give him a second chance. You know, give him a second chance or fire him, you know, let him go somewhere else. But this is torture. It's torture.

[Hunter Harris]

And from your side, how do you see Dana?

[Patrick Ball]

Yeah, I mean, I think. I think Dana is. Is a pillar for Langdon. And I think she always has been. I think she's a pillar for everyone in ptmc. And I think also she's like a friend. She's like a close, close friend and somebody that Langdon depends on frequently. And I think, I think when he comes back after, after this time away, I think it can be difficult to look someone like that in the eye. There's a. There's a lot of shame, there's a lot of guilt about having let a mother of sorts down like that and to have everyone around you know that you are not okay. I think there's a lot of guilt there. And I think it can be difficult to come back with the same familiarity. But I think also you walk in the door and you realize, oh, actually maybe Dana isn't just a care machine that is just here to take care of me and make me feel better. And maybe because of the work that I've been. That Langdon has been doing over the last 10 months, he maybe sees Dana in a different way and sees like, oh, she's actually not just here to make me feel better. She actually is struggling in a way that might be new or maybe I didn't notice before, but I think he is confronted with the fact that this cycle of care is a two way street in a way that feels new.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

You know, at the start of season two first episode, people are thinking Langdon kind of had to take a step away. Season one, also, Dana may be retiring. She's burned out. We see Langdon chillin with the penguin's hat in triage coming in, and obviously nurse Dana did not step away at all. What do you think it was like for charged nurse Dana and Langdon to be away from the ER for that period of time? What was missing?

[Katherine Lanasa]

I think for Dana, it's something that she knows that she does well. You know, I'VE talked to a lot of ED nurses, and that is usually the thing, is that they felt like they could do it better than somebody else. The one in Pittsburgh, the charge nurse at Allegheny, told me that her mother was dying, and she saw those nurses and she thought, I can do this better. I know what's needed here. And she went to nursing school and became a nurse through that experience. So I just think it's definitely calling, and I think there's really nothing like feeling really competent and useful at something. And I think if you have that one thing that you do, you step away from it, you kind of have a loss of a sense of self. Right. Or a loss of purpose. So I think, you know, returning was really the only way to get that back.

[Patrick Ball]

Yeah, I think. Well said. And I think Langdon's the same. The same way. I think he derives a lot of identity out of being first to arrive, last to leave. I'm gonna work harder. I'm gonna move faster than anyone. And I think that has covered a void that has been covering a wound. You know, I think there's probably.

[Katherine Lanasa]

A.

[Patrick Ball]

Lack of self trust there and a feeling of uselessness that. That is constantly being defended against by being like, I know that I'm being useful right now. I know that I am helping others.

[Hunter Harris]

I loved that moment of Catherine saying that, you know, she in real life has a child around Patrick's age, but that maybe because Narcina is a mother, she feels a little bit more. It's easier for her to forgive. She's used to people, you know, kids making mistakes and kind of forgiving them and moving on in a way that Robbie might not be. I thought that was, like, pretty astute.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

It was also interesting to kind of try to get inside Patrick Ball's head about, like, what is the trajectory of Dr. Lane going to be? What is the sense of identity as a doctor going through this, but then also as a husband and a father? There's so much swirling around in his world.

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

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[Hunter Harris]

This week, let's talk to someone with some inside information. Let's hear from executive story editor Valerie Chu, who wrote this week's episode.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Super excited for this one.

[Hunter Harris]

Okay, Valerie, you're an executive story editor on the Pit. Thank you for being with us today because I have so many questions about writing for a show like this. Okay, first, like, what were the earliest conversations, like in the room about breaking season two and like, where we pick up this story and these characters again?

[Valerie Chu]

Yeah, I think, you know, season one had a slightly different process in terms of character development because Scott Gemmell already came in with extremely fleshed out characters. Noah describes it as like, when he pitched the show, he pitched these characters as though they were people in his life. And so we had an amazing groundwork for season one because he had all these ideas for their arcs for the tent poles, like the mass casualty. So going into season two, it was a bit of a clean slate. We were trying to figure out how much time should elapse. I think we liked the idea of 10 months because it allowed our. Since we cannot do traditional character arcs in a show that's in real time, it allowed us to give a little more juice in terms of where the characters have grown since season one. So that was sort of the easiest decision, I would say, in terms of how much time has elapsed. But in terms of character stories and arcs, it was sort of figuring out how to not try to outdo ourselves, but stick to the character, stick to the things that we had already planted in season one. I'm trying to get into specifics here. Like, we knew that we wanted Mel to sort of have a harder day. I think we did have kind of more time to talk as a room about the characters in a way that in season one, it was sort of more fleshed out before the writers room came into it. Cool.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Now, speaking of character development, I mean, Hunter and I will sit and just deep dive in what we think is happening with characters behind the scenes. But I'd love to ask you, this episode, big moment with Langdon and Charge, Nurs, Dana and I would love to hear from you as a writer who was kind of putting this together, what did you want the audience to see there? There's, like, friendship. There's language to worry about, betrayal. There's this, am I upsetting my mentor, my motherly figure? Like, what did you want the viewers to see?

