‘The Pitt’ Season 2, Episode 3: What’s Worse Than Maggots?

18:34Rob:She doesn't have a storyline, but she's just like there in the background. So like that they've always done it, but it felt even more so in this episode. And that's a positive. Like, I don't know if that was something Noah Wiley wrote into the script or if that's in the direction or some combination of the two. But I really felt that sort of like the weave of the like, I don't know if this is a terrible mixed metaphor, but like the screws felt loose on the machine. And yet at the same time, the weave felt really tight on the tapestry. Well, that is what happens to the loom. No. Sure. We're weavers.

19:02Rob:We know how that works. Without a doubt. We did have a question from a listener, Tyler, who was asking if we wanted to share our most squeamish moment from each episode. I don't really have anything on the level of maggots as we had from last week, so I don't know if I can match that this week, but it's something I'm willing to keep in mind going forward. Yeah, I don't think there was a lot of physical squeamishness in this. If anything, I would say my most squeamish moment was watching Kylie's dad scream in his girlfriend Gina's face for absolutely no reason. turns out like you know maybe he isn't exactly what santo's supposed to be was but he's just like a regular old grade a asshole let's talk about kylie and her dad let's let's go there first um since you brought us there uh so actually before we talk about kylie and her dad i want to talk about something i really really loved in this episode and it's it's revealing something to me it's it i noted it during the kylie sequence when i think it's when dylan and santo's walk at some point, the nurse, Jesse, is just in there, like, playing with a ball, like, sort of distracting Kylie.

20:06Rob:We also see in this episode, Jesse is, like, checking in on Tony Chinchillo, the, like, security guy who comes in. Thank God he's here. Thank God Tony Chinchillo is here to protect us all. I, like, I noted, I really like Jesse as a character, and it's a really interesting kind of character. I don't know if this is, like, profound or not, but, like, he doesn't have a storyline. He's just always there in the background shouting out stats. There's a number of nurses that are... There's just something about this time you spend in a space with a character like Jesse who's like... It sounds like an insult to call him a wallpaper character, but he's just like hard the furniture in a good way.

20:45Rob:Perla and Princess and Donnie all have stories attached. Mateo certainly did last season. That's not the function Jesse serves, but he just makes the whole place feel more real and alive to me. Does that make sense? Completely. And he gives us as an audience who's uninitiated in a lot of this stuff, like the gut check response of a correction, for example. Like when a med student suggests something that's like way off base, you'll just see him in the background going, I don't know. You know, just like that initial feedback, like he is kind of a temperature check on the show, right? Like who is right and wrong in this moment?

21:17What should we be feeling here if it's not immediately present?

21:20Rob:Like how is Jesse reacting? How is Jesse reacting? You could go very far watching The Pit just watching Jessie. I love that. Okay, so Kylie and her dad. Dylan, our social worker, tries to have like a private moment with Kylie's dad. But Kylie's dad, like, no, let's have this conversation here. Yes. I do think it's really, I think it's interesting that Santos is wrong about this. Which, you know, Robbie and Dylan were like, hey, slow your horses. Like, we don't know what the truth is. Last season, Santos was, her gut was right about so many things. In this case, she's wrong. And we talk about that a lot of the pit that people should be right and should be wrong.

21:55Rob:But I also like the added nuance of, and also this guy's a fucking asshole. Yeah. I thought that was really interesting. Like you're wrong and like you don't have to eat crow to him necessarily. Right. But there is like a little bit of a come up in that. Like there's a humbling in this moment for Santos. Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if we see this as a theme throughout this season. You know, we talked last week, Joe, about the kind of gut versus AI elements of the show or kind of gut versus informational analysis or however you want to paint that debate. And like this is a character who is going off like almost entirely gut, right?

22:27Like physical evidence, obviously, circumstantial evidence, personal experience. And it's all pointing her to say it's probably this one distinct thing that I am very familiar with. and if we see characters kind of bumping up against that left and right, I think that would position the whole season in an interesting way to kind of shape our opinions about what doctors should or shouldn't be doing in these circumstances.

22:48Rob:She has an interesting throwaway line when she's like being hard on herself about this misdiagnosis and she says zebra, right? Like you hear a hoof beats, you should think horses, but thinking zebras instead or something like that. I really nailed that analogy. Anyway, so like two things. One, Dana's involvement in breaking up this fight here with coming in with the labs and the correct diagnosis, right? We got an email from our listener, Amarina, when talking about Dana, following up on Dana's storyline from last season. And this listener wrote, I work around a lot of PTSD in my field. It was incredibly subtle, but in Dana Evans' initial appearance in the first episode, before she clocks Robbie's bike, she seems to be showing some extremely subtle hyper vigilance by the way she scans her surroundings seemingly on the lookout for any potential threats i'm curious if we will see any other heightened pts responses as more crisis gets piled on later in the season so like her we saw her breakup fights in season one it's something that data another day at the office yeah but i was wondering if there was like something even a little bit more punchy about her in terms of de-escalating this particular moment.

