Hot Takes on 'The Pitt' Season 2 So Far

Hey, executive producer Mallory Falk here. And at the end of today's episode, we have a sponsored interview with Caitlin Brooke from Bike Pittsburgh, all about Pedal Pittsburgh, Western PA's biggest bike ride. It is happening right here on August 30th. There are going to be 3,000 riders, routes from 10 to 53 miles, and a big after party in Allegheny Commons Park. It sold out last year, so you are going to want to hear this one. It's brought to you by Bike Pittsburgh. This is CityCast Pittsburgh. I'm Megan Harris, and here's what Pittsburgh's talking about. Brothers United! Ooh! Dude, why in the world would you ask to have that done to you? You're trying to brand me with our family crest. Your family crest is the Penguins logo? We're going to be bonded for life. You already are. With DNA. Is there a Pittsburgh logo that you think could represent your family? I don't know about my family, but I've talked about getting like a little dippy outline tattooed on me. So I guess that's the equivalent for me if I'm willing to permanently put it on my body. I know a lot of parogi and parking chair tattoos. I won't out there. They're people, but I've seen a lot of them. Okay, Dippy is actually the first Pittsburgh symbol that my daughter has shown excitement about. So maybe that would be a good family crest for us. Or I don't know. I was thinking about maybe like the map of a trail in Frick Park that my family and I used to hike when I was a kid. Or a bridge. Mallory, didn't you say you once thought about getting a tattoo of a bridge? I thought about, I love the idea of a tattoo of the three rivers, like down my wrist. But that was when I wasn't living in Pittsburgh. I'm a little more hesitant to get a Pittsburgh tattoo now that I am back here. I mean, I think we can safely say that literally any of that makes more sense than the Penguins logo is a family crest. Can you get sued for that? Are you allowed to do that, like brand a logo of a sports team? I mean, I don't think branding is advisable in any capacity. Okay, fair, fair. But I like that you're thinking about copyright infringement. I am with CityCast Pittsburgh producers, Mallory Falk, and Sophia Lowe. Of course, we are talking about HBO's The Pit so far because I think right now we're like halfway through the season. There's 15 episodes. So we're going to talk about what we're loving, what we wish made a little more sense. The Pittsburgh references, including a few sneaky ones, less sneaky than penguins being branded onto somebody. And a couple things that are technically wrong, but we feel are correct in spirit. And then, of course, Sophia, you're also into the imagination. relationships of some of the characters. So we will save time for that too. Some of them are real. GarSantos was confirmed like literally episode one with a toothbrush reference. I completely missed that until you pointed that out. Anyway, we're going to talk about it all. There will be so many spoilers here. So if you have not seen the Pitt season two yet and spoilers bother you, please jump now. Watch first and then come back to this episode. We also did this for season one. So if you're caught up on season one, you can listen to, you know, our favorite bits of the premiere season. We'll have the link for that in the show notes. And you can see if any of our predictions about season two came true. I don't think we did well so far. But there's a lot left of way to go. I know. There's a lot of season left.

And in case you've somehow been fully living under a rock, the pit is a show set at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center in the emergency department. And it's partly filmed at AGH, Allegheny General, which is, of course, a real hospital. At least the exterior shots are. So each season takes place over the course of one shift. Season one was the residence first day. And this season, season two, is set on the 4th of July in Pittsburgh. But no furries. I mean, not yet. But I, when they set up the cold room for heat stroke, I was expecting to slowly see some furries trickle in. No mention of Anthrocon either. I wonder if that's under copyright. If they don't do that before this season is over, they will have a, they've built up so much Pittsburgh goodwill and credibility. They're going to waste it all away if we don't see a furry by the finale. I have heard on good authority from somebody who should know that there is a furry coming, but I don't, I haven't seen it. I'm waiting to see it, just like everybody else. Well, the start of episode one, I think is really, really beautiful.

