'The Pitt' review: Noah Wyle medical drama is part 'ER,' part '24,' and all compelling
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Medical dramas don't tend to be my primary choice of TV show. But I'd be a liar if I said The Pitt didn't hook me right away.
The Pitt immerses us in the high-stress environment of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center's emergency department, headed up by Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (ER's Noah Wyle, no stranger to on-screen medical emergencies). If all that sounds like a soft ER reboot to you, you wouldn't be the only one. In August 2024, the estate of ER creator Michael Crichton even filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, claiming the series to be an unauthorized ER reboot.
But while The Pitt certainly stands on ER's shoulders — it's created by longtime ER writer and producer R. Scott Gemmill, and produced by ER showrunner John Wells — it also works hard to set itself apart. From exploring issues with modern-day healthcare systems to employing a real-time conceit in the vein of 24, The Pitt establishes itself as its own beast, one that's harrowing, compulsively watchable, and just the right mix of soapy and grounded.
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What's The Pitt about?
Each of The Pitt's 15 episodes (an almost unheard-of number in today's streaming landscape) covers about one hour in Robby's 15-hour shift in the ED. That means we clock in with him at 7 a.m. and stay with him until his work day is done.
And what a work day it is. It's the anniversary of Robby's mentor Dr. Adamson's death from COVID complications. It's also the first day on the job for several interns and residents, all of whom need guidance from Robby and his colleagues, including senior residents Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) and Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball). After a prolonged intro to the large staff of the ED — colloquially known as "the pit" — The Pitt jumps into high gear with an onslaught of high-drama medical emergencies. Heart attacks, drug mishaps, and more race through the ED's doors, mixing with the staff's own personal drama to create a high-octane cocktail of stress.
The Pitt takes stress to new heights.
Almost every second we spend in the ED feels like a crisis, and that's due in large part to The Pitt's real-time structure. The gimmick doesn't always make narrative sense, as character arcs that might take place over entire weeks are collapsed into mere hours. Yet you can't beat it when it comes to sheer overwhelming tension. Seriously, if you thought The Bear's one-take, real-time episode "Review" was stressful, The Pitt will make that look like a spa day. I can't count the number of times I yelled, "What?" or "No!" or simply retreated behind my own hands.
Here, medical emergencies seem to multiply exponentially from episode to episode, until you feel like you're drowning alongside Dr. Robby and his team. Almost every hour treats you to some new high-pressure surgery, complete with constant medical chatter that doubles as the world's least-soothing ASMR, and some fairly serious gore. (A degloved leg in the first episode is particularly gnarly, but you're in for far more blood spatters as The Pitt continues.) All this comes to life thanks to cinematographer Johanna Coelho's nearly nonstop handheld camera movement, which brings The Pitt's urgency to a fever pitch.
The Pitt's ticking clock also emphasizes the long wait times to get into the ED. Often, The Pitt brings us into the trauma center's chaotic, overflowing wait room, where disgruntled patients wait for hours before being seen. It's a pressure cooker with little hope of relief. Time and time again, Dr. Robby tells hospital administrator Gloria (Michael Hyatt) that he needs more nurses and more beds, only to be denied due to budget constraints. That's just one of the many ways in which The Pitt indicts America's broken healthcare system, but never at the expense of the healthcare workers themselves.
The Pitt tackles serious healthcare issues, including abortion.
On top of examining systemic problems like understaffing, The Pitt also takes a look at major issues at the intersection of politics and healthcare. An arc about a pregnant teenager (Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) and abortion rights feels extra pertinent following the re-election of Donald Trump. Elsewhere, resident Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) hopes to make a difference when it comes to racial disparity in medical care, starting with a Black woman with sickle cell disease (Ashley Romans) whose initial arrival in the ED is marred by racist treatment.
Not every case is a winner, though, with some attempts to gesture out to the greater political landscape falling flat. A fight over wearing masks leads someone to lob the insult "Fauci zombie," subtlety be damned. Meanwhile, cases involving the way social media impacts health remain fairly surface level. At one point, an influencer patient says, "I don't have friends, I have followers," which is about as caricatured as you can get.
For the most part, though, The Pitt does a solid job in granting its doctors and patients alike a fair amount of depth, which is especially impressive given the sheer size of its cast and how little face time we get with most of them. Some characters, like overconfident intern Dr. Santos (Isa Briones), could risk being one-note, yet The Pitt manages to sidestep these pitfalls. (Of course, a tragic backstory or two never hurt.)
At the center of it all is Wyle, whose Dr. Robby projects himself as the calm in the middle of the storm even as he weathers tremendous pain himself. He's particularly good during the scenes The Pitt takes to recenter itself after tragedy, be that a moment of silence after the loss of a patient or a discussion in which he has to break bad news to loved ones. The Pitt may boast its fair share of surgical set pieces or plot twists right out of a soap opera, but it's these quiet moments that really ground the show and set the stage for what could hopefully be TV's next great medical drama.
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Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
