'The Pitt,' Ep. 7-11: What's Up With Dr. Langdon?

Summary

Summary of "The Pitt," Ep. 7-11: What's Up With Dr. Langdon?

The Prestige TV Podcast hosted by Joanna Robinson and Rob Mahoney delves deep into episodes 7-11 of the gripping medical drama "The Pit." This detailed summary captures the essential discussions, character analyses, plot developments, and insightful conclusions drawn by the hosts.

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1. Format and Binge-Watching Approach

Rob Mahoney and Joanna Robinson begin by discussing their unique approach to consuming "The Pit." Unlike the traditional week-by-week episode release, they opt for "micro-binging," watching episodes in small clusters to better manage the show's intense emotional and narrative depth.

• Rob Mahoney [02:28]: "If you include this pod four times in your feed that you get to hear Joanna Robinson this week. I hope you all realize how lucky you are."

• Joanna Robinson [05:34]: "Micro binging. Like micro dosing, but you're micro binging."

This method allows them to immerse themselves in the 15-episode season without feeling overwhelmed, striking a balance between continuous engagement and emotional management.

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2. Emotional and Character Development

The hosts commend the show's ability to weave complex character arcs with emotionally charged storylines. They highlight how "The Pit" goes beyond the typical medical procedural by deeply exploring each character's personal struggles and growth.

• Joanna Robinson [08:13]: "I think it's phenomenal. And I'm so emotionally invested."

Rob notes the increasing emotional weight as the season progresses, especially with character Dr. Langdon's unraveling and the growing responsibilities of other staff members like Mel and Whitaker.

• Rob Mahoney [12:15]: "Robbie himself is kind of coming apart at the seams and really can't stand still for more than 30 seconds at this point because he's being pulled in all these directions."

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3. Dr. Langdon's Reveal and Its Impact

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Dr. Langdon's character arc. His eventual revelation as someone with a hidden addiction adds a layer of complexity to the narrative, prompting both Joanna and Rob to reassess their perceptions of him.

• Joanna Robinson [16:10]: "I love her. And so to watch her, her uncertainty, her, all of this sort of stuff and then to watch her with this little girl... And I think this is the last thing I'll say..."

• Rob Mahoney [29:00]: "He made his bed."

They dissect the clues leading up to his revelation and debate the show's effectiveness in setting up this twist. The hosts appreciate the subtle foreshadowing and character consistency that culminate in this pivotal moment.

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4. Viewer Engagement and Feedback

Rob and Joanna emphasize the positive reception from their audience, citing numerous emails and interactions from listeners who are actively engaged with the show's developments.

• Rob Mahoney [04:17]: "But we did. Yeah, we got a ton of emails from people sort of emailing in ideas of what to call a mini binge."

They explore suggestions from listeners for naming their binge-watching approach, ultimately favoring "micro binging" despite some playful disagreements.

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5. Notable Episodes and Plot Points

The hosts highlight key episodes that stand out due to their emotional depth and impactful storytelling:

• Episode 8: Focuses on an Honor Walk honoring the first-day case and a heartbreaking storyline involving a young girl who dies from drowning.

  • Joanna Robinson [14:08]: "I think it's having it at the almost exact midway point of a 15 episode season is so smart because they really earned, they earned that."

• Mass Trauma and Future Implications: Anticipation builds for upcoming episodes dealing with a mass shooting at Pitfest, raising stakes and testing the characters' resilience.

  • Rob Mahoney [22:09]: "But how did you feel about the Langdon reveal in general?"

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6. Character Highlights and Performances

Joanna and Rob praise several characters for their nuanced portrayals and development:

• Mel Taylor Dearden: Celebrated for her enthusiasm and emotional depth, especially in interactions involving patients with unique needs.

  • Joanna Robinson [15:38]: "I mean, Mel works so well on her own, but then also like her connection with Langdon."

• Santos: Discussed as a complex character whose abrasive exterior hides deeper vulnerabilities and strengths.

  • Joanna Robinson [33:42]: "But she still is being kind of shitty. Which I honestly appreciate."

• Dr. Mohan (Slow Mo): Recognized for her empathetic approach, balancing emotional investment with professional responsibilities.

  • Joanna Robinson [46:30]: "She, She, I think has the most like. It's never easy to say, oh, her way is the right way..."

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7. Future Speculations and Season Finale

Looking ahead, the hosts speculate on the potential outcomes and character arcs leading into the season finale. Concerns are raised about Dr. Robbie's stability and the impending mass trauma scenario.

• Rob Mahoney [56:13]: "I think we got this sense... decision that almost necessarily put other people's life in jeopardy."

• Joanna Robinson [60:22]: "How do you feel about the other side of the Langdon issue... She's still gonna challenge us in terms of rooting for her."

They anticipate high-tension episodes that will test the characters' limits and resolve.

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8. Notable Quotes with Attribution

Throughout the discussion, several memorable quotes emerge, reflecting the hosts' engagement and insights:

• Joanna Robinson [08:26]: "A. Midge."

• Rob Mahoney [06:46]: "You're not enjoying it. You're not."

• Joanna Robinson [16:37]: "She's having a great time. She's thrilled."

• Rob Mahoney [27:14]: "It's not that you're going to make it to a fishmonger after work."

These quotes encapsulate the hosts' perspectives and add a personal touch to their analysis.

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9. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the conversation winds down, Joanna and Rob express their eagerness for the upcoming finale and appreciation for listener engagement. They reiterate their commitment to providing insightful coverage and encourage continued audience interaction.

• Rob Mahoney [68:58]: "Thank you for listening. See you soon."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the depth and breadth of discussions in "The Pitt," Ep. 7-11: What's Up With Dr. Langdon?, offering listeners a thorough understanding of the podcast's take on the show's evolving narrative and character dynamics.

Transcript

[Joanna Robinson]

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[Rob Mahoney]

Hello and welcome to the Prestige TV podcast. I am Rob Mahoney.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm Joanna Robinson.

[Rob Mahoney]

And today we're returning to the pit. But as you can tell, we're doing it slightly differently than we usually do. Joe, this is a teaching hospital, as we know. You have so graciously handed me the scalpel to figure out how we're going to navigate this week. I mean, how are you feeling as my Dr. Robbie in this parallel letting me do my thing out here?

[Joanna Robinson]

You're Rob Mahoney. You're the doctor Robbie, are you not? I see what you're saying in this situation. Well, maybe I can be Nurse Dana.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Joanna Robinson]

You know what I mean? Just sort of like seen it all. Seen some shit. And you've seen plenty of shit yourself. But I'm thrilled to be here and trying not to have a, like a panic attack in another room or anything like that while chaos ensues at the pit.

[Rob Mahoney]

I like the Dana comp for you. You have seen some shit. You're also currently seeing some shit that we are covering elsewhere on the Prestige TV podcast feed.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yes.

[Rob Mahoney]

Come back. Two bites at the apple for White Lotus. You, Bill Mallard doing the instant reaction pods on Sunday covering White Lotus. You, you and I are circling back for the deep dive on White Lotus. And then we are doing severance pods every Friday trying to figure out what the fuck is happening in that show. That's now, if you include this pod four times in your feed that you get to hear Joanna Robinson this week. I hope you all realize how lucky you are.

[Joanna Robinson]

Three times.

[Rob Mahoney]

How blessed a life you are living.

[Joanna Robinson]

Three times that I get to record with you, Rob, in a given week. What a joy.

[Rob Mahoney]

A true blessing. A true joy. Almost as much of a joy, Joe, as all of the emails we have been [e-mail] regarding the pit. And one of the prompts we had put out was this idea of the Pit as a show that we like to watch. Maybe not quite week to week, but bank two episodes or so. Yeah, yeah, you know, kind of. Kind of get. Give ourselves a little pile, but not a full binge. How are you feeling with that sort of format right now?

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, it's been interesting because we're not covering the show week to week. I tend to sort of skip a week and catch up and watching. I'm watching like two or three at a time, something like that. I've never let it go for the full stretch between our pods. So I'm like, you know, submerging myself in five hours of trauma or something like that.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's a lot of blood.

