‘The Pitt’ Episode 13 Recap: “7:00-8:00 P.M.”

…and we’re back with Episode 13 of The Pitt, during its realest time, right here inside the tension with the staff of the emergency department. We feel like we’re working right alongside Team Red in one of the quadruple-packed trauma bays. We’re at Dr. Robby’s shoulder as he and Dana assess a police officer who’s been shot through the face. We’re with McKay – and even Langdon – as they clock the heavily-armed SWAT guys congregating across the ED. “Maybe they think the shooter’s coming here?” As it races to its conclusion, a few episodes/hours from now, watching The Pitt remains as taut an experience as working there.

“We’re supposed to stop here. And stay between ‘ten o’clock and two o’clock.’” Javadi is on the rooftop helipad with Whitaker. They’re picking up fresh blood being airlifted in, but like being thrust into the response for a mass casualty event, it’s also an entirely new experience the med students will just have to vibe out. Whitaker: “Where’s twelve o’clock?” 

Inside all of this, as they continue to treat victims in their bloodsoaked PPE, Robby, Dana, Abbott and the rest of the senior staff are still keeping tabs on their young colleagues. You love to see it. Dana is relieved at the arrival of night shift nurse Bridget Young (S. Zylan Brooks). “North is Yellow – keep an eye on the new kids.” And Bridget will. But with a glance at Dana’s black eye and high-viz vest, Bridget reminds her fellow veteran caregiver they’re all in this together. “Holla if you’re in trouble.” 

Do you know the difference between IO, intraosseous access, and IV, intravenous access? While treating a literal clown, one of the kids requires a refresher. “Whitaker!” Mel says, with Bridget alongside. “Team huddle!” The whirring IO drill device he used is only for unconscious, unresponsive patients – after all, it’s boring into the bone to reach the bloodstream. The teaching moments continue even as more victims arrive in triage. Which Dr. Abbott, as former military, is uniquely prepared for. He’s packing a tactical airway kit – works in the dark, even under fire – and quickly and efficiently stabilizes the wounded police officer’s trachea. Dr. Mohan, observing, wonders why the Pitt doesn’t stock such lifesaving equipment. “Not in the budget” is Robby’s answer. It puts into relief his squabbles over funding with Gloria, from just a few hours before, as the bleeding and the saving and the dying continue. In the nearby pediatric room, which has been transformed into a temporary morgue, Kiara Alfaro photographs the defining characteristics of patients with unknown identities, those who the Pitt could not save. 

That IO has more than one use. While Langdon’s got a patient who suddenly regains consciousness, only to reach for a SIG Sauer P365 in his ankle holster – the entire floor ducks – McKay’s ankle monitor begins to blare. She finds an IO, pulls the trigger, and drills directly into the device, silencing its screaming tone and robotic voice in a shower of sparks. Show’s over, folks. Even inside everything that’s happening – the clown Whitaker treated looks anxiously – Dr. McKay is one of The Pitt’s coolest customers. 

85 victims from the mass shooting treated, and more are on the way. Outside, in triage, as Robby takes a moment to compliment the steady work of doctors Shen and Ellis, he reacts with alarm to the sound of Jake’s voice. Robby’s stepson-ish is unhurt, but Jake’s girlfriend Leah (Sloan Mannino) is the 86th victim. And the attending surgeon goes to work. Intubation. Chest compressions. The nurse can’t feel Leah’s carotid. Dana registers no response from the patient’s femoral. 

Robby has already invested more time and resources into Leah’s condition than the Pitt’s MASH unit protocols established. Even as other staffers call out for an attending, he stays working on Jake’s girlfriend. (Nearby, Mohan drills directly into the skull of the aging hippie victim – “relieving the cranial pressure so he doesn’t die” – shocking but impressing the young team of Javadi, Whitaker, and Santos.) Leah’s pulse pops for a nanosecond, then disappears. Robby believes, he has to believe, that she can be stabilized. She’s right on the edge of what they can achieve as lifesavers. But Dr. Walsh and Dr. Abbott do not concur. Blood, says Abbott while he works on his own patient, “is for the ones we can save.” 

Shawn Hatosy, man. Abbott pulls up beside his colleague. “Bullet tore through her heart. Anyone else with a wound like this is pronounced dead in the field. You can’t keep up with the blood loss. If she was our only patient, we’d do a thoracotomy, maybe ECMO, but even then I doubt we’d get her back.” Abbott pauses, looks at Robby. They’re two professionals; they should both know the score. But he and the entire staff see the emotion surging under Robby’s surgical veneer. “We’re gonna lose 10 other patients if you put all your efforts into saving this girl.”

As he finally calls it, Robby feels his COVID flashbacks coming back on. He steps in to quickly treat a few other victims on the way to find Jake and tell him. He pulls him into a quiet room, explains everything that medically transpired. But Robby doesn’t have an answer to Jake’s pleading. “Why couldn’t you save her? I mean – this is what you do!” 

Would she have been saved on any other day? Yes, no, maybe – Robby, his PTSD now raging, really can’t answer. He’s tearing up. Starting to sob. “The fact that we saved as many people as we have is a fucking miracle.” But he couldn’t save Leah. And just like all the other patients who died today (this season), all of those who didn’t make it – not just the victims of the shooting – we can’t help but remember them with Robby as the Pitt’s attending surgeon finally submits to wave after wave of crushing despair. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.

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