There are a ton of great, great wide shots of Pittsburgh. Like the skyline is glowing. It doesn't always glow like that. Does it ever glow like that? Yes, it does. You know, Dave DeCello's whole brand is like getting up at the crack of dawn to photograph the loveliest Pittsburgh ever is. Fair. Okay. I'm not up. I'm not seeing that in real life. And that's why we have Dave in the Pit. Thank you, Dave and the Pit. But I was really proud of that opening scene. And then, you know, Robbie comes in without a helmet. and I'm scolding him. I am so confused about this opening scene because if you notice, when did they shoot it? Because the fountain is on and it was off all last year, which we know when they were shooting here. It was like in August, September, like somewhere around the end of summer, early fall. And there's no sure thing. There's no sure. So was this B-roll from season one? Did they like shoot an alternate beginning and then use it for season two? I have questions. I don't have any answers about the timing of that filming. But the music you heard, the music we hear as season two opens is by the clerks, a notable Pittsburgh band. I've never seen them in person except at Penguins games because they so frequently play the interstitials like during period changes. I think it's so fun. There's also a Penguins reference pretty early on when Langdon comes back after his... rehab synbatical? Yeah, yeah. I was really curious about that. I did not expect to see him in the waiting room, but I noticed the penguins logo on his hat. And I know last season they also had like the Steelers logo for a little bit. So I'm curious to see if the pit is trying to like kind of Pokemon catch all the sports teams by the end. Are we going to see a riverhound? Ooh, I wasn't even thinking that. Yeah. I was thinking just pirates. Have we seen pirate stuff yet? I feel like I remember a baseball something in season one, but it's eluding me. They definitely talk about Three Rivers Stadium, but we'll get to that. I mean, speaking of sports, like watching Robbie go over the bridge without a helmet behind an ambulance, like I'm having Rothlisberger flashbacks from like way back when the former quarterback of the Steelers who very notoriously got in a motorcycle accident without a helmet on. You wear a helmet for a living. Please don't conflate my TV hero with that man. Although, yes, agreed. I also was very upset to see him without a helmet. And I have to imagine that's going to factor in at some point this season. It's got to be coming. I feel like they keep making cracks throughout the entire, at least first half of season two about Robbie's sabbatical and his midlife crisis and all this. Because he's going on a motorcycle trip across the country. Yeah, this is his last day. So season one was the first day for all the residents. Season two is the last day for Robbie before he takes some much needed time off. But potentially ill-advised trip. Potentially. Speaking of, like, he comes in the entrance. And I feel like that's like the exterior shots, right, are like always Pittsburgh's time to shine. So he walks into the entrance there from North Avenue. I definitely thought that that used to be totally closed off. But I drove by the other day. And it actually looks like it does in the show. Like it's real now. Maybe it always was. And there was just so much construction there that I missed it. Either way. It looks prettier now. Like it looks nice. Thank you the pit, I guess, for maybe.

opening up new doors. Maybe people just got confused doors. Yeah, they saw it in the show and we're like, that's the entrance. I really hope the pit is somehow contributing to a Pittsburgh glow up in some form, maybe an AGH glow up. We know that they have to some extent, right? Because like every time they float in, they do nice things for the staff, like hosting coffee and things like that. I just think it's so great because obviously most of the interior shots are shot elsewhere. They have like a studio in Barbake, California. Actually, Noah Wiley, the lead actor who plays Dr. Robbie. Did a CBS Sunday morning hit this past weekend. Wait, really? Like, he, like, he, an actual doctor interviews him. And they were just, like, astounded that on set, like, everything is real. Like, every drawer you open, every closet door, like, it's all full of hospital stuff the same way it would be in real life because it's so self-contained that they want you to feel what it is to be in that moment. I thought it was neat. Huh. Well, they also do a really good job of conveying that to the audience. Like I think last season, we all kind of binge watched it, which was, you know, extremely stressful. But I think at least I feel that it's kind of worse watching it episode by episode because I'm left on this cliffhanger. And I'm like, no, I want more. And I also think the binge, like it gives you that. I mean, it doesn't give you the intensity that like an actual health care provider feels on the scene. But you really do feel immersed because each episode is one hour of the shift to watch it all in. real time, like you feel enclosed in that space with everybody. You see how little room there is to breathe. And watching it when you can breathe for a week in between episodes to me just like, it dilutes a lot of the power. It's still an incredible show. But I think the binge is the way to go with this one. A thousand percent. I also am reminded kind of in this break period, there's no music, which I forget every time. There's not, there's no score. Like aside from like a Clark song or something every once in a while, like they don't use any music to build tension. There's a lot of beeping. There is good sound design. There's a ton of sound design. It's so thoughtful. But like they made the intentional choice as a show to not use any music to do that for them. They wanted the actors and the environment and just the medical like craziness of it all to do that for you. And I think it works. It is wild because whenever I hear music, I instantly know we've reached the end of the episode. We've arrived at the end and I feel disappointed when I hear the music kick in. So let's get back to episode one, just because I feel like there's a lot of Pittsburgh in it. Like Robbie comes in wearing a Hemingway shirt, which, I mean, gosh, they had just announced that they were closing when he walks in wearing that. Like, what time? There's so many little pieces here where the timing is wild to me. This also tells me maybe that Robbie went to pit because Hemingways was one of like the pit bars. So I feel like it gives us a little extra backstory. We learn in season two what synagogue he grew up going to. And now I feel like I have a sense of where. he went to school. Yeah, Mallory's building like a whole character profile over here. I love it. Then as he's walking in, the other thing I'll shout out is there's a plaque on the wall that the camera lingers on for like just a second to kind of acknowledge the events of season one where there's that big shooting at Pit Fest.

