Best Patients From The Pitt Season One
- Jamie Marie Torres
- Feb 12
- 10 min read
*Spoilers for The Pitt Season One
During my Internship as a Film Blogger for Imagine This Women’s Film Festival, I got to write a Review for season one of HBO’s Medical Drama The Pitt. I titled it; I Wasn’t a Fan of Medical Damas - Then I Watched 'The Pitt'. I still mean that.
Grey’s Anatomy Please die already.
In that article, I gave extra praise for their patient storylines being sincere and easy to follow, despite the lack of backstory they.
“For this show, it works not only to create the environment and energy of an emergency room but also, as a deliberate choice, gives them a sense of worldbuilding, which I’ll delve into later. Most of all, it works to establish the patients as characters. In standard medical dramas, patients and their families are often one-off characters, creating drama for a single episode and then departing. However, the patients in The Pitt feel much more realistic, and their actors delivered some stellar performances.”
During that article, I made sure to give some extra love to the actors playing Theresa Saunders (Joanna Going) and her son David (Jackson Kelly).
David appears in only the first episode and the last two, but his presence haunts Robby and McKay for the rest of the shift. These four have seen each other in the finale, which showcases the rawest emotions, especially from Theresa, which drives home this mother’s love for her child. It's almost a shame we probably won’t see Going and Kelly next season, because this plot was great......David’s plot and character could've easily fallen into the commentary on toxic masculinity and incel culture, but its so much more than that. David needs professional help, and Theresa loves her son but is not blind to his concerning behavior.
Even while writing this review, I had to refrain from spending too much time on the patients, as my article was already long enough. There were so many patient performances that deserved praise, but I think a lot of them got lost in the chaos of the PittFest. I actually intended to pitch this article when I was still interning at ITWFF, but I never got around to it.
But now, a new season, new patients, and new injuries are currently underway, and what better time to give some love to my favorite patients and family members of season one. I've narrowed down to my favorite ten, and these ten are here for a variety of reasons. The significance of their story, the actor's performance, hell, a couple are just because I found them hilarious. I also did not include Louie because I believe he will have more of an impact in season two than he did in season one.
10. Trish Gregory
Actor: Jennifer Christopher
First Appearance: Episode 12 ,6:00 pm.
Trish is one of many victims who came in with the first wave in the first episode of the PittFest arc. She is brought into the non-critical part of the ER for a gunshot wound (GSW) to the hand. But her shell-shocked, silent demeanor troubles the doctors, especially Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden).
What follows is one of my favorite scenes. Still in her silent, shocked state, Trish wanders into the central lobby of the Pitt, where all the more critical cases remain. She has this glazed expression; it's hard to tell if she's even retaining the sight in front of her, all the blood loss and death.
We don't find out until 8:00 pm that he attended PittFest with her husband, who was pronounced dead on scene. But even without that information, the viewers can’t help but feel her grief, even though we don’t know exactly who she’s lost yet
Jenna
Actor: Mika Abdalla
First Appearance: Episode 3, 9:00 pm
Jenna is one of two college students who got rushed into PTMC who overdosed on Xanax that was most likely laced with fentanyl. She and the other student, Nick Bradley, were students in the same class and got the drugs from the same place.
According to many medical practitioners, the fentanyl epidemic is a rising problem; more and more it is being found in street drugs, and more and more people are dying from overdosing on it, not even knowing their drugs were laced.
While Jenna regains consciousness with Narcan, Nick is declared brain-dead. When Jenna receives this news, she is shocked to the core. There is no doubt she is going to be thinking about those moments every day from now on. Jenna got lucky; Nick did not. Who knows why? I think this is the most poignant “don’t do drugs” storyline I could think of, for both Jenna and the audience.
Myrna White
Actor: Jeanette Tondino O'Connor
First Appearance: Episode 2, 8:00 am
What can I say? I guess every medical center needs that one long-term resident just hanging around, amirite? And you know she’s a long-term wheelchair pro by the way she scoots around that ER by her feet. Classic old person thing to do.
If she does appear in season two, I expect her to be in handcuffs like the end of last season.
Lily Bradley
Actor: Samantha Sloyan
First Appearance: Episode 2, 8:00 am
"Perfect Penny killed my husband!"