[Joanna Robinson]

But I think sort of, I, I did want to talk to you sort of more broadly about. We've been talking about Severance and White Lotus as week to week pods and sort of how the audience is feeling about lulz in the middle of a season. Or you and I were sort of talking about this idea that like maybe people are a little unused to watching things week to week. I think the Pit is like even way more than White Lotus and Severance is such a throwback kind of show. We talked a lot about ER when we first, you know, started covering the Pit and I think they do such a brilliant job of like bleeding storylines through so that you never feel completely lost. I like this many, you know, we're. We're 11 episodes into a 15 episode season. I no longer need, not that I don't have them, but I no longer need nicknames for all the characters. I know who all the characters are and that's great. But we did. Yeah, we got a ton of emails from people sort of emailing in ideas of what to call a mini binge. This is something that we asked about.

[Rob Mahoney]

We're at a little bit of a loss as to what to actually how to trademark this model that we have invented. Clearly you and I, for watching television.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. No one's ever done it before and no one will ever do it again. Here, here. We got a ton of emails about this. Someone suggested seconds. Sure. Intermittent binging.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay, I see what they're doing.

[Joanna Robinson]

A. A. Sminge. I don't like it.

[Rob Mahoney]

We're getting Somewhere, though I. We're not quite there, but I. I like the momentum of we're building.

[Joanna Robinson]

I love a portmanteau smidge. Plus, binge is great, but the act of saying the word sminge is simply a no for me. Yeah, Chunking.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Joanna Robinson]

Like a chunk of episodes.

[Rob Mahoney]

That sounds like something else, though. I don't know what it sounds like, but something else.

[Joanna Robinson]

Cluster viewing. Sounds a little clinical. Batch. Batch viewing sort of thing.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Twinging. We got several people saying twinging. Twinge.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, twinning.

[Joanna Robinson]

Anyway, a lot of people really liked this. Sort of like the idea of a twin for two and binge together. Twinging. And last but not least, and this is. This is the one I'm. My favorite is micro binging. Like micro dosing, but you're micro binging. Yes.

[Rob Mahoney]

I like this.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, that's. That's where I'm sort of landing, is micro binging.

[Rob Mahoney]

My only concern about micro binging is that there is a breed of viewer, and if this applies to you, I'm speaking directly to you, and I am begging you to change your habits and your life of people who will binge watch shows but watch them at, like 1.5 or 2 or even faster speeds. I could see someone misunderstanding a micro binge as, like, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna bust through even this binge watch, frankly, inhuman pace.

[Joanna Robinson]

Absolutely. No, I like. I know that. I think it was audible. Got in trouble for putting out a sort of ad about how you should not listen to audiobooks at a faster speed than 1.0. I'm not here to, like, speed shame anyone, necessarily.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm here to speed shame you.

[Joanna Robinson]

I don't think it's the best way to enjoy a story. I would encourage everyone to watch it. 1.0. Uh, have I listened to a podcast in my day at like 1.2, 1.3? I have.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Um, but watching a show. Come on, guys.

[Rob Mahoney]

What are you doing? If you are watching a TV show or a movie at anything beyond 1.0 speed, just read the Wikipedia.

[Joanna Robinson]

You're not enjoying it. You're not.

[Rob Mahoney]

You and I are not here for the same reasons, effectively. But I like those options. I do like the batch. The batch binge as well. A batch binge or the batch watching? Yeah, maybe. Maybe that's like the budding small batch baker in me where I'm. I'm trying. Trying to reign in the portions a little bit. I'm trying to get things under control. I'm not trying to spend all day watching the Pit, you know, I just want my two hours of dedicated emotional trauma and then I'm gonna digest for a little while.

[Joanna Robinson]

Are you a small batch baker, Rob?

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, not usually. It was somewhat of a foreign concept to me, but at a certain point you just have so many leftovers and I can only eat 80% of a batch of cookies so many times in my life. Before you start modifying your lifestyle.

[Joanna Robinson]

Got it, got it. All right.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think in particular it applies to the pit because of everything we've talked about this show. It is so dense. There are so many cases. There's just so much flying at you. It's incredibly stressful. We've been getting lots of emails from people in the medical community, even still talking about the accuracy of this show, but also hearing from people who work in those fields who say, I can't watch it for that reason. It feels too much like being in the trenches, a little bit like the triage and the flow and the like dealing with patients in this specific way in an ER setting over and over and over. And I would say maybe no more so than this batch of episodes. We're talking through episode 11 today. Things are just getting increasingly emotional, increasingly gut wrenching. And with where we are right now. Joe, how are you feeling about the show overall? How are you feeling about some of the emotional heft of what's being thrown at us?

[Joanna Robinson]

Thanks so much for asking me. I'm having such a good time with the pit and I'm so glad it was Rob's sort of idea and insistence that we come back before the finale and do a sort of midway, mid, Mid, midway check in. And I'm so glad.

[Rob Mahoney]

A. Midge.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, so glad you did. Because this, I love this show. I think it's. I think it's phenomenal. And I'm so emotionally invested. I think I've from a, like, sort of dissecting it as a craft point of view. I think it's brilliant the way that they've built these characters up slowly. Like when we first start, we felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters. But again, like I said, now I feel like I understand the storylines for everyone, their complicated relationships, the very complicated characterization of people where you don't have anyone who is a villain or a hero or anything like that, but you. You know, even with someone like Langdon, who had, of course, like a big episode 10, this. I went back and sort of rewatched, you know, some of the episodes in this window, or actually all of the episodes in this window. And so watching the build up to that Langdon moment and, and watching like all the wins they give him or all the moments of kindness with Mel or anything like that, like they're not trying to paint someone as, you know, that's the point is like he's flying under the radar. Surely not. Oh yes, it is him. Or like, you know, there's wins and losses for everyone. There's people who frustrate us and then, and then it turns out that they're the person we need in any given moment. So all that stuff is, is really, really good. And I think having episode eight, which, which a lot of people like not only wrote in, but sort of like tweeted at us, blue skied at us, you know, whatever about episode eight, which has the, the honor walk for our, like sort of our day one case and then this, you know, this young girl who dies drowning, absolutely gut wrenching emotion. And I think it's having it at the almost exact midway point of a 15 episode season is so smart because they really earned, they earned that. And we are really feeling for all. Not just like it would be sad no matter what if we had to watch like parents grieve a little girl who died accidentally. But to watch Robbie have to navigate that or to watch Mel have to navigate the nuances of, of talking to the sister with like the little stuff bear and stuff like that. Like that's all stuff that is extremely earned, deep character stuff for us at this point. And then this is the last thing I'll say and I'll wrap up like we, I think 11, you were so smart to pick this episode, maybe by coincidence, but like this is a perfect episode to check in on because it feels like the rest of the season is going to be something else entirely. We're going to swing into a stretch of dealing with a mass trauma, a mass shooting. And so to think of it sort of broken down that way. And we were making all these jokes at the beginning of the season about like a 15 episode season. And I think I even accidentally said 18 episodes, a 15 episode season in this economy. But like, look at all you can do when you have that time to stretch and grow, you know, especially structurally too.

[Rob Mahoney]

Not only are you hitting all those emotional beats and those character beats that you mentioned, but we're now at a point in the story where Langdon is out, Collins has been sent home, the kids are gonna have to step up and play an even bigger role in the treatment of so many patients. And Robbie himself is kind of coming apart at the seams and really can't Stand still for more than 30 seconds at this point because he's being pulled in all these directions. And so when you have all of these disparate bits of character development, you know, Mel has been acclimating herself really well to figuring out like how to regulate and the emotional toll of being in this specific er. Whitaker has been learning how to communicate with patients and the patients families a lot better. And we've seen kind of the slow roll development of that and get some wins. He also snapped a rat's neck. We're going to move on Santos. Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Before the rat's neck. I really am so sorry to interrupt you in your flow. I really need a Rob Mahoney weigh in on the moment when Whitaker crumbs akimbo at the workstation and Robbie comes out and he's like, we don't eat out here. And like Robbie like angrily slaps the crumbs basically on, onto the floor. Rob Mahoney crumb take.

