In The Pitt

Bc on the one hand: okay yep, fan-service, Abbot's titties are out, excellent, thrilling, wonderful, we're so glad they could make it etc etc etc, but setting that aside, and also setting aside the #fuckyeah! #girlbosspowah #yeh-ignore-his-dumb-white-ass baby girl hilarity and good times we're all having (i: no longer am) I just...

Abbot is in a vulnerable state (he's injured (however superficially/how much he downplays it), he's shirtless (which, again, yep, juicy tits, fabulous, uh-huh): he's still half-naked and most ppl do not enjoy being that way in their workplace, he's been through a trauma and someone he knows/is at least friendly/acquaintances with is severely injured and their long-term fate unclear - he's got the door shut and all of the curtains pulled.

When Samira barges in he becomes visibly uncomfortable. His eyes dart between the open door and the now uncovered window - outside of which is: THE ENTIRE ED. The Hub is directly opposite the door (C6: NOT a good place for a private anything, as Robby and Baran also demonstrate later on), security is opposite the window, and there's a patient in a bed parked LITERALLY right underneath/beside his window - everyone can see him and he's obviously not too chuffed with this.

To which Samira responds by: pushing the curtains open a little wider. Just in case, idk, her patient has been turned into a mouse 'The Witches' style and is somehow hiding there!? Who knows.

She then proceeds to: look around some more and grill Abbot on whether or not he's seen her patient/stand there Disney-princess style sighing and gazing mournfully into space bc how cruel the world be to me!!! We see Abbot clock her bag of supplies for her patient before she thinks to take note of the: extremely obvious tray of medical supplies he's got in front of him and finally deign to ask him what happened to him.

Abbot then as we know repeatedly downplays the incident (shot AT) and any concern (No, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Seriously.) and like. Okay. We all had a good chuckle at Samira having her little 'uh, no, not you, dumbass, I'm worried about my patient, DUH' moment and Abbot's resulting confused/kicked meerkat expression (which Shawn Hatosy admittedly does incredibly well lmfao) but from a "boring/serious/'it's not that deep, rowyn'" POV:

Abbot's SWAT ""hobby"" is also a risky/death-wish/red flag behaviour the same as Robby's helmetless motorcycle riding (which Robby calls him out on later in the season - and he's deflecting/being defensive but he's also: not wrong) clearly evidenced by the fact that: he was injured, and at the same time his friend was seriously injured. That and Abbot's downplaying of the incident are both huge red flags and Samira just....breezes right past them/doesn't give a flying fuck bc if it doesn't have anything to do with her patient she: doesn't care. (harsh? mayhaps. true? definitely)

I also just (and this is more me being Extra Salty/may just be a personal me thing) but...she watches him unpack his supplies, tell her about his injury (which she KNOWS is on his shoulder/in a difficult spot to reach) but she just sits on her chair and whines abt her loss of patient and only offers to help him after 1)- he's given her the option of ubering her medical supplies to Orlando's house 2)- offered to pay for it personally and 3)- obviously struggles to do it himself (which, all that twisting and stretching sure felt gr8/helped a lot, I'm sure) and it just....meh, the set-up of it and her only seeming to give a shit about him/have any inclination to help him coming after he's, like, idk, ""proven"" himself worthy through his offer just makes me feel kinda gross.

And also: as a final note of grump: she never shuts the goddamned door/curtains!!!!!!

And none of this is really all that significant/doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things EXCEPT that this scene is just so often framed as 1)- a yasssss qweeeeeen!!! moment for Samira and 2)- a romantic moment/a Key moment of mohabbot which....I mean. Is THIS the foundation you want for a romantic ship?? Character A gets shot at/injured/has a death scare and Character B: whines abt their patient eloping.

Like on a character analysis level it's really hella interesting and it tells you a lot abt them individually/there's a lot in there to be considered re their actions/priorities/where they're at (Jack's passive suicidality/adrenaline-junkie behaviour, his lack of care about his own safety, and his inclination to downplay both danger and his own wellness. Samira's devotion/commitment to patient care and being her patient's doctor beyond anything else/the lengths she's willing to go to for her patients (and how that can sometimes result in her being 'blinkered'/oblivious to others).