[Valerie Chu]

Well, it was sort of born out of the idea that I feel like this is a nurse centric episode. And as we developed this episode, it sort of became more clear that it was a Dana episode. We don't do that on this show. We don't highlight specific characters episode to episode. And this was a unique opportunity because we were trying to go through the nurse lens to kind of highlight Dana. And so it was kind of twofold. On one hand, I wanted to show how she really is the mother hen of this group. And on the other hand, it felt like after six hours, we haven't really gotten a sense of Langdon's last 10 months. You know, a lot of beginning of seasons tend to be set up, and, you know, you're not gonna lift back the curtain right away, but once Langdon is six hours in, like, who is that person he's gonna talk to? Who's that confidant? And how is his confidence flagging six hours in when he's sort of feeling insecure about being back at work? And then the other thing was, like, we tend to kind of look back at season one and the seeds that were planted. So when I wrote that scene, I kept going back to the beautiful scene that Scott wrote in the finale of season one. And it's in that exact same kitchen space between Dana and Langdon. And it's when he's telling her, he's trying to suss out what she knows, whether she's heard about him stealing the meds and even just the blocking. Noah and I talked about, like, having that same sort of, like, him leaning over at the sink as she's trying to make coffee. Just this idea that 10 months later, these characters, they haven't talked to each other, but there's still kind of that closeness because they've known each other for so long. And so I felt like it sort of served two purposes. We got to know a bit more about Langdon and, like, who's that person he's gonna open up to in the E. But also we get to see Dana in her finest moments. And also another peek behind the curtain in terms of where she is with her ptsd. Like, in that scene, he asked her, like, he didn't know what happened after that day in terms of the guy who punched her, the patient who punched her. So he asked her, like, Whatever happened. And that was sort of a way of, like, not, I wouldn't go as far as to say retriggering her, but it's a way to sort of remind the audience that, like, this. This was kind of a hard decision and Catherine made a beautiful acting choice to sort of, like, look away from him when he asked that question. And you can tell she's just sort of, like, putting on this, like, straight face because she doesn't want to think about it.

[Patrick Ball]

They ever arrest that guy who punched you?

[Katherine Lanasa]

Yeah. Want to know if I want to press charges, but didn't want to go through all that. Thought I was done, really did, but got bored now.

[Hunter Harris]

So when we talked to Scott and John earlier this season, they described, like, character as the core of the show and then the medicine as the wallpaper. And I want to know from you, like, how does that carry into a story like Louis that is super character driven, but also, like, medically, you know, interesting as well?

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Louis?

[Valerie Chu]

Yes. Yeah, that was a big debate in the room. I was. In the beginning, we didn't know if we wanted to kill him off because I feel like on this show, what I love about our process is that we're never doing anything for dramatic purposes or for, like, you know, I often talk about gratuitous television if it's, like, overly sexual or overly, you know, like, if things are sensationalized just for the purpose of dramatic storytelling. So we didn't want to just throw in a death for no reason. And there was a big debate about whether he should die. And I was on the side of no, but I think it sort of dovetailed nicely with the fact that this was a nurse episode. And I spoke to a lot of nurses for this episode who talked about what it is like for those unhoused patients who come in. The nurse that I spoke to, whom I love so much, she's the charge nurse who Catherine has sort of shadowed her and gotten advice from her, but she works at LA county down by usc, and she talked about how, you know, you see these people every day.

[Katherine Lanasa]

But.

[Valerie Chu]