[Rob Mahoney]

And we wonder how we got rats. You know, it's really not a great mystery. And as far as Whitaker's behavior, less concerning than the fact that he has a full on conversation with the rat when he encounters it in a subsequent episode. So everyone is coping in their own way. Some people listen to some ocean sounds, some people are calling their kids, some people are talking to rats. Santos is out here being right. I think to a degree that we needed her to be right. Like we needed her to have some wins. We needed that character to follow her instincts on some things and turn out correct. Not just about Langdon, but like the mdac MDMA seizure. The person who's like in the ice bath, who she's actually the person who gives like the winning advice basically on how to keep that person alive. And even Javadi's staying on her feet. You know, she's probably taking the biggest Ls of anyone. Some big swings and misses on the, on the office dating. Yeah. You know, it's day one. You don't have to swing that hard that fast.

[Joanna Robinson]

She tried. She really tried it.

[Rob Mahoney]

She really had it.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who can blame her? Mateo is the.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's in hot. He's a hot commodity.

[Joanna Robinson]

Absolute dream boat of the er.

[Rob Mahoney]

Absolute ex Husbands are coming in. Taking one look at this guy and being like, I have identified the problem.

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, I can't wait to talk about Chad. I'm a big, big Chad fan.

[Rob Mahoney]

Honestly. Chad is. He seems like pretty bad. Pretty bad dad probably. Seemingly a bad skateboarder. Oh yeah. Questionable judge of character and his future partners. We're gonna get into all of that. But I think we also, too, in some of these characters, especially the more senior members of the staff, we've reached the point in the patient cycle where they are starting to treat almost like mirror versions of themselves. Like Colin's helping to deliver a complicated pregnancy. You have Dr. Bangs who's treating this single mom with her young daughter who's kind of taking care of. And they're having to confront all of these different things about their own lives. Honestly, I feel like that's kind of true of this show, for the viewers, too. Like, every case is not gonna hit you, but good Lord, Jo, you put a little girl writing a card to her dead sister in a waiting room, and I'm just gonna be torn apart. I think there's so many different beats that can really hit you hard emotionally on the Pit. And for me, I think that one most of all. But I gotta say, the Honor Walk, too, I also found just tremendously affecting. And a lot of that is because of the production of this specific show. It's not just this idea, which I think is elegant and is noble of everyone, and it really reflects not just a different mode of TV making, but a different sensibility of the characters on tv. This idea that, like, these are noble people doing their best at their job and taking a moment to honor this patient who died. But also the production value of a show that says we don't need treacly music over the top of this. We don't need an overwrought speech. Like, you're just going to let it ride and you're going to. You're going to believe that you have built the character and the story enough to that point that all of this is going to pay off in such a huge way. And it really did.

[Joanna Robinson]

When. So, okay, two things. The. It's hard. Not that you asked me. It's hard for me to pick my favorite character. My favorite performance, like Noah Wiley, obviously, is, like, holding the show up on his shoulders. But like I. I said this last time, I do think that Mel Taylor Dearden is Mel. There's so many little, little choices and little moments and little reactions every time she, like, asks if she can, you know, sit in on a case, and she just gets excited about, like, whatever that's gonna be.

[Rob Mahoney]

Have you ever seen a person so happy as when she finds out she gets to pick thousands of pieces of gravel out of a man's leg?

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, my God. After. After getting hang out with a dog.

[Rob Mahoney]

She'S having, what a day.

[Joanna Robinson]

She's having a great time. She's thrilled. I love her. And so to watch her, her uncertainty, her, all of this sort of stuff and then to watch her with this little girl, because the little girl with the card is sad. Obviously.

[Rob Mahoney]

The teddy bear, the hugging the bear.

[Joanna Robinson]

Mel's whole like, tell the bear. And we know that Mel has this relationship with her sister and it's just like that absolutely killed me. But then when Robbie was like, we would like to come to the funeral for your son during the honor walk, I was just like, I lost it. I absolutely lost it. And I, I think this, I think this show is, is phenomenal. And, and, and that's a great, great example. We talked about this sort of in earlier coverage. The fentanyl overdose, the son with the. The teenage son with the fentanyl overdose who has now become an organ donor. That's a, what, eight episode long arc. And so you don't.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he actually died, I would guess, in episode four or so. Like it's been a long tail in terms of the parents processing as much as actually treating.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right, exactly. And so you don't get even on like, you know, er, Grey's Anatomy or whatever. Like you don't get an eight episode usually. Yeah, an eight episode arc, you know, unless it's like a love interest for a character or something like that. This is just like these parents going through this inconceivable, terrible thing. And so then to watch the whole hospital kind of come to a standstill for this moment felt right, you know, for a character that we had been invested in this long or something like Doug Driscoll punching Dana, like something that we built towards for like five episodes. Something like that. Like it was you. You and I knew last time we talked that this was going to go off in some way. This is not how I thought it was going to go off though. But it was just sort of like they built that and they earned it, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think all those powder keg elements really work. I think there's a lot of subtle writing in the show that helps you as a viewer understand not just what are the affecting cases to you personally. Like, you're going to feel what you feel when you watch this show, but you can tell that the doctors and nurses on the floor are asking about the little girl who drowned, are asking about the kid who died from the fentanyl overdose. And the family, like, you can tell the cases and the instances that are really hitting everybody hard where they want to know, even if they're not Working those cases, they want to know a little bit more about them. And I think you're right that Noah Wylie is being put in a position to just hit home runs every single time. Not with big emotional speeches, because there's no time for a big emotional speech, but just these just interrupted before we can even get started. But he gets the moment, he gets the reaction, he gets the bit of tenderness that he's expressing to these families. And there will be a push for him, I am sure, come awards season. There will be a push for the Pit overall as a dramatic series, I would think come awards season. I really hope there is one for Taylor Dearden too. I think I agree with you that not only is Mel such a great, well conceived character and one that I think could very easily edge into something overly broad on a different kind of show.

[Joanna Robinson]

Quirky.

[Rob Mahoney]

Overly. Exactly. Overly quirky. So it's a great character, but that performance is wonderful, even on a really deep ensemble cast.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, it's very much. That's such a good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. That this could easily be a sort of Monk esque lead of her own character's welcome kind of medical show. And the fact that it could. It's just such a nuanced. And again, like I said last time, like, I've seen Taylor Dearden and other things, and this is not her usual spirit speed. So it's even all the more impressive to see her with her sort of like mousy blonde hair slicked all the way down the glasses on and just sort of like fully embodying this. This character. And again, Mel works so well on her own, but then also like her connection with Langdon.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Works so well for the overall, like, symphony that they're trying to craft here because, like Langdon butting head with Santos or. Or being arrogant about this. That or the other thing. Um, if we send him home and he's just been like Dr. Ken the whole time, then it. It's not as. We don't feel the betrayal that Robbie feels. Robbie feels betrayed. And we do too, because we were like, we're rooting for you. Because in all these other edges, you have these softer, rounded moments that really we connect with. When he admires the way that Mel deals with the patient on the spectrum. You know what I mean? And he's just sort of like any. And he seems like someone who's, like, willing to learn a bit, despite all the things he already knows. That's a character we want to root for and we're excited to see how he grows from there. Is this the last we see of him? I don't know. He's calling a bunch. You mentioned Collins and Langdon go home. But does that stay true? If it's an all hands on deck, mass shooter situation, maybe not.

[Rob Mahoney]

And the timing at this point, there's like an hour left in the shift, but obviously more than just one hour of television left. So something is gonna stretch on here. We saw, I think at the outset of the season a lot of the previous shifts, cases kind of rolling in, right? Like the mother daughter abortion plot line. There was like a veteran who had passed away that Robbie had to meet with their family. So we're at the point where the cases are starting to bleed over into someone else's problem. Theoretically. But yeah, if there's a mass shooting, which it seems to be, and I hate to say, Joe, I hate to take too big a victory lap. We called that from Jump Street. Pitfest. Pitfest was not looking good. Everyone was a little too. A little too jazzed at the prospect of going to Pitfest.