24:00It did seem like maybe there was. Yeah. And I want to get into this a little later with the Mrs. Kovalenko kind of plot about the PTSD elements that the show is like starting to dig into, which I think could kind of all dovetail together in the way that the pit often does. But like in these moments, like having Dana not be the cooler head in some ways, like come off a little hotter under the collar than we're used to seeing her, I think is very stark. because this is a character who kind of always has the answers, right? She's in some ways the most calm person in the entire ER. And so, yeah, it sticks out for sure.

24:35I'm eager to see what they do with it and where it goes. Literally, how do they have time for all this? I'm always fascinated to see how they juggle it.

24:46Rob:Last but not least on Kylie's dad, Benny, and his girlfriend. When she leaves, she says, happy Independence Day. And I believe she means it in the Martina McBride sentence. let freedom ring, right? There's no question that she does. Okay. Shout out to Gina. You can, in fact, do better. I assure you. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business and even this podcast. That's why I trust Spectrum Business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 US-based support.

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26:39Rob:two percenter learn more at wells fargo.com forward slash active cash terms apply gina like call us please let's go back to the beginning Jackson Davis versus Tony Chinchillo okay Jackson comes in calling out I what my googling and that's great stuff right I think it's legal terminology seems to be to me statutes precedents of various kinds titles yeah and also stop talking to me yes so are we this is giving law student right he was taken for sure at the campus library and And I'm not putting the spoiler section because I'm not a doctor. Schizophrenia? I mean, definitely something that psychiatrists will be coming into contact with, I would think.

27:23Rob:Stop talking to me. His voice is schizophrenia to me. But again, I'm not a doctor. Someone who's having some kind of episode that clearly is unusual for him. It seems to be catching him by surprise as much as anything else. And yeah. Tony Chinchillo? Tony Chinchillo, vigilant. Overly vigilant. This guy sucks. Absolutely sucks. I think he's already early contender for worst hang of the season, Tony Chinchillo. And we have been hanging with literal maggots.

27:55Rob:Yeah, Tony's using some really charming language here. He calls this young man an animal, says junkie jungle. Like it's deeply fucked up. How did you enjoy the charming fantasy where the cops call out Tony for his shit when Jackson's talk screen comes back? We live in a very fictional world. I don't know what to tell you. Rallying the troops all around to say, fuck this guy. Yeah, fuck this guy. Fuck Tony. I simply don't believe that it would happen that way in real life. But in this moment, I'm happy for it. Tony Chinchillo definitively sucks. Worse than maggots. You heard it here first. All right, I want to talk about Donnie and Langdon.

28:32Rob:I'm calling them the triage bros. Really interesting. Okay, I did like a lot of this episode. So I don't mean to like pick this. No, I think you're right though. It's early when they're sort of like knocking cases out, right? They do a treat-em and street-em. And then they say, Langdon says prose from Dover. Did you look this up? I did look this up. Okay. So this is from the film MASH. Yes. Right. Okay. At least appears in it. Maybe it predates that. No, it's from, well. You think it originates from that? It's from the book. So in the book MASH. Yeah. A fictional book you may not have read. I assure you I have not.

29:04Rob:But Trapper John and Hawkeye are sort of like rock star doctors in MASH are talking about golfing and a con. And it kind of got partially translated into the movie where we have Elliot Gould's character saying, like, we're pros from Dover. And because only part of it from the book made its way into the movie, that got sort of misinterpreted by people to mean outside experts, consultants, like, without understanding that he's referring to, like, a con he used to pull. But they got their golf clubs on anyway, their golf pros. Pros from Dover, bottom line, is a MASH movie reference. that is something I believe Noah Wiley, born in 1971, would write.

29:44Rob:Yes. But I don't believe that Frank Langdon, born in 1989, would say. Nor do I. Like, and I really don't think Donnie would give him an acknowledging fist bump to it. Like, I just don't think either of those guys are film bros. But I could be wrong. First of all, I want to say this. I feel very qualified as a white guy to make this assertion. Yeah. Langdon with the least cool fist bump in the history of humanity. Just. And he did it twice. Did it twice. keeps going back to it. Very weird Langton episode. I think he's had quite an endearing start in some spots, you know, self-deprecation, a little poor pitiful me, sure.

30:18But like, seems to be making some kind of effort to kind of work his way back into the mix and make the requisite apologies and kind of like take a step forward in his life. And then in this episode, it's like, I don't even know who this character is. I don't know what he's doing. I don't know what these jokes and these comments are. I don't know why he's, as we said, just like reciting entire blessings off the dome. Right.

