THE STORY – A realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
THE CAST – Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Patrick Ball, Fiona Dourif, Sepideh Moafi, Supriya Ganesh, Isa Briones, Taylor Dearden, Gerran Howell & Shabana Azeez
THE TEAM – R. Scott Gemmill (Creator), John Wells & Noah Wyle (Executive Producers)
This review is for the first nine episodes of season 2 of “The Pitt.”
The longest day of your life is back. “The Pitt” returns a little more than a year after its January 2025 debut, following one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful first seasons in recent television memory. Earning two Golden Globe nominations, three Critics’ Choice wins, and five Primetime Emmy Awards from 13 nominations, “The Pitt’s” first season is grounded and unsentimental with its relentless pace and take on frontline medicine’s emotional toll. After a season that captured the chaos, tragedy, and merciless pressure of a single harrowing shift, season two faces the daunting question of whether it can match those sky-high stakes—so buckle up, we’re heading back into “The Pitt.”
We start the season on the 4th of July, ten months after the mass shooting event of season one, and a weekend typically celebrated by everyone outside of the medical field. Most of our beloved doctors are back: Dr. Robby (Emmy-winner Noah Wyle) starts his last shift before a much-needed sabbatical, anticipating the typical holiday cases, including fireworks gone wrong and the drunken stupor that is unavoidable on a busy summer day. A new attending on duty, Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), is here to shake things up and annoy the ever-living shit out of everyone with her insistence on implementing AI tools. And our student doctors are a little more seasoned, a little more hardened, and a little less covered in bodily fluids; and now have a new crop of ducklings to lead around. We’re quickly introduced to the green yet unavoidably arrogant new med students, Dr. Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson) and Dr. Kwon (Irene Choi), but spend less time following them around as we did last year with Dr. King (played by the regrettably less prominent Taylor Dearden), Dr. Whitaker (Gerran Howell), and Dr. Santos (Isa Briones).
The structure of season two sticks to the same beats as season one, and the first few hours of the day start with the usual chaos – a few grotesque cases, a few funny moments, and the inevitable heartbreak that is part of the job in the ED. The series attempts to tackle a topic forced down our throats: AI and its impacts on the medical field. Will it simply make charting easier and more efficient for hospital staff, or is it on the path to replacing key caregiver roles in society as we know it today? As with season one, the stakes get progressively higher throughout the shift, but it takes a bit longer this time to amplify. But rest assured, chaos descends onto PTMC’s emergency department on one of the busiest days of the year with an unexpected crisis or two. While all emergencies are, well, emergencies, it does feel a bit less stressful than the mass shooting event of season one, whose impact is still being felt today. But even when there’s seemingly not much going on, “The Pitt” enforces the drama and intensity enough to never let you relax.
The ensemble continues to be one of the best-cast series in recent memory. The performances remain nothing short of mesmerizing, even when the characters are given less space to command the screen. Noah Wyle never takes his foot off the gas, with Dr. Robby continuing to embody the kind of steady, heroic leadership we all crave and admire. He’s on the eve of his highly encouraged three-month sabbatical (a cross-country motorcycle trip that every sane doctor is discouraging) and is immediately wondering why he didn’t leave the night before. Katherine LaNasa delivers a quiet gut punch as Dana Evans, navigating one of the holiday’s most heartbreaking cases with profound empathy and grace; her balance of professional compassion and private turmoil amounts to a masterclass in restraint. Both Fiona Dourif and Patrick Ball return as Dr. McKay and Dr. Langdon, the latter out of a long rehab stint and intent on completing his 12 steps by making amends with those he’s wronged. However, he’s not exactly welcomed back with open arms by all. And while 2025 Guest Actor in a Drama Emmy winner Shawn Hatosy’s Dr. Abbott appears only midway through the season and is afforded fewer overtly emotional beats, Hatosy makes a striking impression behind the camera, turning in a confident and accomplished directorial outing.
Where the series continues to excel is in its humanity. As beneficial as it would be to discharge patients ASAP, the doctors and nurses at PTMC find connections with many of their patients from all different walks of life. Internal power struggles among our favorite doctors and nurses are continually exacerbated by urgent life-or-death decisions. Yet when push comes to shove (quite literally), “The Pitt” finds quiet moments of beauty even among the most seemingly unsympathetic characters. The accelerated pace can seem daunting from the outside, but the earned rest – holding the hand of a cancer patient, the team debrief after a death, the lingering look between colleagues – all ground the series into something more real. A trip to the ED may be routine for many of the staff, but it’s deeply traumatic and personal for everyone else.
“The Pitt” returns with a surge of gripping cases anchored by some of the most authentic & lovable characters on television. It stands as a moving tribute to the physical and emotional toll hospital staff continue to shoulder day in and day out in service to their community. Rather than treating trauma as spectacle, the series honors the emotional labor of care, showing how compassion, exhaustion, and resilience coexist in every interaction. In doing so, it reminds us that heroism in medicine isn’t found in grand gestures, but in the relentless act of showing up for others, even when there’s little left to give.
THE GOOD – The performances and writing are nearly perfect. The series stays focused on what it’s mastered: high-stakes drama with humanity and heart.
THE BAD – Some fan-favorite doctors take a back seat for the first half of the season. As crazy as it sounds, it takes a while to ramp up the stakes and can seem a bit procedural for a few episodes.
THE EMMY PROSPECTS – Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
THE FINAL SCORE – 8/10
