We're into hour four of the Fourth of July weekend shift on The Pitt season 2, and the chaos of the emergency room has settled to a constant hum.
That's both a good and bad thing. We've come to expect that every second of the HBO Max show moves at a dizzying pace, meaning more people than ever before in the history of television are at risk of a life-threatening injury.
But we need peaks and pits, and I'm still convinced that we're in the calm before the storm. The Pitt season 2 episode 4 saw a small influx of new patients enter the ER, but they're not the ones getting the most attention this time.
Instead, that lies with out staff. One mishap after another means almost everyone is severely and publicly humbled: Dr Javadi (Shabana Azeez) is outed by a patient for making TikToks about her 'difficult co-workers', medical student James (Lucas Iverso) makes a near-fatal mistake in theater that almost kills a man, and Emma (Laëtitia Hollard) has to draw blood for the first time, only to watch the vial immediately roll under the wheel of a cart.
Add the ongoing yet subtle feud between Dr Robby (Noah Wyle) and Dr Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) into the mix and everybody is treading on eggshells. That is, except for the one person who should really be listening to the criticism that they're getting.
Santos has a huge journey ahead of her in The Pitt season 2
I'm all for a woman owning her professional space and standing up for herself, but seeing Santos (Isa Briones) slip back into old habits she'd worked so hard to rid herself of in season 1 is disappointing.
Everything started well, with Santos diligently treating a young girl for suspicious bruising and internal injuries. But the arrival of Al-Hashimi has really thrown her. Instead of being open to criticism of how Santos handles her patient paperwork, she's immediately gone on the defensive.
While I firmly believe that Al-Hashimi's insistence to change the way the ER works will be her downfall, Santos sticks out like a sore thumb by being the only person resistant to learning from her unfortunate humbling. In the words of Tyra Banks, I'm rooting for you girl, and I don't want to see any steps backwards.
But the day is still young. It's only 11am as episode 4 draws to a close, and there's a lot more drama to come. Santos and the team are fully up against it, and I won't be surprised if we see an emotional breakthrough between her and Al-Hashimi by the time the day is done.
For now, she's got Dr Robby's back as far as loyalty is concerned, even though she doesn't need to. Still, I'm desperate for more personal progression – she could easily run this entire department given enough time.
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