30:39Rob:The idea of like, we're dads. Like, Donnie's a new dad. It just didn't like, it just didn't feel very like deep to me. It felt very surface to me. It struck me as a writer's room that said, okay, here's the two characters. What do they have in common? They're dads. What could they possibly talk about? Okay, if you were born 1989 or later, by the way, that's my best guess because as I texted you, I could not find a super accurate date of birth for Patrick Ball on the internet. But if you're born 1989 or later and you regularly quote the film, not the TV show, the film Mash, and you already knew what the phrase pros from Dover meant, press HTV at Spotify.com.

31:16Rob:I would like to be corrected. I would love to hear your testimony. I would like to have the finger wagged in my face about this. It was very odd to me. What I will say, and this is my film reference. By the way, I love the movie Mash. It's a great movie. Equally as good, the George Clooney joint, One Fine Day. Have you seen it? I've never seen it. But in that movie, a child gets a bead stuck up, or it might be a Lego, something stuck up their nose and they have to go to the doctor. And they like, the parents are talking about how like this is a common occurrence that people that like children put things up their nose.

31:44Rob:And it's like, I've always lived in fear of being in charge of a child who randomly shoves something, be it a Lego or a bead or whatever up their nose. So it's just where human ingenuity takes you as a child. You know, does this go up my nose? One wonders and one has to find out. So, Mrs. Kovalenko, what do you want to say about this? To our previous conversation, clearly there was like a priming of a PTSD awareness, right? And like hypervigilance, like in Dana's case, I mean, that seems like part of the job description for a lot of these people working in this space where you just have to be aware of everything and all these patients at all times.

32:18But everyone here has been through an incredibly traumatic event together. Everyone working at the pit, I mean.

32:24Rob:Right, the mass casualty. Yes, the mass casualty event of season one. Right. And so we know that they're basically in almost mandatory therapy, that they're required to talk to somebody as a result of this. I would think this season will reckon with it in some way or another, whether it's with Dana or another character. Using those ideas here, I think, make a lot of sense. And having someone come in with all of this past trauma that is hyper-localized, that is very specific, makes a lot of sense. More broadly, I would say I'm like of two minds about the Mrs. Kovalenko stuff. Yeah. One, I think the pit makes a really honest effort to tell us and show us what living and working in Pittsburgh is like.

33:03Rob:I almost did a like Pittsburgh history section. To have the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which is this very traumatic event that happened in Pittsburgh. And then also, I mean, feels odd to group them, but like we get a firework history lesson. And like last season, we got like sort of the ambulance history, you know, that there are like various like this is what it means to be from Pittsburgh sort of moment. And even every reference is like, this is an actual deli in Pittsburgh. Like, this is the supermarket you would go to. It's like, it all feels, again, very earnest. I'm not saying they bat like a thousand on it, but it seems like they're really trying.

33:37And so I appreciate that, especially in the respect of like the Tree of Life shooting. This is the kind of like targeted, perpetrated hate crime that looms large over a community for a long, long time. And so people will walk in the door with the baggage of something like that for a while. That makes total sense to me. On the other hand, this was the closest the show has ever come to feeling like the newsroom for me. And I don't mean that as a compliment.

33:59Rob:You rarely do. It's one of those things where it's really not subject matter. It's execution. And when you're weaving really delicate, really tragic real-life events into the drama and sometimes melodrama of the pit, be very careful about how you do it. I'm not saying they did anything wrong. I'm not saying they stepped on any particular problem area. There's something like quite Sorkin-y about like, we're going to have Perla in here. Right. And then we're going to have this conversation about the Muslim community and the Tree of Life Synagogue. Like, I really like Mrs. Kovalenko as a character a lot.

34:31Rob:She's great. The performance was so good. A delightful performance. Giving like Robbie shit, her being like, you're single, where do you work? Yes. Like, you know, not wanting to talk about her, the horrifying burn on her leg at all. Coating it in honey. She's like, more importantly, are you single? Right. Like, where do you worship? All of this sort of stuff. I really liked her a lot. I agree with you. Like, I think it's, especially like fireworks, 4th of July. Like, let's talk about the way in which that is like completely a different kind of stress. Yeah. For people who have been through something like this.

35:03Rob:And I think all of that is really interesting. And then that like, there are just like a few steps further down the road that they took it. Which again, like sort of similar to, it just felt like throughout this episode, people are just saying the thing. They are saying the thing a lot. You know, a lot. Yes, and this was one area where it just didn't work for me. And maybe it was in context. I'm already processing so much of the saying the other things very directly that this was one too many. But yeah, something about these scenes, again, separate the performance, which I agree was wonderful and like very funny in spots and very touching in spots.