[Joanna Robinson]

Jake was like, can't wait to go to pit fest with my girlfriend.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm like, oh, no, not looking good for Jake. But I agree with you. It seems like just based on the frequency and quantity of calls, Langdon will be back in some capacity. Even if it's just a one off conversation with Robbie or something. At the end of the day, can I ask you.

[Joanna Robinson]

And I want spend too much time on like speculating what's to come because there's so much to talk about, what has happened. Obviously we're covering several episodes. I have this dread watching watching Robbie handle this. And. And they're obviously sort of seeding this. I'm like, is Robbie being set up to be. Not take the fall for like the. The drugs missing, but like he. Who knows about it right now, Dana knows Santos, who is like, nobody else really likes her sort of character.

[Rob Mahoney]

Even Garcia is turning on her, right?

[Joanna Robinson]

And then all season, what have we been hearing? Robbie. Robbie's off today. Robbie's having a bad day. Don't worry about, you know, don't mess with Robbie today. Like, we've got the. The Princess and Perla, our beloved Filipina nurses are like gossiping about it. Like, um, so I'm like, is there. Is there a version of the story where Robbie isn't believed or however it was that he handled? It was, you know, and then we. And then Langdon comes back. Anyway, I'm just worried about Robbie. I'm really worried about him. Like you know, and I'm worried about a season long. He's erratic. He's erratic, he's erratic. Sort of warning bell that's been ringing.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know, I could see that outcome. I could also see, you know, we see him hesitate to flush the pills. We see him try to basically give them back to the patient that the pills were stolen from in the first place. There's obviously such a bleeding heart, compassionate part of Dr. Robbie. Where is he? I think he's going to draw the hard line on Langdon. Can't come back here. But in terms of. This is the kind of information that would sink a doctor's career. Right. That would cause huge professional repercussions, lose your license.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And so will Dr. Rabi draw the line at you can't be here and you need to go to rehab or you need to seek some kind of treatment. But I don't want to torpedo everything that you've been building. I have such professional respect for you to this point. And part of the reason I wonder if we're headed in that direction is this show is not er. Legally speaking, the Pit is not er. We must reiterate for all purposes, if.

[Joanna Robinson]

Michael Crazy Widow is listening, which we know she is. Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Some spoilers here for er, because I know a lot of people started watching it as a result of the. So if you don't want to hear spoilers, please jump significantly ahead here as I drop a little bit. But there's a big ER storyline where Noah Wylie's character, John Carter, gets hooked on painkillers.

[Joanna Robinson]

Correct.

[Rob Mahoney]

And if you conceive of this show, which is not er, as something that was perhaps written to be a sequel to er. It would make sense that an older John Carter would want to be compassionate to another addict going through a similar situation and maybe try to help Langdon in some way that we haven't seen Dr. Robbie help so far.

[Joanna Robinson]

It's so funny. We're still talking about that ER spoiler, in case you skipped ahead to here and you're wondering. It happens deep into the show to John Carter deepish. That show ran for a long time.

[Rob Mahoney]

But, I mean, 6ish seasons of network length television then is quite deep.

[Joanna Robinson]

There's a moment in this stretch of episodes when Robbie sort of twinges his back and I was like, is there a version of this show where Robbie has the baggie of pills in his pocket and he, like, takes one? And I was like, yeah, they can't do that again. They can't. They can't give us John Carter 2.0. I can't. I can't do it. But I did think. I was like, I was like, oh, no. Chekhov's back muscle. I have no idea.

[Rob Mahoney]

Look, back pain is no joke. It does not fuck around. Very sympathetic to anyone who needs to take drugs for back pain. It will absolutely mess you up. But in a closing the loop way, it was really cool to see Noah Wylie on the other side of a very similar confrontation. Like, you can go back and watch these scenes on YouTube from ER.

[Joanna Robinson]

Have you. Did you watch them?

[Rob Mahoney]

I did watch them. There's some very beat for beat similarities as far as the kinds of excuses that addicts try to make in these situations, the ways they try to evade. To give Noah Wylie that opportunity and to come at it with such uncompromising emotional heft. There is not a moment of hesitation for him. It is a black and white issue. If these drugs are in your locker, you are fucking out of here. And he's right to do it. And I don't think at this point you could ask for a better, like a better medical oriented actor to deliver that sort of moment in a show like this than Noah Wiley.

[Joanna Robinson]

I love that you're toe dipping. Er, that's really exciting to me. I think that, like, I'm curious to hear again, as you mentioned, we've gotten so many great emails from medical professionals. Prestigetvpotify.com if you have insight into this. I'm curious about the caution this is. It's a legal issue. It's also a reputation issue.

[Rob Mahoney]

And so we did get an email from Kieran who mentioned that not only is this sort of a moral issue for someone like Dr. Robbie, but Robbie himself would be legally responsible for anything that Langdon did. As a resident who's like, under his umbrella.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm curious about the secrecy around it. Him asking Data to look into this. Him. Him saying to Santos, like, please don't talk to anyone about this. Her talking to Garcia, Garcia saying, I want nothing to do with this. Also, you're trouble like you, Garcia. But like, like, I want nothing to do with this. So, like, yeah, is this a. I don't want to be called into court to testify like, or sort of circling the wagons around one's your own, you know, sort of like, I feel, I don't feel like I remember this from medical procedurals, but definitely from like a police procedural or something. Like, I don't want to know about this misconduct because we have a strict policy of like, protect our own or turn a blind eye or whatever. And once you Say it. Then we have to act on it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

Like I was. It was giving that for me. I'm very curious to see how that all pans out in the next four hours. Question mark, or is this a season two plot? I don't know.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's true. Yeah. I mean, these things could definitely stretch on. And to the extent we've not seen the end of Langdon, it could be in a season two return in some capacity or another season two is a court case. Honestly would not hate it. And frankly, given how many of these medical cases are bumping up against the law at this point. There's so many, like, legal and police implications of so many of these cases. They're trying to work out a real missed opportunity. Joe, on a Chicago Med style branching out spinoff like, where's our Pitt PD pit law? We're just leaving money on the table.

[Joanna Robinson]

I mean, don't. Don't threaten HBO with a good time. They're in the IP business these days. You never know.

[Rob Mahoney]

Would watch. But. But how did you feel about the Langdon reveal in general? You mentioned you revisited some of the episodes, like, now that you know where things end up for him, did you see enough clues and breadcrumbs and indications to think, okay, this makes sense?

[Joanna Robinson]

Well, we had talked about this because. Because the previous episode we covered did have Santos being like, asking, like, asking questions.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

And we were talking about Santos as a kind of character where it's so easy for us, the audience, to not believe her because she's so abrasive. And so the way in which the show is sort of testing us on that front. But watching her. Ask Mel, for example, Langdon's pet. His. His favorite.

[Rob Mahoney]

All of our favorite, if we're being really honest about it, the best.

[Joanna Robinson]

If Mel had noticed anything about Dr. Langdon and she was like, no. And she's like, well, he sweats a lot, but I don't know, that might be genetic. And I was like, I mean, or an addict might sweat a lot if they're like in between doses or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, that's interesting. But yeah, the. The progression of Dana showing her sort of the system of how to enter the drugs and take them out. The. Essentially my understanding is that he was resealing the containers with medical adhesive. It's his purple adhesive. And so I think essentially when Santos sees the purple adhesive used elsewhere, she's like, oh, that's what this is. I thought that. I don't know, I thought it was really brilliantly Rolled out. And like, right before the reveal reveal, you have Collins accusing Langdon of being a. An adrenaline junkie. And he's like, what'd you call me?

[Rob Mahoney]

You know, he does react very strangely. I will say this is the one bit of that that did not work for me, because I agree with you. I actually think it was quite, quite deftly threaded in terms of very small markers that you would easily gloss over until the adrenaline junkie remark. Because, yes, him reacting that way to someone calling him any kind of junkie makes sense under the circumstances. The reason she's calling him an adrenaline junkie is because he's talking about, can I make it to the grocery store to buy some salmon after work? So it felt like they really wanted to get to the adrenaline junkie, and they just like, okay, salmon, or here we go.

