A drifting figment of your imagination

A collection of my thoughts on why this ship is going places.

Frank’s Relationship Status

In Season 1 the implication is that Langdon’s marriage isn’t strong.

In Season 2 it could be argued Frank is already separated based on him not wearing his wedding ring at the beginning of the first episode and staying late at work on the 4th of July.

Mel’s Relationship Status

"Have you found a boyfriend yet?" Not very subtle by the writers...

It’s been established that Mel is afraid of being alone but that doesn’t automatically mean that Mel and Frank will end up together. They’ll probably be able to find comfort in each other’s company though.

Mel & Frank

The way the writers have established the characters and the way they interact with each other points to a developing relationship, especially their shared interest, inside joke, and camera choices. This is an incomplete list, but…

There are numerous scenes where Frank can’t keep his eyes off Mel. For example: 

Their first scene when Mel’s introduced to everyone, he gives her a second look...

The way he watches her from the doorway when she’s looking after Terence.

Frank notices when she needs a break, compliments her, and learns from her. He doesn’t look for an exit when talking to her.

In season 1, Frank says “I’ll come find you if I need you”, then finds her in the breakroom and says “I need you…”. 

In the season 2 breakroom scene Mel says “we don’t always get everything right the first time” and then quotes a Kelly Clarkson break up song to Frank who is quite possibly going through a divorce.

It’s an inside thing. They have the “Captain Scurvy” inside joke from season 1 that they both remember in season 2 after 10 months apart and only one shift together.

Frank turns the light out and shuts the door to give her a quiet space after she is knocked over in season 2. He learnt that from her in season 1.

They have a shared interest - history.

Mel trusting Frank to care for Becca and Frank doing a good job of it is a bit of a trope.

"I see why you like him." Mel tells Becca about Frank after only one (memorable) shift so much so that Becca remembers it when she meets Frank 10 months later. The alternative is, Mel just won't shut up about Langdon 🫠

I re-watched the Pot Gummy case in season 1, episodes 1 & 2 after a convo with @deeprealmgenesis who had an interesting perspective on Langdon’s handling and reaction to the situation. This is my take on it. I think his handling of the situation in episode 2 when he tries to de-escalate is quite interesting.

Background

The story is basically the dad has some pot gummies which unintentionally affect his young son Tyler (same age as Langdon’s son Tanner) and causes a falling out in his marriage. There are multiple shots of the parent’s holding hands, including one where they separate when the dad realises what happened. The mum tells the dad to fuck off multiple times and that he needs “to get a fucking hotel”. It’s a big neon foreshadowing sign that most people in the fandom are familiar with.

How Langdon handled it

In the episode 1 scene when the pot gummies are discovered as the cause, Langdon removes the dad from the situation, de-escalating it temporarily.

Later, in episode 2, things escalate again after Mel tells the parents mandatory reporting to Child Services is required. The mother wants to leave the hospital with her son, Langdon tries to stop her threatening to have her removed and it escalates further. Robby has to step in and asks what she wants to do. Langdon seems slightly annoyed when she (quickly?) calms down. Possibly because Langdon wasn’t considering her point of view - he was entirely focused on caring for the child. In a parallel to Langdon’s marriage, it’s pretty well established that Langdon doesn’t seem to understand what Abby is dealing with as a stay at home mother of two small kids. 

During the following “you okay / I hate seeing families torn apart” scene Mel is visibly overwhelmed while watching the social worker talk to Tyler’s dad. Langdon is cynical and maybe a bit jaded as if he’s seen this type of situation before. This scene and the previous scene I think do a good job in contrasting Mel, Langdon, and Robby’s experience levels (this is early in the show so I think the writers are still establishing characters at this point). Langdon doesn’t seem to see any parallels to his own situation, probably because nobody has found out about his addiction yet. He’s more focused on Mel, asking her if she’s okay twice.

Langdon is served with divorce papers in the first episode.

He pulls his wedding ring off and tosses it away. The ring flies perfectly into a vending machine coin slot, dispensing tasty snacks for all the staff and patients. What a guy.

Langdon tweaks his neck after hearing Mel express her worries over her fifth deposition of the month. She thinks the lawyers have a crush on her.