35:34Something about the balance of it just didn't work for me.

35:36Rob:Right. I really like the idea of this, and I didn't love the entirety of the execution. I guess that's what I would say. I think that's totally fair. Digby. Okay. so we get another like check in with digby um just digby not mr digby um with emma and dana sort of wanting to check back in within helping him dana talking about like we continually just like repeatedly offer help just so that they know we will always offer and we are always here we did get an email from our listener alex who was like hey man when you were like focusing on how like squicked out you were by the maggots you missed this important character moment where digby as a character was like looking so vulnerable about and I literally did not see it because I was literally so turning your head so I apologize I literally did miss this but Alex's description and I didn't go back and watch it because I'm sorry I couldn't but like Alex's description of the vulnerability and this is like another I don't want to hit this too hard live out with the pit because the pit is for everyone but the empathy that these doctors have for people in their care is one of the best parts about the pit.

36:39Rob:And so like the, the way in which Dana is very, like, no nonsense. Here's the guy, we're going to burn his clothes. It's like all of this stuff is going on, but we're just going to give him what, what dignity, like as much dignity as he deserves, which is all the dignity in the world. And so that is like how you want them to be treating all their patients. And we see the med student class usually like learning this lesson, you know, what does a Louis like get from a Whitaker versus an Ogilvy or a Joy you know like that's the question and yeah you see all those characters taking their cues from Dana taking their cues from Robbie and there's kind of that funny moment with Joy and Robbie in this where like she's wondering are we going to take our moment of silence for this fallen motorcyclist it's like you have to triage the emotions too in a lot of senses right like that can wait and we will have those times and we're going to be direct and compassionate in kind of alternating fashion Right.

37:35Like sometimes you just have to take this stuff head on. And I think no one encapsulates that better than Dana. Like she is, as you said, like exactly as straightforward as she needs to be and exactly as comforting as she needs to be. And something about the way she put that, as you mentioned, Joe, like that we're going to keep offering. I think there's so many barriers to health care in this country. There's so many barriers. And I don't say that just systemically, but like the shame involved in people getting the kind of treatment they need. The internalized, like, macho, like, I don't need to see a doctor.

38:05We just absorb so much that prevents us from doing the things proactively that we need to do to take care of ourselves. And there's something about just, like, we're just going to keep saying it over and over, especially for people that probably don't get offered things over and over that often, that I just found to be incredibly sweet. Like, a really, and it's just a really trenchant idea of why these systems could and should work.

38:28Rob:Yeah. and like listen you know like I've been a little tough on Robbie a bit this season but like again to go back to the Mrs. Kovalenko scene like you know his gentle treatment of her I thought was really beautiful like that that care yeah that that like gentleness um and I love the way too with Robbie it's not it's not the way every actor would play it and I think I would have to imagine some of this is Noah Wiley and of course like given his involvement in the writing of this episode. There's kind of a dual-pronged approach there. But the way he walks in and his first interactions with Mrs.

39:01Kovalenko are him and a monitor.

39:03Rob:Right, back turned to her. Back turned to her. Like paying attention to her, but only so much attention to her. Like going through the motions, doing the process. And it's like with every word, you can feel him kind of settling into what sort of conversation this is going to be. And never more heavily than when she mentions Tree of Life. But it really extends to every part of their interaction together. Yeah. To go back to the motorcycle accident. really strong foley on the peeling back of the reveal of the brain matter. Yeah, that was probably the gnarliest. Yeah, I did look, but I wanted to not hear that.

39:39Rob:What do you make of Robbie lying and saying that he wears his helmet? Very interesting. Like clearly doesn't care enough to wear the helmet, but cares enough to want the appearance and not have to answer the questions about not wearing the helmet. One of our listeners pointed out that Robbie doesn't wear the helmet, but he carried the helmet inside with him. This was Ginny who emailed us about that. Incredible observation. There's theater to this for Robbie. I thought that was really interesting. I mean, speaking of going through the motions. Is it a death wish? Is it walking a line of a kind of vulnerability?

40:09Who knows what it is for him? He already was dealing with a lot even before season one. But it does say something when it's like conspiracy to commit. He's going the extra step to pretend to be kind of okay. even though everyone knows he's not okay. And so then who are you doing that performance for?

40:30Rob:Perhaps to your point, to stop them from asking questions of you. I do think it's interesting to go back to what you're saying about the barrier of entry for so many people in terms of getting the care that they need and how those people often wind up in the ER because they've let something go until it's an emergency, right? But I love how that applies to your Robbies and your Santoses who are like refusing to get therapy that they need. You know, a physician heal they self sort of thing where it's like even people inside the medical community will ignore a problem until it explodes. So I thought that was interesting.

