‘The Pitt’ Season 2, Episode 6: Nurse Week

7:25Rob:I've been sashimi-ing it. That's new layers of trust. You have been here but weeks.

7:31Jo:Yeah, nearly. And you're already plugged in on the fishmonger market. It's true. You have it cornered.

7:36Rob:I do. I do.

7:37Jo:Well, do you want to give them a shout out or is this an off the pod recommendation?

7:40Rob:This is West Coast Seafood Incorporated. They're based in Simi Valley, but more importantly, they're at like every single farmer's market, which is where I encountered them at the Hollywood farmer's market. There's one in Pasadena, which is closer to you.

7:50Jo:It is.

7:52Rob:And I don't know if you've been hitting up the LA farmer's market scene.

7:55Jo:I was just collecting intel on this front. I'm doing my due diligence trying to figure out which ones to hit in what sequential order.

8:01Rob:Okay.

8:01Jo:Because I feel like a bad farmer's market or just a mid one where you're just overpaying for grocery store strawberries is just about the most dispiriting experience you can have buying produce. So I'm trying to be very careful in these matters.

8:13Rob:At the Hollywood farmer's market, West Coast Seafood Incorporated, there's just this really cool babe who works at Stan and she just knows her shit about fish. And made me feel comfortable making sashimi in my own home. Okay.

8:29Jo:So what are we doing? What are you buying?

8:32Rob:Salmon and tuna. Okay.

8:33Jo:I mean, you could sashimi anything.

8:35Rob:Yeah, I guess one could. You could. Okay.

8:38Jo:You strike me as maybe a yellowtail sort, you know?

8:41Rob:I think I need to level up. You fuck with the hamachi. I think I need to level up to hamachi. Okay. You know what I mean? Start with the toro and the sake and then level up. We'll see. The fine people of Texas seem to be upset that you did not mention Schlitterbahn when you mentioned water parks in Texas.

8:56Jo:There's a reason for that.

8:57Rob:And why is that?

8:58Jo:Because I was talking about the water park that was overrun with crickets. Okay. And Schlitterbahn was not.

9:03Rob:Never hurt a fly?

9:04Jo:It would hurt a fly. I think any water park would on some level hurt a fly. But I have nothing but respect for Schlitterbahn. That said, I still think you can get very sick at a water park of any kind.

9:14Rob:No free ads for Schlitterbahn. But guys, if you have some merch you want to send to us, let us know. I would wear it.

9:20Jo:I would wear it.

9:21Rob:On the local interest front, the people of Pittsburgh have emailed to let us know that sinkholes, which is what Donnie put his money on in the betting pool, that sinkholes are a real issue in Pittsburgh. And to the point that it's like memes, people are dressing for Halloween as sinkholes in Pittsburgh. There's something called like sinkhole bus, which is like a whole thing. I guess a bus fell into a sinkhole. I hope no one was hurt because people seem to have made a big joke out of it. Were you delighted, surprised, intrigued to learn about the sinkhole situation in Pittsburgh?

9:52Jo:You know, I was. Yeah. This is an educational moment for us both. That's what doing this podcast is all about. Sometimes you just sit back and you're like, huh, flesh-eating bacteria taking this woman's leg down. And sometimes you're like, huh, sinkholes, a real thing in Pittsburgh.

10:06Rob:I love this podcast. I do love that one of our emails came from, signed by Dirk and Bobby. Great. And it says, not sure if Yin's already covered this. And I'm just like, thanks. Thanks, Pittsburgh. Love this. Sinkholes. But on the betting front, we did get an email from Bob eviscerating the betting pool situation on the pit. Oh, I didn't see this. Do you have any thoughts or feelings about this?

10:27Jo:So what's the problem?

10:29Rob:Here's Bob. And I'm not a betting man. Like, I don't place bets, so I have no skin in this game. But Bob says, the betting pool storyline is completely nonsensical. Participants are wagering into three separate pools. How does that work? Is there a payout for each pool? Reason for outage, number of patients, length of disruption? What if you nail one guest and are completely off on the other two? Is there an overall winner that is picked subjectively? Are there three different winners? Even more problematic is that the bettors are wagering different amounts. We've seen play from$10 to$40. How can this be fair?

10:57Rob:$10 guy cannot be playing for the same prize as$40 guy.

11:00Jo:It's totally true.

11:01Rob:I don't know. I agree with everything Bob has said here, but I have no good answers. So I guess we just have to ask our listeners if they have thoughts about the betting pool here.

11:10Jo:The different elements does track to me because that feels consistent to me with something very familiar, which is like a sports betting grid format. In which, for example, you would bet on a randomly assigned last digit of one team's score and a randomly assigned last digit of the other team's score. And so, you know, if you're betting on the Super Bowl, one team is going to end with a score that ends in two, the other one in a score that ends in seven. And if it hits, then it hits. So it's like you have a multivariable grid X, Y axis orientation, but... But what if nobody gets both right? Well, in an ideal format, all the squares are sold.

11:42Jo:Oh, I see. This is the problem with the pit. And I guess where they would just pay out no one if it turns out that aliens abducted all of the people working at the other hospital. No one gets paid whatsoever. The problem though, as you're in that email, the math involved in the varying levels of bets that are being placed by people who are now doubling and tripling down in order to change their bets. It's just way too complicated.

12:04Rob:So I'm curious to see how this resolves. Are you putting your money on Donnie now that you know more about St. Coles in Pittsburgh?

12:11Jo:I know how it resolves, and it's with Adam Sandler locking himself in a little glass box and hoping and praying that he can hold the bag of money long enough to escape the pit.

12:20Rob:Excellent. Excellent. You're such a movie guy. We love this for you.

12:25Jo:Bay, bay. Why'd you have to say it that way?

12:28Rob:What was that? Did I say film bro? No, I said movie guy.

12:32Jo:You implied it.

12:33Rob:Movie guy is film bro adjacent. It's not the same. It's not the same. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Yeah. We mentioned last week, I said on the pod that a taxi driver once told me that they called it Black Wednesday. We got a lot of people saying, hey, where I'm from, it's called Blackout Wednesday, which makes way more sense to me. A lot of sense. But then we also got a number of regional answers for this. in Chicago, Bloody Wednesday, because of all the bar fights that happens. Very Chicago. Because people get really messy and it's not even like, they're like, it's worse than St. Patrick's Day.

13:02Rob:It's the worst day for fights because everyone's tense because they're home with their family and they get trashed and they beat each other up. Great. We got, in Las Vegas, specifically for millennials in Las Vegas, twerksgiving. Yeah. A very of a time of a place, I think. I mean, it transcends. Twerksgiving transcends. Do you feel like twerking is still as much of a thing as it was when this millennial was getting trash from college. I think it's coming back. Oh, you're bringing it back. I'm not bringing it back.

13:31Jo:I think Bad Bunny's bringing it back.

13:32Rob:Oh, that's true. Fair enough. Wrecked Wednesday. I liked that one. Yak Wednesday is sort of like a Black Wednesday play. And last but not least, in Pittsburgh itself, Wild Turkey Wednesday.

13:44Jo:I did like that one. Yeah. I did see one other that I like, and I'm going to say this in the gender neutral adoption of this term skanksgiving on the Wednesday. I like to believe that many people could go out on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and skank it up.

13:59Rob:Anyone can be a skank. They really can. If you try hard.

14:01Jo:And you know what? In that situation, I encourage it. Like you're going to have a stressful weekend. Skank it up. You can't be bottling it up. Yeah.

14:08Rob:Hospital feuds.

14:10Jo:There were a lot. You've really opened a can of worms with this one. I love learning this.

14:16Rob:This is drama in the hospitals. This is like, this is the real, you know, Shonda Rhimes get involved in the hospital feuds. Or Ryan Murphy want to make like feud colon hospital season. I would watch it. Travis wrote in, and I thought this was really pertinent to what we're talking about the episode today, internal medicine versus emergency medicine. And we've heard this come up a couple times in the pit where they're talking about trying to find beds for the people. Like, how can we get them elsewhere in the hospital? This is what Travis wrote. Internal medicine thinks emergency medicine just admits everyone who comes in so they can avoid doing any diagnosis work and just dump it onto the hospitalist services.

