With its unique pacing, brilliant performances, and simple yet thoroughly engrossing writing, The Pitt easily becomes one of the best shows of the year. If it hadn’t been released at the same time as Apple TV+’s Severance (now in its sophomore season), I’d go ahead and call Max’s new medical drama the show of the year.
It’s another medical drama; in a sea of countless medical dramas, how on earth can it stand out and do something groundbreaking? It’s what I asked myself for weeks while I watched people online go on and on about its greatness, and this isn’t because I’m now too anxious and struggle with too much OCD to even dabble in the sub-genre. I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve seen a few episodes of Chicago Med here and there. I know why everyone and their mothers adored E.R. when it was airing. The appeal is entirely understandable, but how the series changes up the game with its formula is where its undeniable strength lies.
Though some might argue that The Pitt’s pacing works against it, this critic will vouch that it’s exactly why it works as brilliantly as it does. The show’s fifteen episodes take place during a single fifteen-hour work shift, starting at seven in the morning. The fact that each episode is an hour into their shift makes the series not only feel more immersive, but surprisingly, it places characters in the driver’s seat in a way that should’ve been impossible. On a show where the plot matters to keep the stakes high and the emotions hanging by a thread, characters generally tend to be on the back burner.
It should be impossible for the audience to get to know people long enough to care about them when all we have is a single day with them. Still, The Pitt achieves it, and because of this, it makes the series incomparable to anything else in its genre.
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In order for a series to succeed, its characters (and, by extension, the performers) must be compelling enough to keep the audience members invested. For weeks, the buzz on social media isn’t because of the emergencies, but it’s because of the doctors. There’s a reason everyone gets online after every episode to scream about what their favorite character is up to. Despite the ensemble cast sharing limited screen time, the show’s means of capturing an excellent balance is one to be revered. It’s what makes it so easy to care about what these characters are doing and how this shift will affect them, especially the four newcomers for whom this is quite literally their first day on the job.
The Pitt Season 1 also shines because of its impeccable cast, starring E.R.’s Noah Wyle as Michael (Robby) Robinavitch, giving both long-time fans and new ones a worthy character to lead the series. The series also stars Katherine LaNasa, Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball, Taylor Dearden, Supriya Ganesh, Isa Briones, Fiona Dourif, Shabana Azeez, Gerran Howell, Alexandra Metz, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Shawn Hatosy, Amielynn Abellera, Kristin Villanueva, Krystel V. McNeil, and more. There’s not a single performer in the series who isn’t bringing their A-game to every episode, making all their character studies that much more fantastic in the process. Whether we’re cheering for them, crying with them, or frustrated with their decisions, the actors are continually delivering something genuinely award-worthy.
Often when we examine the next big thing in television, we tend to look for something unique that’s worthy of conversation. This concept is, unfortunately, why many network dramas aren’t part of the award buzz because they’re seemingly formulaic and according to some people, oversaturated. Still, there’s a lot of greatness in those pieces, and a large part of the reason why The Pitt stands out is because it’s structured to represent an ordinary day that shouldn’t have gotten as bad as quickly as it does. Right from the start, viewers learn that Dr. Robby shouldn’t be at work today because it’s the anniversary of the day his mentor passed. Quickly, the day spirals into absolute horror, draining every character to the point that it’s so agonizing to watch how the mundane becomes something thoroughly mind-numbing. By the end of it, we as viewers are left feeling like we’ve worked a fifteen-hour day, allowing the show’s premise to feel unnervingly evocative.
There’s a good chance that most viewers watching will not only feel the adrenaline but also the moment when we crash and burn. Still, perhaps most importantly, there’s a softness in how the series approaches its characters that sticks out most. The characters are given ample chances to be vulnerable, which is something that we gravely need more of on our screens today. Where men aren’t allowed to crumble, in The Pitt, they fall.
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There’s an abundance of heart sprinkled into every beat of the series, making it feel both effortless to invest in and simultaneously heavy in the emotions it leaves us with. In other words, it’s about to become a worthy obsession that people will talk about for years to come.
The Pitt Season 1 is now streaming on Max.
First Featured Image Credit: Photograph by Warrick Page/Max