I zoomed in on this shot so many times because it features a seal from the city of Pittsburgh. And y'all, I just got to say, it is so much prettier than our real one. It looks so much better. Well, I mean, it doesn't take much. Our seal is atrocious. We have done a whole episode on this in the past. I know. Or our flag, I guess. Y'all are watching this show so much more closely than I am. Anytime I just hear something that I recognize, I'm like, oh, yay, moving on. It's supposed to be from city council and y'all, I spend so much time digging through their records and watching their meetings. My main beef with this plaque is that it can't be real because there's no like, be it so proclaimed, striking lack of whereas. Like that's not a real city council proclamation because it doesn't sound like it was written at the end of the. 18th century. So it sounds like they do a really phenomenal job consulting medical providers and health care workers, but they maybe should have sat down with city council for a minute. Or call Megan next time to consult on local politics for the pit. I am certain there are many people in city council that would love to have that consultant job. I don't need it. Give it to them. You mentioning Pit Fest, which was like the fictional festival where there was a mass shooting in season one, reminds me that. So I don't know if you all have seen that like Pitt Athletics and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust are throwing this block party to celebrate the NFL draft. It's called Pit Block Party. I keep referring to it as Pit Fest and then having to catch myself and realize that is not the language I should be using. But it's like, oh, a big pit festival downtown pit fest. It really does ruin the SEO of that, that name forever for anything. in the future. It does make me wonder if that was a name that they had considered and had to throw away because of the pit.

Today's episode is sponsored by YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. They're currently accepting nominations for the 2026 Equity Awards, which honor community members who support their vision of a world where everyone has equitable access to professional and personal opportunities free from injustice. There are five award categories. Ally, Bridge Builder, Creative Arts, and Innovation, Emerging Leader, and Heroin. Nominations are going to be accepted through Friday, July 24th. also encourages self nominations and especially wants to recognize women of color. So if you or someone you know has been stepping up for your community, this is the perfect opportunity to honor that work. And honorees will be recognized at the Equity Awards Luncheon on Thursday, November 19th, at the Weston Pittsburgh. Learn more about the awards categories and submit your nomination today at yWCAPG.org. Okay, so episode two, I feel like from this point forward, by and large, there's a lot fewer Pittsburgh references, but some of them, they really, they really had fun with it. They had so much fun with the nun who got gonorrhea in her eye. That was just sort of like, funny. There's a lot of heavy stuff. It's not funny, but it was a little funny. But the immaculate infection of it all was very funny. That was very funny. I loved all the interactions in that episode. There's also a scene where Dr. Mel is talking about her sister and says she likes Kenny Wood and the zoo. So like just like quick hits of like Pittsburghies. Episode three, I actually thought the Pittsburgh reference here was so clumsy. It felt so much like someone got really excited about teaching the nation about this, but in a way no one would ever talk in real life. And this is, of course, reminding everyone or teaching everyone for the first time that Pittsburgh is the fireworks capital of America thanks to the Zambelli family. Who's Mr. Zambelli? Son, you don't know fireworks if you don't know the name Zembelli. He helped Pittsburgh become the firework capital of America. I hated this reference. So Louis talks about this because he's in the hospital with, you know, he's a character from season one who's an alcoholic and he's back in the hospital for more treatment. This fireworks capital of America reference just like really felt like an ad to me. Like this is the closest thing that I think in the pit has felt like, you know, that brand of coffee or like soda sitting on the counter with the logo like in your face. I completely disagree. I think it's fun anytime we can acknowledge like Pittsburgh's place and like the history of how we experience truly like even our national identity because a lot of these fireworks that are made for all kinds of events literally do come from Western Pennsylvania. Mallory, you specifically, I think, are sensitive to this because you didn't know it until we did an episode about it a few years ago. But that means I should have been the target audience for this of like, oh yeah, people don't know this. We should be spreading the good word. I just felt like it unfolded in a way that like.