It just sort of feels like run of the mill and you're taking care of them. Sometimes they just, like, keep coming in. But then, like, when someone dies, like, it really does affect you in a way that you didn't expect. You just expect that person to always be there. Again, going back to the idea that we knew the nurse center was going to be the centerpiece of the episode, and how can we sort of show that, you know, they are the ones who are with these frequent fliers, these unhoused folks, day to day. They're the ones who are, you know, checking in on them. They're the ones contacting family, trying their hardest to find anyone who might have known this person would care about their passing. And I think it was one of those things we sort of stumbled in, like those happy accidents that happened creatively. I can't say that it was necessarily planned, but it ended up working out really well because you see how every nurse is affected by their passing. And then just this idea that I really loved. You know, we tried to kind of set up the mystery of who was this person. We've seen them every day or every other day or frequently for the last few years, and we don't know who they are. And then you find out at the end of the episode that Robbie, you know, during one busy, one slow night, got the whole story. And it was very much in line with the actor's journey. His name is Ernest. The actor who plays Louis, he didn't know that he was going to die. And then when he found out, he was understandably, really upset because he felt like, wait, this character hasn't. We don't know who this is. We haven't, like, gotten a backstory or anything. And then the story goes that he read the script and he went up to Noah and he was just like, tears in his eyes, like, so moved. Because now Robbie gets to tell his story in that eulogy. And it sort of goes hand in hand with how, I assume, like, for a lot of the patients, you might find out about their life when their family comes in and tells you, but not until after you've treated them, not until after the fact. And I appreciated the way that we structured it so that we would find out about that later.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Wow. The depth of the medical research and the fact that you mentioned you were talking to nurses to learn about characters and workflow and emotions just kind of speaks to what comes across on camera. Sometimes I watch a show and I'm like, valerie obviously sat in on med school classes because of terminology is on point. But even, like, the fun nuances, like in this episode admin, blood pastries. Hilarious quote by Charge Nurstana Whitaker then says this amazing line when he's like, nurses run the er. Your best bet to stay out of their way. I just wanted to ask you, like, getting the medical terminology correct, making sure the medical accuracy is there versus writing out characters. You mentioned that Dr. Sacks is like, we want characters first, but how does that process work for you?

[Valerie Chu]

Well, I can speak to the blood pastry moment. So I actually, shortly after we started the room on season one, I decided to start volunteering at the LA County USC hospital. And my thought behind that was, I don't have a medical background. I feel like a bit of a fraud writing a medical show when I haven't, you know, been in that profession. And I felt like the ER is a very uncomfortable place where really hard things happen. And if I'm not willing to sit in that discomfort, I don't know, personally, I just feel like a bit of a fraud. So I started volunteering there and just. I can't do much, obviously, because I'm not, like, certified or anything, but just observing the space and seeing how people interacted and seeing the little moments of connection between each other, between patients and healthcare workers. The blood pastry idea was pulled from my experience there. There was a day where admin and, you know, like, obviously they have really good, like, intentions, but you could be real. Yes. Yes. So they sent down these iced drinks for. I think it was nurses week. And I just saw the charge nurse, similar to how Dana reacts, so furious. Refused to have any, like, coffee. I'm not gonna. You know, I'm not taking that, like, just so angry about just even this gesture without, you know, all the other things that they. All the support that they lack in the er. And so I kind of just took that for the story and I thought it was really. I don't know. It also felt relevant to the statement we tried to make in terms of, like, you know, there are these gestures that are made, but not real changes that are. And support that's given to the healthcare workers that need a substantive, like, administrative change to kind of allow them to do what they're doing. I'm trying to think back to your question about approaching character. I mean, Scott always says, just let the characters guide you. And I think on this show, now that we've had season one, for me, was a lot of figuring out how to write the show. I'd never written on a medical show. And then kind of watching the actors do what they did on season one, being able to hear their voice, because when we started writing, I think when I wrote my episode in season one, we had not yet cast the show.

[Hunter Harris]

Wow.

[Valerie Chu]

So it was hard to hear the voices in my head. Scott obviously had that down because he knew them and had been developing them. But I am somebody who. I actually hear the actor a lot better, and it helps me write when I'm writing, rather than just kind of. I Know character traits and whatnot, if I don't know who the actor is. But it's not the same. And so in season two, I felt like it was just more about listening to those voices, thinking about what. We've already established new angles in which we could see these characters. And, you know, there was a little bit of, like, we did come into the room this season with more, I guess, agenda for the types of medical cases we wanted. But at the end of the day, like, people are watching because they relate to these characters that Scott has created. And I think the challenge was just layering it where some people would have a more dramatic change over 15 hours, and some people would just be having a bad day. I mean, that was Whitaker's. Whitaker's story for season one was there wasn't a big life change. He just had a really bad first day.

[Hunter Harris]

It feels like a nose goes like, who's gonna have just a really bad day today?

[Valerie Chu]

Exactly. Yes. Season two is. Sant. Yeah.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I gotta ask you, like, I don't know. I don't know if you have one or 50 answers, but do you have, like, a really proud moment in this episode? Favorite moment?

[Valerie Chu]

Favorite moment. I can tell you what moment made me cry. I don't really cry on set. When I'm watching, I have this awareness that is like, we're filming and we're.

[Katherine Lanasa]

On set.

[Valerie Chu]

When Catherine is wiping down Louis body.

[Katherine Lanasa]

These frequent flyers, it can be a real pain in the ass, but you miss them when they're gone.