I’m so sorry, I don't even like Grey's Anatomy that much, but it slips into but it slips into my mind whenever I see her.
Samantha is Lily Bradley, Nick Bradley's mother, the other teenager besides Jenna who overdosed on fentanyl. It’s clear very quickly to the doctors that Nick is brain-dead, but it takes Lily and her husband John (Brandon Keener) a few hours to come to terms with it. But her breakdown at the end of 8:00 am rattles the emergency room. We see snapshots of their deepest grief until they finally accept Nick’s choice to be an organ donor. It's the other half of the warning that Jenna got. It's not just "don't do drugs", it's more, "please don't do drugs, it's not worth the loss you'll suffer or the pain you'll cause".
Doug Driscoll
Actor: Drew Powell
First Appearance: Episode 1, 7:00 am
Yes, I know, fuck this guy. He’s an entitled, disgruntled piece of shit who punched Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) in the face.
So why is he here, you ask? Well, because Powell did great work. For all of Driscoll's awfulness, this man is so entertaining. I love seeing him get more and more agitated as the hours progress. On a more meta level, I see him all the time on social media with the main cast. He's clearly such a great sport about being the biggest POS in the show. Either way, I love him.
5, Helen Spencer
Actor: Rebecca Tinley
First Appearance: Episode 2, 8:00 am
Helen and her brother Jeremy (Mackenzie Astin) arrive at PTMC when their father Joseph (Madison Mason) is brought in from his retirement home with a severe case of sepsis. On the first meeting, the audience is immediately irritated by Helen, who insists upon ignoring her father's advance directive, which states no artificial life support or CPR, insisting that if he could get better in a week with them, it would be worth it.
In any other medical drama, the part of the concerned family member who insists on ignoring a DNR and threatens lawyers is the so-called "enemy" of the storyline. But within an hour, she relents, accepting the truth that her brother and the doctors are telling her, their father will not get better.
By episode 4, 10:00 am, Helen and Jeremy spend the next hour sitting with their father, waiting for him to pass. In her Ho'oponopono monologue to him, we see her make peace with all the love and regret in real time. I think there is a strange, bittersweet optimism in this kind of goodbye, because it’s an affirmation of a life of love and family.
In terms of themes of grief, I view this storyline through the same lens as the Bradley case. Not only because a large part of their storylines overlap in episodes, but also because they are the opposite kinds of goodbyes.
Two parents losing their son suddenly and tragically, versus two kids saying goodbye to their father, reflecting on a life well lived. Again, another layer to the plea not to take unprescribed drugs to the audience, because, as harsh as it is, this is what Nick robbed himself of: the chance to grow old and die peacefully.
Chadwick "Chad" Ashcroft III
Actor: Robert Heaps
First Appearance: Episode 10, 4:00 pm
Standard troupe of a medical drama; a family member of one of the staff is brought it and causes hijinks to ensue. Oh, so predictable, and yet we eat it up every time. In The Pitt, Dr. Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) is the lucky winner here, and I'm honestly the better for it. McKay's ex-husband Chad and father of her son Harrison (Henrey Samiri), is gurnied in with a broken leg and a huge pout
You can tell by the first scene. that he is such a tool, and that’s even before his baby-faced girlfriend Chloe (Jonetta Kaiser). He’s one of the actors who offers more comedy than drama, yet two of my favorite scenes he has consist of both.
At 4:00 pm, he's high on pain medication, so the doctors need to splint his leg. It brings a smile on my face to watch him moan and groan about the beautiful Nurse Mateo (Jalen Thomas Brooks) and his luxurious curls. Same, Chad, same.
But his one scene at the beginning of the PittFest arc (6:00 pm) is what sticks with me the most. Chad sneaks down to the ER in the hope of heading home with Harrison. Seeing the severity of the tragedy through Chad's eyes - much like we did with Trish - is like a cold showering igniting our senses. But unlike Trish, Chad has no emotional stakes in the scene ahead of him, just pure shock that counteracts how the rest of the ER staff feel. This moment of stillness in a constantly moving atmosphere is captivating and lasts only a beat. Yet, you can see Chad shocked to his core, no doubt changed.