14:55Rob:If an ER doc orders an inpatient admission, there isn't much an IM doc can do to dispute it. Emergency medicine docs think that IM docs are out of touch with what goes on in the ER and that clearing patients with manageable medical issues to the floor, it allows them to take care of people with real emergencies and people who can be discharged from the ER. Another feud is anesthesiology versus every surgical service. and Travis, it should be noticed, is an anesthesiologist, as are like a lot of people in my family are anesthesiologists. Every surgeon thinks they know how to do our job and we get blamed for everything that goes wrong.

15:26Rob:We think surgeons are too narrowly focused and should pay attention to their patient's whole clinical picture. We are a limited resource, but they don't treat us like the precious commodity we are. It's an eternal struggle. So Travis, tough, tough B for Travis. Anything you want to say about the hospital fuse? We got stuff about nurses and the pharmacy, a bunch of things. Anything that stood out to you?

15:45Jo:I mean, it's just a classic case of people in one department are so positive that they're right because their incentive structure is different than the other one. And so it's like, yeah, of course, internal medicine and the ER would be at complete odds. Like their motivations are wildly apart. So it was reassuring to hear that even these highly qualified medical professionals are just in a workplace like the rest of us.

16:05Rob:Do we have anything? I don't feel like we have that at the ringer. Do we? Is there like a print side versus podcast side? Not so much.

16:12Jo:But as you're explaining the role that anesthesiologists play, strikes me as like a production role in a lot of ways. You know, that if something goes wrong with this podcast, it wouldn't be our fault. It would definitely be Kai's fault. And this is why we support and appreciate Kai, because he saves us all the time.

16:28Rob:Every day. Last but not least, I just want to say that we got a couple people said that they made chilequiles because we talked about it. We already said that. But we did have someone write in to say, first of all, she approved of my chilequiles recipe. Great. Love to hear that from me. And then also said, if you guys ever want to try the best chilaquiles in your life, they're weirdly located in the Monterrey, Mexico International Airport in their international flights terminal in a bar called, quote, Sky Blue, but was weirdly decorated like an Irish pub. I don't make the rules, but I will be thinking about those chilaquiles on my deathbed.

16:59Rob:Well, we have to go.

17:00Jo:Field trip. How do you feel Joanna Robinson influencer?

17:05Rob:Um, great.

17:06Jo:I mean, you brought people to chilaquiles. I heard there's a run on like Chipotle's and Adobo.

17:10Rob:No one can keep it in stock anymore. They're flying off the shelves because I mentioned them. I feel fantastic about it. Thanks so much for asking. Anything else you want to mention in the mailbag front? Let's just talk about it.

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18:38Jo:Tax Act helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more. Conditions apply. See taxact.com for details. The show that we're going to talk about. Oh, sure. Why not?

18:52Rob:Okay. Let's start with Louis. We were expecting this to happen. Yes. I do think it was a creative way to give us a fairly standard medical show moment, moment, which is everyone in the department has grown attached to a person. And then we have to say goodbye to that patient. How did you feel about the way this was executed?

19:13Jo:I thought it was executed pretty well. Yeah. And I think some of that is because even though it's expected and signposted all throughout the season that Louis is not in a great spot, something might indeed happen to him. We've been talking about it, anticipating it for weeks. And yet they still found ways to make that feel surprising, to make the emotional impact kind of hit you in ways you might not have imagined. And I think some of that is with the backstory, right? In terms of his wife, Rhonda, and her baby, their baby, who were killed just before she was supposed to deliver. And I think it does something that the pit is very good at, which is remind us that patients are not cases, that this is not, despite what Ogilvy would tell you, an alcoholic who just came back to the ED over and over and over.

19:54Jo:This is a person who, even though you may not be able to understand what those motivations are, usually people have reasons for doing the things that they do. And those reasons might be fucked up. Those reasons might be something that they should address, of course. But it's not as if Louis didn't have a line that took his life to this place and that brought him to these habits and then brought him to the pit over and over and over. And I think getting to know that even through his death, I found to be just like a wallop emotionally and a really heartbreaking moment when I thought I had it all sketched out in terms of how this was going to go.

20:27Rob:And I think it's important to say, Like you don't need to have had like a catastrophic event to find yourself in dire straits. But also the pit is constantly asking us to not make assumptions about patients that we meet, trying to teach new people inside of this environment not to make those assumptions. And so what you see is seasoned professionals in the ER, like Dr. Al-Hashimi sort of looking at this patient from the prison in a different light than Robbie is, you know, and of course, Dana getting involved in all of that. We'll talk about that in a second. But like also with the amount of grace that Dana is able to extend to Langdon when Langdon is trying to sort of make amends with her.

21:13Rob:And she's like, we're good. Something that Kathleen Lanasa, who plays Dana, has said is that in her mind, it's not been written out for her necessarily, but in her mind, Dana has like a kid who has had some addiction problems or something like that. But I think putting this Louis story in parallel with the Langdon story, because there's like a few moments where, of course, there's like a lot of charged looks between Robbie and Langdon. Of course. But there are a few moments talking about addiction, talking about people trying to get help and failing to get help, where people sort of like cut eyes at Langdon a couple times inside of this episode.

21:48Rob:So it's a sort of there before the grace, go I, potentiality. But also, what is Langdon's story? What is this guy's story? How different are any of us actually? And why does he get to come back to work and his wife has stuck by him and et cetera, et cetera. And this didn't happen for Louis. And this is just the unfairness of life, you know, but these are parallel stories. And I think constantly the pit, it's interesting to me for someone like Ogilvy, who is so cartoonishly villainous at this point. I'm like I was talking about this before we started recording with some folks here in the office where I was just saying I I love that the pit does this where it presents us with someone like joy for example And the layers that we peel back on joy and joy saying inside of this episode She loves medical mysteries.

22:45Rob:She knows she doesn't have a bedside manner We found out, you know in the previous episode sort of why she got into um medicine in the first place and so that's all peeling back the layers on a You know, what is what does donnie say? Like you have a very interesting energy or something like that.

23:00Jo:He's not wrong.

23:02Rob:That's true. And this is just like a perfect thing that the pit does in terms of peeling the layers on a character. For Ogilvy, I am so put off by everything about him. I don't care to know the layers at this point. And that's what the pit is supposed to be. Oh, you think Santos is prickly? Well, here's some information on Santos that got her this way. Oh, you think Louis is, you know, a chronic, you know, alcoholic? he is, but here's some information of how he got here. And urging people in general and showing you that the medical professionals who are good at this know not to make assumptions and know to continually challenge their own biases.

23:41Rob:Where are you on Ogilvy?

23:42Jo:I mean, he sucks. You know, it's what? It's noon?

23:46Rob:Yeah.

23:46Jo:It's noon and Ogilvy still sucks. Like it's just, I look forward to that turn if it's coming to make him a more well-rounded character. But I find, and I would need to flash back to season one to think about where we were with characters like santos at this point in the season right how much had been revealed or shown or grown to the stage because the two characters i'm having trouble with the most right now are ogilvy who for obvious reasons just like everyone fucking hates perla's like this fucking guy yeah and as perla goes so do i absolutely uh and emma's the other one i think not because she's doing anything on an ogilvy level but so far the only characterization she has is like an aw shucks naivety a doe-eyed first day of school and they just keep like doubling and tripling down on that aspect of her character and personality and i'm i hope she has somewhere else to go by the end of the shift um on on that

24:37Rob:note i'm glad to hear that emma was not glad but glad to hear that emma was the second person on the list because i think some people have been felt feeling that way about dr al-ashimi and it was a really interesting episode for her. Because you and I have been talking about, you felt like they were sort of positioning Robbie as the empathetic doctor and her the by the book, you know, these are the rules doctor. We got emails about it, et cetera, et cetera. But their positions are flipped inside of this episode when she's, you know, when it comes to Gus, who's this prisoner with malnutrition and she just wants to keep him there somehow so that they can take better care of him than he's being taken care of, that he's not getting the nutrition that he needs, He's not getting the care that he needs.