41:05They are but flawed, fucked up human beings who are full of hypocrisy like the rest of us. I'm happy to report.

41:13Rob:Here's a question on the Mark and Nancy Yee storyline. And this is something that I thought about in season one, but I haven't officially asked our medical community listeners. So please email us. Are loved ones allowed in the trauma rooms as often as they come in on the pit? Like Nancy's in there, you know, and sometimes they'll have like a nurse guide them out. But I was just like sort of surprised that they're even allowed. Like, especially I think that's trauma room one or whatever, like the main one that's right there where usually shit is very bad. Is your loved one allowed in there? I was thinking about this with like in season one with a little girl who drowns and like her entire family, like when they're certain there's nothing they can do, the entire family being in there makes sense to me.

41:58Rob:But then there's like, they're doing emergency measures sort of around loved ones sometime in a way that I'm just like, is that, I don't know. Does that happen? I'm asking questions. Feels like by policy, probably not. And in the reality of the moment might happen sometimes. In this case, it's like Nancy is outside looking in until they stabilize her husband. And then they bring her in to kind of tell her about the scans that they're going to run to figure out why he's not responding and why he appears to be paralyzed. And then everything kind of kicks into gear. So it's like she just, I think, is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

42:30But you're right. Like in reality, someone probably ushers her out of the room in that moment.

42:34Rob:Right. Okay. Okay. Also something I thought was super interesting inside the Yee storyline is this little moment where Robbie backs up Samira when Garcia is giving them shit. Definitely. Like, why didn't you look at Nancy? You should have done this, you know, and Robbie sort of steps in to help Samira. We got this interesting email from Lucas who wrote, I had a thought listening to the first podcast of the season about Dr. Robbie and Dr. Mohan Samira. I thought an important moment of season one was when Robbie put Mohan on the red team during the mass casualty event, signifying that even though he was hard on her consistently, he knows she's one of the best doctors in the ER.

43:08Rob:So I love that. Yeah. That we saw Robbie really hard on Mohan in season one, but there are ways in which he does like consistently, not consistently, inconsistently have the backs of the people on his team. Selectively. Yeah, selectively. There you go. And I just, I really liked that moment when he just like was there for her. Totally agree. When Garcia was being an asshole like she likes to do. And it's representative of where she is. Like I do trust Samira Mohan's judgment basically above and beyond almost anyone who isn't Robbie as far as the doctors are concerned. Like she has a good head on her shoulders.

43:40This was her whole arc in the first season was kind of bringing all of these sides of her experience and expertise together. And becoming this really balanced, really efficient, but also like really empathetic doctor. and the level of detail that she's able to bring, I think it's just very different than what you would get even from Langdon at his like best medicinal moments.

43:59Rob:Stay at the pit, Samira. Don't go to New Jersey. I would be honestly devastated if she is gone from season three. I know. If this just turns into the kind of show where like true to life, doctors are coming in and out of the hospital. Like that's just what happens. Right. But it would make me very upset personally. So please do not. Don't upset Rob. Speaking of upsetting Rob, Rob, how did you feel? We talked about this a little bit pre-pod. Mr. Montrose, a very amorous Walmart greeter who has busted his tailbone in some way, hitting on our girl, Dr. Bangs, calls her Dr. Hazel Eyes. How did you feel about this?

44:36Just rude.

44:37Rob:Yeah. That's not her name. Felt called out by the staff. Noah Wiley knows that you called her Dr. Bangs and he wrote Dr. Hazel Eyes into the script instead. I don't mean to presuppose. but I like to think that we as a collective came to the understanding that she was Dr. Banks together. That it's just one of these things that we all reached into the ether of our shared consciousness. It's like, this is obviously what this character's name is. Montrose is played by Michael Norrie who has been around for a really long time but like, speaking of fans of the original MASH film, this is the hottie from Flashdance.

45:10Rob:Like, he is a famous 80s hottie. So to cast famous 80s hottie Michael Norrie, who we should be clear, landed Jennifer Beals in her flash dance era. That's quite the achievement. And he is quite a charmer. Is here just like laying on quite thick with Dr. McKay. It works. I gotta say, like it is very charming. And I think she kind of takes it in the spirit in which it's intended, right? It's like we're having a laugh. Yeah, like he knows what he's doing. I know what he's doing. Like, there's a compatibility to that that makes sense. Now, this other guy chiming in from the sidelines, like. This is Brian Hancock is the patient's name, played by Lawrence Robinson, no relation.