[Joanna Robinson]

Rob?

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

As a person who on this very podcast feed has asked for fishmonger advice, did you feel personally attacked by this. This question?

[Rob Mahoney]

Look, I think, look, you're not going to make it to a fishmonger after work. Fishmongers are very much like a 6am to 2pm kind of endeavor. So you're not going to get the highest quality product. But can he make it to a reasonably good grocery store to get a piece of salmon? I think he can, and I don't think that makes him an adrenaline junkie.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, No, I don't think adrenaline junkie is the word I would use, but I do. I did kind of like her point of, like, you always have to do the most. Yeah, that's not.

[Rob Mahoney]

You're getting the dog for the family.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

He does seem like he's just impulsive in chasing after things in a way that contrasts with how we see him as a doctor. Right. And this is sort of the idea of someone who can be sort of competent to a point in their professional lives so they can obscure what's going on underneath, obscure their addiction. But when you really look under the hood, they're just doing erratic things all over the place for themselves and their families, for everyone around them. It's. It's tough scenes for Dr. Langdon.

[Joanna Robinson]

As I mentioned, I don't really need the nicknames anymore. I know who Langdon is, but I did change his name in my notes from Dr. Ken to Dr. Benzo. Just. Just so he knows that that's his new updated.

[Rob Mahoney]

It is updated.

[Joanna Robinson]

Dr. Is eternal. That's a. That's a. That's a Mahoney ism.

[Rob Mahoney]

We're never moving past Dr. Benzo, but.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm adding Dr. Benzo into the mix.

[Rob Mahoney]

There was a point in this section of episodes too, where Myrna, who's the woman in the wheelchair in the waiting room, perpetually just sort of like snoozing, snacking, chopping it up with the doctors. Yeah, she tries to nickname Re. Nickname Whitaker turned Huckleberry as Pussycat.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yes.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm not. Not in favor of it. And this was all pre rat, so, you know, like, it really was like a. It was nominative determinism. At the end of the day, I think she really willed the rat thing into happening.

[Joanna Robinson]

Wow, I love that.

[Rob Mahoney]

How do you feel about the other side of the Langdon issue, Joe? Which is to say we have been talking all season about Santos, about how we feel about this character. You're right that we identified her to be wrong early, to be right about something big later. That just seemed like where the narrative thrust of the show was going. But where does all this leave us with Santos? Because we learn a lot about her in these episodes and the way she navigates. Do you feel like it changes the way you look at her as a character?

[Joanna Robinson]

I think not only the Langdon issue, but also the storyline where the father was potentially molesting his daughter and his wife was putting progesterone in his coffee. I think that her. I mean, the moment there where she has, you know, security stand outside the door and sort of is posturing. That's like a big dramatic moment. But what it reveals about her as someone who is, like, hyper vigilant to the misdeeds of perhaps men specifically, and perhaps men that other people admire, I think that all works together of a piece that she is. Her abrasiveness is hand in hand because her abrasiveness, perhaps due to whatever terrible shit she clearly has gone through in her life, goes hand in hand with her ability to see through facades quite easily or easier than some other people can or not fall for charm, et cetera, et cetera. And so I think I really love those as sort of like interlocking pieces of information we get about her. And I. And I also think that, like, even with the. You know, with Mel or Javadi or Whitaker. See, I know everyone's name now. Like, sorry, it's pussycat, crash, you know, et cetera. She's not. She's not being as shitty with them.

[Rob Mahoney]

But she's still being kind of shitty.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Which I honestly appreciate. Like, I'm. I'm really glad that post Langdon, she is not warm and fuzzy Santos all of a sudden. Like, she. She still is abrasive. She she still is who she is. And I like that before the big reveal with Langdon, we get so much messy context between them. Like when Langdon blows up at her.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yes.

[Rob Mahoney]

For in the one time where she tries to do something to benefit the team and not herself. Like, the timing of that is so perfect. Because isn't that when she's giving Dr. Mohan cover, basically for saving the MDMA patient?

[Joanna Robinson]

Yes, but I wasn't sure if that's what she was. If she was. If she did it altruistically to give Mohan cover or if she did it intentionally because she was trying to antagonize him into revealing his true colors. Do you know what I mean?

[Rob Mahoney]

I do know what you mean. I mean that I would think that'd be very deft of her to.

[Joanna Robinson]

Her explanation was, hey, he's mad at me anyway, so might as well be me. But given her, she doesn't seem like a nice person who would cover for people for no good reason. So I kind of. I. And this is just my interpretation, but I kind of like the idea that she was like, I know how to. I know how to set someone like this off, and if I set him off in front of other people, they'll see what I see in him. You know what I mean?

[Rob Mahoney]

Very well observed. I think that's absolutely in the cards. And I think the fact that we get those sorts of scenes that we get Santos continuing to be. You know, I think especially with her fellow, like the fellow residents and the. And the med students, like, she still is puffing her chest out a bit. She still is a transactional operator at the end of the day.

[Joanna Robinson]

And I think even with Langdon. Okay, she's right. And I, you know, all of that. But I do think she also kind of likes being the one to tell other people. Like, oh, Langdon went home.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, 100%. She can't wait to tell Garcia. And it's under the guise of, oh, can you please not talk about this to anybody else. But I feel like she really just wants to tell someone that she was right.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think that's part of it. And again, that's part of the. What's done really well about the show. Giving us these characters who are. Santos is right. She is in the right over Langdon in this particular circumstance, but also is still gonna challenge us in terms of rooting for her. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Coffee, mate. I love a good crossover, especially when it's with a show you love. This time the crossover isn't with another character, but With Coffee Mate. Coffee Mate has collaborated with HBO's the White Lotus to bring us two tropically inspired limited time only flavors, Pina colada and Thai iced coffee flavored creamers. And as a coffee fanatic, I can't wait to try them. All right. Thai iced coffee in my coffee. Pina colada in coffee. I am adventurous when it comes to new flavors, but this sounds truly different. I'm picturing something tropical and refreshing, like a beachside cocktail, but with a coffee twist. Definitely curious to see how it all comes together. Let's try it. Mmm. The Thai iced coffee is amazing. It tastes like, like an authentic Thai iced coffee with that, you know, the condensed milk sweetness to it. I was very skeptical about the pina colada, but it's surprisingly delicious. The coconut and pineapple notes make it feel like a vacation in a cup. Perfect for sipping while watching the latest episode of HBO's original series, the White Lotus Coffee Mates. The White Lotus flavors are only available for a limited time, so try them now and stream HBO's original series on Max.

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[Rob Mahoney]

We sure would love that.

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[Rob Mahoney]

Are there any cases in particular you want to talk about? You know, we mentioned Chad the skateboarder. We talked about the dad, possibly A.B. who's being dosed with progesterone. I'm open to those. I'm open to any way you want to take it. What. What stuck out for you in terms of the caseload?

[Joanna Robinson]

It's. The Ringer is a sports network. In theory.

[Rob Mahoney]

So I've heard. Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, I know you're a basketball guy, but do you want to talk about our teenage baseball player with the eye? That's one of the gnarly things I've ever seen in my life.

[Rob Mahoney]

Big, gnarly alert alarms in my notes. Watching a scalpel that close to an eye is an incredibly uncomfortable experience. And I will say this. This, basically this exact thing is the reason I never made it past Little League baseball. There comes a point where the pitches and the. The line drives are just coming a little too fast for what I'm comfortable with. And now you see why this was. This was tough.

