Let’s get right to the point, The Pitt is a towering masterpiece of television, on par with some of the greatest shows of all time. Every dimension of this show is outstanding. It is not only pure competency porn (see Screenopolis’ list of competence porn movies) but also worthy of every award it has won.

I could stop there, as there is not much else to review. However, let’s deep dive into three reasons why this show is so good and has so many people raving about it.

Note: This review is for Seasons 1 and 2 of The Pitt. 

Character Immersion

When I watch any show, I pay close attention to how well the actors immerse themselves in a character. Great actors do not merely play a part; they become their characters. You can see this in their mannerisms, quick smirks, or subtle eye clicks.

This is not an uncommon skill. Most accomplished actors can achieve this immersion zone. Bryan Cranston is a good example. He did not merely play Breaking Bad’s Walter White he became him.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with Taylor Dearden’s Dr. Mellissa “Mel” King. Dearden plays a neurodivergent doctor who struggles with her intense emotions and social awkwardness. Dearden’s performance is marvelous and masterful. Every nanosecond she is on screen you can see, feel, and sense every part of this character’s uneasiness.

Early in S1, Dr. Mel coaches a senior Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball), with an autistic patient. Dr. Mel, as the caregiver for her own autistic sister, steps in and instantly bonds with the patient. It is profoundly touching moment which is quickly contrasted with Dr. Mel’s cringe-worthy awkwardness trying to celebrate success.

This character would be difficult for any actor, of any skill, to portray. Dearden feels like she was born for this role. It should come as no surprise then that Dearden is Bryan Cranston’s real-life daughter. Clearly, dad passed his talent to his daughter.

However, character immersion requires more than a good cast with experience. Actors must be working in an environment that allows them to get into this zone. Saving Private Ryan is a movie example of this. Spielberg went to great lengths to create an environment where the actors bonded with each other, except for Matt Damon’s character. This created an environment where the actors could go beyond merely acting to embody the squad that was going to save Pvt. Ryan.

This is also the reason some shows with big stars flop. It is not the lack of talent, but the lack of an environment that allows actors to flourish. Actors need a space where they can play off of each other, in a controlled manner.

Part of the reason for all this is The Pitt’s highly disciplined production process. The set is one big ER mockup, where cameras move freely throughout the space. Actors are required to learn their lines, no exceptions. Cell phones are forbidden on set. Every crew member must endure a two-week medical training bootcamp, to learn the mannerisms and language of emergency medicine.

This is, perhaps, The Pitt’s greatest achievement. The showrunners, including Wyle, have not only assembled a crew of exceptional actors, but created a discipled environment where they can deliver exceptional performances. Dearden’s Dr. Mel or Lanasa’s Nurse Dana feel, sound, look, and act like real medical professionals. Furthermore, all of these actors are at key inflection points in their career. There are no smug superstars that cannot be bothered with rules. Wyle may be the star, but he coaches and supports the actors much like the attending doctor he plays.

All of this makes The Pitt feel like a precisely choreographed theater production, rather than a scripted TV show. Viewers are rewarded with performances that are authentic, stories that feel real, and immersion into the grueling world of emergency medicine.

Competency Porn

Likewise, The Pitt also revels in the bloody, pulpy, poopy, hairy, glistening with human excretion details. While this may not be everybody’s thing, I adore it. I admit, I am a guy who watches liver transplants for fun. This realism is equal parts fascinating and horrifying. Late in S1 we get to see the blood-soaked horror of a mass shooting. Disturbing is an insufficient adjective to describe these episodes.

In addition to the aforementioned bootcamp for the actors, The Pitt employs a sizable staff of advisors, including Drs. Jacob Lentz, Elizabeth Ferreira, and Fred Einesman. These primary advisors also enlist numerous consultants, both formal and informally, in matters of pediatrics, cardiology, neurology, and obstetrics. These advisors do not merely stand on the sidelines telling the actors how to insert a chest tube or compress a wound, they are intimately involved in every script as well as the production.