[Valerie Chu]

Like, she just delivered that in such a way. I think it was the combination of her humanity cleaning up the body and also just, you know, you see that she's lived through so much with this patient, and you see how, like, those tiny moments of humanity from Dana. We talked a lot in the room about how her exterior and her toughness is almost like she's calcified this season. But then you get little peaks of light coming through. And this is one of those moments. So the layers that Catherine was able to play in that scene, and then seeing Leticia, who plays Emma, her vulnerability and her shock of, like, she's probably seen, you know, this. She's seen people die. But, like, the intimacy of cleaning a dead body and like, them addressing that in the scene, the combination of that just. It moved me to tears in a way that I. That doesn't happen often. And I remember Noah called cut. He turned around, looked at me, and he was, you know, quipping that he was just. He was amused that I was. That I was crying. Like In a good way that, you know, the power of, like, his direction and Catherine's performance and Leticia's performance had, like, had this emotional impact on me. So that moment was really great. And then just seeing, you know, just seeing more of our nurses, seeing more of Perla, her emotional response, giving more to Kristen, who plays Princess. I think I'm just proud that the idea of having a nurse episode was Scott's idea, and we just really didn't know what that would look like. It was quite challenging, honestly, to kind of figure out how to shift that perspective because we had done so many hours from the doctor's point of view. And also the challenge was how to serve our regulars and not take away from them while also highlighting nurses. So it was probably, I would say, our toughest episode to break because we had to kind of flip the script and, like, think outside of the box. We hadn't done an episode from their perspective. But I'm just proud of the way that it came together and that, you know, we get to see the little in betweens. We get to see these moments of patient care, which is really one of the many things that nurses do so well.

[Hunter Harris]

Valerie, thank you so much for talking through this episode with us.

[Valerie Chu]

Thank you, guys.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I'm like, I'm inspired. I hope all the future college writers you talk to too are also inspired.

[Valerie Chu]

Thank you.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

Thanks for taking the time. Thanks for creating this masterpiece.

[Valerie Chu]

Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I was, like, lost in listening to Valerie's thought process. Like, I have experience in writing scripts for news and documentaries and science based stories, but, like, hearing how Valerie, like, wrote the characters while maintaining the medical integrity, but with this attention to emotional details.

[Hunter Harris]

Incredible. Yeah. I mean, also, TV writing is super collaborative and I liked how she was talking about breaking story across character across all these different medical cases and how so much stuff is, like, reflected from the writing of Scott and John.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

You mentioned her process, her thought process. And, like, I can envision Valerie, like, walking in circles in her writing space and, like, with like, papers all over the ground and being like, how does Santos handle the situation? Or in specifically, like, what is Langdon going to do with charge nurse Dana? And then it just comes this, like, act of brilliance and we see it on camera.

[Hunter Harris]

I think you're describing, like, the Pelican Brief, like, like some, like, sort of like Alan Pakula, like, sort of conspiracy. Like, it's very tense and stressful.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

I'm just hoping that there's a generation of writers who are, like, inspired now.

[Hunter Harris]

That's it for today's episode of the Pit Podcast. We'll be here every Thursday right after new episodes drop.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

And before we go, we want to hear from you Pitt fans. So leave us a question, a comment, and maybe we'll address it on a future episode.

[Hunter Harris]

You can watch us on HBO Max or listen wherever you get your podcasts. The Pitt Podcast is a production of HBO Max in collaboration with prx. The executive producer of PRX is Jocelyn Gonzalez. Our managing producer is Courtney Florentine. Our editor is Lucy Perkins. Our production managers are Episodes Ochoa and Tony Carlson. Our video producer and editor is Anthony Q. Artis with assistant editor Damon Durrell Hinson. This show is engineered by Tommy Bazarian. Special thanks to Joe Carlino.

[Dr. Alok Patel]

The executive producer of HBO Podcasts is Michael Gluckstadt, the senior producer is Alison Cohen, sirocac and the associate producer is Aaron Kelly. Technical director is Insang Hwang. I'm Alok Patel.

[Hunter Harris]

And I'm Hunter Harris. We'll see you next week in the Pit.

[Volvo XC90 Sponsor]

When life gets unpredictable, preparation matters in medicine, it's all about staying alert, ready for whatever comes through the door. On the road, it's no different. That's why Volvo designs vehicles to help anticipate risk, reduce harm and protect lives. The Volvo XC90's advanced safety systems inspire confident decisions wherever the road takes you. The Volvo XC90 for life proud sponsor of the Pitt Podcast. Learn [e-mail] us when life gets unpredictable, preparation matters. In medicine, it's all about staying alert, ready for whatever comes through the door. On the road, it's no different. That's why Volvo designed vehicles to help anticipate risk, reduce harm and protect lives. The Volvo XC 90s advanced safety systems inspire confident decisions wherever the road takes you. The Volvo XC90 for life. Proud sponsor of the PIT podcast. Learn more at volvocars.com us.