This Fan-Favourite Character’s Dying Simply Fully Redefined What ‘The Pitt’ Is Prepared to Do

Editor’s notice: The beneath incorporates spoilers for The Pitt Season 2 Episode 6.

The Pitt has by no means been interested by physique counts. Sure, sufferers have died. Sure, a mass capturing occasion outlined the ultimate few episodes of its first season. And sure, multiple physician has flirted with the roof’s fringe of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Heart. However this isn’t Sport of Thronesand Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill aren’t daring us to put bets on who will get rolled out in a physique bag each week.

It feels necessary to maintain reminding ourselves of that now, as a result of our beloved present has betrayed us with one of the vital devastating deaths of its run thus far. Louie (Ernest Harden Jr.), the IS “boarder” whose alcoholism and revolving-door admissions turned him right into a working subplot and a human metronome for the hospital’s every day rhythmsuffers a pulmonary hemorrhage on the prime of Episode 6. Instantly, the man who felt like he’d outlast the constructing – and no less than a few flooring employees – is simply gone.

Why No One Anticipated ‘The Pitt’ to Kill Louie Off

Louie was by no means a fundamental character, however he was acquaintedhis fixed returns turning him into a part of the hospital’s background noise. You didn’t fear about him as a result of the present had educated you to not. Louie at all times got here again, a irritating truth in and of itself, since his ingesting by no means dulled and his constructive perspective by no means appeared to wane. His fixed presence was weirdly reassuring. You didn’t tune in fearful about Louie. You tuned in assuming he’d present up once more finally.

So, on the finish of final week’s episodewhen Langdon (Patrick Ball) went to verify on him, solely to search out him unresponsive with a flatlining monitor, the metaphorical rug felt prefer it had been rudely yanked. The episode’s cliffhanger solely extended the agonizing wait, however the present didn’t tease out Louie’s demise anymore than mandatory, opening its subsequent installment with Dr. Robby (Wyle) furiously performing CPR whereas Langdon tried to intubate the person each medical doctors have come to contemplate a buddy. As his airway pooled with blood and the defibrillator charged, a sinking feeling began to settle in.

Louie’s Dying Rewrites the Guidelines on ‘The Pitt’

What’s placing about Louie’s demise is how unspectacular it’s. There’s no dramatic framing, no narrative padding designed to reassure us that this loss means one thing tidy or inspirational. As a substitute, it unfolds the way in which hospital deaths typically do: on the worst doable second for everybody concerned. One routine verify devolves into chaos, one cussed affected person turns into a physique everyone seems to be scrambling to avoid wasting.

When time of demise is lastly known as, we merely transfer on, watching because the medical doctors and nurses who knew Louie greatest attempt to take in his loss whereas getting on with their day. The present lingers on the autopsy rituals we not often see – how Dana (Katherine LaNasa) and the nursing workers clear his physique, what occurs if the social employee can’t discover household to coordinate a burial, how he’s prepped for viewing, and the way his care staff debriefs his case. It’s intimate and heartbreaking, proof that saving lives isn’t the one job these individuals have, but it surely’s additionally destabilizing for anybody who’s been watching this present from the start.

What modified isn’t simply Louie’s standing, it’s the principles The Pitt has been working underneath for 20+ episodes. By killing off its first recurring character, The Pitt publicizes that it’s snug saying goodbye to individuals we’ve grown connected toeven those who really feel like a part of the ER’s infrastructure. This isn’t only for shock worth. It’s the present transforming expectations, and the message is straightforward: nobody right here comes with a assure of permanence — not the sufferers, not the regulars, and never the individuals in scrubs and white coats, both.

No One’s Secure on ‘The Pitt’ Anymore

The Pitt has by no means been interested by spectacle. Its aim has at all times been to depict the realities healthcare employees face each day. Dying, sadly, is a type of realitieshowever elevating the stakes with one which hits so near house begs the query, “What else is that this present able to?” Stress’s been constructing all season because the workers offers with violent sufferers, and Dr. Robby’s fragile psychological state serves as each the butt of the joke and a looming risk. Is he suicidal? Is the nursing crew ever actually secure? There have been sufficient shut calls this season, sufficient hints, to make us uncertain of the reply.

By killing off its first recurring character, The Pitt is redrawing some narrative boundaries. The present is sending the message that simply because we’ve grown connected to sure storylines and stars, it doesn’t imply they’re secure. Familiarity gained’t operate as plot armor right here. That’s factor, each for the present’s longevity and for followers exhibiting up each week hoping for a mixture of drama and brutal realism that almost all status collection aren’t delivering in the mean time. Louie’s mattress will probably be stuffed. Shifts will change. Sufferers will cycle out and in of chairs. We’ll all transfer ahead, albeit a bit extra cautiously, and possibly with an unease about the place this season is headed and what it has in retailer for its fundamental solid.