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, it was nasty. Like, great makeup job on the eye. And then, like, yeah, watching. I mean, we see. We see digging around in an eye and also, like, the. The crowding of a baby. Like, there's a lot of, like, great body part aesthetic work going on on this show. But, yeah, the eye. And then the way that the eye storyline with the father in the room and how Javadi is sort of, like, over identifying and how Dr. Bangs is clocking all of this and Robbie is consulting. I just thought that was just sort of like a perfect brew of, like, here's to your point. A case that mirrors a doctor and another doctor learning a bit more about, you know, their. Their fellow employee and all of that. And I think what's interesting, something that we had talked about in terms of the challenges of the concept of the show, let's set it in the ER over, I guess, 15 hours of a shift. Something that I was pointing out, a difference from er, if Michael Crichton's widow is listening, is like, we are not going home with our doctors the way that we did on er, but the way in which they found ways to bring home into the er. I mean, our guide, Chad, obviously your favorite character. Chad, is here, of course, with Harrison. So Dr. Bangs, his home life is represented. Jake swings by for the passes. Right. Javati's mom obviously works there. We get Santos's, like, abuse background. We get Mel FaceTiming her sister. We know that Langdon's got to get salmon on the table for his wife and kids. So there's ways in which home life is making its way as it would in a workplace.

[Rob Mahoney]

Right.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think just sort of like, clever ways to sort of bring all of that in without some of the clumsy exposition stuff we had sort of flagged in the first couple episodes, like with, I think Dr. Bayes especially, like just some stuff that felt a little bit like, you know, blatantly expositional. This is more sort of like, let's weave certain home life stuff into the main plot. I thought, oh, that's really smart.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think Mel is, is at least my favorite. It sounds like your favorite too. Dr. Bangs, though, maybe the most improved player. As the season has gone on, I've really come to appreciate her place in the show and even, even some of her bedside manner, which I thought she maybe shared a bit too much to some earlier patients. But you could, at this point in the season, you can really understand and feel her frustrations with trying to help people specifically who are not prepared to help themselves.

[Joanna Robinson]

Like the sex trafficking case, the woman.

[Rob Mahoney]

Who'S being sex trafficked. And I mean, really thinking like really light on her feet with Dana too, in terms of, oh, we're going to whisk this woman away to the CT scan room so we can have a private conversation with her. Like, she's doing everything right and just cannot get this woman to admit what is happening. And I think that's just such a relatable instinct and frustration to have to be the person who's like lining everything up just so and then it still goes to shit.

[Joanna Robinson]

No wonder Chad is like still really into her. No wonder, I don't know, Mateo is into her. Dr. Banks, she's got something for me. Most improved player is either Javati or Mohan.

[Rob Mahoney]

You're saying Javati, even though she whiffed on the date offer so bad, that.

[Joanna Robinson]

Was just like, so humanizing to watch her do that.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's again, though, it's day, there are two things in the show that have stuck out to me, is like, you're really doing this in the same day. One is her asking him out on her first day of work.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

The other one is Robbie and Gloria having the same administrative conversation on the hospital floor eight times over the first six hours of this shift.

[Joanna Robinson]

We got to crazy Jake and Steve and several other people emailed us about the Gloria because that's, that's what strange credulity of the 15 hour shift concept is. Like, how many times Gloria is down there now if Gloria comes down for a mass shooting, that makes a ton of sense. Like that she would be down there. But like, how many times a day can you be like, improve your, you know, turnaround time or Improve your patient scores or whatever. Or else. Or else. It's, that's, it's. It was a bit silly.

[Rob Mahoney]

Especially I feel like in episode one or episode two of the show, you could have him have one meeting with Gloria in which the stakes are established. Like, you gotta get your patient satisfaction scores up. You've got to move people in and out of here quickly. And then it. The way you look at the action over the course of the whole season. But she doesn't need to keep coming down with various venture capitalists being like, we're gonna buy your hospital.

[Joanna Robinson]

Listen, she put that sharp blazer on that morning. She's really feeling herself and she has a lot to say.

[Rob Mahoney]

I can't blame her.

[Joanna Robinson]

But for Mohan, like, you know, aka, AKA Slow Mo, I think that like watching her have these wins. Have these wins in her way, watching her be right sometimes and wrong sometimes, she, She, I think has the most like. It's never easy to say, oh, her way is the right way, because sometimes her way is the wrong way. And so watching Robbie get exasperated with her, but then defend her, you know what I mean? Watch him, watch him with, with the, the, the drug seeking patient, the, the guy who's in town for his daughter's wedding. Watching Robbie chew her out, but then be on her side in front of the patient. I find to her a really fascinating aspect of all that. And then watching her interact with the other, the residents and the, and the med students too, I think is really interesting.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes. Yeah, I think there's a bunch of little miniature crises of confidence happening with all these characters.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

You see that with Mel sometimes where she's wondering like, do I have the special thing that these, the special sauce that these other doctors have? Do I have my thing?

[Joanna Robinson]

How can you think that so soon after she like walked into this guy on the Spectrum's room and like turned off all the lights and closed all the doors and was like, let me go get a little model of an ankle bone for you so you can understand what's going on. Like, Mel, you are made of special sauce. You're the best.

[Rob Mahoney]

But then she met Patch Adams and she's like, well, we got, we have bits now. I'm not equipped for that.

[Joanna Robinson]

No, not all of us can do bit. True, that's true.

[Rob Mahoney]

But Dr. Mohan, to your point, her case and her results are so complex and are so complex in ways that even when she is successful, as you said, it's not what Dr. Rabi wants. And in the way that he as a doctor would treat Those patients. And that's such a fascinating idea. This concept of you can be very right and also this other doctor can be right in their way and still be disappointed in you despite the fact that you helped treat this patient. It puts her in such an impossible place, especially as she is overcoming this, this sort of like empathy hump of wanting to spend so much time with people and wanting to over diagnose and over care and she's having to do things a little faster and learn on the fly and she's having to give herself pep talks along the way, as many of these doctors are.

[Joanna Robinson]

The old empathy hump. Yeah, absolutely.

[Rob Mahoney]

Where are you? We talked about the baseball injury. As far as gnarly watch goes, I think there are a couple key candidates. One, yes, the high school baseball player with the swollen eye who has to have the blood drained out of it. Two, the burn victim who has to get full up, sliced and diced to relieve the pressure in his abdomen. You know, in a very like alien egg hatching kind of way. Yeah. Like 90% death probability according to Langdon. That's a lot. That's a lot to put him through, too.

[Joanna Robinson]

They do all. They put all these resources.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

Into something that they know is probably not going to go any, you know, like all the time they spent trying to revive that little girl. All the time they spent trying to help this burn victim knowing that he. It's unlikely. Or all the moments. We talked about this at the beginning of the season. This idea of like, how much the jargon's flying fast and furious, but the way in which they use it to like, you have something. I think it was our guy, Nurse Jesse, you know, silver fox. Nurse Jesse on the phone, like gets off and he has like a, I don't know, a potassium read or something, whatever it is on the little girl. And the way he just says it, like, I don't know what that means, but I know what that means, which is like, it's curtains. Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's not good.

[Joanna Robinson]

You know, and so they're, you know, they'll say something that means nothing to me about stats and, and, and what this reading is. And so then I have to rely on their reactions. They're just sort of micro reactions sometimes, especially when they're trying not to have like a big reaction in front of the loved ones. I think that's like a really, a really brilliant thing.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm so impressed too, by the way that the more senior members of the staff communicate so directly and succinctly with the families of the Victims as they are treating them. Right. It's like we are. It's. It all. Alarms are going off. They're trying to get someone's heartbeat up. They're trying to get them to breathe again. And they're also conveying all this information to their loved ones who are panicking in the room trying to figure out what's happening. And that's where you see some of the younger members of the staff, like, trying to figure out how to do that. How do you multitask in a way where you're giving chest compressions and briefing the patient's family as to what needs to happen for them to get their breath back?

