There’s something about two lonely, workaholic characters finding a moment of peace with each other in the increasing chaos of PTMC on the Fourth of July. That’s what The Pitt Season 2, Episode 7, “1:00 P.M.,” delivers for Dr. Samira Mohan and Dr. Jack Abbot. The latter returns to the ED as a physician embedded with the SWAT team, and the former has been doing everything she can to help her patient, Orlando Diaz, get the care he needs to manage his diabetes.
They haven’t shared the screen since the first season, where a mass casualty incident had Jack defending Samira against Dr. Emery Walsh and over a pigtail catheter. He stood firmly in her corner, saying, “I’m not doing anything. You are.” Then, he complimented her work and encouraged her to accept the praise when she tried to shrug it back to him. “Take the win, Dr. Mohan,” did as much to build the professional and personal relationship between Jack and Samira as her asking him, “What else you got in your go-bag?” Needless to say, there was some flirty energy in Jack’s response (“Oh, just wait and see.”) and his look back at Samira.
Shawn Hatosy, who plays Dr. Jack Abbot, has been honest about his character’s respect for Dr. Samira Mohan going back even further than their interactions at the end of the season. He’s said, “There’s one line in the first episode that got cut, where somebody makes a comment that she’s slow, and I say, ‘She’s the smartest person here.'” Though it never made it to the screen, that line informs so much about Jack and Samira’s dynamic. Where others constantly see Samira’s methods as a drawback, Jack sees them as an advantage.
Moreover, Hatosy has said that Jack “sees Samira as somebody that is capable & the smartest person in the room. So that moment where he’s guiding her through the procedure—he throws her into the deep end because he knows she can swim. He’s telling her: ‘You’ve got this.’ And more than that: ‘You’re the future.'” While all of this may not seem relevant to a single scene in a Season 2 episode, it is. This scene doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it exists in conversation with all of this context. After all, The Pitt is the kind of show where character-driven moments like this come through vignettes behind curtains, while the bulk of the story revolves around the medicine.
This scene threads the needle in a way that benefits both characters and what’s so obviously a slow(er)-burn romance. Series creator R. Scott Gemmill confirmed as much by saying, “But I think there’s something interesting there anyway — two people who maybe aren’t even that self-aware. He’s certainly oblivious in a lot of ways, which makes it more fun. That may be something to explore down the line. They may be good for each other. They just don’t realize it yet.” But they’re starting to after this scene. Its structure actually moves to that place in the end.
Like last season, Samira comes into the room entirely focused on her patient. Jack is the one who avoids eye contact – a tell on its own – when Samira pulls back the curtain to see him shirtless. (By the way, what are the chances that the open room Jack chooses to examine his wound in is the same room where Samira was treating a patient?) Samira doesn’t even look at him, not really, but she apologizes. It feels like there’s a lot to read into in Jack telling her, “It’s okay.” The beauty of this scene is that there’s no need to dwell on those two words; there’s so much to follow.
He spots the bag that she drops to the floor, but the conversation shifts to what happened to him. In typical Jack Abbot fashion, he’s entirely casual about being present for a warehouse robbery gone wrong, leaving him with a wound where a bullet grazed his vest. There’s a great moment when the potential severity of his injury washes over Samira, and she tries to peek at his wound. That’s when Jack makes eye contact (again) and clarifies, “Shot at,” rather than shot. Unlike with Dr. Robby or Dr. Al-Hashimi, where there wasn’t really time to dive into the details, Jack gives Samira a bit more information about how the scene developed. There’s more time here for that, for communication and connection.
The intensity of it all sits with Samira in a beat of silence when she just looks at him. It’s seconds like those that The Pitt takes an excellent script and direction and pairs it with skilled actors, where everything sings. Because, at that moment, it feels like Samira wants to understand Jack better, know him better. So, it’s perfect to follow up that beat of silence with Samira asking him, “Why do you do this?” For a second, it looks like the truth flickers across Jack’s face, but he resorts to what’s becoming a classic for him – a quip in the form of “My therapist said I needed a hobby.”
Though Samira knows he’s trying to cut the tension and acknowledges it as a silly attempt at a joke, there’s something in Jack bringing up his therapist with Samira. The only other person with whom he has done so, according to what The Pitt has revealed so far, is Robby. That’s personal; it’s vulnerable. It builds on this dynamic that’s becoming one of The Pitt’s best in a sea of greats.