45:55Rob:Loves her witch's cackle. He does. Is just laying on quite thick himself, even though he's immobile. Like, Montrose can dance with her and sing La Mer to her if he wants to. This guy's just shooting his shot consistently from the corner of the frame. If he can get her attention, he will. Um, we talked previously when fucking Boba Guy was hitting on Mel. We got emails from listeners being like, hey, don't date your patients. But are you into Dr. McKay and Brian Hancock? Well, first of all, I think we need to rename Boba Guy. Like, I think he's just liquor store bandit at this point or something to that effect.

46:33He has lost Boba Guy privileges.

46:35Rob:Wait, wait, is it number one, Tony Chinchillo, number two, Boba Guy, number three, maggots? Here's the thing. Boba guy slash the liquor store bandit, I think has an appeal in like an I'm being worked sort of way. Sure. You know, like a con man kind of charisma. Right. Where Tony Tinchilla is just constantly, oh brother. That guy just sucks. That guy sucks. Again, everyone agrees. Every nurse is looking at him sideways. It's so clear immediately how much he sucks. He's like, I gotta watch him. Yeah, I gotta stay here and document this. Yes. But yeah, I'm eager to see kind of what they do with Dr.

47:10Bangs in this moment. Dr.

47:12Rob:Bangs, who has said, for the record, I am quite, like, I am ready to Dr. Bang. And this guy's like, I am also ready. I'm ready to swoop those side bangs, baby. Like, I am here for you. I am interested. I'm qualified. I am ready. In theory. You know, we'll see how she responds to him. So far, it's like, again, she's kind of entertaining it to keep moving. She's like, sure, sure. Yes. Yeah, okay. But we do appreciate, even as he's watching her be wheeled around the ER floor, he doesn't seem very threatened by any of this. He's just watching from the sidelines respectfully, getting his comments in when he can.

47:45Rob:Save a dance for me. I think he's playing his cards well. Is he playing his cards in a way that will be legally fulfilling for all involved? It seems not, but crazier things have happened on the pit. Tune in to find out. Speaking of Pittsburgh history, let's talk about Louis and fireworks history. What was the Pittsburgh history in that? Just Dr. Bangs being about town? Why did I say speaking of—I don't know. Great question. How dare you push for my segues? Honestly, how dare you? Okay. Louis is still draining. He loves fireworks and he mentions Mr. Zambelli. Yes. And I got to say, I got really excited because we got a very long email about Mr.

48:23Rob:Zambelli from a listener like a couple weeks ago. We sure did. Because we were asking about fireworks in Pittsburgh and our listener, Kristen, delivered. I'm, Kai, you are welcome to cut some of this. I'm going to read this entire email because I couldn't figure out how to cut it down. It's so good to me. It's full of information. We love information. I want the background. And frankly, I am charmed by the times that the pit itself turns into a Wikipedia page. And so that our podcast could follow suit accordingly, I think we have to do it. Here we go. Buckle up for some firework history in Pennsylvania.

48:53Rob:Newcastle, Pennsylvania, population 21 ,000, is called the fireworks capital of America and is only 50 miles outside the city. Newcastle is home to both Zambelli Fireworks, the oldest and one of the largest fireworks manufacturers in the U.S. and Pyrotechnico, the largest provider of large-scale fireworks displays in the U.S. Newcastle, Pennsylvania has a hospital. And I just love, Kristen has like gone deep. She's like, Newcastle has a hospital. It's only a level two trauma center. So a large-scale fireworks accident would be sending folks to the level one trauma centers in Pittsburgh and Youngstown.

49:30Rob:And Youngstown, she says, doesn't even have a burn unit. Seems like a mistake. All right. Pittsburghers will find any excuse to set off fireworks, both large-scale displays and in our backyards. And 4th of July is a really big deal. The city puts on a huge fireworks display that rivals the ones in much larger cities. Kristen says she lives in a high spot in her area, and from her yard, she can see three suburban firework displays. To give an idea of the—I'm sorry, this is all fascinating to me. To give an idea of the level of municipal fireworks displays around the area, her suburb, population 33 ,000, spends between 65 and 70 ,000 on their 4th of July celebration.

50:10Rob:And the city spends 350 ,000 for its celebration. But she mentions that the big, big fireworks display in Pittsburgh is off a barge in the water, I believe. And she also mentioned that to get to the park where you watch this, why are you laughing at my fireworks history? I'm not laughing. I'm delighted by your joy. I'm delighted by, I just have never... I just like knowing this. I have never clocked a Joanna Robinson listener more than Kristen. Like, this is just such an email that would come to one of the shows that you host, first and foremost. I mean that as a sincere compliment to you both.