I don't know. I don't go to the hospital and start chatting about my fun Pittsburgh facts. Maybe I should, but it just like, it struck me as. kind of forced and stulted. I'm with you, Sophia. I think I just am endeared to the character of Louie. I love Louis. RIP. Yeah, RIP. I thought he had more shining moments later in the series, though. Yes, we'll return to him. The one I wanted to throw out there was they referenced the motorcycle safety course. They call it PennDOT's motorcycle safety course because this is again where they're teasing Dr. Robbie about his upcoming motorcycle trip sabbatical. The way it came off was so clunky to me. Like, because they're talking about the helmet stuff. And I'm just like, that course absolutely teaches you to wear a helmet. I've taken it before. It's such a cool thing. It's an interesting resource in the state of Pennsylvania. You can learn how to ride a motorcycle for free. And then if you want to get a license, you have to just pay for the license. So like if we're pretending that that's where Dr. Robbie learned how to drive, ride a motorcycle. That would have taught him helmet safety. This man doesn't need a motorcycle safety course to teach him to wear a helmet. I know. He's willfully choosing not to. I'm so annoyed. To me, the thing I thought was done very, very well was the reference to the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. So there's this patient that comes in because she's burned herself. She accidentally spilled boiling water on herself when she was making tea. And you gradually learn that it's because she was triggered by fireworks. Remember, this episode is happening Fourth of July. And she was, yeah, really disturbed by these sounds because she had actually been about to go into services the day the shooting happened. So the sound of fireworks really set her off. But I thought this was done. Like it was sort of a light touch. They didn't over explain things. But they just acknowledged the lasting trauma that this has had on people and acknowledged this really major thing that happened in the city. I also think it was really nice to have Dr. Robbie's character interact with a patient like that. I also thought this was really well done. I thought it was well done. I'm going to be honest, when they made the first reference to it, I was like, oh, good, they're not going to explain it. They're not going to make the entire city of Pittsburgh feel these feelings in this moment. Because, I mean, it feels like it was 20 years ago, but it was October 27, 2018. It was not that long ago. But then, of course, they did explain it. So, yeah, I don't, there doesn't need to be a content warning on the episode, but I feel like for Pittsburgh. all of us maybe could have used a content warning on that one because it's just like that hurts. There's no way to hear about that that it doesn't still hurt. Yeah. Like I actually, I've really tried to avoid any spoilers for this show, but I did see that this reference was coming, which I think helped me brace myself as someone who grew up in that synagogue, as I've mentioned on the show before. So I actually don't know how it would have hit me if I.

didn't realize it was coming at all. But I appreciate just the way, like I was reading this interview in Variety with Noah Wiley, who actually wrote this episode and kind of talked about his motivation for including this storyline. And something I really appreciated that he said was like, His interaction with this character, it's established that he was raised Jewish. He mentions on this episode that he grew up going to Rode of Shalom Synagogue. And he says that, like, you kind of see him let his guard down and be more relaxed and familiar with this character than he really has with any other patients. There's kind of this shared cultural affinity. And he also talked about how something that was really important to him in this storyline, this patient ends up thanking Nurse Perla. She asks if Nurse Perla is... Muslim and then says, you know, the Muslim community raised money to fund the funerals of people who were killed in this shooting. And so thank you. And he said it was really important. He felt like that element of the story was really critical to shine a light on. And I really appreciated having that element told to a larger audience, too.