25:18Rob:And even though there are quote unquote medical resources at this facility, she does not want to send him back there. And Robbie's like, Robbie's putting his foot down about it. And as Perla goes, so goes our nation. But as Dana goes, definitely so goes our nation. Without a doubt. So for Dana to side with Dr. Al-Hashimi, not like overtly in a Dr. Al-Hashimi versus Robbie War, you know, when he's like, did she put you up? She's like, Dr. Al-Hashimi, no. But, you know, she bonds with him. She's like, you're a local. I'm a local. She does something. She ducks like Robbie's interrogation. And Robbie looks like the bad guy in that scenario.

25:57Rob:So how do you feel about that?

25:58Jo:I think not just the bad guy, but you're right. It's the inversion of that relationship with he and Dr. Alashimi and the sides of the conflict they're on. And to me, it goes beyond him being by the book in this instance. And it's almost like he sounds like an administrator. He sounds like Gloria. Like, we got to turn over this bed. Right, right. Like it's a caregiving issue, but also an economic issue. But it's like, we got to keep the trains running in a way that Robbie does engage in that sometimes, but we're used to seeing that more empathetic side of him. And this to me is like great TV conflict because like in a movie, you can have strictly articulated characters with very straightforward worldviews and they just like bump up against each other, right?

26:38Jo:That's what they do. There's like too much time for that on TV. And so you want the initial bump, but good TV conflict to me always revolves. It always turns people into conflict, like contradictions of themselves where, yeah, they have the rules, but there's always the case where they're going to make the exception to the rule.

26:55Rob:And what's so interesting about The Pit is that, and that's definitely true, but oftentimes with characters who are with them over years, over months, this is like within six hours we've seen the tables turn inside of. But that's just, that's a much more human. For every complaint I have about Ogilvy not seem to me like a real human being, even though we got some emails from people being like, I recognize this guy.

27:15Jo:Oh, I have no idea he is real in a way. Just not real in a way that I want to interact with.

27:21Rob:But, you know, Dr. Al and Robbie being on opposite sides and sort of flip-flopping around an issue, that's much more human and relatable to me. So I thought this was a great Dr. Al Hashimi episode.

27:32Jo:Especially the framing from her, you know, and she puts it in Pitt fashion in a very straightforward way about how her goal is to, like, improve these systems and improve these hospitals and taking her as someone who comes in from day one and has all these like big ideas about how to change things to kind of settle and understand that it's not coming from a place of like, oh, I know I'm right, but so much as I want this to be better.

27:55Rob:I don't want to give up on this.

27:56Jo:Yeah, I'm not just willing to accept that we're making do with what we've got.

28:00Rob:And I feel like that's usually Robbie as well. And so we're not so different, you and I, is sort of where we find these two, I guess. I zagged over there, but I do want to, whether or not it's confusing, come back to the Louis situation because I think, you know, so there are ways in which the pit can be preachy. We've talked about this, but there's also like so much we learned from, I was watching with someone and they're like, what is this schoolhouse rock? And I was like, for sure. Sometimes I was like, but I don't know what happens to an unhoused person when they die in the ER. And this idea of like, we clean the bodies.

28:38Rob:We try to contact, you know, people for them if we can. We allow other people from the unhoused community. Like inside of this episode, Digby definitely like sort of notices what happens with Louis. Do they know each other? I don't know. But there's like definitely a shot of him sort of seeing Louis coding. And so for Dana to say, you know, we welcome people from that community in to see the body. We leave their hand out so loved ones can hold their hand. But then if the body's not claimed, they go in a mass, this sort of like very jarring, they get put in a mass grave sort of conclusion to that whole story.

29:17Rob:So this is like, this is a system that is doing its best, but is not perfect and is still broken in certain ways. And I just thought all of that was really, I mean, get Dana to deliver it. And I'm sort of like eating up every word, but I thought all of that was like really interesting, really upsetting to hear. And an unusual storyline, I think, inside of medical drama.

29:37Jo:I think so too. And it's something that the pit does very well. And I think too, in terms of walking these lines of yes, explaining this stuff, yes, showing the sentimentality, but packaging it all in the difficulty of what it takes for someone like Dana to navigate it. She walks into the room with Louis' body and she has a moment of almost like saying a prayer or something under her breath, saying a goodbye. And it's very touching and she's interrupted and she has to keep moving. And then the way in which she's wiping Louis' body down is very matter of fact.

30:08Rob:She's done this so many times.

30:09Jo:Very kind of cold and detached as it would have to be because your day has to keep moving and the traumas are not stopping. And I thought this episode overall with the handling of Louis gave a lot of characters a moment to say like, they were shocked that Louis died because he's been here so many times. But of course it's inevitable given the trajectory of his life and the decisions he had been making. And so it's like, they get to feel all those things all at once. And for people in those positions who have seen everything, to be caught off guard by the thing they knew was coming. I just found it to be like a really powerful human statement.

30:41Rob:And again, the way that Langdon is entangled in this, the way that Whitaker, of course, this is Whitaker's patient. We get the horrible Ogilvie moment, but then we also get the Robbie double fist bump, which is as close as he gets to a hug and a smooch of, you're doing okay, buddy.

30:58Jo:That's a great British make-off handshake, as far as I'm concerned.

31:02Rob:That's the Paul Hollywood move. You know, like, the double fist bump are you doing okay, buddy moment. But then we get this other moment because Whitaker and Langdon, of course, had already had this tense moment around Louis where Langdon was like, I'll order you the Librium. And Whitaker's like, I'll do it. I'm, you know, I'm his doctor. And so when it comes to making this call, Langdon's like, do you want to do it? You're the primary doctor. And Whitaker is just like, is not up for it. And Langdon's like, okay, I'll do it. You know, and just sort of like, it wasn't a moment of rubbing it in his face.

31:33It was just sort of like, you want to do it?

31:36Rob:No? Okay. As someone who's done this far more times than you have, I will do this. And like, I already said this at the beginning of the season, But like Langdon is I am really sort of wrapped up in the Langdon arc and I'm really, really rooting for him.

31:50Jo:He's getting you.

31:52Rob:It's gotten to me. I'm just sort of like, you know, he's he's he's dealing with a vomiting patient. I got to say Zofran is is the star of the season. Zofran, which is the anti-nausea medication that both that helps both hot dog guy and Chilaquiles lady. I'm a big Zofran fan myself as someone who gets easily nauseated. And so I was, I'm happy to see it shine inside of this show.

32:17Jo:See, I would say the start of the season is whoever came up with the prop vomit, you know, because that is very hot doggy in a very disturbing way.

32:26Rob:Very tough.

32:27Jo:Unsettling. And the poor guy who's been like, I mean, I say poor, he did like accost Dana and Emma as they walked by. Oh, trying to get a sandwich. Begging to like, when am I going to be seen? and then we see him finally get a bed, finally get a sandwich, only to be sat next to Projectile Vomit Express.

32:42Rob:It's as much as he deserves, I think. It's as much as he deserves. Maybe so.

32:45Jo:On the Langdon front, though. Yes, please. I'm with you that a lot of this is working for me. The part of it that's not, and I think intentionally, is it does feel like he's sort of like trying to shoot the moon on the 12 steps, like really speed running this thing. He's like, I gotta talk to Dana. I gotta talk to Robbie. I gotta talk to everybody today. And some of that, as we've talked about with other plot lines, is just the pit. and everything has to happen in one shift because that's the storyline that they've chosen to tell. But it also feels representative of something with him. You know, it's like he...

33:13Rob:The adrenaline junkie. The adrenaline, like he's jumping back into it

33:16Jo:and he's like, I'm ready to get my life back on track in understandable ways.

33:20Rob:He's like, listen, there are only a few more episodes left of this season. Only a few more hours left of this day. I got to get this plot line done or else...

33:28Jo:I got to talk to Robbie before he gets on that motorcycle because afterwards, who knows what could happen.