[Joanna Robinson]

There's also these little moments of, especially with, again, senior staff, where they will communicate to someone, like, this person's not going to make it, but we're not going to say that out loud right now. You know what I mean? So, like, when Dana comes up and there's the sister of the little girl, and she gets just, like, one look and she's like, should we go color? You know what I mean? Like, this is what's needed here. Or when they go in and. And Chiara, the social workers in with the little girl and her grandmother, and they just, like, walk in and give her a look. Like, it. It's. It's no. It's a no.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know, there is a lot of that shorthand. I will say there is still, at this stage in the season, a little bit of very special episode sauce on top. And I think Kiara gets burdened with a lot of it because she's always brought in late in the game and she has to explain the social issue that they're talking about. The one that jumped out so badly, I thought, in this set of episodes is after Dana gets hit, after she gets punched in the face. And you can tell how revered that character is by the way everyone is doting on her. Absolutely. By us. It's a great performance, It's a great character. And then you get this actual line of dialogue from this otherwise very good show. Violence against health care workers is a national problem, and it's only getting worse.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. It's a bad line inside of a great moment where they start talking about strikes and then, like, Robbie, voice, like, voice them off on Gloria. Like, that's a. That's a great moment. Did we. I'm sorry, did I interrupt your. Your gnarlo meter? Are there other.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think there's just.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm going to put the miracle of childbirth off to the side that's kind of its own thing. The other one that registered for me was the guy who came in with the partially de. Gloved finger that has the bone has to be sanded down. And as this is happening, he's taken a pass at Dr. Collins. Find you a guy who can do both.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who among us. But, like, it's a. It's an always no for me when it comes to a degloving, that's just like an automatic.

[Rob Mahoney]

But even relative to an eye swelling and scalpeling.

[Joanna Robinson]

Degloving. I just think the fact that we've come up with this word for it, which is so evocative. If there were, like, a similar word for eyeball swelling, then, then, yeah. But de. Gloving. We haven't talked much about Collins. Among all the other. Is that. Do we feel like that says something about the impression that the character's making or the way she. I mean, obviously watching her miscarry inside of this batch of episodes, having to then, you know, having just helped a young woman with, you know, abortion and delivering this baby and her reactions to all this. But I think chiefly for me, it's that conversation that she has with Robbie in the ambulance is like, the real, you know, like, Dana's with her, all of that sort of stuff. But the. The Robbie Collins stuff, which, again, is something we clocked right at the beginning of, like, they seem like they have a history.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

But once again, having our beloved princess and Perla, like, be like those two. Definitely. And then to have that conversation in the ambulance where, you know, she tells him basically that she aborted their child. Yeah. And he has that reaction of, like, wanting to support her through what she's currently going through, wanting not to, like, want to support her in the decision she previously made, while also grappling this guy who, like, has Jake but doesn't have, like, kids of his own. Like, this other future, you know, of, like, what would that have been? You know, he says inside of that conversation, like, I had it coming. Like, you know, I. I wasn't. I wasn't showing up inside of that relationship. That's before he hears this part. But, like, so I don't know that Robbie would have been a great father material in that moment, but I thought that was.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's hospital daddy.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, there you go. Oh, delightful. But because Scrub Daddy is trademarked and already taken by those sponges.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's a great point. I honestly didn't think about Scrub Daddy, but he is that, too.

[Joanna Robinson]

But that scene, I thought was so well written. And so well performed.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yep. I thought that was easily the standout of the Colin stuff so far, which I don't love saying because the things that that character is going through are so heavy and emotional and. Look, Joe, you and I have found ourselves spoilers for other shows we're covering on the Prestige TV podcast. Talking about miscarriage a lot lately, and it's something that I feel like TV taps into very often as this identifiable, understandable pain point for so many who are pregnant, for so many characters who are trying to get pregnant, who are desperate to be parents, who are trying to embrace that life change for themselves. I don't know what it is about the Collins presentation in the earlier episodes of this season or that character, that performance. None of it is bad. But I don't think it ever popped for me until this conversation with Robbie. And maybe that's as simple as the circumstances of the show didn't really allow for. Like, she is keeping everything so buttoned up that she doesn't have her moment to kind of let emotionally lose.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think that's a good point. I think her serenity throughout the season has been like an important ingredient in the mix here. But her relative serenity, but like, yeah, giving her that moment. That conversation with him, I thought was so good, him sending her home. I hope that's not the last we see of her for the season.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, I hope so, too. Well, as far as what we have still in the air, you know, there's some. Still some cases still in process. We obviously have the shooting at Pitfest, which I guess we'll see if Jake and. Or his girlfriend are among the people rolled in, and certainly hope not. Robbie, it really does feel like he's kind of coming apart a little bit. His shorter to anger. He has less help than he did at the start of the shift, to say the least. He's already having a rough day. As you said, he's been very off from the start. Don't feel like he's going to be dealing with everything super well over this last part of the season.

[Joanna Robinson]

What do you feel like we have gleaned from the flashbacks? You know, we got a little bit more flashback information since the last batch of episodes. Like what. What is your understanding of what happened on that day that we lost Dr. Adamson?

[Rob Mahoney]

I think we got this sense. So there's this bit of explanation about. I think it's called the ECMO machine.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

About how basically at a certain point, Dr. Adamson had to be taken off the machine, that they basically kept him on it as long as they possibly could. But there came a point where other patients needed it. So to me, it is of course about, you know, Dr. Rabi having to deal and treat. Deal with and treat his mentor in this incredibly difficult circumstance. Right. High anxiety environment of kind of a Covid hospital setting, but also the like the agonizing give and take of the resources in a hospital setting. When a bunch of things are happening at once and I would assume we're about to get a bunch of people rolled into the ER coming from Pitfest, difficult decisions are gonna have to be made as far as who do you keep on these life support systems, which patients that are in the hospital now are gonn to be moved or relocated or taken off those systems in order to prioritize people coming in with real and immediate trauma. And so I. I kind of feel like that's what we're heating up as much as anything is this idea that you have to make split second medical decisions that almost necessarily put other people's life in jeopardy.

[Joanna Robinson]

The ECMO machine is an extra corporeal membrane oxygenation. And yeah, it essentially like keeps. We. We. Yeah, they explained it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Where can. Where do you. Where do you get one of those? Can you like ebay that. Where do you pick one up?

[Joanna Robinson]

You call the same number you call to get Interpol to come. Come to a white Lotus. So yeah, okay, so that's my understanding is like it was coveted times it was rough. Anyway, Adamson's on this machine. Resources are thin as they constantly talk about. And another patient needed it. So it's not just that his beloved mentor, which inside another very special episode plot line, which is the, you know, the ambient, like the origin of the EMTs and all that sort of stuff like that, which is really cool history that I didn't know about. So I loved learning about it. But it was in a slightly very special kind of way. But inside of that we have that the dementia patient with the pacemaker, new Adamson. And so could like talk about him. Yeah, as well. I thought that was really effective. But yeah, to think about Robbie as someone who had to like make the call to take his mentor off this life saving machine because resources were stretched so thin inside of a national health emergency is. Yeah. Something. Something that. That surely will pop in the final episodes. Are we. Are we gonna see. So will Langdon and Collins come back on shift? How much of like other doctors are gonna come on shift to help with a mass shooting or the other shift that's due to come in, you know, the Next shift that's due to relieve them. Like, are we gonna add a bunch of new characters in. In the back section of the season? Are we emotionally prepared for how much capacity do we have? I just learned everyone's name, Rob, so.

[Rob Mahoney]

I don't think it's gonna be that many more. I. I would love a Sean Hadasy return. Right. As maybe he's coming in for the next shift, he can help kind of ease some of the load on Rob. He had a Nothing part for 10 minutes of one episode. I would have to think he's gonna be back in the mix at some point, and maybe that will be enough. I think Collins might be back helping and actually treating patients, and Langdon will come back, but not be allowed to help. Maybe some conversations, maybe some closure on some of that plotline, but ultimately, he made his bed.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. Sean Hadassey is what I am sort of most looking forward to, because if you go back to that original conversation they had, I was expecting more of him. Like, it's been so. Not that he was going to come back on shift because he was at the end of a long shift. When we saw him at the beginning.

[Rob Mahoney]

Of the season, he was on the roof staring down the edge. Joe. I think he needed a minute.

[Joanna Robinson]

It wasn't great, but I was like, are we gonna. I assumed we would, like, see him in flashbacks or something like that, but no, I. I am eagerly awaiting. You know, it's like all of our shows are bleeding together, but I'm just sort of like, where's Patricia Arquette and where's Sean? He. At the 90s. Person in me wants to know, so.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, well, what el. What else jumped out to you from these episodes? Is there anything else you want to hit before we close out?

