SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “9:00 pm,” the Season 2 finale of “The Pitt,” now streaming on HBO Max.

The final two episodes of “The Pitt” were extremely heavy as Noah Wyle‘s Dr. Robby admitted he wasn’t sure he wanted to be alive anymore — but in the end, it was coming face-to-face with Baby Jane Doe that changed him, for good.

“This has been a very cathartic exercise for me as well, and I feel like I am getting to honestly offload some things that I’ve been feeling, that everybody’s been feeling,” Wyle says about Robby’s mental health struggles this season. During the penultimate episode, Robby admitted aloud that he isn’t sure he wants to be here anymore, a line that Wyle wrote after a real doctor told him a story in which he’d said something similar to his wife, which prompted him to get help.

“It resonated so deeply when he said it that I just thought that’s a truth that I know I can articulate and connect people, because it’s just so goddamn simple. It’s just a naked expression of probably a feeling we’ve all felt this last couple of years — Wow, this is a movie I’m not enjoying anymore, and what would be the consequences of leaving early? And the fear that that brings up, that you’re actually entertaining that for real, is overwhelming,” he says. “In some ways, it’s overwhelming to the character, because he feels like he’s losing it. The acknowledgement that you’re having that feeling is a very healthy step, because you’re suddenly acknowledging: This is an abnormal situation I’ve been trying to normalize to such an extent that I feel like I’m gaslighting myself. And this is the first time I’m actually being honest with how I feel.”

Throughout the season, Wyle says, Robby wore a mask and was “actively performing” so that no one would think anything was wrong. But that mask starts slipping throughout the shift, “almost subconsciously, to get someone to say, ‘Don’t go. Don’t do this. Don’t leave.’

“One by one, they aren’t doing it to satisfaction. We go through Abbot, we go through Dana, we go through Langdon, finally. And then ultimately, it’s that baby,” says Wyle. “It’s the pure, innocent child abandoned on its early journey — that is the confessional that feels safe and cloistered enough for him to make this admission that his root cause is ancient.”

While ideas often come up in the 11th hour, the writers knew the season would end on Robby and Baby Jane Doe from day one, says creator R. Scott Gemmill.

“He’s back in the room where he had his big meltdown. It was a makeshift morgue, and now it represents life reborn. I think the baby represents someone who’s a little bit lost and needs help, not unlike Robby,” he says. “Here he is, there to comfort this little lost soul, which I think in some ways Robby sees himself in, and is able to say things to the baby that he wouldn’t say to anyone else, because he knows it’s a safe environment, and it’s not going to go anywhere. And anytime I can put a baby in Noah Wyle’s arms, it’s a win.”

It’s not revealed whether or not Robby goes on a sabbatical — and if he does, is it actually to go get help?

“In some ways, I think Robby’s afraid to go on his trip, and he’s afraid to stay. He knows staying is not good for him, but he doesn’t have anything else in his life. This is a turning point for him. Should I stay or should I go now? If I stay, there will be trouble. If I go, it could be double,” says Gemmill. “That’s where he’s at, and he ultimately has to make a decision, and that’s what Season 3 will be about: What was that decision and how is it going to affect him moving forward?”

One thing that was not planned was the post-credits karaoke scene, during which Dr. King (Taylor Dearden) and Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) hilariously sing Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”

“That karaoke was a very, very late add. While I was writing episode 15, we came up with that,” says Gemmill. “That was a very last-minute thing. I thought it would be fun to put a little easter egg in there. The girls had had such a tough day that they deserved a night out on the town. And I thought it would be a nice surprise for the audience, and sort of to blast us into Season 3 with hope.”

Along with hope, Gemmill would love it if viewers also took a few more attributes from this season, too.

“I think the world could use a little bit more kindness, respect and empathy,” he says. “I hope that it connects with people on a human level, and if there’s a sad episode, go hug your loved ones. Realize how precious life is, how quickly it can change. Hopefully, the empathy, kindness and patience that our doctors and nurses portray, people pick up on that, and if a little bit of that wears off, that would be nice.”

For more on “The Pitt,” read the latest conversation with Gemmill about Supriya Ganesh’s exit and the possibility of seeing Mohan in the future.