33:32Rob:Who knows if any of us are back next season? I hope they're all back next season. On the Langdon front, we are inspired by Langdon's in the break room. Dana comes in. She grabs, no free ads, but she grabs a LaCroix out of the fridge. And I sent you a photo because I freeze-framed to find out what flavor of LaCroix we're drinking in the break room in the ED here. It's berry, which is tough.

33:58Jo:I can't think of a flavor you would better choose to describe a person who's made poor life choices. I don't

34:03Rob:here's my here's my hot take on this not a hot take here's what I deduce berry is not something that anyone buys for themselves is what I believe I believe berry comes in the multi-pack from Costco it's like it's like lemon lime berry pomple mousse it's true right so I think that the hospital is buying LaCroix in Costco Flats I mean that's unquestionably true and berry is just like in the mix

34:29Jo:I guess my argument is just like it's not just the thing you get but in Langdon's case The thing that you might deserve because of some of your choices? I don't know.

34:37Rob:It's Dana who drinks the berry at the end of the day. Oh, does she take it? Yeah, she drinks it.

34:41Jo:Oh, here. I thought she was giving it to Langdon.

34:44Rob:No, no, no.

34:45Jo:Oh, Dana. Dana was drinking the berry LaCroix.

34:47Rob:So, you and I have talked about LaCroix before. No, for you guys. But we've talked about it before. We have very differing opinions on what the best LaCroix flavor is. You think it's... I'm a pomple mousse. But also, you like coconut. I love coconut. Yeah. I think it tastes like sunscreen.

35:03Jo:To borrow a phrase from our friend Mallory Rubin, there are snack drinks and there are meal drinks.

35:09Rob:I don't understand what that means. But this is a perfect example.

35:11Jo:I would never drink a coconut LaCroix with food. But if I'm just sitting around watching an episode of The Pit, of course I would sip on a coconut LaCroix.

35:18Rob:And it has to be ice cold, right?

35:20Jo:That goes without saying.

35:22Rob:Okay. There's a new flavor of LaCroix. Once again, no free ads, but here we are. That's called Sunshine.

35:27Jo:Yeah.

35:28Rob:And you and I have off pod talked about it a little bit. I've procured us a can of Sunshine LaCroix. I have made sure it is, it's beaded. It is quite cold. Okay. And we're going to try it right now. Because this is a real podcast where people do real things.

35:46Jo:I appreciate you generating content for us. I think I appreciate you bringing Sunshine LaCroix into my life. That's what the ASMR has out there.

35:57Rob:Kai just opened his on the mic, too. I love that. What do we think this is going to taste like? I don't know. I think first we should taste it, and then we should look at the flavor notes.

36:06Jo:Oh, okay. I've just taken a whiff of the Sunshine La Croix. How did that go for you? I'm getting like fruit-by-the-foot notes. Like very, very processed fruit-leathery kind of. Kind of like Capri Sun. Oh, Capri Sun. Yeah.

36:19Rob:Do you like a Capri Sun, Kai?

36:20Jo:I do like a Capri Sun. Maybe you'll like the bubbles. Kai, cheers to you. Yep, cheers.

36:29Jo:what who tasted that it was like tv static oh

36:36Rob:why what is that oh you know what the after after taste is not horrible but it is very like

36:43Jo:1990s gummy snack definitely you know what it is um are you familiar with the candy airheads

36:48Rob:i said 1990s and coming snack.

36:52Jo:Well, I mean, I had always heard a lot of urban legends about the mystery white flavor of Airhead.

36:57Rob:Yeah.

36:57Jo:Right, like what is it? Is it one set flavor? I'd always heard like, oh, it's the scraps of all the other batches. They just kind of mixed them together. That's what this tastes like.

37:05Rob:The homunculus of Airheads?

37:07Jo:This is the bits and bobs that were left at the bottom of the vats of La Croix of other flavors and they just lumped them together.

37:14Rob:They just scraped some berry. Yeah. You know, a little of the limoncello.

37:18Jo:Yeah, a little crayon in there.

37:19Rob:That like plum one. Don't bring Cranraz into this. Cranraz is an elite flavor. It's the best flavor. If you say so. I think you know that's true. Okay, so last but not least.

37:29Jo:Yeah, no free ads because this is bad. Don't buy Sunshine LaCroix.

37:34Rob:Featuring a bright blend of citrus and tropical zest.

37:37Jo:I mean, I taste the tropical. There is a Hawaiian punch element.

37:40Rob:Refreshing, sun-kissed, and slightly floral. Are you getting anything floral in there? No, just homunculus of flavor.

37:48Jo:If you like a pure fruit punch, maybe you might be into this, but I got to say I do not.

37:55Rob:And yet you went back for another sip.

37:57Jo:I mean, I'm nothing if not diligent. I'm a professional, Joe. It's like not good, but I can't quit it.

38:05Rob:Kai, we never hit something that you want more of.

38:08Jo:No, I don't like it, but I just have to be like, do I like this? I'm very confused by it, conflicted. Kai, what's your go-to of a sparkling water flavor? What's your profile? It's a great question, Rob. He hates sparkling water. None of them. Yeah. Oh, that's right. He's anti-bubble. Well, he's not anti-soda. I do like soda. Yeah. But with water, I'm very anti-bubble. I just, I could never understand that. Water, I'm anti-bubble. I don't get it. I need it to be still.

38:31Rob:But I really like you and I support you in all of your endeavors. All right. Is everyone ready to talk about medical mishaps again?

38:39Jo:Well, before we do, we do have some new fridge rules. Dana alludes to them.

38:44Rob:Right.

38:44Jo:You know, there's a list. I got to zoom in on it. I got to see what these rules are.

38:47Rob:I'm so impressed by you always.

38:48Jo:Most of them are pretty standard. You know, unlabeled food is community property. She mentions there's now a$20 fine for stealing food. I flagged three that I thought were notable. Hit me. Rule number six, no microwaving fish or broccoli. Fair.

39:02Rob:I feel like this is besmirching broccoli to me. Broccoli does not reek. No fish, absolutely.

39:08Jo:Broccoli is a vegetal smell, but to me, not unpleasant. I don't think it's particularly pungent.

39:14Rob:We love broccoli. We love broccolini.

39:16Jo:Maybe we're biased because we're so pro-broccoli. We are. Rule number seven, no Ozempic shots in the fridge.

39:22Rob:All right.

39:22Jo:I guess tough but fair. I didn't realize this was a workplace concern. I did not know.

39:26Rob:Hazardous material, I guess.

39:27Jo:Again, the pit, the more you learn. Rule number eight, condiment hoarding is a crime. Of what magnitude? I'm not sure, but I would love to know the punishment.

39:35Rob:How does one hoard a condiment in a communal fridge?

39:38Jo:My thought is like there's a bottle of community ketchup in there and somebody's just like dousing something in it.

39:43Rob:Okay.

39:43Jo:Just really taking all of what is supposed to be shared.

39:46Rob:Here's my vision. Someone has located the, I mean, the absolute best condiment, whatever the case may be, a really good mustard.

39:53Jo:Yeah.

39:53Rob:They've hidden it in the back behind something that's like moldy. You know what I mean?

39:58Jo:That's actually a pro move. Have you done this?

40:00Rob:No, but that's more hoarding to me than just sort of like a heavy pour on the ketchup.

40:05Jo:It's true. We got to get to the bottom of it. If you have a condiment hoarding issue in your workplace, you may be entitled to compensation. please email us at prestigetv at spotify.com slash drsidebanks at gmail.com

40:17Rob:but not violaposture at gmail.com see now you're learning it's not a real thing the more you know she can be taught alright ready to talk about abscesses?

40:26Jo:if we must sunshine and abscesses what an episode

40:30Rob:um okay so you had asked our listeners in the medical community whether what Robbie did by slicing into that woman's leg uh with the necrotizing fasciitis last week was like an okay move. Actually, we got mixed responses. We really did. Some people were like, yeah. And some people were like, deeply, wildly irresponsible. Bottom line, headline, I guess, that woman lost her leg, knee down no matter what.