Okay, episode four, watching the ambulances come in and out of the bays, all I could think of, because this is also as like we're talking about the city going broken, ambulances are breaking down and we don't have enough because this was right around or right before we got news that we were going to get some new ones, care of you, PMC. I'm just like, are these real? Are these real? Like, I don't know. I'm genuinely asking. Did the city lease these in some way? Or are they like part of like gear that you can rent as part of like our film office here? I want to know. Listen, we are just complimenting the people behind the pit on like showing up and bringing coffee to AHAG. But why don't they buy us an ambulance if they really want to make a difference in our city and pay homage to our health care workers? I mean, I wouldn't hate it. It does make me wonder though. Like, I mean, is that a way the city can generate income is by? renting out its official equipment, probably not wise to do that with ambulances in this moment. No, we don't have enough. If they're renting it, I am now mad at the pit. No, don't do that. Please tell me that's not what's happening. I don't know what's happening. If you know, if you're listening to this and you know, please let us know. They also, of course, have one of my favorite references, this entire first half of the season, is the best Italian in town from that one patient that dances with Dr. McKay. Fun fact, that guy was a star of Flash Dance, which was also set in Pittsburgh. Oh. Deep cut. Okay. Yeah. So the restaurant is Pino's and Point Breeze. I loved that reference. I actually have not eaten at Pino's so I can't attest to the quality. I can't. It was delicious. Is it the best Italian in town? We have so many amazing Italian restaurants. I won't do them like that and try to compare. But it is fantastic on its own. I even went while I was expecting and I had a million food aversions and I still loved it. It was still delicious. I really like that they shot it out a place that's just like not always getting all of the attention. I read a story in Axios that Pino said they got a little bump after that reference. And I hope it's still continuing to send more people their way. Yeah, the trip story. The quote was, we were completely shocked. We knew nothing about it that no one from the show or anything had contacted the restaurant to tell them. And this was in the midst of the huge dump of snow we got, so they just weren't able to recoup their money. And then that episode drops and they were like the timing was impeccable. Oh, that's really great. The fact that they didn't communicate with them really makes me wonder like how Pino's ended up on their radar who decided to give them a mention. I would love to know a little more backstory. That's fun. Well, you know, they had one really good reference, but I think episode four also the reference that got the most attention, the most booze on the internet. So another patient is flirting with Dr. McKay and she decides to go out with this. one, more age-appropriate too, but this is where they decide to meet on their date. I was going to go check out a few of the art galleries in Morensville tonight.