But on a shipping front?? I... I don't find this particularly romantic or positive and I get more and more uncomfortable the way I see it casually presented as such with zero critical thought or actual consideration of the dynamic presented. I mean, for one thing, if Abbot had reacted that way to Samira he'd be fleeing from a mob of angry pitchforks, and for another....if the injury had been on, like, his ankle or some such/he hadn't had to get dem titties out would y'all really be losing ur minds over this??

And yeah, okay, sure, it's fanservice/it's not meant to be that serious - okay, that's ONE aspect/element of it, and we've opened up discussions on that/on the merits of Abbot's fabulous tits. Maybe we can also talk abt how it can do that AND also open up discussions about the fandom tendency to dismiss/downplay men's mental health issues and uncritically champion momentary "yass queen girlboss" moments over considering the wider context/impact/possible commentary.

Or how we are much more willing to accept a characters' behaviours or actions if they're directed towards a white male character (especially if it comes from a female character) when they would ABSOLUTELY be heavily debated and criticised if done to anyone else (this is a wider topic but it's extremely prevalent, I can think of multiple instances off the top of my head) and, y'know, Abbot (and other men) are, uh, people too, I hate to inform some of y'all, and while prejudiced/bias doesn't apply to them: they can still just straight up be abused/treated badly/deserve basic standards of care and conduct.

Okay, bleh, I'm getting off-topic and so I shall now get off my soapbox. Pls feel free to engage. This is largely intended to start discussion/analysis around the characters/see if anyone else feels ma vibes on this one rather than being a 'fuck mohabbot/"ur ship is wrong!!!"' which: nah, I just think it's interesting from a 'how fandom has responded' perspective and also a 'so if we discuss these two individually here what do we get?' But we shall see what this yields! Maybe nothing!! Come forth and frolic in my comments/askbox.

I CAN make gifsets without meta-yapping...but where's the fun in that!? So yappage/some expansion and explanation on each of these beats and maybe some talk around bits I didn't end up including (curse u 30-image limit!!) but that are still relevant. Bc this is another one of those 'if I had a nickel for every one...it's weird it's happened x number of times tho' situations.

So I'm not saying it's absolutely definitely for sure a solid 100% canon thing that Frank has some kind of connection to/experience with a close family member/friend with some sort of psych/neurological issue... But I AM saying I'm willing to put a reasonable little chunk of money on it at this point.

Esp when you factor in Joe Sachs saying that, "The secret of our success is we always start with the dramatic needs of our character, and then we go to the well [...] of hundreds of thousands of medical stories."

Which I always factor in bc 1)- it's a great quote/philosophy and 2)- it legitimises my inclination to seek out patterns in the kinds of patients/illnesses the characters treat multiple times and/or how they react to certain kinds of patients/illnesses. So we're gonna talk about both of those things!

We'll go patient-by-patient and in chronological order. Bc I'm a crazy motherfucker like that:

1x02 + 1x06: Beto

First and foremost: I never EVER as long as I LIVE E V E R want any of y'all to come at me and attempt to convince me that Frank Langdon (yes, even season 1 Frank Langdon!!) didn't care/had no compassion or empathy or genuine concern for people/that he had to "learn empathy" between seasons or whatever shit.

That man recognises Beto, an EVS worker who he hasn't seen IN YEARS (and who's implied to have worked night shift previously - so either my 'Frank used to work nights/Robby stole him from Abbot' headcanon may have some merit OR he's just got: that good a memory (his memory is p fucking great btw) REGARDLESS - he recognises him pretty much immediately, remembers him by name (and is HAPPY to see him!!!), remembers that he retired, and remembers him well enough to judge pretty much straight away that he's not himself/that there's something a little bit off here.

At which point he: immediately becomes protective/wants to make sure that he's okay and is being taken care of and goes to check-in with Dana. (That unimpressed/mildly disbelieving 'really?' at Beto's family not coming to collect him for a few hours is also v interesting - keep that in ur back pocket, we shall return to it later).

That and his lil check-in with Beto again in 1x06 is v sweet - and that line to Robby re "that'll be us one day" is....well it takes on a slightly different cast/tone if Frank DOES have any connection to/family history of psych/neurological issues. And Frank? Making jokes/light of a very real situation to #Cope?? Noooo!! He would N E V E R. /s

1x08 - Willie Alexander

I love Willie's case for a lot of reasons - Frank does some EXCELLENT teaching as part of it for a start, but it's also one of the patients we get to see him spend some time with and really get to know/bond with rather than ping-ponging from issue to issue as he's prone to. I also love the way he sits and very obviously eagerly learns from Willie and his history with the Freedom House ambulance service. I also really enjoy the little beat that I've giffed - which is relevant for the discussion of memory/forgetting things vs 'remembering what's important'. But also the fact Frank is obviously happy to see the joking between father and son re Willie's condition/that he Gets that joking and his reaction to it makes him feel included in it/part of it. He feels comfortable and familiar with this sort of thing.