Willie Alexander
Actor: Harold Sylvester
First Appearance: Episode 8, 2:00 pm
Willie, an 81-year-old black man experiencing a more “altered state” and an ineffective pacemaker, surprises the PTMC staff with how familiar he is with their hospital protocols. Are we sure he’s not a doctor? Nope, just your friendly neighborhood mailman.
Luckily, Willie’s son, Eli (Paul Mabon), comes to set things straight. No, Willie is not a doctor; he was a medic for the Freedom House Ambulance Service as a young man.
Founded in 1967, Freedom House was the first emergency medical service to train its paramedics in more than just first aid. They learned to use IVs and defibrillators and even performed field intubations. Freedom House began in the Hill District, a predominantly African American neighborhood in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I've seen The Pitt receive a lot of praise from Pittsburgh natives for the love of the city's history that goes into the show. Currently in season two with Tree of Life, and in season one with Willie and the Freedom House. I, for one, never heard of the Freedom House before this episode. Hell, it never even occurred to me that first aid training could differ from standard medical training. It sounds dumb, I know, but it's the truth.
Although Freedom House closed in 1975, its legacy endures: its training model set the standard for emergency medical services that paramedics still use today.
Brian Thompson
Actor: Chad Addison
First Appearance: Episode 14, 8:00 pm
I liked everything about this patient from his first appearance to his last, and not just because it gave us the pigtail catheter scene between Doctors Jack Abbott (Shawn Hatosy) and Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh).
Yes, I'm a sucker for whatever they may or may not have going on, sue me.
Brian comes in blazing hot, literally, he speeds into the ambulance bay and crashes into some gurneys. He's lucid in spite of a GSW to the leg, telling doctors they need to help the young man (Aidan Laprete) suffering from an overdose in the back of his van. He explains to those present that he was a navy corpsman who stayed behind at PittFest to help the victims. Clearly running on adrenaline that gives out not a moment too soon.
If I'm being honest, I think I have him ranked so high because I kinda grasped onto him within all the grimness of the PittFest arc, which I'm sure was the writer's intention. After the grim ending of the previous episode, The Pitt writers knew that we needed a more hopeful patient to make us not completely give up on humanity, and it's true. NO to get to philosophical, but our world is built on people like Brian, who act on compassion like it's a reflex.
Minu and Sam Wallace
Actors: Arun Storrs and Lovensky Jean-Baptiste
First Appearances: Episode 1, 7:00 am
By far my two favorite patients! Everything about them, their entrance, their prosthetics, everything! They are the first patients of The Pitt ever. Brought in after a near-fatal incident on the morning train platform.
Minu, seemingly the victim of a hate crime, was pushed onto the train platform by an unknown person. Sam, a good Samaritan, jumps down onto the train tracks to save her, but slips and hits his head on the way back up. Meanwhile, Minu’s foot gets clipped by a train. BY no small miracle, it has not been completely severed, but it’s a bloody sight that takes out poor Javadi (Shabana Azeez). Props to the prosthetic department, though.
While it’s a terrible thing that has happened to Minu, Sam’s bravery really does soothe a soul that has steadily become jaded. A few hours later, Minu and Sam finally have a moment to meet face to face, and despite the language barrier, it is a scene oozing with bittersweet love and compassion for human life, embodied in a talisman and a promise. It's perhaps my favorite scene in the whole season, for the way it touches my heartstrings.
There are plenty of honorable mentions: Nandi the influencer (Sasha Bhasin), Amber's parents (Marci Miller and Shane Hartline), and even her little sister, Bella (Olivia Fokova). But these are the ten I look forward to seeing every time I rewatch season one (which is often), even if their time is brief.
With five episodes down, ten more to go, starting with this week's episode "12:00 pm", I already have my eye on certain patients, but I will keep an open mind because I'm still left asking writers of The Pitt the most important question: What could possibly top PittFest?
If you haven't already seen The Pitt, please get on HBO and get to it. I've already convinced one of my coworkers to watch it, and another friend is coming over this weekend to continue the binge. So I beg you, even if you're as tired of the procedurals as I am, please give The Pitt a chance.
And will someone PLEASE, for the love of god, get Earl a sandwich!
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