40:59Jo:Just a nightmare scenario. Like go into surgery, wake up, and you have half of your leg.

41:04Rob:But per Robbie's sort of, you know, righteous indignation last week, he was like, I'm trying to save her life. You're trying to save her life. I'm trying to save her life. And so he got her into surgery where maybe she's lucky to only have lost half of her leg inside of this scenario. And if they had waited for all the tests that Garcia— Why are you looking at me like that? Like what? If he had waited for all the tests that Garcia wanted, then something worse could have happened.

41:32Jo:That seemed true with the emails that I read as well. It was striking to me that the people who were pro-Robbie were not just aligned with his general philosophy, but it seemed like really took shots at Garcia's overreactive sense of caution right that like we're in disaster mode once this starts to spread with this like this quickly like it sounds like a lot of people just believe this woman should be operated on as soon as humanly possible or addressed and treated as soon as humanly possible so I get it the fashion in which Robbie just grabbed a blade and sliced that thing open

42:05Rob:like he's Zorro

42:06Jo:yeah

42:06Rob:I didn't love that no

42:08Jo:so maybe

42:08Rob:like a little Wolverine snicked sort of thing and you're like no not for me you were

42:13Jo:Wolvie Berserk style all over that woman's leg unfortunately but so maybe it's less of a decision and more of a methodology problem

42:20Rob:okay Harlow this is actually this is my this is my number one beef with this episode with this hospital

42:26Jo:yeah

42:27Rob:Harlow who is still waiting on a on translation services yes Princess comes in and tries a bit our babe Princess we love her she loves Love Island we love her yeah great um has Santos, who seems wildly disinterested in the whole situation. This is a tough day for me rooting for Santos, honestly, because her bedside manner has gone out the window.

42:49Jo:It's bad. Well, her bedside manner is doing well because she's sleeping everywhere.

42:53Rob:She's got a five-hour energy now. She does. Hopefully things will pick up for her. But can we not give this woman a pen and paper?

43:00Jo:This is what I'm talking about.

43:02Rob:Hours ago, pen and paper? Does pen and paper not exist for this woman to just write down her symptoms and go from there?

43:09Jo:We did this last year with season one, Joe, because there was a patient who came in and they weren't able to quickly identify what language she was speaking.

43:15Rob:Right.

43:16Jo:And they were like, oh, my God, how are we going to figure this out? It's like, I mean, you could show her a map and she could point to where she's from. Or like, again, pen and paper in a lot of different ways here could solve everything, especially when it seems like Santos's main concern is princesses like fairly rudimentary, but in this case, helpful. Yeah. Sign language proficiency.

43:35Rob:It's at least like a point of like contact with someone communicating with Harlow. For sure.

43:39Jo:But she's not going to be able to capture all the nuances of the symptoms that Harlow is going through. Seems like just writing them down would get you a lot of the way that you need to go.

43:48Rob:Can you write down your symptoms of the last few weeks? Done. Let's keep it moving. I'm baffled by this, genuinely. Also, it seems like they put her in the room where the disimpaction happened. Like, room 12? So, Harlow's sitting there. Yeah. It reeks in there.

44:06Jo:She's been in there for hours. I'm sorry. It can't be the room, right?

44:10Rob:Well, they said it was, so I didn't really understand that timeline.

44:14Jo:Maybe they moved her.

44:15Rob:Maybe they moved her into 12.

44:16Jo:They're like, this woman's been waiting here so long. Let's put her in the disimpaction room.

44:20Rob:Yeah, really upsetting stuff as far as I'm concerned. Actually, this is a good segue. Would you watch a documentary on the poop cruise that Lena, the charge nurse, now death doula, watched?

44:30Jo:It's not for me.

44:31Rob:It's not for me as well.

44:32Jo:Would I watch a documentary about the Dave Matthews Band bus that dumped a bunch of tour van poop into the Chicago River? Would watch that.

44:40Rob:Well, you love DMB. You're a DMB guy.

44:43Jo:I am not.

44:43Rob:You're a movie guy and a DMB guy.

44:45Jo:This is why I would watch it. I am not a DMB guy. You're a DMB guy.

44:50Rob:I've been treading trot and trails for a long, long time, Rob. It's true.

44:53Jo:I'm sorry. You're just of the demo, Joe. I'm sorry. It's just one of those things. I'm actually not as much.

44:57Rob:I am like way more than probably you, but I'm not a DMV guy. But you're right. I am in the demo. You're absolutely right. So Lena's here to help. I really loved this. This plot line is really tough to watch. But watching, I think what they're trying to get out here is really extremely difficult to confront. Which is the idea is that it can be extremely hard to have someone care for you. Yeah. And that's a tough thing to say into a microphone or whatever, but just sort of like Roxy's in all of this pain.

45:34Jo:Yeah.

45:35Rob:And her husband's like, I will do anything for you. And wouldn't we all want to hear that from our partner? But the burden that that is placing on her to feel guilty and responsible for all of that, he's not asking for her to. It's just the nature of the dynamic here. Or, you know, I have not been in this particular situation, but, like, I think a lot of us can relate to having been in a situation where you need to rely entirely on someone. And there's just, like, a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety that goes with it. And you're trying to sort of, like, put on a happy face while you're going through unimaginable pain.

46:17Rob:So Lena being there to sort of read between the lines of what Roxy's saying, to share understanding looks with her, for our babe Dr. Bangs to sort of intercede, for Princess to be watching her as well. I think her husband, who's a lot of people wrote in to let us know that Taylor Hanley, who plays her husband, was also Oliver on the OC. Thanks, millennials. We appreciate your service. But it's a great performance. and I don't think this guy is doing anything wrong. It's just, it's an incredibly tough situation to navigate emotionally while you're dealing with this much physical pain.

46:55Jo:And I think this actress, Brittany Allen too, another great performance. She has kind of a Michelle Williams quality to her where it's like every time she just like stares off into middle distance forlorn.

47:06Rob:Right.

47:07Jo:I just feel a pang of something like deep and upsetting. And it's a lot of what you're talking about, Joe, which is the pit as a series and as a subject matter is a lot of like dealing with the best that we got, right? Like very limited time, this person rolled in, we got to get them treated in the best way that we can immediately. This is like the best case version of her world, of like once she is diagnosed, once she's dealing with all these health concerns, like the best version of this for her, the best, most loving version is seeing the person you care about most worn down and slowly overwhelmed by the circumstances.

47:42Jo:and she obviously is too and we see that over the course of these two episodes where it's just everything that Roxy's being asked to deal with is just more, more, more. Morphine machine, ketamine. Like it's just more drugs, more help, more assistance. Now she has to take all this stuff home, more pain that she's going to have to deal with. It's completely understandable that that character would feel like she's at a breaking point. But I think projecting that outwards into not just like I'm sick of this because I'm hurting, but I'm sick of this because of what I am putting on other people. is deeply relatable, but also I just think handled very deftly, honestly, within this plot line.

48:17Rob:And her wanting space from him, not because she doesn't care about him, but because she does care about him. Yeah. And she's just like, we need space. We need, you know, and to have Princess Arbe, we love Princess, to have her come in and just be like, oh, that's what I'm here for. And just like, it's a different kind of help. The help she's getting here is a different kind of help than watching, you know, this is what they do all the time. Yes. This is what, you know, and Princess could just be like, oh, just go home, watch Love Island. Don't worry about it. This is what I'm here for. Obviously, they're impacted when things like, you know, the loss of Louis happens.

48:50Rob:Like, you know, we see Perla really, really emotionally grappling with that in this episode. So it's not like they don't care, but it's their job to do this and to have your spouse, your partner, the closest person to you, whoever that might be, sort of taking on. It's just a different emotional ask at the end of the day. And Roxy doesn't have the spoons to navigate that emotional reality while she's dealing with this crippling physical pain.

