I keep coming back to The Pitt and wanting to stay in this wildly stressful and heartbreaking environment, and it’s entirely because of the characters. It’s been well over a few weeks now, and I keep thinking about how I can’t find the right words to write about how comforting Dana Evans’ presence is all throughout the first season, and why she already feels like one of those characters we’ll be thinking about for years to come.
A large part of Dana’s comforting disposition comes from Katherine LaNasa’s performance, which I’ve also spent weeks trying to find the right words for, only they might not exist because what LaNasa does with this role is nothing short of awe-inspiring. She ensures that Dana feels like someone we know—someone who’s either in our lives or has crossed our paths, and when that’s happened, everything has felt a little easier. In the first episode, Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby literally tells us that she’s the most important person at this hospital, and by the season finale, we feel the profundity of how crushing it would be if she actually left for good.
Dana Evans Beautifully Represents So Many Different Women
There are undoubtedly countless hardworking charge nurses like Dana who keep the hospital they’re working in afloat—nurses who don’t get the credit they deserve and nurses who are likely taken advantage of day after day. Yet, in The Pitt, the series as a whole makes it abundantly clear that she’s valued, even when the characters themselves don’t always realize it. (Not including the moment where Doug Driscoll assaults her, and it’s all hands on deck.) Or, when Langdon verbally voices that the entire hospital would fall apart without her.
For the audience, losing Dana would be like losing the series’ soul. It’s why so many of us had such a visceral reaction when we watched her clear out her corner, put on her jacket, and somberly walk out. (But thankfully, we know that she’s coming back!) Structurally, The Pitt is a sensational series, but most of us aren’t watching for the medicine. We’re watching for the characters. We’re fully invested because of who they are, how they behave, and perhaps what they can teach us.
With that said, while not every viewer watches a show or a movie with the intention of taking something away, I do hope that people begin to recognize the value of women like Dana Evans because it’s indisputable that there are overworked and underappreciated nurses just like her. The series is so great at how it wraps empathy around every character arc that I hope people watching will see a different side to those they know in real life who are similar to these characters. (Maybe it’s a teacher, a doctor, a mentor, or even our mothers—the caretakers in our lives whose hearts are so big, they deserve the world.) In the same way that I hope people understand that sensitivity is a strength and not a weakness (as evidenced by Mel King and Samira Mohan), I hope that people look at the Danas of their lives and acknowledge how they’re irreplaceable.
Someone once said to me that in any line of work, everyone is replaceable and that “no one is that special.” But I find that concept to be significantly erroneous. The replaceable people are the terrible individuals who make lives difficult, not those who create a safe space. Yes, there are plenty of hardworking and incredible nurses who can fill the shoes of other wonderful people when the time comes, but they’re never being replaced. They can’t be. I have one boss who’s the best I’ll ever have, and no matter how many extraordinary ones I have afterward, they’ll always be the one closest to my heart. Therefore, it’s crucial to acknowledge how people’s roles in our lives are impactful and why. Human beings aren’t disposable. They each serve a tremendous purpose, and Dana Evans is one of those characters. (And the same goes for the people who are just like her.)
Katherine LaNasa Deserves an Emmy Nomination
Performances on The Pitt are so brilliant that I’m thrilled I have absolutely no say in who gets nominated because I’d be handing out the awards like candy—everyone gets a ton. And in a year where drama TV is thriving with some of the most astonishing performances in recent years, LaNasa deserves to be part of the conversation for delivering an authentic, achingly nuanced performance from the moment she steps onto the screen to the last frame we see her in. How she reacts to other characters and how she deals with her own perils are all accomplished through an embodiment that, again, doesn’t feel fictional. She feels real. We all have a visceral reaction to what Doug Driscoll does because, by that point, we see Dana’s gentleness and fire in an intricate marriage that allows her to become someone we wholeheartedly trust.
Further, the way she plays off of each of her colleagues and the patients also contributes to making her presence feel so welcoming. When Dana Evans is in a scene, we know we’re in for something we can deconstruct and thoroughly analyze because of the work LaNasa is doing. The dynamic between all the characters is so rich on The Pitt that even while we don’t get enough time to really sit with all of them, we get a sufficient amount from the performances to decipher plenty. And with LaNasa’s embodiment of Dana, we get different sides of each of the other doctors as well because of what she’s able to bring out of them, allowing us a closer look at the comfort they all feel with her.
In truth, I can sit here for hours and give multiple examples because so much happens even in the background, like how she holds onto Collins’ hand or how she passes Langdon his Red Bull in scenes where they aren’t even centered in the frame. How she stops the fight in the waiting room, or how she continues working even while she should be resting. Literally, there’s so much consistently happening that it simultaneously makes rewatching The Pitt that much more exciting because we’re bound to see something new every time.
Still, Dana Evans undoubtedly delivers a break, and I hope that’s what she gets before returning in Season 2. But Katherine LaNasa is the type of performer whose prowess we’re only just beginning to see. If this is how extraordinary her work is in the show’s debut season, then I sincerely don’t think any of us are prepared for what’s in store as we get more of her. Every little detail Dana notices, every decision she makes, and the warmth that consistently shines from LaNasa’s performances allow the character to be a safe space on our screens.
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The Pitt Season 1 is now streaming on Max.
First Featured Image Credit: Photograph by Warrick Page/Max