He's also great with Willie re explaining to him the procedures that are going on, and talking back and forth with him re his medical knowledge and giving repeat reassurances - but he doesn't dismiss him or not explain things to him, or simply talk to Eli (his son), he makes sure Willie's kept in the loop and is aware of what's happening with him and why (which sounds hella basic/like it should be a given but it is: not. Esp not for older adults/those with problems like dementia or otherwise).

2x02 The Hansens

I got a lotta thoughts re this family and their gift that keeps on giving to the ED, keeping 'em ticking over through the hours. And I see a lot of parallels/things to yap about with regards to Frank's interactions with them. But for the purposes of this I'm honing in on Frank: dissociating to fuck/zoning the heck out and just doing his job in a v mechanical way until we start getting 'crazy' and 'psycho' thrown around - and he picks up the connection to the racing family, but he also definitely reacts to those terms/the idea of it running in the family. Those lines feel Deliberate/we could've said anything here to bring up the grandads names but instead we dropped more breadcrumbs.

2x11-2x12 Micah Azurmendi

Frank and Baran share many #SignificantLooks between these cases, but this is one where I think Frank's reactions are more telling than what's going on. But first off, the look between Frank and Baran re potential damage to Micah's brain is Interesting (Baran's connection to this case/to neurological complications is fairly obvious, given her seizures - Frank's less so). But both he and Baran are fairly firm in not judging Brenda or jumping to the conclusion that she harmed Micah deliberately (both are actually fairly firm on NOT making that judgement in how they speak about the case/react to others, which feels v interesting to me).

I will acknowledge here, too, that there are obviously some parallels/connections to be drawn between a parent accidentally (or otherwise) harming their child and being unable to see them with the potential for what might have happened to either Tanner or Penny had they ever found/taken any of Frank's benzos during his addiction/the fact that at some point over the 10 months, Abby apparently threatened divorce/Frank was afraid he might lose his kids. I'm sure there is definitely an element in there (esp with Micah being around Tanner's age) but I think there's more to this case, largely around how Frank behaves with regards to Micah's mum.

ESPECIALLY because of the difference in how he reacts with Brenda/her case here vs how he responds towards Tyler (pot-gummy boy from s1) and his parents. In that case he's a lot more cynical, after Mel expresses concern over seeing families torn apart, he assures her that they'll be fine, and she asks how he can be so sure, to which he replies, "They're white. Probably get off with a slap on the wrist. If they weren't, she'd probably lose her child and he'd end up going to jail, but–" - I've commented on this scene before and it's INTERESTING, because it's a side of Frank we don't see all that often (not so much the cynicism/snark) but there's....there's definitely a feeling of something like bitterness in him here. He knows the system prioritises/will let white families away with things others won't get away with and there's a feeling like he knows this to his cost/it's definitely not something he approves of.

For the purposes of this, tho, it's night and day vs how he reacts towards Brenda's case/circumstances.

2x11-2x12 Brenda Azurmendi

Frank is shown numerous times (which I giffed above for ur consumption and enjoyment!) to be very concerned about/protective towards Brenda. As stated he repeatedly avoids casting doubt/judgement on her for having intentionally harmed her son - he also advocates for her/asks after her multiple times.

-The very obvious concern he shows when Brenda has a 302 called/is placed on a hold and his first query is whether or not she's going to be able to see her son (which, interestingly (to me) he directs towards Baran, not Robby, even though Robby is his typical/instinctual go-to for answering questions/fixing things that have gone wrong in the world. Then the follow-up on what happens if Micah is ready to be discharged before Brenda is herself? - That second one is actually almost more interesting to me than the first; because it DOESN'T align (at all) with Frank's life/experience with HIS kiddos. Because even if/while he was in rehab and unable to see or look after them - he knew that they had Abby.