49:18Jo:Yeah. I think the whole idea, whether it's true or not, of walking into a doctor's office or an emergency room is like, these people are equipped to deal with whatever I am bringing to them. And we know better than to believe that to be 100 % true. Like, Robbie's on the roof at the end of the shift in season one. It's like, clearly these things take their toll. But there's also enough repetition that these people, they at least know how to process it in a particular way. They know how to be there for you to the extent that you need it while you're in this emergency department. And then also you move on, right?

49:48Jo:Like you move elsewhere in the hospital, you go to like outpatient care somewhere else. Their responsibility to you is like fairly limited to this brief moment in time for which you're in the ER. Her husband's role like clearly has been going on for a long time. This is something that like, it felt like they had already come to terms with a certain standard of life. And then she has this seizure and falls and just has this like horrible leg injury. And now it's beyond starting all over, right? It's just like taking a totally different toll on both of them.

50:15Rob:And what I really like, what I think is really interesting and nuanced about this dynamic is like, again, there are certain loved ones who have visited this emergency department where we're like, you're really bungling it. Like baseball dad last season. You know, there's like certain people that are just sort of like, get a grip. What are you doing? I don't feel this way about Rox's husband. He's just incredibly like, I'm here for you. What do you need? I want to be with you. I love you. I will take every second with you, all of this. And you can be doing nothing wrong and it can still not be the kind of care that this person needs, you know?

50:47And that's the show at its best.

50:50Jo:It is the show at its best. And what she needs is clearly going to be a subject to explore in the next episode as far as what she wants the future of her life to look like. She's not ready to leave the hospital, I think in part because the excruciating pain of even trying to get to this ambulance but I mean they're feigning pretty strongly that this is heading in a direction of like how do you manage end-of-life care for a person in these kinds of dire circumstances and what is it that Roxy wants out of the rest of her life however long she wants that to be and if that's not what the people who

51:19Rob:love her want yes where does the rubber meet the road there and what if it's not the people what

51:24Jo:the people in the pit can legally help with.

51:26Rob:Yeah, that's a question. Which, again, I'm really glad that Lena, as a death doula and really underlining what that role is for people who are not as familiar with that, I love that the show is doing that. Another case that I really, really liked is there's this older gentleman who comes in regularly, basically asking for Samira Mohan. Yes. And she takes over and Dottie is a little insulted. He's like, you know that I can handle this, right?

51:53Jo:Well, we do know because it's nurse week. And so we're reminded in every plot line that, Donnie, you're very capable.

51:58Rob:You watch Donnie. He knows what he's doing to Emma. So, like, don't worry. We get that. But we get this moment from Samir. She's like, he comes in regularly. He's just worried about this. Have you ever worked a public-facing job?

52:10Jo:Not really.

52:11Rob:Right. Yeah. You went, like, straight into journalism.

52:13Jo:I mean, mostly, yeah. Yeah.

52:15Rob:Okay. When I worked at various bookstores, we would have people come in. it was just like very clear that they had like no one else to talk to um oftentimes older and you're the only person they talked to that day and they would just come in regularly and that was just like another part of your job as a public facing yeah person who works out in the world you know it's just sort of like and it's this idea of community care like how do we care for other people in the world and it's like they might come into the bookstore almost every day and not buy anything. And it's still just part of what we're all doing here is like to create a community space where you feel like you're having human interactions and everything's a little less lonely.

53:00Rob:And I really loved that part of the job. Like I thought that that was like, and for Samir to be like, listen, does he need this test regularly? No, but it makes him feel better. And he likes me and he just comes in and talks to me. And I just like, again, we are constantly being shown all the ways in which these doctors go above and beyond or these nurses, because it's nurse week always and our hearts go above and beyond. And this is a way in which, you know, this is not technically what Samira should be doing, but she's like, but I'm doing, I'm helping him at the end of the day.

53:32Jo:I get what you're saying. That's like not technically within her job description. But I think if you're a doctor, easing anxieties is a huge part of your job description. And sometimes that is ordering the extra test, even though you know academically that it's probably not going to show anything that's worth flagging. But if that helps a patient be more at ease in their day-to-day life as a result, like, I think that is part of your job.

53:53Rob:I actually don't know. I'll be curious to hear from the doctors and other medical professionals who are always listening to this podcast, but, like, I think there are ways in which you are, like, not supposed to order frivolous tests. Sure. You know, especially—

54:04Jo:If it's a strain on the system.

54:06Rob:You know, a strain on the system or a strain on people's wallets or whatever the case may be. Like, don't do that. For this, to me, it was less about his— but I don't know. But it seems less about his anxiety about this medical case and more like, I want someone to talk to sometimes, you know, and I'll go in and see the doctor that I like.

54:22Jo:And it felt like such a stark contrast with everything that Santos is doing in this episode, which is like she can barely be in a room and pay attention to literally anyone talking, not just patients, but like Whitaker is trying to have a moment with her and she's falling asleep. And I think if you want to zoom out, there's like a broader thing happening in this episode of all these, you know, our little pit found family, just like being unable to be there for each other in certain moments where Whitaker is trying to share this like really tough moment about Louis with Santos. And because she is so ground down by her job, she's falling asleep at the desk, basically.

54:56Jo:We even see like princesses trying to help Perla after Louis passes away and like, I'll come with you to do this. But then Roxy's screaming in the next room and she needs to go do that. it. So it's like people are constantly being diverted either by the overall accumulation of what they're being asked to do at work or the urgency of what they're being asked to do at work. And Santos is probably dealing with it the worst of anybody at this point. We've been told this is like a uniquely stressful time basically in your cycle in becoming like a full-fledged resident. But just tough to see her, especially in contrast to someone like Samira Mohan, who's like, I'm going above and beyond.

55:31Jo:Dana's going above and beyond. People are making exceptions in time to give people like real human interaction and treatment. And here's Dr. Santos like literally falling asleep on the job.

55:41Rob:It's a really tough look for Santos inside of this episode. How do you feel like that's balanced by Garcia giving her the brush off on the 4th of July plans?

55:52Jo:Fucking brutal. I mean, we hate to see it. I mean, they've always had that dynamic where Santos has seemed from almost the start of season one like drawn to Garcia. Clearly they have an extracurricular relationship at this point. Carving out a little space on the weekend. I think it's how coldly Garcia wipes it away.

56:13Rob:Well and that's I mean that is just very in keeping with Garcia's personality. From just one of the most consistent characters on the pit to be honest with you. And I kind of like that because Santos is frustrating me in her bedside manner and all these other things. And I'm just always trying to root for Santos and then she's often thwarting me in my attempt to root for her. And so this moment where she's on the back foot inside of someone who's giving her the brusque demeanor that she gives other people, I thought was a really good moment.

56:47Jo:I think, and we don't know Garcia as well, to be fair. So there's an internal life there that may explain a lot of things, but I've always understood Santos's version of that brusqueness to be a little different, right? Like it can be, it's a little more reactive. It's a little more defensive. It's like, maybe it's coming from a place of like feeling she's being the one who's left out and all these other people are finding their specialties or their friends at work or whatever. But it's like, she is like an emotive sort in a way that Garcia is not. And so like part of that too, is like this highly emotional person and this like very cold close off person in Garcia's case.

57:18Jo:I mean, not like a judgment, but they're just so different as personality types.

57:21Rob:We got a couple emails from people, you know, inside of this episode, Robbie is like, Santos has been ducking traumas all day. And I was sort of flagging it as like an evolution for her character. Yeah. But a couple people flagged for us that the ones that she turned down specifically were ones that Langdon was involved in, that she was ducking being in the same room as Langdon. Yeah. Which, same Robbie, so, you know, like.

57:42Jo:Pot kettle, et cetera.

57:43Rob:Et cetera, et cetera. For the AI haters among us, how did you feel about the AI error moment inside this episode?

57:50Jo:Complicated. I would say, look, clearly Santos, who has botched a patient's medical history in her charting, along with like a few other errors, just like riddled with problems. I'm sure it's within the 2 % margin for error that Dr. Elashimi has addressed. You know, it's really all acceptable. The problem here, even as someone who is AI skeptical, is like Santos has done exactly what Dr. Elashimi told her not to do, which is don't just throw this in there and believe it to be accurate. You need to proofread it very carefully. And so Dr. Alashimi is, I think, pretty right as far as like if you're going to criticize this process, if you're going to criticize the implementation, like you need to criticize the way it's meant to be done.

