Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth episode of HBO Max’s ‘The Pitt‘ Season 2 ends on a tense note as one of the frequent fliers of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center becomes unresponsive. Louie was introduced in the first season, and his return in the second season proves how beloved a character he had become in a show that offers a wide range of personalities. It also pointed out a recurring problem with him, showing that despite his health issues, he has not given up drinking. At the end of Episode 5, Langdon finds him unresponsive, leading Robby to jump in and try to bring him back to life. Their efforts fail, and eventually, Robby calls it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
A Major Death Shakes Up the Pitt
While Robby, Langdon, and Perlah desperately try to bring Louie back to life, Dana gives Emma a rundown of the place. In between this, a patient takes hold of Emma’s arm, asking to be attended to, which prompts Dana to remind him that there are strict laws for violence against the staff. Meanwhile, Robby declares Louie dead, which throws everyone into shock. Due to the busy day, news travels slowly, and sometimes later, when Whitaker comes around to check on Louie, he has no idea what has happened. Perlah, who herself is grieving the loss, tries to break the news to him gently, but Ogilvie beats her to it and snarkily tells Whitaker that Louie “croaked,” prompting Whitaker to run to Louie’s room.
Meanwhile, Langdon finds a photo of a woman in Louie’s possession, having no idea who she is. When he asks Perlah, she is just as clueless about it. They find an emergency contact number in his details, but when Langdon calls it, Dana picks up. This means that Louie put the hospital as his emergency contact, meaning he didn’t really have anyone else on the outside. This revelation makes things even sadder. Seeing that Perlah is struggling to cope, Dana decides to take over the task of cleaning Louie’s remains and asks Emma to join her. While they talk about making the dead presentable, Emma discovers that if no one from Louie’s family shows up, he will be cremated and buried in an unmarked grave after a respectable amount of time has passed.
Elsewhere, Roxy, the cancer patient with an injured leg, seems to be getting anxious about the idea of returning home. It has become clear to the staff that, despite her husband being there for her, she wants some space from him. She is also in a tremendous amount of pain, for which she is prescribed ketamine, but that does nothing to make her think twice about being sent back home. They have been married for twenty years, and he has been with her through thick and thin, but Roxy is concerned that he has lost himself too much in her. She needs a break, so when the time comes, she tells her husband to leave before her, and when he is gone, she reveals that she doesn’t want to go back home.
Robby and Al-Hashimi Clash Over Differing Approaches to a Patient
Conflict continues to stir between Robby and Dr. Al-Hashimi as they clash over Gus, the patient from prison. Dr. Al notes that while his injuries are not so serious that he can’t be sent back, she notes that a lot of his problems are because he is not receiving proper nutrition there. She thinks they should keep him around for a bit more, but Robby is concerned that they are running out of beds with already a legion of patients at their doors. They’d already disagreed over where to put him. Dr. Al wanted to give him some privacy, given how everyone’s eyes are already on him because of his being a prisoner. But Robby believes that that’s exactly why he should be put somewhere he is easily visible.
At first, Dana doesn’t intervene in their discussion, but after a while, she realizes Dr. Al is right in insisting that they do whatever they can they help their patients. She checks in on Gus, who has been told that he cannot have solid foods because of a broken jaw. They have a chat where she discovers that he is a Pittsburgh native. She feels a sense of camaraderie that leads her to do something that leads the doctors to believe that Gus is more serious than they imagined, prompting them to keep him in for a bit more. This sudden change in the patient’s situation shocks Robby, but it doesn’t take him long to realise that Dana is the one behind it. Still, this doesn’t solve the problem of more patients rolling in and the need to clear the beds for them.
Elsewhere, Harlow Graham is still waiting for a doctor, and the problem worsens when the interpreter leaves, and they have to call a new one. Princess reveals that she knows a little sign language, leading Dana to roll her eyes, because doesn’t she already speak six languages? Emma happily mentions that she knows French, which leads her and Princess to talk in French, and Dana immediately shuts them down. What really irritates Dana is the fact that the administration has sent donuts as a “thank you” to the staff for sticking around for the Fourth of July and braving through the traffic brought in due to Westbridge. While the others indulge in the donuts, it is yet another confirmation for Dana that the bosses don’t really care about them.
Robby Connects with a Patient Over a Shared Interest
As if to warn Robby of his upcoming bike trip, another injured bike rider, named Brandon Li, comes in. He was part of the formation and fell from the top of it while performing. He was wearing a helmet, which may have saved him from dying, but it’s still enough to land him at the hospital, which gives Dana an opportunity to take a jab at Robby. But of course, Robby is not budged. If anything, he finds a kindred spirit in the patient, with whom he talks a lot about their shared interest. Speaking of interest, an interaction between Santos and Dr. Garcia reveals that there could be something going on between them.
Santos asks her if she’s “still coming over tonight,” pointing out that Whitaker will not be around, so it’d be just the two of them. Dr. Garcia gives a vague answer, and the conversation ends there. Meanwhile, Langdon has a chat with Dana. He asks her about her sabbatical following the punch, and later apologises to her, as part of his recovery process. He also treats a patient who’s fresh out of a hot dog-eating context. While he won, he ate so many hot dogs that he had to puke a couple of times before having meds and finding relief. Meanwhile, a surgeon shows up at the Pitt, revealing the discrepancies in a patient’s history where the doctor forgot to tell them about their prior appendectomy.
This mistake seems to have happened in Santos’ report. She reveals that she wrote it using Dr. Al’s AI tool and didn’t have time to proofread it before sending. This gives Robby a chance to point out how erroneous Dr. Al’s AI tool is, prompting her to reiterate that proofreading is necessary given its margin of error. Elsewhere, Jackson White is evaluated by Dr. Jefferson, and it becomes clear that something is going on with him that needs immediate attention. This realisation makes her sister break down, especially after she talks to his friends from college, as she worries about what has happened to her brother.
The Staff Says Goodbye to a Beloved Patient
Dr. Al checks up on the baby, who is doing fine, though the mother’s identity is still a mystery. It is also pointed out that Robby’s friend, Duke, has not checked in yet, which concerns him. Emma shares her concerns about Dana being a tough person with Langdon, but he assures her that she is not as bad as she might seem right now and is actually a really good person once you get to know her. The episode ends with the staff convening to say goodbye to Louie. It brings everyone together in a somber moment where everyone talks about how they knew Louie and what made him such a lovable person. When Langdon mentions the photo, Robby reveals that it belongs to Louie’s wife. He never talked about her when he was sober, but one day, when he’d come to the Pitt thanks to yet another health issue, he got in the mood to talk about his personal life.
This is when he revealed that he had been married to a woman whom he deeply loved and with whom he was to have a child. Unfortunately, an accident claimed her and the child a long time ago, which broke Louie such that he could never recover from it. He lost his family, which threw him into alcoholism. It turns out he was drinking to drown his sorrows, which makes things even sadder. With all this in mind, it does seem better (as Perlah says earlier in the episode) that he died in the hospital surrounded by the people who knew him, even if not so well, and did care about his well-being, rather than passing out by the side of the street, with no one to care for them.
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