-Then the question (again to Baran) on if she thinks that Brenda will be okay. Frank... I don't think we've seen Frank question this about any of his patients before (most of them I think he KNOWS how they are/how they're going to be because he's worked on them and knows the next steps. Brenda's case is a bit more up in the air/uncertain - this isn't something with an easy fix or answer - but it also feels like he's seeking reassurance/this is a situation that he's worried about/that he's dwelling on a bit and wants to talk about, and he knows Baran cares as well and that she's spoken to Brenda at this point, so he's looking for a follow-up on the case, but it's obvious he's concerned/this is more than just a purely clinical 'what are the next steps' kind of a question - he's obviously worried.

-More #SignificantLooks exchanged between him and Baran when Brenda asks if she killed her son. I think, again, worried FOR her rather than worried at what she might have done (even after this he still doesn't cast judgement/in the next beat where they talk about her husband visiting he's still very clearly feeling protective towards Brenda/isn't seeing this as an admission of guilt but rather an indicator that she's not okay/needs help herself).

-Aaand yes there we go that brings us onto him obviously feeling Some Kinda Way about the fact her husband didn't come to see her or check-in at all about her but just went directly upstairs. And we get a reprisal of that disbelieving/judgemental 'really???'. Which, okay, the one word is a fun lil connection/parallel but not necessarily deliberate, however, the TONE/this being the second time Frank expresses fairly obvious judgement/disapproval (which - is actually NOT that typical for him at all, honestly, he doesn't tend to show particularly strong feelings/reactions towards any of his patients regardless, he just treats them).

But THIS? This is something that GETS him and that draws a notable response/judgement from him both times, and in both cases, it's a scenario involving a person with likely psychiatric issues and their family not coming to see them/get them straight-away/perhaps not showing enough concern for or acknowledgement of the seriousness of the issue? Uncertain. Either way, in both cases Frank is obviously Concerned/not a happy bunny, and there's definitely an instinct of care/protectiveness towards both of them.

I just. I Feel it, people, i Feel It, Frank's close with someone who's had additional care needs - maybe where those WEREN'T respected/he/they had to fight for that. I FEEL IT OKAY.

I considered posting this as it was with no yappage/commentary and letting the images speak for themselves - which I guess they will if no-one clicks the 'read more' cut. But you have! So you get: yappage. Because when I tell u guys I've been rotating this rotisserie chicken style in my head forever: I MEAN IT.

I cannot (read: WILL not) accept this as purely coincidental/Not Significant. Because camera focus is used too often to draw our attention to things/character connections between what's being said and the character being focused on (most obviously noted being the one from 2x11 where Baran talks to Brenda and asks if she's ever thought about hurting herself while the camera slow-zooms in on Robby).

But this whole scene/little speech has some good examples of it, too, like just before this we have Robby saying "the kids you'll lose will linger" and the camera then lands on Collins and Dana - Collins having just had a miscarriage, and Dana knowing this, so Dana reaches out to hold her hand/offer support.

And I #get the Santos connection, too, with the 'afraid of getting in trouble' of the kids getting mixed up in grown-up stuff and getting hurt and being afraid of the repercussions of that now that it's known (by the hospital) and how that obviously relates to Trinity's backstory. And also her current storyline of knowing/suspecting Langdon's drug diversion and her uncertainty over that and that 'trouble' word repeating, with both Langdon and Garcia calling Santos herself trouble, while Santos at first insisting, "I don't wanna get anyone in trouble." Alll of that makes sense.

And having the camera on Robby for the parts of this it's on: ALSO makes sense!

So it only makes sense that we are seeing a very specific, very lingering, slow-zoom shot on Langdon when that specific line is spoken. And I need to knooooooowwwwww W H Y/every detail!!!!! (ESPECIALLY when Frank didn't work this case personally).

BC ALSO!!!!

Now, okay, you could argue that this is meant to be another nod to/reminder of his own kids/the danger he could potentially pose to them, with reference to pot-gummy boy Tyler from earlier in the season, and the idea that, y'know, kid gets injured/killed after playing with dad's gun = kid gets injured/killed after playing with dad's drugs. Fine. Sure. Ya. I can go along with that as being an element of this...I ain't accepting it as ALL of it. Nuh-uh.

This is just...Okay so context for those who cannot remember/need a lil help - Robby makes this speech at the beginning of 1x09 as part of the debrief for the little girl, Amber, who drowned in a pool after she dived in to save her little sister/pull her out.