50:44Rob:What does that mean? I just think there is a level of detail and there is a level of lore here that is who you are. And Kristen clearly identified that, swooped in with the very specific regional knowledge that you needed to understand the fireworks, like, overall landscape of Greater Pittsburgh. Crunch in numbers. She's got budgets. She's got population. She's got it all. She's got everything I need. Kristen, thank you. The point is there's one narrow bridge that goes to this park where they watch the fireworks launch from the barge. And she's about 30 ,000 to 40 ,000 of the folks who go down to the city fireworks show watch it from the point.

51:16Rob:And she said people will be crushed if a launch went wrong. And yinzers are going to yinz. She's like, will there be like a mass stampede event if a firework show goes wrong? Something like that. We've been wondering like what will be the firework impact. We already got this moment with Mrs. Kovalenko. We get the Zembelli fireworks drop. Kristen, thank you so much for filling my life. I know so much about, this is what I asked for. It's true. And I got, she has way more information. Last but not least, there's something called phantom fireworks tents that are like the spirit Halloween of fireworks.

51:45Rob:And so they like crop up all over the place. This is where you can get your fireworks in Pittsburgh, like on the corner. Yes. It's the only way to get fireworks anywhere. If it is a brick and mortar structure, I would never buy fireworks. Oh, really? Okay. Definitely not. Like a roadside stand sort of situation. Absolutely. I've never bought illegal fireworks. So... Well, these are legal fireworks, Joe. I've never bought legal or illegal fireworks. Don't project that on us. Last but not least, Kristen says, Fourth of July is a bigger drinking day than your New Year's Eve in these parts. So I fully expect to see a lot of drunk yinzers with burns and missing fingers in the pit, which we've been expecting.

52:14Rob:But thank you so much, the pit, for just saying the word Zambelli, which gave me an excuse to read this thing that might get edited fully out of the show. I don't know. Kai might have a better head than I do. but that is what I wanted to share with you, Rob Mahoney. Well, also thanks to Louis in conjunction for the line, y 'all don't know nothing about pyrotechnics, which we do now. Yeah. I also love that Whitaker was trying to sort of glad hand him and he's like, no more talking. Fix his fucking teeth. We're done with this portion of the exam before I tell you charming anecdotes about my life.

52:49Rob:Fix his fucking teeth. This man numbed up, please. Yeah. All right. We've already talked about Mr. Williams and his ex-wife Gretchen. the Hanson stuff. What do you want to say about the Hanson fam? Of all the fucked up things we've seen on this show. Medpooling? The pill pile is deranged. Who would think this is a good idea? Pooling meds is how we've always done it, he says. Oh my God. This is a really light Mel episode. Maybe that's why it wasn't my most enchanting experience because I love Mel so much. But she gets to like FaceTime with them to like sort of see if she can figure out which pill it is.

53:24Rob:Anything else you want to say about that. Are we going to see more Hansons as the day go on? I wouldn't mind it. You know, they do have that kind of like weird sitcom family that pops in as a recurring bit. Your neighbors, your wacky neighbors, the Hansons. I would love them to hang around in some capacity or just like one more family member keeps like treacling in the door. They never leave because there's just another person injured. I think that would be great. And they have to find them a room off to the side just to fit everybody by the end of the day. I think it'd be great. I gotta say, I'm really disappointed with our listeners who have, we got so many maggot emails, not a single ramekin email.

53:58Rob:Nobody's writing in with any of the ramekin deals. Actually, one person - We did get one. I was like, we did because somebody suggested specifically, I'm so sorry, I don't have the name off the top of my head, to go to secondhand stores to load up on the ramekins. Yes, how do you feel about that advice? I think it's great advice. Yeah. But this is where my OCD color coordination comes in direct contact with Pragmatic Rob. I need the set. You need the full set. I need it to fit. I need it to make sense. but I also need ramekins of many different sizes to fit my souffle needs. So what are you supposed to do?

54:24Rob:What is the color scheme of your dishware? I don't have to answer that. Are you an all-white person? No, there is a lot of white for the neutrality. And then it's kind of like there's some dark kind of black-gray plateware. Okay, but no pop of color. Oh, no, it's like splashes of—I'm trying to think of the exact shade of blue. Kind of a blue-green situation. Okay. Not quite full teal, a little more blue than that. Is that your Le Creuset color? is the sort of like... My late crusade life is chaotic. There's a little bit of that blue. There's a little bit of the pure red. I kind of like having it where it's like, that's the red Crock-Pot.

54:59Sorry, that's the red Dutch oven, you know?

55:01Rob:Yeah, yeah. The red and the flame orange. The flame orange is nice. Yeah, yeah. That's nice. Okay, well, if you are out and about and you see a deal on some ramekins in a white, black, or blue-green color neutrals. You know, we're into the neutrals. Okay, all right, Rob. I don't want to pop with a ramekin. That's not what it's for. I disagree. I think a ramekin, because it's such a cute little thing in your kitchen, that's where you could really go a little wild with some color. You could have a red ramekin, I think. I feel like if you're going to do a statement, you make the statement. You don't pick the smallest piece of furniture to make brightly colored.