Have you been to that one on 40th and Butler? Sir, this is a Wendy's. Or it's a get-go, or it's an elementary school, or it's the right-aid empty parking lot, which could be an art gallery manifesting. They have pop-up food trucks there all the time, and there's beautiful graffiti on the sides of those. I can't believe they did so much research and even, like, identified Lawrenceville as, like, the artsy neighborhood, but then just I... guest picked a random street. I don't know if they were trying not to flood an art gallery, but like if they name drop Pino's, I don't know why they couldn't name drop like Red Fish Bowl or something. Yeah, I have a theory about this. I think that there's there's a usefulness in our current moment in the zeitgeist to rage bait a little bit. And I think this one was them locally rage baiting because they knew like in the Pittsburgh market at least, we're going to lose our minds about this. I will say. I've had many a Frosty at that Wendy's. Which is its own work of art. You know, work of art in its own way. Who's to say what an art gallery is and isn't? I think there's graffiti there. I can go chalk something up. We can go put a city cast sticker on the back of a bathroom stall. Now it's art. Episode five, we will move on a little bit. They do mention having an ambulance tour of Allegheny County. This is when the patients are flooding in from the other hospital that is experiencing a mystery crisis at this point. Yeah, yeah. But I think the best reference was the family crest, the Penguins logo. You know, we opened the show with that tape. I was shocked when the logo was revealed and it was the Penguins. I had no idea what it was. I just thought it would be like some sort of like bad art. Oh, you mean your expectation of what it would be? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I was about, I thought, Sophie, I thought you meant you didn't recognize the penguin's logo. No, I'm not into sports, but I know that much. I know what our sports team's logos are. And of course, this scene spawned many a debate about whether one of the guys in this scene, one of the brothers said Jagoff or Jackoff, like whether this show got Pittsburghies right or wrong. I heard Jagoff and I think the closed captioning that captioned it as Jackoff was wrong here, not the actual line delivery. And that's happened before. I've heard there's at least two Jagoffish moments in the season, maybe three. I definitely wrote down two. Maybe people just need to enunciate better for season three. Or this is a rage bade moment. I don't know. Possibly. The one that happens in episode six, the close captioning does say drag off. That was the character of Dana, the nurse. Yes. I think she leans the most into the yinzer accent. I know before she said like she didn't want to exactly hit it, but I think she's starting to hit it a little bit more. She gets criticized so much because it's clear that they're trying with her, but she isn't nailing it. To me, in my mind, the backstory I built for Dana is that she grew up in the Philly area and she moved here. So she's lived here a long time, but the accents are melded. Like that is the imagined backstory I have for her. That makes a lot of sense because I remember there was an interview where that actress said that one of her inspirations for the Accent or like one way she did research was watching Mayor of East Town, which.

I love this actress. I really don't want to knock her, but that is not how you prepare a Pittsburgh accent. But if you prepare a like originally from the Philly area but made my way to Pittsburgh accent, a little more legit. It helps me process it, although the one, I think is hiccup in my story there is that in episode six, she has this exchange with a patient who's coming from prison. I have a problem with that one, too. But anyway, he says that he grew up in Bloomfield on Liberty Avenue, and they share this nice moment where Dana says she had her first kiss at Sunny's Tavern, which is a real place. Do you know that? Well, I did not a side street. It looks closed half the time. No, I know. I know it's a real place. But the timing, once again, with this dang show. There was a robbery that same day. The day of this episode, there's an armed robbery there. Do you think this is like a bloody merry kind of situation if the pit says your name, something bad is going to happen to you? Or good. Something will happen. Good or bad. Ooh. Now I'm like, who do we want to curse on this show? Yeah, it's like, are we positively hexing them or negatively hexing them? The other thing happening throughout the course of several episodes up to this point is that like, doctors, nurses, security, like even the paramedics coming in and out are taking bets on what's wrong at Westbridge. There was what, sinkhole came up. Spotted lanternfly infestation. Yeah, right. Like, okay, no. That's not a good way to spend your money. That's not a good one. No. It is a Pittsburgh reference, but not lanternflies don't take down a hospital. that that we know of. We haven't seen what summer 26 is going to bring. They've been getting less bad every summer. I'm going to keep manifesting that. Wait, but I want to back up, Megan. What's your problem with the patient who's incarcerated? Yes, I want to know where he'd be coming from that the trauma one center nearest him. is in Pittsburgh because we don't have a prison here. We have, you know, the Western Penn. I think that was its name, the big old one that is right off the trail. We have a county jail. Like, are they just conflating the words prison and jail? I don't think so because the writers of the show are too smart. I also don't think so because I noticed they seemed they were like, oh, one of our own, someone who grew up in Bloomfield. Like they seemed surprised to be treating somebody who was from Pittsburgh, which makes me think like, okay, so then where are you going? Pittsburghers might not necessarily be incarcerated. But there are major facilities in like in Greensburg and other places. And that is where our nearest prison as I think, SCI Greensburg. Anyway, this is not a problem with that patient or that storyline. I just think the geography doesn't quite math.