[Joanna Robinson]

Great question. Thanks so much for asking. Okay, so we got an email from Lauren. I don't want to. I know you're. You're just toe dipping on er. You're not an ER expert, so I don't want to, like, strain you on this, but, like, Lauren emailed to ask us if we could pick any Our actor to make a cameo in the Pig.

[Rob Mahoney]

It.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who would it be and why?

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm not gonna necessarily ask you that question, though, if you have an answer, because I know, you know, some people are on er, but, like, my qu. My question is more, do you want an ER cameo, or do you feel like, not only just would that give Michael Crane's widow more fodder for a legal case, but it would feel like a little gimmicky inside of a show that's not very gimmicky.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know, it's tough because it's not gimmicky, but also it's a Noah Wylie medical drama, so by definition, it sort of is. I, like, I. I can't pretend that this isn't what we're doing here.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

That said, as someone who is not that familiar with er, other than the core cast and the history and overall, like, the. The indelible impression left by that show, I'm not super eager for it. I. I like the cast that we've established. I like this group of characters. Do I need more Tierney rolling in as the mom of one of the shooting victims? Like, I. I don't, but I'm not going to be mad about it.

[Joanna Robinson]

Okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

Did you have an answer for this? Who do you want to see?

[Joanna Robinson]

I will say for the ER diehards who are listening or the. Or the newcomers, I won't spoil anything with this character, but the actress Kelly Martin played a character called Lucy Knight on er, and she and John had like a. Like a friendship and whatever else ship, and she was involved in, like, a very important storyline in er. I think that would be really fun because there's other actors. Like, I mean, if Clooney were on, or, of course, you know, et cetera, et cetera. If Jelena Margulies wanted to show up.

[Rob Mahoney]

And Clooney has shown, he will show up for the check, whether it's Nespresso or DC or otherwise. Like, he. He will show up.

[Joanna Robinson]

It's true. Eric Lasalle, who played Dr. Benton, who was. Who is Carter's, like, mentor. Like, you know, there are other things, but, like, Kelly. Kelly Martin would be a great one because she's not. She's done a lot of, like, lifetime adjacent stuff, but she hasn't done like, a ton, A ton. A ton of stuff recently that people will be like, oh, my God, it's. It's George Clooney. That's distracting.

[Rob Mahoney]

Right, Right.

[Joanna Robinson]

But. Oh, it's Kelly Martin. I remember her from. I don't know. I think it's like two seasons of er that could be. That could be kind of fun. But, yeah, I don't. I don't want anything gimmicky. And I kind of like the level of actor we've seen come through. I don't. I'm not distracted. I recognize a few of the. Sort of like, hey, it's that guy, sort of.

[Rob Mahoney]

This was one of the prompts I had for you, Joe, which was.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

Which of the that guy guest stars. Did you enjoy the most? Were you the most excited to see? You know, we've had so many patients and patients, families roll through who. Who st out to you in that regard?

[Joanna Robinson]

Okay, I don't mean to be, like, weird about this. Chad is played by Rob Heaps, who is British actor who was in this show called Imposters that was on for, like, a season. He's done a couple other things, but he's in this show called Imposters that it was about, like, a female con artist, which is just like catnip to me. Love that. That was such a good show. And it was just like, completely ignored and canceled and sort of like. Like in the heyday of FX and these other networks having these just, like, really fun shows that no one's watching. And so I love. As soon as he showed up, I was like, oh, my God, it's the guy from Imposters. I got really excited and I just think. I think he's doing such a good chad. Like the chattiest chad.

[Rob Mahoney]

Extremely Chad vibes from this guy. And it sounds like you're endorsing all of that character's decisions and just general demeanor as well.

[Joanna Robinson]

Great dad. Love, love, love. His is his girlfriend. She seems great.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. We do learn that apparently the reason Dr. Bangs has the ankle monitor on is because of, it seems a restraining order from the girlfriend.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. What prompted that in the first place?

[Rob Mahoney]

We don't know, but I'm gonna guess smashed windshields. That's what it sounds like to me.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm on Dr. Bangs Sign.

[Rob Mahoney]

Honestly, we're full Dr. Bangs around here.

[Joanna Robinson]

What is it, like a bonus mom T shirt?

[Rob Mahoney]

Bonus mom. It does not go well.

[Joanna Robinson]

Hated it. I hated it. So, yeah. So, yeah, Rob Heaps as Chad is my that guy. How about you? Who's your that guy?

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, since I am hosting, I am gonna do a classic house of our smuggler.

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, hell yeah. Okay.

[Rob Mahoney]

And I'm gonna do Marguerite Moreau, who plays the mother of the girl who's seeking an abortion. Or I guess the aunt, the actual aunt of the girl seeking an abortion, who I know from Wet Hot American Summer, one of the greatest comedies ever made. You may know from the Mighty Ducks or various other properties if you prefer. But she's bringing in her daughter. Sorry, her niece, who's played by Abby Ryder Fortune, who I thought was just amazing in Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret. And I had totally forgotten until it clicked for me about halfway through her appearance in the show that, oh, my God. This is the titular Margaret. Here she is again, crushing it. I was delighted to see them both.

[Joanna Robinson]

It's so like these kids grow up so quickly.

[Rob Mahoney]

From puberty to seeking an abortion just.

[Joanna Robinson]

Like that, in a blink of an eye. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great. That's a great, great smuggle. Great one.

[Rob Mahoney]

There's so many great ones, though. And it's really one of the delights of this kind of show that you can have a cast as big as this, that you can have as big of a medical cast as this, and everyone can sort of have their moments. And yet I don't think there's any doubt that this is Noah Wylie show. You know, it's never really in danger of being swept out from under him. And I think his feel for how to navigate these spaces as an actor, much less that character feel as a doctor, is a huge part of the reason it works.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm trying to think who he's gonna be up against at the Emmys and it's gonna be, I mean, like Jason Isaacs and Adam Scott are gonna be in the mix with him for sure. Yeah. Interesting.

[Rob Mahoney]

We got a long year of TV ahead. We also had a very important public Service announcement from Dr. Robbie in this episode about the podcasts that are radicalizing the young men of this country, the youth of this country, Joe. And I am just here to say that we here at the Prestige TV podcast, we are here to teach your children. We are here to raise them, to give them the values that you want them to have. So long as those values, I would say, are Walton Goggins propaganda and severance theories. If those are important to you, then we are here for you at the end of the day.

[Joanna Robinson]

You know, Rob, it's so nice to meet a like minded individuals here to promote certain agendas for the youth. Follow up question for you on that front. Yes. Do you think the shooter at Pitfest is our. Is our teen with a list or is that.

[Rob Mahoney]

Feels like a big old red herring to me.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, I agree.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know, I'm. I think if that happened, Dr. Robbie would be in such a bad spot as the person who basically delayed the process of calling the police. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed for the sake of it. What is admittedly an incredibly thorny situation to navigate.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right. But the fact that they made him say the line about like, he's a young man with a future in front of him. And it had to be Dr. Bangs.

[Rob Mahoney]

Being like, it's not good.

[Joanna Robinson]

Dr. Bangs being like, what about the girls on the list, though? I mean at least this is what.

[Rob Mahoney]

Got us on Dr. Banks side at the end of the day like somebody needed to call the cops on incel kid. Her words not mine. Page Dr. Bangs with all of your concerns about the language. Correct. I think the police probably needed to be called in that instance and in this case may have been called too late whether he's the shooter or not. It's true but that is it for us this week Joe. We will be back for the finale. Thank you to Donny Beachum. Thank you to you Joe. Thank you to John Richter and CT and Justin Sales. Thank you to you for all of your emails about the pit to prestigetvpotify.com keep them coming. What you think about Dr. Bangs? What you think about the rat problem in the hospital? What do you think about the Kraken getting his moment of dignity really these episodes did have everything thing really a beautiful thing. Thank you for listening. See you soon.

[Joanna Robinson]

Bye.