55:35Rob:Do you have a butter warmer? I don't have a butter warmer. I do have a butter warmer, and it is red. Okay. Welcome to our podcast about the pit. Dr. Al and Robbie. Very little. This is my etc. section. Yeah. Very little on this, but we get this exchange where Robbie says, I got to say, a bit bitchily, splitting up so soon. And she says, I'm looking for cooperation, not commitment, which I thought was a great response. How did you feel about this exchange? I thought it was wonderful. I'm just aghast that they let this woman be charming. She was also very nice to Nancy Yee. I know. She had that warmth to her that you were looking for from her.

56:14Rob:You were like, smile, as you always say to female characters, smile more. Okay, don't do that to me. My point is simply, they gave this woman like two lines and one joke. Yeah. And I'm like very charmed. Okay, you're in. I wouldn't say I'm in, but like some of my concern about where this character could be going is diminished just by the fact that like she can, she is capable of cracking a joke. If she drops her AI devices in the garbage, are you in? Absolutely. Yeah, you're all in. I'm completely in at that point. I just want to see her have human interactions with other people. And this was one of the first ones we've seen all season.

56:50Rob:Speaking of human interactions, and that was a proper segue. Thank you so much. Dana kicks Ogilvy out of her chair in a way that I really enjoyed. Ogilvy continues. It's like Tony Tichillo, Boba Guy, Maggots, Ogilvy. That's where I am right now. He's just trying way too hard. And this is another vital role that Samira Mohan plays on this show. She is often the continued eye roller in chief. and this is aimed in Javadi's direction as well, but their chorus of symptom listing and complication explaining in the face of absolutely no reason whatsoever to get into all that, I'm glad that she's there to at least set them straight in her silence.

57:30Rob:And that was surrounding her diabetic patient whose daughter is there and is like, my mom's on the way. So this is like an ongoing case that we will check back in with, I assume. Definitely. Lupe apologizes to our deaf patient in the chair that she's like, you know, we got an email from Lister being like, shouldn't this have been on her? patient passport, like to begin with. So flaw in the system. I do want, I didn't shout this out before. Mrs. Kovalenko later when Robbie says she's turning my trip into a midlife crisis and all of the reactions we got from everyone to that. Phenomenal. Yeah. Burdened with incredible medical knowledge.

58:06Not a lot of self-awareness, Dr. Robbie.

58:08Rob:And then we get the hook into the next episode, right? The phone rings. Is this a drill? Is this a joke? Got it. Thanks. Westbridge which has a code black, diverting all its traffic to us. Ahmad's like, we got a new betting grid. Let's go. How do you feel about this as like a hook into the next episode? Joe, I love a code. I simply love a code. I love the lingo. I love the jargon. I love that everyone knows, oh, this shit's about to get extra real. It's already been quite real, but there are levels to this. I loved the betting pool with the ambulance last season. I thought that was great. I'm not mad that we're running it back.

58:41Rob:If there's an ambulance, if there's like a betting pool in season three, will you be like enough now enough or like how do you feel maybe I mean look this is the trick with these shows is they are built on repetition right like they are built on these people living the same life and day over and over and over and having the experience to know how to navigate it better the next time so it's like you kind of have to have some of that stuff I just hope they find ways to jazz it up a little bit plus I love gambling

59:09Rob:last but not least Noah Wiley wrote this episode and he gave himself a like sitcom outro line where he goes, I should have left last night. Oh, brother. Here we go. I don't know about that one. Not my fave. This is not my favorite episode of The Pit, but there was a lot to love, and I'm really excited to see where we go next. Yes. There's a lot of cases where I'm interested to find out what's going on with Jackson and a lot of other patients. Will Dr. McKay break her oath and go out with this hot guy? I think she should, honestly. Will there be sex fireworks for her tonight? Our ED patient, no.

59:43No. Strictly bed rest. Dr. McKay, Dr. Banks, she's a grown woman. Do you think sex fireworks should be her new nickname? What do you think? I think we have to wait and find out.

59:52Rob:All right. I hit an hour on the nose, but with edits, it might be less than that. If Kai edits out that entire firework email, it might be less than that. I think he should stretch it out. I think that whole stretch should be like 0.5 speed. Let's really get into it. Let's luxuriate. Quit those nine minutes for social. Everyone was going to love that reel. Thank you, Rob Mahoney. Thank you, Joe. Thanks to our listeners. Thanks to Kai Grady, who's just the best. Thanks to The Pit. And we'll be back with episode four. It's 10 a.m. What's going to happen? We'll find out next week. Bye.

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