Series Review: The Pitt (Season Two)

The Pitt (Season Two)
Creator: R. Scott Gemmill
John Wells Productions, R. Scott Gemmill Productions, Warner Bros. Television
Streaming on HBO Max: 01.08.2026

In the ’90s, television changed my life. Born with a rare disease, I endured 17 surgeries before age five and grew up with agoraphobia, PTSD and a crippling fear of doctors and hospitals that lasted until nearly age 20. My healing came not from real-life medicine, but from County Hospital on NBC’s ER, whose realism and humanity helped me reframe doctors and nurses as the people who saved me — and as people. As immense as ER’s influence was on the genre, The Pitt proved in its first season that it’s no mere echo. It’s groundbreaking, brilliant television, leaving only one question after such an astonishing debut: How does it follow itself?

As season two of The Pitt begins, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavich (Emmy winner Noah Wyle), rides to work on a motorcycle. It’s July 4, and it’s Robby’s last day of work before leaving on a sabbatical, where he plans to ride his bike to the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta, Canada (and if he doesn’t start wearing a helmet, he’s going to reach Head-Smashed-In long before he gets to the Buffalo Jump). As Robby reviews the caseload for the day and touches base with charge nurse Dana Evans (Emmy winner Katherine LaNasa), Dr. Melissa “Mel” King (Taylor Dearden) frets about a deposition she has to give later that day for a malpractice suit, and Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) tries desperately to catch up on her charts. These familiar faces are joined by another as the prodigal son of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), arrives for his first shift after nine months in rehab for addiction to prescription opioids. Langdon is determined to talk to Robby, but Robby is even more determined to avoid him, and he has more than enough to keep him busy. The gung ho new emergency attending physician, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), presents a potential clash in management styles, and they have a lot to discuss and iron out over the next 15 hours.

The first season of The Pitt was like Nigel Tufnel’s amplifier in This Is Spinal Tap — its intensity went all the way up to 11. By the time it reached the last third of its 15 episodes, all taking place in real time over the course of a single shift, the intensity was so high that it’s easy to go into season two expecting it to start out cranked all the way up, and to feel an initial sense of impatience when it doesn’t do so. The choice not to start off with a bang is a good one, however, as the show smartly avoids falling into a “pit” of its own making by piling on too much and losing its sense of reality. Season one had a mission to draw attention to the struggles that healthcare workers are facing in post-pandemic America, and it did so to great effect. It also packed a lot of topical issues into one day, and while season two maintains a strong sense of relevance, it also moves along with the confidence of a show that knows that it’s already proven itself.

The new season was developed and written during a period of upheaval and uncertainty in both the American healthcare industry and the country at large, when the pressure to capture everything must have been immense — and impossible. The scripts and individual cases cover a wide range of issues, including lack of insurance coverage, family separation and the impact of abrupt changes to diversity initiatives on medicine. Everything is smoothly integrated, never feeling like the writers are ticking boxes. While season one emphasized the crushing weight placed on first responders, this reality remains ever-present, while season two places greater focus on treating patients with dignity and sensitivity — a welcome shift. New med students offer varied examples of learning bedside manners, from the often clueless Dr. Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson), who delivers several cringe moments, to the endearing Emma (Laëtitia Hollard), a recent nursing school graduate on her first day, who earns as much sympathy as she gives.

Wyle has a particularly daunting task in following up his tour de force from season one, and while Dr. Robby seems to be in a better place emotionally in the new episodes, he’s not completely fixed, and he’s still on a journey of healing himself while healing others. The ever-present humanity that Wyle brings in front of the camera is there just as strongly when he steps behind it to direct. LaNasa is perhaps even better this time around, shining in a riveting and eye-opening portrayal of a sexual assault forensic examination, and Ball is terrific at shifting gears from being a closed-off and brash character hiding a secret to a humbled one whose point of view we follow whenever he’s on screen.

Where ER proved to be effective medicine in its time, The Pitt is a show about hurting, healing and compassion. It delivers a stellar second season that indicates that it has serious legs, setting a new gold standard for hour-long drama. Simply put, it’s just what the doctor ordered. —Patrick Gibbs

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