Episode 4 of The Pitt season 2 opens with the betting taking center stage at the ER, a small moment of levity amidst the chaos. Javadi, not pleased that news of her birthday has spread, and Whitaker's blurring of personal and professional boundaries add to the lightheartedness. Santos teases Whitaker about playing house with a deceased patient's wife, helping out on her farm, implying that it could be more than just homesickness.
Before they return to their patients, Baran takes Santos aside and questions her about her paperwork. She's behind on charting and needs to get on it. Santos' flippant attitude doesn't go unnoticed, as Baran threatens her with repeating the year if she doesn't take it seriously.
The seriousness of the situation is underscored by the arrival of three ambulances in quick succession. Among them is Vince Cole, a 23-year-old who fell through the skylight of a florist shop 10 feet into thorns, and 54-year-old Jean Samba, an older man with a history of hypertension.
Cole is the most serious case here, and the group examines him first. Joy winds up on glass and thorn duty, but while pulling them out, she cuts herself. As a result, she becomes a patient herself, as they don't know the blood results of the patient and she could be infected with HIV.
Meanwhile, Jada Davis arrives to see her brother, Jackson. He's been put to sleep for the time being while he's been uncooperative, and Jada is shocked that her brother was behaving that way. He's never had an episode like this and he's always been quite selfless. The preliminary tests all come back looking okay, although the idea of a spinal tap is then floated out.
It's only 10am here, and you can tell that it's already starting to get manic in the ER. Poor Whitaker finds himself running all over the place while trying to deal with Mr. Samba, whom he's convinced is about to have a very bad heart attack. His instincts prove to be correct though, just as Samba starts to crash.
Whitaker catches it in time and manages to bring him back from the brink, gaining the approval of Dr. Robby in the process too.
On the flip side, Robby is reluctant to admit Langdon from triage. It's only his first day back, but they don't know how long Westbridge will be down, and things could quickly get chaotic. Whitaker brings his intern, Ogilvie, to assist Louie, whose tooth is in a pretty dire state. Thankfully, he's completely numb, allowing them to work and reduce the swelling.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mohan confronts the harsh reality many Americans are currently facing. Orlando Diaz collapses and is brought in, but he doesn't have health insurance, and his family isn't sure they can afford it. The cost is in the thousands, and even worse, Orlando lost his job during the pandemic. Since then, he hasn't been keeping up with his medication, intentionally taking a lower dose, leading to this crash.
Back to Vince Cole for now, and Ogilvie makes a critical error when he tries to remove a piece of glass from his back. Unfortunately, it seems to be arterial because as soon as he pulls, the bleeding starts. Thankfully, they manage to stop the bleeding and patch him up, but it's definitely touch and go for a while.
Meanwhile, Santos and King have a patient diagnosed with bulimia. The enamel on the back of the patient's tooth has almost completely worn away. Her story is actually quite heartbreaking, especially when she explains how easily she spiraled after a breakup and how much of her family's life has revolved around food.
Elsewhere, Dr. Caleb Jefferson speaks to Robby about the motorcycle accident patient from earlier in the season. He finds it intriguing how Robby is looking at this optimistically and wants to try and get to the bottom of his current psyche. He wants Robby to speak to a therapist. Robby is reluctant to do so though, claiming that his "motorcycle trip is therapy."
Finally, as the episode concludes, Dr. Baran decides to bring Langdon into the ER, given that they're going to be swamped going forward. Will he and Robby actually clear the bad air between them?
