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\n The Pitt\u2019s biggest martyr is also currently its biggest jerk. Is it working?
\n Photo: Warrick Page\/HBO Max\n <\/p>\n
Spoilers follow for the second season of The Pitt<\/a> through the 11th episode, \u201c5:00 P.M.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Dr. Michael \u201cRobby\u201d Rabinovich in season one of The Pitt<\/a>: A COVID-traumatized leader who was hard-nosed but fair to his colleagues. An emotionally overwhelmed guy trying to be there for his sort-of stepson after the kid\u2019s girlfriend was killed. A regretful romantic partner who understands too late that he was so emotionally distant he had no idea his former lover got an abortion. A flawed man, but one you wanted to have around when things get hard. Dr. Robby in season two of The Pitt<\/a>: A hothead who casually insults his colleagues and says within earshot of patients that he can\u2019t wait to get out of the ER. A man who has yelled at basically every brown woman he works with, lied about his self-destructive tendencies (wearing a motorcycle helmet, my ass<\/a>), and failed to protect his patients and colleagues against ICE\u2019s incursion into the ER. Eleven hours into this 15-hour shift, most of the attending\u2019s best qualities \u2014 his pragmatic approach to medicine, his encouragement of young colleagues, his ability to roll with unexpected challenges \u2014 have curdled into huffy dismissiveness and defensive blind spots. Those slutty little glasses aren\u2019t cutting it anymore. This is Robby\u2019s asshole season, and it\u2019s tougher to watch than all the de-glovings and severed limbs The Pitt can throw at us.<\/p>\n Robby was introduced as a lightly flawed but ultimately principled guy, willing to bend the rules and try unexpected methods if he felt that it would benefit a patient, and considering other doctors\u2019 and nurses\u2019 suggestions with a baseline respect for their education and experience. He was always a little overly certain in his superiority and subtly deferred to his favorites \u2014 white guys like Abbot<\/a>, Langdon<\/a>, and Whitaker<\/a> \u2014 but the ER needed someone to guide its hand, and Robby was there. Paging Dr. Daddy, you know? But from the moment Robby appears this season, headed to his last shift before a sabbatical that is really, definitely, absolutely going to happen, he\u2019s got a chip on his shoulder and a patronizing attitude toward anyone attempting to disagree with him in even the slightest way.<\/p>\n Robby\u2019s descent into douchery is the linchpin of this season\u2019s storytelling; he personifies the accumulating professional fatigue weighing on everyone in the ER post-PittFest. (If he\u2019s the season\u2019s devil, Dana is its angel; being punched in the face by a patient in season one has made her fiercely protective of new nurse Emma.) Robby\u2019s transformation serves a narrative purpose \u2014 how much more foreshadowing could a trip to a place called \u201cHead-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump\u201d provide? \u2014 but in emphasizing his PTSD and burnout, The Pitt is neglecting the colleagues most affected by it. The character interactions are no longer reciprocal: Robby yells; the person he\u2019s yelling at looks upset but doesn\u2019t get to defend themself or engage in a way that illuminates the character; Robby finds someone new to yell at. Robby\u2019s heel turn is purposeful, but in order to pull it off, The Pitt is undercutting the rest of its ensemble.<\/p>\n While the past ten months have grown other characters\u2019 confidence \u2014 Whitaker and Javadi both seem more comfortable in the ER on this Fourth of July weekend \u2014 Robby is now paranoid and standoffish, especially in the face of his replacement. No matter that it was his decision to finally take some time off. Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), the attending who is going to fill in for three months, is his enemy now, and The Pitt positions her the same way it once positioned Santos<\/a>, aligning us with a man\u2019s perspective on a \u201cpushy\u201d female co-worker instead of with that newcomer woman\u2019s perspective on a gatekeeping man. Al-Hashimi is up-to-date on cutting-edge methodologies; she\u2019s done humanitarian work in combat zones (and has her own workplace trauma as a result, which Abbot, not Robby, is curious enough to ask about); she\u2019s trying to improve PTMC\u2019s systems and standard of care. Sure, she\u2019s idealistic, even a little corny \u2014 I cannot defend her \u201cpatient passport\u201d idea \u2014 but on her first day, does she deserve Robby undermining her with an explanation of \u201chow we do things,\u201d or trailing her through the ER to second-guess her work, or trying to divide up the residents so he doesn\u2019t have to liaise with her? This woman brought in bagels! Cut her some slack!<\/p>\n Al-Hashimi\u2019s AI app isn\u2019t great, nor is it her only approach to medicine. That\u2019s how Robby sees her, though, so it\u2019s how The Pitt has positioned her, relying on Robby\u2019s tendency toward bursts of told-you-so dialogue to inform how we should feel. Noah Wyle\u2019s exasperated delivery of \u201cSure, AI will make doctors more efficient, but hospitals will expect us to treat more patients without any extra pay, of course, all the while eliminating staff positions for attendings and residents\u201d is a classic bit of Robby tough love that\u2019s meant to open our eyes to the problems of frontline medicine. But Robby\u2019s big speeches are less rousing this season because the character is so out of sorts, making these moments come off more scold-y than principled. His stance as the ER\u2019s conscience is crumbling. More than once, he has been completely out of pocket: brushing off Santos\u2019s concern about Family Services splitting up a sister and brother because \u201ca lot of what happens to people around here isn\u2019t right\u201d; tearing into Mohan<\/a> after her panic attack with \u201cIs this \u2026 because of your mommy issues?\u201d When Al-Hashimi says he\u2019s beginning to lose some of his \u201cbasic human empathy,\u201d she\u2019s right. And when Robby laughs at her concern and says he thinks the ER will \u201cfall to shit when I\u2019m gone,\u201d he\u2019s pretty irredeemably wrong.<\/p>\n In layering on Robby\u2019s aggression without the checks and balances of other characters\u2019 responses to it, The Pitt is in danger of making his point of view its point of view. The Pitt is set up to work as an ensemble show \u2014 a strong group of actors, varied characters with distinct experiences, a steady stream of patients and cases that allow new dynamics to emerge \u2014 but spending so much time on Robby this season has kept it from becoming one. More people than just Dana could be standing up to Robby and showcasing performances beyond the show\u2019s two Emmy winners. More story lines could build out other characters\u2019 opinions on how the hospital runs and how Robby works, so characters like Al-Hashimi aren\u2019t reduced to How does Robby feel about me? The Pitt can be didactic<\/a>, and as the series\u2019 primary protagonist, Robby is its foremost mouthpiece, as if the show worries we won\u2019t pick up on its lessons if they come from a different source. Even in its visuals, the series aligns itself primarily with Robby\u2019s movement throughout the department, implicitly suggesting that how he assesses and reacts to things is the best way for us to understand what\u2019s going on inside this space. That worked well enough in the first season when Robby was our entry point into the show\u2019s worldview, but The Pitt continuing to keep the focus so tightly on him in season two is narrowing the show\u2019s perspective when it could be expanding it.<\/p>\n