The Pitt Episode 11 “5 PM” on MAX feels like something of a buffer between two outrageously stressful moments in Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, but it’s a moral crucible for Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh).
**Spoilers for The Pitt Episode 11 “5 PM,” now streaming on MAX**
The kind-hearted doctor, whose penchant for devoting more time to patients has earned her the unflattering nickname of “Slo Mo,” decides to essentially force a patient into facing his secret opioid addiction. Instead of giving the man more morphine, she uses BUPE. Buprenorphine is a drug used to help heroin addicts kick their habit and to even curb methadone dependence. What she doesn’t do, however, is reveal to the patient that she’s essentially tricking him.
“This is a crazy ethical dilemma,” The Pitt star Supriya Ganesh told DECIDER. “He has not really consented to his treatment, but she is treating him and ultimately it is going to be better, maybe for him within her worldview.”
Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) is understandably furious with Dr. Mohan, but she’s more angry with her patient, the father of a bride-to-be. The last we see of Dr. Mohan this episode, she is uncharacteristically telling the patient off, hoping that he gets to walk his daughter down the aisle and be with her for many other special days to come.
The reason why Dr. Mohan’s decisions this week seem so out-of-character is because weeks earlier, she had chastised Whitaker (Gerran Howell) for not being empathetic to sickle cell patient Joyce’s (Ashley Romans) need for more painkillers. Dr. Mohan is usually the one going to bat for her patients, listening to their life stories, and fighting for their best interest.
When DECIDER spoke with Supriya Ganesh earlier today, she not only explained how her character’s backstory might have informed this choice, but how it’s inspired her call to emergency medicine, period. We also delved into how important The Pitt is for the medical community, what specific Taylor Swift song helps Ganesh channel Mohan, and what fans can expect next week, when PTMH will have to handle the absolute tragedy of a mass shooting at PittFest…
DECIDER: Early on this season, Dr. Robby questions Dr. Mohan if emergency medicine is right for her. Obviously she’s got a horrible nickname and you know, she really cares about the patients so much. I’m curious what has drawn her to the ED? Why is she so adamant that ER medicine is for her, even if Dr. Robby doesn’t think so?
SUPRIYA GANESH: Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting. When I first started learning more about this character and learning more about who she is, that was one of the questions I had as well. Where I was like, “Why is she here?” And this was before we had our backstory sessions with John [Wells] and [R.] Scott [Gemmill]. And so I was trying to put pieces together by talking to a couple of ER doctors and also the ER doctors we had on set. And one of the things that really stood out to me was, if you are someone who really connects with your patients, right, the ER is a place where there is a natural stop to that. Because you’re trying to get your patients in and out. At most, you’re only with them for like a day, maybe like a couple days. So it’s a very interesting way to have that natural stop to you getting a little too attached. So that was something I really grabbed onto as a place for her. Because maybe it might be too hard for her to go into something like internal medicine or palliative care, where she really sees a patient through their entire lifespan or lifespan through their medical care. That was something that was really interesting to me.
And then talking to John and Scott, they told me that she had this backstory where her father passed away in the ER and I think to her, that is a big reason why she wants to work within the system that maybe isn’t built for a doctor like her. Maybe change it to make it better. There’s probably some reworking of trauma happening there for her, which, yeah, I think Episode 11 kind of explores that a little bit.
You mentioned the two week boot camp. I’m fascinated. I talked to some of your costars about like, little things that you guys knew that maybe aren’t totally obvious at first on the screen. Is there anything that you guys talked about during that time with the writers that you’ve seeded in, that you hope people notice, or that you want people to know about your character that hasn’t been revealed yet?
I think the burnout that ER doctors are experiencing. When we did this boot camp, so many people came in. I mean, we had some of the founders of emergency medicine with us in the room, which for me, I mean, I was a pre-med student, so it was kind of crazy that I was seeing some of them. I kinda was like, “What the fuck is going on?” So that was like a very strange melding of two worlds for me. But I was so taken aback by how much it felt like ER doctors wanted this show on air. They said, “This is something we really need.” It feels like our emergency departments have been hit so hard by Covid. Empathy for doctors is at such an all-time low. Funding for emergency departments is at such an all-time low.
