Don’t put on your scrubs if you haven’t seen “The Pitt” Season 2 Episode 3, “9:00” Spoilers ahead! This article also contains discussions of mass violence.
In the third episode of the second season of “The Pitt,” a real-world tragedy becomes part of the narrative. As fans already know, the series takes place in the emergency department of a fictional Pittsburgh hospital — and in October 2018, the Tree of Life Synagogue in downtown Pittsburgh was the scene of a horrific mass shooting. 11 people were killed and six were injured. The show works in this very real horror by having Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch treat a patient who was present during filming and is now in the emergency room with a different illnessand who finds herself comforted by a Muslim nurse along the way.
“It was such a big event in the city of Pittsburgh, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity,” said Wyle, who also wrote the episode. Variety. “When I began my research, the aspects that moved me most were the outcry from the Muslim community and the solidarity with Pittsburgh’s Jewish community working together to mourn this loss. It was the most underappreciated aspect of the story, and perhaps the one that gives the most hope for the future.”
The patient in question, an older woman named Yana (Irina Dubova), suffered a severe burn when she dropped a hot samovar after being frightened by fireworks because they sounded like gunshots. While Robby tends to his burn, Yana speaks directly to the nurse helping him, Amielynn Abellera’s nurse Perlah Alawi (who wears a hijab), and notes that Muslims allied themselves with Pittsburgh Jews after the attack and helped them pay for memorial services, which is true.
Robby’s faith is frequently tested on The Pitt
As showrunner R. Scott Gemmill — who worked with Noah Wyle on “ER” — told Variety, because Robby is canonically Jewish And the show is set in Pittsburgh, it seemed extremely necessary to include something regarding the filming of Tree of Life. “It seemed like a very important story to tell. There were important elements that hadn’t been told or hadn’t really made the news,” he explained, saying they were able to share those elements through Yana and Perlah’s discussion. “The fact that the Muslim community came together and paid for all the funerals, that’s the kind of information that needed to get out. We wanted to tell that part of the story and address the story itself.”
Beyond that, Wyle explained that while we don’t know much about Robby’s home life — for example, we haven’t met or even heard of Robby’s parents — but we learned throughout Season 1 that his grandparents helped raise him, so Wyle pointed out that Yana is a rare patient who puts him at ease. Not only that, but because they are both Jewish, they share the same faith. “Their interaction allows you to see a level of relaxation and familiarity that you rarely see him share with anyone else, because there is such a cultural affinity, such a sense of humor, of sarcasm, of cynicism,” Wyle explained. “It’s all shared, and because his guard is down with her, when she picks holes in his journey and questions whether or not this is a mid-life crisis or a cry for help, it’s the first in a series of earthquakes he experiences that begin to make him question his resolve.” This makes sense after Robby’s ordeal in Season 1.
The filming of Tree of Life is particularly relevant to The Pitt
In the first season of “The Pitt”, Robby and his colleagues learn that a mass violence event is occurring in their proverbial backyard. — a shooting at PittFest, a popular local festival. As Robby, his loyal friend and charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), and several other doctors, nurses, residents, and medical students prepare for an onslaught of patients, Robby begins to worry on his own, knowing that his surrogate son Jake (Taj Speights) was actually at the festival with his girlfriend.
It turns out that Jake is unharmed; by the time he brings his girlfriend Leah (Sloan Mannino) to Robby’s emergency room, she has no chance of making it due to a devastating gunshot wound to the chest. Despite Robby’s best efforts, he cannot save Leah, triggering his PTSD from the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic…during which he was unable to save his mentor, a senior attending physician who died from the devastating disease. Robby’s complete mental breakdown — which becomes all the more grisly because it happened in the pediatrics wing of the emergency room, which was hastily converted into a morgue as gunshot victims overwhelmed the emergency room — is heartbreaking, heartbreaking, and all too real, especially in a world where these events are actually happening, including at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. “The Pitt” honored the memory of the victims of this tragedy in this recent episode, and they did it in a truly beautiful and perfect way.
If you have been affected by incidents of mass violence or are experiencing emotional distress related to incidents of mass violence, you can call or text Disaster Hotline at 1-800-985-5990 for assistance.