58:28Jo:And that's not what Santos did.

58:30Rob:I don't disagree with you. I think that you're then demanding that humans be perfect and we don't live inside of that system. We do not. Okay.

58:43Jo:I think this is the issue with like we just get dragged into an AI debate every week, unfortunately.

58:49Rob:It's the text of the show.

58:50Jo:Yes, but like a lot of the issues with things like AI, like efficiency engines, right? These things that are supposed to make our jobs easier is like, okay, it makes it easier. What happens next? And I think there are two very human things that tend to happen. And one of them, we've had people emailing us who work within medical systems and hospitals about the specific idea that Robbie raised that even if you can see more patients, then you're just then expected to see more patients. And it just, it becomes like an economics problem effectively. And then the other one is that people naturally become so reliant on those mechanisms of efficiency that they let up on the human diligence aspects of it.

59:25Jo:And so, yeah, like a doctor charting by hand is not going to be perfect either, but a doctor who believes that there is a 98 % accuracy for this tool because they've been told it by a superior, I think also would kind of take their, like take their hands off the wheel a little bit and take their eye off the ball as far as like actually making sure every T is crossed.

59:44Rob:Yeah, absolutely. I agree with that. Anything you want to say about Brandon Lee, our motorcycle trauma guy. Yet another cautionary tale for Robbie here.

59:51Jo:Well, to be clear, it's motorcycle pyramid trauma.

59:53Rob:You know what? It's great. He's got the best fit of the season, I feel. Have we not made any advancements

1:00:01Jo:in daredevil costuming

1:00:03Rob:in the last 50 to 60 years? That Feeble Knievel set the model and we're just chasing it? I mean, I get it's the 4th of July.

1:00:09Jo:It's like the stars and stripes. You gotta be Spangled.

1:00:12Rob:But can we not Spangled any other way? You're not gonna motorcycle pyramid unspangled. No.

1:00:16Jo:you simply would not. No. That would be uncalled for.

1:00:20Rob:I just think

1:00:21Jo:a little creativity would be called for. You know, there's something we can do to mix it up a little bit except for the stars.

1:00:27Rob:You're calling him basic.

1:00:29Jo:You said it, not me. Wow, wow, wow.

1:00:31Rob:You cheered when they cut that suit off of him.

1:00:33Jo:I did a little bit. I did think when he said four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul. A bit of poetry from him, which I appreciate. I also think some of that's because if you crash on two wheels, your soul will literally leave your body. the way in which characters talk about motorcycles this season, we've flagged it many times. It's been coming up over and over and over.

1:00:53Rob:Yeah.

1:00:53Jo:Very important to Robbie that this guy knows that he, Robbie, is a motorcycle guy. He's like, let me drop some terminology on you. Yeah, yeah. I know all the brands, the manufacturers. I know about thumpers. Good for Robbie for that, I guess. Those things are death machines, and many people are talking about it. The fact that this guy is just ready to hop back on one after having this horrific gash in his leg.

1:01:17Rob:He's not going to fall again.

1:01:18Jo:He's not going to. I mean, he's very confident.

1:01:19Rob:He's not going to fall again. It'll be fine.

1:01:21Jo:He will, in fact, fall again.

1:01:22Rob:I want to talk about a couple of things that are waiting for us in the wings, right? Like the Jackson case is ongoing. We're going to wait for his parents to show up. So that's happening. The young man with, I think, schizophrenia. I'm not a doctor, but I think so. We've got a baby Jane Doe check-in. Me too. Inside of the sexo.

1:01:38Jo:Turns out, still taking formula well. Great. Maybe smiled.

1:01:42Rob:we got a double Duke mention inside this episode Robbie's friend Duke is supposed to come by it's noon, where is he?

1:01:49Jo:yeah, so what do you think he's coming by for?

1:01:51Rob:I think Robbie said we need to run some tests so I think there's something wrong with him

1:01:56Jo:with Duke

1:01:57Rob:yeah, medically

1:01:58Jo:see, that was my initial assumption based on the mention earlier in the season when he's calling Duke, reminding him to come in but then in this episode he talks about how Duke helped him fix up his bike

1:02:07Rob:yeah

1:02:07Jo:and so now I'm wondering like is Duke coming by for like some fine-tuning before he gets out on the open road?

1:02:12Rob:I don't think so. You think it's strictly a medical reason? I think it's fine-tuning of Duke himself.

1:02:16Jo:Of the body and mind. Yeah.

1:02:17Rob:And I feel like it's not going to be great news, would be my guess. Oh, boy. If Robbie's like, my friend's coming, my friend's coming, my friend's coming. You know what I mean?

1:02:27Jo:I mean, that to me, and especially based on the background, I know a lot of people have been guessing both in our emails and elsewhere that Robbie is going to leave at the end of his shift and get in a motorcycle accident and be wheeled back into the ER. I feel like it's more likely that Duke comes in having a motorcycle, having had a motorcycle accident.

1:02:42Rob:Our third, oh, he's late.

1:02:44Jo:The reason he hasn't showed up is that like something serious has happened. Oh, okay. But again, who knows at this point? Like I would be shocked if there is no motorcycle-based payoff later in this season, just given how prevalent it's been. But who is on that motorcycle, I think is a fair question.

1:02:58Rob:I had an English teacher in high school who used to say three trees make a row in terms of like making your argument on something. So we've had two motorcycle accidents. So you're saying Duke could be the third tree in this row.

1:03:08Jo:Could be the third tree.

1:03:08Rob:This is the most important thing I think is waiting in the wings. And this comes from our listener, Maddie, who says, If we don't get a furry in the pit this season, they've royally messed something up. And through Con, a massive furry convention is held in Pittsburgh every year over the 4th of July. In 2025, there were over 18 ,000 attendees. Surely at least one of 18 ,000 plus would suffer from some kind of heat stroke in their fur suit. Wow.

1:03:38Jo:How many Minotaurs in there, you think? That's a great question.

1:03:42Rob:What's your familiarity with the furry community?

1:03:44Jo:I mean, I'm a person on the internet. Yeah, yeah. I'm aware of what's happening. Okay.

1:03:48Rob:What is happening?

1:03:50Jo:People in their suits.

1:03:51Rob:Uh-huh, their fursonas. Their fursonas, very important.

1:03:54Jo:Yeah. I think people range in their level of involvement. For some people, it's like, my fursona is my truest self. Yeah. And for some people, it's like, my fursona is the person I am for this con. Right. You know? I agree that we need some— This has to happen. It simply must. Yeah. And I'm open to any variety that they want to come through. If it's just somebody with like a fuzzy fox mascot head on, but a normal human body, let's do it.

1:04:17Rob:That doesn't sound like a true furry to me.

1:04:18Jo:But that's what I'm saying. Like for everyone, it's different. You'll take a partial furry. You're saying they're furrying wrong?

1:04:23Rob:No, I would never. I would never yuck someone's yum. I will tell you that I once accidentally found myself at a furry convention.

1:04:32Jo:Accidentally, she says.

1:04:33Rob:I was in a hotel. No, this is so good. I was in a hotel. Okay. For a different reason. And when I got in the elevator, a bunch of furries got in the elevator. And I was quite young. Not like a child, but I was like, I think, my early 20s. Early days, earlier days of the internet. Sure. I did not know what furries were. So what did you think was happening? I did not know. And I turned to a friend of mine and she was like, I'll explain to you later. And when we got off the elevator, she's like, this is what a furry is. And this is where. And I was like, oh, we're in the middle of a. It was in San Jose, California.

1:05:07Rob:So if you were at a furry convention in San Jose, California in the early odds, then...

1:05:10Jo:And you got into an elevator with a daunted Joanna Robinson.

1:05:14Rob:Some girl was like, what is happening? That's not how you want to learn about furries.

1:05:18Jo:Who is the character working in the pit you most want to see interact with a furry?