In terms of that storyline, something I really appreciated was that I think on other shows, on other like medical dramas, it would be around like, what did this person do? How is this person going to like escape and harm workers in the hospital? And instead, this storyline was about the fact that he's being malnourished and mistreated where he's been incarcerated. No notes about that. But like this is, it kind of reminds me of, I think it was episode one where they mentioned the dad, the little girl with bruises, like that he lives in Garfield and works in Newcastle. Who in their right mind would do that? I mean, I know that people are really resistant to crossing a bridge, but, you know. That's not a bridge. That's a large interstate. I want no part of it. Sometimes a job is a job. I like that we got a little more Louis backstory in this. We found out he was a groundskeeper for Three River Stadium until 1998. I did not fact check whether Three River Stadium was still around then. It was. It closed in December of 2000. So Louis would have left before it was demolished. And again, I am not an apologist for the Zambelly storyline. I didn't like it. But it does also explain why Louis had this knowledge about our fireworks history if he was working at the stadium. Yeah, a frequent flyer in the fireworks space. The other thing I just wondered about. kind of like, and this is in my own brain, I guess, but like who, they talk about Louis being at the hospital over and over and over again for years. And they're concerned about him. And it made me wonder, like, what the policies were for, like, UPMC and Allegheny Health, like, as it relates to indigent patients, people that are living in some, some level of poverty. I attempted to fact check this. Like, Y'all, UPMC and Allegheny Health's websites are so hard to navigate. But it does appear that they do have some form of a policy for this. You do have to apply. It's not automatic. You have to be in their service area. So one presumes Louis lives near the hospital. And it's at different levels of the federal poverty line, which is, I think, $15,000 for a single individual. But it's not at it necessarily. Anyway, they cover medical bills, which is good to know. I wanted to know that, to confirm that for my brain, to know that we were taking care of our neighbors, at least in that way. I mean, based on what we learned about some of the staff members there later, I also wouldn't be surprised as some of them tripped in for Louis Hospital Bills because they all love him so much. And it's so clear in this episode when they are all so sad when he dies. I was also so sad. I sobbed. Well, it didn't get much better in episode seven, the introduction of another pretty brutal storyline. I guess there's brutal storylines in every single episode of this show. But this was the episode where you actually see in a lot of detail what is involved when someone comes in who says they've experienced sexual assault. Yeah, they feature pretty heavily. They say them by name a few times, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, PAR. Yeah. Which also I learned consulted on this episode. Yeah. So they knew it was coming. And, you know, I understand from a few friends that they were.

nervous slash excited to see that representation on screen. I hope that they were pleased with the depiction. I mean, it's not wholly accurate to how a rape kit is actually collected because it takes, they're showing you these scenes over and over and over again. They return to them, like you see action and then it comes back. And then you see action and it comes back. And everything that happens with Nurse Dana and this patient, I think, is so mundane. And it's so powerful and profound in how mundane and boring it is. And it makes you feel it over and over and over again by coming back to this. I had to take a break during this episode. Yeah. Because it takes hours in real life. Like it's sometimes eight to ten hours. Oh, wow. I did not realize it was that long. Yeah. Like it's it's not something like like as and that's what I mean like that feeling that made you have to take a break. Sophia. it goes on. It's even worse. The real life version is so much more. I totally understand then if, you know, the patient in real life was just like, I want to stop this now. This is too much. I feel like, yeah, I don't know. Maybe they should have. Well, I get that it's a TV show. I hope that. You got to condense it. If somebody experiences in real life, you get that sort of set up. This is an all day thing. Please do take your time. This is so much more powerful by doing it in one episode. Like as. as a piece of art to represent reality because I don't think you would get that sense of discomfort if they returned to this patient and Dana was just gone from all other action because that's the other thing. Like where she, the patient stands up and it's like, oh, I'm going to go get the goods next. Yeah, nurse at mom. You can't do that. Like if you, no one can leave the room once you start an exam. Like that's part of the process. So I'm glad a little bit for a slight departure from reality. And I read, there's a great article about this in the LA Times about deciding to do this storyline and wanting to shine a light specifically on the role of a sexual assault nurse. So someone, like you have to have specific training to perform this kind of exam. The show sets up that Dana is the only one there who's able to do this to provide this service. And something that just struck me was this was so. brutal to watch. And this was a depiction of probably the best possible circumstances where you have someone who is doing this with so much sensitivity and care. And I don't know. At least I was watching it thinking this is how it goes when it's done right and well. And I'm sure there are situations where that is not the case. Yeah. And also just that Dana was physically present already. Like you said, Mallory, there's just not enough people trained in this. So often someone will come in. And then they just have to wait. They have to wait until that. the sane nurse can get there and do this for them because they may not be on site that day. They may be off. They may be on vacation and no one's available. Like, and you have to go somewhere else. Like, it's just we make victims go through so much. I think we're throwing in besides, you know, name-dropping PAR, the PARA advocate showing up, that is a totally real service that they offer. So I'm really glad that, you know, that was also shown as part of the episode. And I think totally worth checking out PAR's website to figure out what they do because they offer like bystander trainings, a lot of different things, 24-7 hotline. And they're big fundraising gala in the spring, too. I've heard that's a super cool event.

