Throughout the entire first season of The Pitt, Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) faces the dismissive “Slo-Mo” nickname. Even the colleagues who like and respect her to some degree, including her boss Robby, can’t seem to see past her penchant for taking extra time with patients. A deleted line from the pilot, however, foreshadows an unlikely champion in Dr. Jack Abbot (Emmy winner Shawn Hatosy). Plus, it foreshadows how Mohan and Abbot will have a sparky team-up in “8:00 P.M.”
“She’s smarter than all of us,” Abbot comments in the shooting version of the pilot script. The line may have been left on the cutting room floor, but the sentiment remains. In the penultimate episode, Mohan and Abbot team up on a case that proves just how much so.
The final arc of The Pitt‘s first season tests all the doctors (and viewers) with a mass-casualty incident. After a shooting at the PittFest music festival, patients flood the hospital. Mohan and Abbot are among those working on the most critical patients — the ones who don’t have time to lose. It’s a clever bit of irony that puts Samira under the most pressure possible. And yet, it’s also a nifty trick that shows us (and the characters) how she rises to the occasion.
The Impossible Procedure
What makes Mohan and Abbot so utterly shippable is how their connection is built on two things: mutual admiration and pure competence. Frankly, the success of The Pitt overall is a testament to how much we’re all craving competence in our fiction right now. It’s old-school TV at its best: a show about complicated characters being really, really good at what they do. So when Mohan and Abbot team up on a rare, risky procedure to treat an embolism, we’re terrified but also thrilled.
The scene’s framing turns it from a tense, frenetic moment into one of intimacy. We start with the hectic pace of the trauma bay, with tons of staff rattling off observations. As Abbot guides Mohan through the pigtail catheter procedure, though, the camera closes tighter on them and the background sounds dim. There’s eye contact. A lot of it. He looks at her with absolute trust — not the disdain or annoyance she’s used to from others. And when he congratulates her and quips that it was too risky for him to do himself, Hatosy manages to make it feel like both a declaration of faith in her abilities and a deadpan, understated flirtation.
What’s especially delightful is how this scene, as subtle as it is, builds on another, equally subtle exchange. In the previous episode, an impressed Mohan asks what else Abbot has in his “go bag.” “Oh, just wait and see,” he replies. The smallest smirk and sing-song air that gives it an unexpectedly flirty edge. We understand what that unspoken spark is about: being impressed by each other’s capabilities.
A Meeting of Minds
In some ways, that’s why Mohan and Abbot seem to work as a ship, despite the show’s minimal interest in canon romance (and the obvious age gap). Refreshingly, the power and age dynamics have zero to do with any potential attraction. It’s an intellectual match. Mohan references, in a throwaway line, how Abbot shared a case study with her — presumably a common occurrence, given how casually she mentions it. This is a ship for anyone attracted to competency, because Mohan and Abbot sure seem to be!
Throughout the scenes Mohan and Abbot share, eagle-eyed viewers can track how their eyes often follow each other, even briefly. They watch each other work with admiration, but never get in the way of that same work. Hatosy in particular gives Abbot an almost bashful air where Mohan is concerned, alternating between steady eye contact when she needs support and flickering gazes when she’s not looking, almost as if to avoid being caught staring. The pigtail catheter procedure scene shows just how much they have in common: a willingness to take risks for patients, an interest in pushing limits, and a deep trust in each other to not go awry. A ship founded on intense mutual respect and support? Yes, please!
The Pitt‘s choice to focus mainly on procedure, rather than soapy antics, sets it apart from other medical dramas. It also leaves a ton of room for the viewer’s imagination. Will Mohan and Abbot ever be romantically linked in canon? Who knows (although Hatosy definitely captains the ship)! But there’s something unspeakably lovely about the subtle yet powerful ways we already see a thread between them.
Post-Release Related Content: Scene Breakdown: Mohan and Abbot Find Peace in Chaos in The Pitt’s ‘1:00 P.M.’
The Pitt Season 1 is now streaming on Max.
First Featured Image Credit: ©HBO Max