After the deposition Mel runs up to Langdon and climbs him like a tree. Nobody is surprised. Dr Robby says it’s normal friend behaviour after all.

Some of my thoughts and wonderings on Mel and Frank’s involvement in potential season 3 storylines.

From a storytelling perspective, Langdon’s marriage is doomed. The only part Abby has played in the show is as an off-screen exhausted stay at home mother who almost divorced Langdon or has probably separated from him between season 1 & 2. I don't think anything positive has been said on-screen about their relationship, just that individually they’re good people. I don’t think it would be resolved off-screen, so we might see some resolution or at least some progression towards a resolution in season 3.

Langdon tweaked his back in season 2 carrying the boy with heatstroke and later references it when he bends over to look at the Styx guy with a facial injury. He takes some Advil in the breakroom soon after. A relapse might push his marriage to breaking point - is Abby willing and able to support Langdon if he calls for help? In the season 2 breakroom scene between Mel and Langdon, he is fiddling with his phone when Mel comes in. Did Langdon try to contact Abby for comfort because he's doubting himself and got no reply from her or worse - a brush off? (Alternate theory - Langdon was debating whether to confide in Abby and unsure how it would be received)

In season 2 we see evidence of self-harm by Santos and later she pockets a knife, foreshadowing a storyline for season 3. Mel, being friends of both Langdon and Santos, could be stuck in the middle.  Does she have to act as a temporary caretaker for Langdon and/or Santos? What does that mean for Mel in terms of doing things she wants to do for herself? Can she do that if she’s worrying about her friends?

The Pitt has a lot of explicit and implicit references in conversations and cases to Langdon's marriage and addiction issues.

For example:

The scene where Langdon cuts off the guy's wedding ring, who almost lost his finger from trying to hold onto his child.

The child who eats the pot gummies - when the dad realizes where the gummies came from there's a close-up shot where he moves his hand away from his wife's. A wedding ring is in shot...

The girl with the drinking problem who has the tongue injury.

So when Langdon says "STEMI with me Mel" are the writers saying "help me with my heartbreak, Mel"?

A collection of my thoughts on their relationship for season 3.

Ring-gate Recap

Frank is not wearing his wedding ring in his first couple of scenes in season 2 - when he’s opening his locker and talking to Dana and Lena. It reappears in his next scene when Mel runs up to greet him. 

Is it a continuity error?

Is he divorced or separated and embarrassed to admit how much damage he’s done to his life? 

He might have intended to put it on in the locker room, but forgot so he put it on off camera before his scene with Mel. There’s no straight answer. 

The scene with Mel is interesting by itself. Mel seems to run up to Frank like she’s going to hug him at first and Frank seems to be taken by surprise somewhat. When he unfolds his arms the ring is revealed for the first time in the episode. Sort of like the writers saying “hold on, he's still married”, though Frank is clearly happy to see Mel.

Frank’s Marital Status in Season 2

It feels a bit weird that we’d find out in season 3 that Frank was divorced between season 1 and 2. So my guess is they’re separated and heading towards divorce. That means Frank is still kind of telling the truth when he says his wife threatened to leave him.

Frank stays late on the 4th of July which hints that Abby and his kids are doing their own thing without him.

Frank’s Marital Status in Season 3

Whatever the case may be, I think the writers will most likely have Abby divorcing Frank to maintain Frank as a sympathetic character. At the least, the split will be mutual.

As far as we know, Abby is a stay at home mother. We don’t know what Abby’s support system is like, but being a single working mother is a big change in circumstances. Assuming Abby is thinking logically about the situation, she’ll either be making exit plans or need something to push her over the edge to leave Frank such as a relapse.

From a narrative perspective Frank’s marriage allows for tension between Mel and Frank with a hard obstacle preventing their relationship from moving to the next level. Mel “hates seeing families torn apart”. At the least Frank’s marriage establishes the obstacle and potentially provides a source of drama.

The writers have a lot of options here.

Season 3

Mel and Frank have only spent two days together so far, so skipping straight to a relationship in season 3 would be skipping steps in the on-screen slow burn romance story.