1:05:25Rob:Okay. I think this is two answers. Okay. Because I think it's interact with a furry and then who is secretly a furry among the pit staff.

1:05:34Jo:Okay, I want to hear both.

1:05:36Rob:Okay. I want to see Joy interact with a furry.

1:05:40Jo:Joy would be phenomenal.

1:05:42Rob:Dry as toast, Joy. I love her. I love every reaction she has. Dealing with a furry person, a person enjoying their fursona. Love to see it. Who, hmm. We already know that Mel King loves to go to the Ren Fair.

1:05:56Jo:She does. And to be fair, if someone asks, like, what do you do for fun? I could understand.

1:06:01Rob:Yeah.

1:06:02Jo:If someone who's a secret closeted furry would might not be like, that's the first response is telling someone. She's like, I go to the Ren Fair

1:06:08Rob:and here's my Ren Fair.

1:06:10Jo:Maybe that was for like soft launching of like, how receptive is this random guy to this stuff?

1:06:15Rob:Then I got some tales. One follows the other. I got some tales to show you. Okay. Who's your pick for secret furry among the pit staff?

1:06:22Jo:Langdon. Langdon. There's really no doubt. Okay. All right. Like he just got into it on a whim one day. Again, the adrenaline junkie part of him is like thrilled by the anonymity and what he can do.

1:06:35Rob:You know who likes to have, who's the best at having fun on the staff?

1:06:39Jo:Langdon?

1:06:40Rob:It's Princess.

1:06:42Jo:Princess does seem like she'd have a lot of fun.

1:06:44Rob:Yeah.

1:06:45Jo:I would also, I mean, I would love to see, honestly, Dana might be the person I would like to see interact with a furry the most.

1:06:50Rob:But Dana's seen everything. That's true. And Joy hasn't seen everything.

1:06:54Jo:Maybe Javadi would be fun too. Look, anyone, everyone, just bring in the furries.

1:06:58Rob:I would like a whole like, passel of furries. I don't know what the group name for furries are. A murder of furries is what I would like to see at the pit.

1:07:08Jo:You know, we get a moment in this episode as Dr. Robbie, Dr. Alashimi, and Mel and Samira are kind of negotiating what to do with Gus the prisoner. Yeah. Right, like what kind of care we can provide him, what should be the next steps. And they're kind of interrupted by somebody from the waiting room, like almost kind of barges in.

1:07:24Rob:Yes.

1:07:24Jo:Waiting, like wanting to be seen. Through the bay doors. Through the bay doors. they're locked but you can kind of sneak in sometimes apparently yes so clearly that's an omen of something what if that omen is the murder of furries furry stampede there's a run there's a run of furries stampeding like Jumanji style yeah through the ED

1:07:44Rob:like the monkeys in Jumanji but it's furries exactly

1:07:47Jo:that's my vision

1:07:50Rob:the pit you can hire us for the writers room for season 3 if you fail to fulfill the furry prompt we're ready with a lot of furry potential stories Anything else you want to make sure we mention? I'll say this. So, Brandon Mendez Homer is the actor who plays Donnie. And he has this moment where he's showing Joy his tattoos. And I couldn't find any photographic evidence, but I actually kind of wonder if those are his actual tattoos. Because what I learned is that as I was trying to find photos of his wrist, I have a very normal job. It's fine. Don't worry about it. I found out he's a new dad. So, like, this whole Donnie is a new dad storyline is based on this actor.

1:08:27Rob:has like an 11-month-old kid. And so they're like, well, they were just sort of like, we're drawing from your real life and we'll have you talk about being a new dad because that is what's really going on with you. But they were just the kind of tattoos that look like just his tattoos that he has. They decided to like make a story around it or something.

1:08:43Jo:And this is a show, as we've talked about in previous episodes, where they draw from things in the actors' lives, where they draw from real relationships that those actors have. We've seen significant others on the show. It's like the actual stories of these people are intertwined with the characters themselves. So I would like if that's the case. I mean, I like what they're doing with Donnie in general. Oh, yeah.

1:09:01Rob:This is a great Donnie episode.

1:09:03Jo:A great Donnie episode. And so it's like, again, that's one of those things where if this were just a great Donnie episode, cool. But it's also a great Donnie episode within the We Appreciate Our Nurses episode.

1:09:12Rob:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:09:12Jo:Tough.

1:09:13Rob:Anything else you want to mention?

1:09:14Jo:I think the only thing I wanted to mention otherwise is Javadi having this moment when she's talking to Jada, Jackson's sister. Yeah. And I think, again, it's one of these things that comes up over and over on the pit in terms of these people are put through extraordinary circumstances who work there. Santos is crashing left and right. Like everyone is dealing with a ton of stuff. Javadi is like a little imprecise in her language in which she says like, we need some more time to figure out what's wrong with your brother. Yeah. And I just, I love that reminder of kind of the high wire act that these doctors in particular have to walk at all times.

1:09:49Rob:And not just Javadi, like Samira in this episode when she's talking to Gus and she's like, well, you can put your food in a blender. And he's like, I don't have a blender. She's like, right. You know? Yes. So like these are great doctors who we love and they like fuck up. And I think specifically in that Javadi situation, to me that felt part and parcel with the It's Nurses Week on the Pit because Princess swoops in with the like good bedside manner and the emotional support for Jada as she is breaking down.

1:10:13Jo:But to be like, I mean, you're in a highly emotional, highest possible stakes environment in which a lot of the people you interact with are having one of the worst days of their lives. And you have to be kind of note perfect on the messaging and you have to be very precise in terms of the medicine. And it's like the way all that is looping up together, it's like, it's an impossible standard. And it, of course, sets up one of our favorite things, which is for people to fuck up all the time and then have to kind of come to terms with that fucking up.

1:10:39Rob:The pit, we love it. We do. We'll love it more if there are furries. Okay, anything else you want to say?

1:10:43Jo:One thing, Joe, is I feel like we're getting less and less of Mel.

1:10:47Rob:Very minimal Mel this episode.

1:10:49Jo:And I'm wondering how much of that is, honestly, the deposition is coming.

1:10:53Rob:Right.

1:10:54Jo:We're on an hour-by-hour countdown watch as far as when she's going to be.

1:10:57Rob:Are we going to go into the deposition? Do we get like a full legal drama inside of the back half of the pit this season? We had better. Okay. We had to get a lot of Mel King.

1:11:05Jo:At this point, we need a lot of Mel King. And also, it's always hard to wonder with TV, too, how much of this is like, okay, they're saving this character for an arc later in the season. And how much of it is like, Taylor Dernard's so good on this show. Did she book another project? Did she book another show? Is she not there in every scene?

1:11:21Rob:I don't think that's the case. I don't think it's that Taylor, I mean, she should be booked and busy. She's wonderful. That's why we haven't seen Mateo because he's booked and busy, right? So I don't think that's the case. You know, she's here in the background constantly. If she weren't available, then, you know, she wouldn't, I don't think you can do the pit if you're not available because you just have to be like set dressing for like every episode even if you're not in a scene but I'm hoping they're saving her for something you know major at the backf of the season I miss her I miss more time with her I miss her too

1:11:51Jo:I'm looking forward to the furry reveal where the helmet comes off the head comes off and it's Mel underneath you know one can dream

1:11:58Rob:we can only hope alright well that has has been the pit episode 6 the noon hour is done Donnie has had his donuts his blood donuts as Dana might call them I'm not thrilled about it. His hot dogs, his coffee. Don't pay too much attention to it. It's going to be fine. Thank you to Kai Grady for being here with us, for choking down some of that Sunshine LaCroix. What a hero. Thank you to Justin Sales for his work on this feed. We'll be back. We've got a special guest on the podcast this week. My pal Katie Rich will be joining me to talk about the FX series Love Story. Happy Valentine's Day, I guess.

1:12:37and Rob and Jodi and I will be back to talk about industry next week,

1:12:43Rob:as well as, of course, more of the pit. Thank you, Rob Mahoney. Thank you, Jo. You're welcome. Bye.

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