Yeah, I've never been, but I have friends who have. They do a teal ball. And they recently actually, in all of this that they do, they've been doing it for a long time. They were founded in 1972. So been around and really early adopters for the Pittsburgh region and what they do. So that was episode seven. We are at the midpoint of the season. There's 15 episodes total. And we just found out why Westbridge closed. It was a cyber attack. So the Pittsburgh Hospital is also shutting down in anticipation. So it really does feel like the big turning point of the season, I think. I have a lot of cybersecurity people in my personal life. And all of them, first of all, called this ages ago. And second, we're. crying, laughing when they were like, yeah, we're going to dead the computer system. That'll fix it. And they're like, NABRA, if somebody has taken over at these hospitals, they've been in there for weeks. They know where all your stuff is. It is way too late to do anything. Also, I think my favorite thing that I saw on the internet afterwards was the picture of the board. And they were like, we're all an Excel job. We all have Excel jobs. I like all the reactions to the CEO, you know, just like rocking up in like a fun shirt and shorts. He was clearly at the 4th of July barbecue. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah, but clearly too late. And I imagine like that they set up this whole thing, like throughout the whole first half of the season, talking about like how we should be doing our notes with AI and we need to rely more on technology. And then they're going to be like, nope, we're going dead for the rest of the time. Well, I mean, they've got the patient passport. So there is also some paper set up, I guess. We'll see how it goes. That's true. I guess it's both and. Yeah. And the relationships, what I am super excited to talk about, because honestly, I have been getting so many TikTok edits of Robbie and Whitaker. Anyone can fight me on this. I fully support this ship. And I really think it's real. Like in episode seven, why was Dr. Robbie asking so much about Whitaker's personal life? What he does on weekends? I don't know. You tell me. But I think they have very wholesome dates. I think... He did seem really forlorn to learn that Whitaker is in a... situation, relationship, unclear to me what it is. But he did seem distressed by that news. You see it too. I mean, the way they played it in the show is that he's just, he's checking in on, like, that they have things to do outside the job. Like, they're, they're kind of relying on, like, Robbie's whole schick of, like, his job is his whole personality and he's making sure his residents don't suffer from the same thing. Also for anyone who's like me and was like, wait, which one is Whitaker? Huckleberry, that's the way I remember who that man is. I hate that name. I hate it. I do too, but I feel it is hard. I feel like sometimes I do struggle to keep track of the names. So if anyone was like, which one is Whitaker again? That's how you know. Huckle Robbie is also a version of their ship name. I think George Santos is a bully. Like these names are so, so unnecessary. Oh, absolutely. I don't think anyone's saying Huckleberry is like a nice endearing nickname. I'm just trying to provide listeners with a guide if they forget who Whitaker is. Fine. Anyway, back to their dates. I want to talk about their dates. I kept it on the North Shore, north side, so around, you know, the hospital. Right now we're talking about Huckle Robbie or Whitaker and Dr. Robbie, whatever one you want to call it. I think they have very wholesome dates. I think they do their dates in the morning, so they have some, like, me time to center themselves before they go into the chaos of their work.

Because I think Bohan is the most beautiful person ever. Agreed.