The scene is so well-written because it holds that drama in the same hand as a sense of humor. Look at Jack clearly wanting Samira’s attention. He thinks she’s worried about him and his injury when she says, “This sucks.” Why else does he tell her, “Oh, it’s nothing. No, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Seriously?” Shawn Hatosy can’t be better than he is in Abbot’s reaction to Samira saying she’s not worried about him, but her patient. That’s when he looks back down at his supplies because he wants her to worry about him, and he’s disappointed but understands why she’s not.
Samira can’t get to that space when she can’t stop thinking about Orlando’s well-being. Her empathy and desire to go the extra mile for her patients don’t fade, even when she can’t save everyone all the time. Jack actively listens when Samira tells him about Orlando. He shows interest; he asks her what’s in the bag, which also feels like a good parallel to the go-bag line in Season 1. Moreover, Jack gives Samira a solution – Uber them to his house – when she worries that Orlando won’t get his supplies for his home care. Still, Samira doesn’t have hope – the hospital may not cover the cost.
It doesn’t matter. Because in the most casually and quietly confident tone, Jack Abbot says, “I’ll pay for it.” He doesn’t even look at Samira when he says it, so he doesn’t see what registers with her in that moment. Supriya Ganesh said it best: “I think it’s rare for Samira to get that kind of support,” and “I think she felt really seen in that moment.” Even without knowing that’s what Ganesh brought to the scene, it’s visible in the performance, in the emotion in Samira’s eyes.
That act of service also shows how much Jack admires and respects Samira. Her patients mean the most to her, and Jack doesn’t say she’s doing too much or moving too slowly. He meets her where she’s at and supports her – that changes everything. Where Samira couldn’t see that Jack was flirting by saying, “Besides, it was a little too risky for me to do myself,” she sees him now.
Moreover, Samira finally sees that Jack sees her. That realization plays out in a smile on her face as Samira walks around Jack to return the favor. It’s excellent because he really doesn’t expect that of her, which is why he asks, “What are you doing?” There’s so much in Samira’s reply: “What you clearly can’t.” The dialogue plays out similarly to the pigtail catheter in Season 1, but the chemistry between the characters is entirely different. That’s why Samira’s line carries a little extra weight. Jack can’t tend to his own wound, and Samira can’t solve her problem by herself. In a season about healing, it’s significant that these characters are finding a version of that together.
All of which comes at the same time that Samira is dealing with her mother’s near-constant reminders (So many texts and calls) that she has plans for the future, ones that Samira doesn’t have on her radar. Ganesh illuminated Samira’s mindset about all of this, saying, “I think it’s because she doesn’t like her mom moving on with this new boyfriend. But she can’t have compassion for her being lonely because that would mean she’d have to have compassion for herself being lonely.” That perspective calls back to Dr. McKay and Dr. Ellis (who also makes a brief yet exciting appearance in this episode) telling Samira that this job can’t be her whole life.
On the other side of the coin, Hatosy shared photos from this episode on Instagram, writing, “When no one invites you to a 4th of July BBQ, and you don’t like being alone, so you pick up an extra SWAT shift.” So, yes, Jack and Samira are literally healing together. Samira tends to Jack’s wound “off the books,” and they’re in the background of a later scene, presumably, ordering the Uber to help Orlando. But it’s bigger than that, too. Or, at least, it’s starting to be.
This scene feels like the beginning of Jack and Samira realizing that they may be metaphorically healing their loneliness and workaholic tendencies together, too. It exists outside of a surgery. There are almost no signs that things are heating up in the rest of the ED. It’s calm; it’s peace and quiet that these two characters don’t often get, that they don’t often allow for themselves. Plus, the curtain gives them privacy that’s rare on this show and only broken by Robby’s impeccable double-take. Even he can see that there’s something between them. Jack and Samira may call this scene “Our little secret,” but the connection between Dr. Samira Mohan and Dr. Jack Abbot is anything but secretive anymore.
What are your thoughts on Mohan and Abbot’s scenes in The Pitt’s “1:00 P.M.?” Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ©HBO Max