What does the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center (PTMC) look like without Dr. Samira Mohan? What does patient care look like without the physician who takes the time to notice symptoms that fall through (implicitly or otherwise) biased cracks? What do the department’s patient satisfaction scores look like without the professional who slows down to get to know the personal? All of these questions and more loom large over The Pitt‘s highly-anticipated third season for me. Months after the news dropped, I’m starting to have a bit more clarity about why I’m still thinking about Dr. Samira Mohan’s exit.
It’s no secret that I love this show, and I’ve never been anything but honest about Supriya Ganesh’s Samira being one of my favorite characters in a show full of them. I believe that The Pitt is something special for all the reasons that so many others have discussed and written about since its debut. I study its characterization like a textbook. What would be a throwaway line on another show is a goldmine of insight for these characters we get to know in (nearly) one-hour increments over a season.
Interestingly, that’s where I keep getting stuck. Samira isn’t the first and won’t be the last character that exits this show — temporarily or otherwise. In this same season, for example, Dr. Dennis Whittaker delivers a few sentences of exposition explaining where Dr. Heather Collins went after Season 1. I wouldn’t be shocked if, come Season 3, the show takes a similar approach to provide more clarity about Samira’s absence. Honestly, I’m looking forward to some in-story answers to alleviate the conflicting ones.
For instance, Samira is a fourth-year resident in the second season. The third season, per a recent interview with executive producer and star Noah Wyle, will depict “Thursday, November 12, 2026, and it will be aired in January of 2027.” So, as far as I’m aware, Samira Mohan should still be finishing her residency. When met with that point, creator R. Scott Gemmill said that Samira is “just not working that day.” I took that as a positive sign that The Pitt will, in fact, catch up with Samira in a hopeful fourth season when she is back on shift. However, in another interview published on that same day, Gemmill was less convincing about Samira’s return.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so, but you never know. If there’s a good reason and a good story or if the show demands it, if the storylines demand it, for sure. We’re still in the early stages of figuring out Season 3,” Gemmill said. After the second season, I see so many opportunities for good stories with Samira because so much is left unresolved with her. Samira is a doctor who is trying to find her place in emergency medicine amid upheaval in her personal life. In response to both, Supriya Ganesh has said that Samira wants to stay in Pittsburgh. I want to see her do that — build her community, choose herself, pick her specialty, and continue to make PTMC better.
Biasedly, I’d also like to see more of her dynamic with Dr. Jack Abbot. How can I not when Shawn Hatosy has said that Jack “definitely has feelings” for Samira? Moreover, he said, “She could go to Jupiter, and he’ll find her. They’ll have a laugh about some medical case study from who knows where. Maybe they’ll send a gif to each other and an appreciation for how fantastic the doctors are who worked on it. It’s sad, but I guess that’s part of the job and people will move on. Abbot will miss her.”
I believe him because — in less than a handful of scenes that span less than three minutes at a time — The Pitt has built a compelling, respectful, and deeply romantic dynamic between these two characters. Likewise, there’s an incredibly complex relationship between Samira and Dr. Robby Robinovitch that will be missing in Season 3. Yes, Robby has many, many other characters to interact with, but his relationships with all of them are unique. That with Samira is particularly thorny, which makes their final scene (For now? Forever?) in the ambulance bay so, so bittersweet.
And I think that’s a taste I have to get used to when I watch The Pitt. It has the careful, considered capability of defining its characters through nuances that are often lost. As TV seasons shrink (from 22 and 24 episodes to six or eight) and hiatuses become longer (from just a few months to multiple years), this show is a balm. It is a yearly release. With only two seasons, I now consider a new season of The Pitt a part of my TV-watching routine like I do a network’s fall schedule.
Likewise, in that expectation, I know that I will only get one day with these characters. Well, actually, the season spans less than 24 hours, so I get about 15 hours with them. That’s it. On another show with a more traditional format, one episode can span multiple days – a season, multiple months. The Pitt doesn’t have that timeline. Instead, it bends time to its will, mining emotional and informational goldmines for characters that pay off in scenes like Dr. Cassie McKay sharing her own story of sobriety with Dr. Frank Langdon or Jack and Robby’s final conversation in the Season 2 finale.
This show asks its viewers to become attached to these medical professionals — these everyday superheroes, who are overworked and underpaid in a deeply broken and corrupt system — in the breaths between and over medical cases. It’s a behemoth task, and somehow, The Pitt has done it in its intricate writing and directing. Supriya Ganesh has done it through her performance. It’s why I had such a reaction to the news that Supriya Ganesh’s Dr. Samira Mohan wouldn’t be in Season 3. I care about her. I want the best for her. I want to spend as much time with her as possible.
But time isn’t a luxury in The Pitt. It’s a limited resource, sadly, like the healthcare system in America. So, that’s why I can see how the dialogue about Collins — She has an attending position in Portland, where she is adopting a baby and is closer to family — is meant to act as closure. Or, at least, it’s the closest we’ll get to it as viewers. There is no real or satisfying “ending” on The Pitt. There can’t be — until maybe the series finale when there are no more 15-hour shifts to be had. Until then, I’m going to hold onto the time I have had with Dr. Samira Mohan and hope that maybe, just maybe, PTMC will only be without one of its very best for one shift.
What are your thoughts on Samira Mohan’s exit from The Pitt? Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ©HBO