This makes every person who comes into The Pitt’s ER feel like a real patient, with a real problem, that is solved with real medicine. The characters must diagnose each patient, show their reasoning, and provide differential diagnoses. This is how real emergency medicine works. It is supremely enjoyable to watch intelligent, caring people doing what they have spent years learning and perfecting.

Furthermore, egos are quickly suppressed and teamwork is cherished. No single character in the show gets to be a cowboy that rides in and saves the day, like so many American shows do.

In the middle of the season, one of the cockier interns, Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) accidentally impales a scalpel on a senior doctor’s foot during a tricky procedure. Santos is quickly put in her place and laments how she ruined her relationship with Dr. Garcia (Alexandra Metz), the senior resident. However, Dr. Garcia comes back around in the following episode to forgive Santos. She sets her ego aside and reminds Santos that mistakes happen and the patients always come first.

This scene, like so many others in The Pitt, is exquisitely delicious. It is so pleasurable to watch smart, caring people prioritize what really matters. We live in times where politicians and leaders have convinced millions that incompetence is strength, education is bad, and compassion is weakness. The Pitt grounds everybody back to reality and venerates intelligence, hard work, and compassion.

Love Letter to Healthcare

The final element that makes The Pitt shine, is its honest depiction of American healthcare, which is something so desperately needed. Show runner, R. Scott Gemmill said he made The Pitt as a “love letter” to healthcare workers. This intent comes through in every aspect of The Pitt. Healthcare workers are consistently depicted as caring, intelligent, hardworking, decent human beings, because the overwhelming majority of them are all these things. Healthcare is a profoundly difficult job these days because the US treats it like a casino.

It is not hyperbole to say the US healthcare system is a titanic disaster. It has failed in almost every possible way it can. This country’s psychotic obsession with profit over people has made us all sicker, weaker, and wasteful. Exacerbating this disaster, we now have bald-faced charlatans and anti-vaccine lunatics in charge of our public health system.

This disaster also coincides with the insidiously evil nature of social media, which keeps giving voice to people who honestly do not deserve one. Merely because you can say vaccines cause autism (which they do not) does not mean you should or that anybody should listen to you. Yet social media does not merely give these idiots voices, it empowers them to spread their insanity. Google any malady and up pops all manner of completely ignorant “influencers” who spread misinformation.

In this melee of insanity, The Pitt shows absolutely no qualms depicting the danger of “Dr. Google”. There is no “respecting their opinion” crap, because one idiot’s opinion is not equivalent with scientific facts.

There is a particularly infuriating scene in season 2 where Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) argues with a batshit insane woman who refused to vaccinate her son, who now has complications from measles. This storyline continues to depict how these irresponsible idiots inflict enormous pain and suffering on everybody, especially the healthcare workers.

As anybody who has worked in healthcare can attest, a massive chunk of time and effort must be spent fighting off misinformation and ignorance. Whether it is having to document every infinitesimal thought, to protect doctors from wasteful malpractice lawsuits, or security guards defending workers from assault, healthcare has become an unrewarding experience for all involved.

Which is infuriating, since being a healthcare worker has such intense demands. Nursing is particularly brutal, yet low-pay, long-hours, and constant abuse are about all today’s nurses can expect. Again, The Pitt does not shy away from this. There are more than a few scenes throughout the series where Dr. Robby battles with the hospital administrator for more nurses and better pay. These scenes might stretch truth, as hospital administrators are unlikely to enter an active ER to argue with the attending doctors. However, it gives voice to the terminally overworked and underappreciated people who keep us all alive.

Conclusion

Nevertheless, The Pitt will not satisfy all viewers. If you think RFK Jr. is smart, COVID was a hoax, or sunning your butthole is useful, then the The Pitt is not for you. Stick to “doing your own research” on the YouTube toilet.

However, if you want to step into a world of good people fighting a good fight and actors at the absolute pinnacle of their craft, The Pitt is supremely enjoyable. My only fear with The Pitt is that it may catch a severe case of “successitis” and regress into just another hospital soap opera. The second season is as good as the first (so far). A third season was green-lit as this review was published. Let’s hope the show holds on to what makes it great.