I hope that this in some small way changes your experience, even if it’s someone who sees Dr. Robby, for instance, go from one really difficult case to another really difficult case and kind of goes like, “Oh, just because a doctor isn’t with me doesn’t mean they’re doing nothing and twiddling their thumbs. They’re dealing with things.” Or the fact that you see Dana’s world in Episode 9 up until that punch, right? And you kind of go like, “Well, she deserves to take that fucking break. She hasn’t had a fucking break in several hours.” And if that maybe just changes someone’s reaction to a doctor in the ER, I hope people are noticing that and hearing that. Yeah, it seems like they are. But that that is something that we really wanted to address with the show.
In this week’s episode, you have a patient come in wanting to have painkillers and opioids, and your character sniffs him out and basically kind of outs him as a drug addict. That’s such a interesting inverse of what happens with Joyce early on in the season, when your character fights for her character to have more pain medication. I’m curious what you thought about that contrast, and why does Dr. Mohan think it’s the right thing to do to out this guy’s addiction issues?
Oh my gosh, I could talk forever about this. I do want to point out I love that you noticed the inverse. And Quyen [Tran], our director, was so amazing about even showing that inverse on camera. Because I don’t know if you noticed, the place where I tell Whitaker, ‘That guy’s a drug addict,’ is the same place where I give him a dressing down about noticing Joyce’s pain in Episode 2. It’s literally the same spot. I think it’s interesting to show those different sides of Dr. Mohan in that same physical setting.
And I got to tell you, from when I got this episode, it was tricky for me because I think Mohan is a very ethical doctor. She’s generally always concerned about the well-being of the patient. And this is a crazy ethical dilemma. He has not really consented to his treatment, but she is treating him and ultimately it is going to be better, maybe for him within her worldview. And so, it was very tricky for me to play with. And I think that’s where some of her trauma comes in. I think there’s a part of her that feels like she might be saving her own father or saving herself from losing her father. All of those thoughts were kind of running through my head as I was kind of making a very anti-Mohan decision. I don’t think this is something she would normally do unless she felt really called to do it and really felt like maybe in some twisted way she was helping someone. And yeah, I mean, I’m curious to see what the reactions to this is going to be because it is interesting. Like what does it mean to treat a patient who hasn’t really consented to their treatment?
Episode 11 ends, of course, with the knowledge that the news that there’s been a mass shooting at PittFest. Can you tease for people who haven’t seen the episodes anything non-spoiler-y about what’s expected in the next few weeks?
Absolutely. I think the tone of the show changes entirely. It just totally shifts into what feels like, to me, a horror film. (laughs nervously) It’s just so… It’s so overwhelming and it’s so intense. And I think what differentiates our show from other shows that have maybe explored mass casualty incidents is that we really get into what it is like for the doctors. That was also something that we wanted to explore, because I think there’s a lot of talk about gun violence in this country, right? And rightfully so. I’m someone who believes there needs to be more gun control and more checks. But I think that there hasn’t really been this conversation of, well, what is it like for doctors? What’s it like for doctors to have to constantly, especially in some areas, I’m sure you see a gunshot victim in the ER like every day or like every other day. What is it like for doctors who have to constantly treat something that â I’m getting emotional â that, you know, might be able to have some stops there?
Before I go, I was watching a video that MAX put out of you guys behind-the-scenes, talking about what’s on your motivational playlist. You admitted that, like me, you have a lot of Taylor Swift on your playlist. Is there a particular Taylor song that makes you feel very Dr. Mohan-esque?
Oh, there’s so many, but I think “Mirrorball” really comes to mind. I think that line where Taylor Swift goes, “I’ve never been a natural. I just try, try, try.” I think that’s so Dr. Mohan. Where she doesn’t feel like she’s a natural at the ER, but she just keeps trying to get better and trying to get better and trying to get better. And I think sometimes when I need to get into character, that’s one of the songs I absolutely listen to. I’m like outing myself as such a diehard Swiftie. I probably know all of her songs.
This interview has been formatted and edited for clarity.
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