Robby is speaking to them about the child he first lost, 20 years ago while doing his residency at Big Charity in New Orleans - something that still sticks with him so clearly he can remember details (like the little boy's age) and that he was afraid of getting into trouble all these years later, he goes on to start telling them about his coping mechanisms of, to quote Dana 'literally burying your feelings'.

So, for the purposes of this scene/the narrative of season 1 and this debrief, HOW Robby's first pedes-death happened doesn't actually matter and isn't actually relevant in the context of this moment - it's more about it still lingering with him and those feelings and what to do with them.

But for that, it could've been ANYTHING, right? In fact it could've been nothing (by which I mean: they didn't even NEED to specify a cause, really, for this scene to happen/work). But they DID. They DID and they specified it so goddamn specifically and then they slow-zoomed in on Frank's face while they specified specifically and I would humbly like to @ noah wyle personally and demand to know: W H Y!?

Francis. What horrors linger in ur backstory? Come on. This is a safe space. U can tell me. I know they're there. I'm like 80% sure they involve guns in SOME capacity at this point - between this and the fact that Frank is the one who clocks the jewellery store owner's gun (AND the fact he was reaching for it) and is the one to restrain the guy (by diving on top of him like a Smart Human (some day we'll talk abt Frank's shitty instincts. not today tho) and then call the all-clear. (aaand that his first patient of s1/the first patient he ever presents is a: GSW! Woo! Everything is fine. It either means nothing or everything and everything is WAY more fun so I'm going with that one).

Also adding to this that Frank deals with a L O T of 'accidental injury inflicted unintentionally by family member/friend*' (which is indeed quite a niche thing, yes, but the boy is SWIMMING in it - esp in season 2). *quick note I'm ONLY counting accidents caused by friends/family - there are a lot more accidental/unintentional injuries but for the purposes of this...

As a quick account of this we've got:

1)- Tyler Jones aka pot gummy boy - who ate his dad's weed gummy by accident (yes, drugs connection/kids accidentally getting drugs from dad - it's STILL an accident, and one caused by a family member, it can count for two things!)

2)- 1x06 - Zac Dawson and Miles Hernandez - I'm counting the ambulance thieves in this because they are friends and they cause each other damage in an accident/that wasn't meant to happen while fucking around. It works. I'll take it.

3)- 1x13 Martin aka 'my new friend Martin' - the PittFest fentanyl OD who got a percocet off 'a friend' so he could dance bc he has a bad knee (don't look too hard at Frank's bad back and the pills HE takes so HE can dance (which is used a lot as a phrase meaning 'to work in the Pitt' in s1 and a lot in s2 which...idk, sure y'all, do what u gonna do)). Still fake pill from friend causing overdose = it's on my list.

4)- 2x02 - Clint Hansen - who has a nasty burn on his arm from bacon grease off a big gridle after his cousin Mona yote some water and it splashed him. (the Hansens also get bonus points for: being Southern af (hi appalachia!Frank headcanons/pball interview), -bickering/being dysfunctional af (and repeatedly triggering Frank but that's a thing we'll get to at a later date) -being the gift that keeps on giving in terms of accidental trauma caused to family members -a lot of bickering back and forth revolving around sides of the family and xyz being 'crazy'/'psycho' and that clearly 'running in the family' it's fine, I will definitely not come back to this in another post in another capacity at any point.

5)- 2x03 Harlan Hansen - BP waaay too low bc he decided to shlorp some of cousin Wendy's blood pressure pills as presrcibed by "family pharmacist" Sloan who thinks pooling meds is a solid plan (again: we can have drug parallels AND accidental 'nearly killing ur family member by trying to help' parallels. These patients contain multitudes, and so does Frank).

6)- 2x03 Duante Polk - bead boi! Bead boi gets a mention bc, even tho the bead-to-the-nose was technically self-induced, dad was present and also he and his sister were making bracelets together when the incident occurs so: I'm counting it/stop stop there are already enough parallels calm down, we get it!!!!

7)- 2x05 Alex Burton - ah, dear sweet dumbass Alex and his dry-ice burn from his attempt at getting a penguins brand aka 'the family crest' from his brother Aaron. I really feel like this one explains itself.

8)-2x07 Kenneth Reese (according to the 2x07 script anyway) lovingly referred to as 'Motorboat Man' by myself who is, as u may have guessed: the guy who got sliced up by the motorboat propellors. The flight medics specifically noted that this happened when he was trying to untangle a waterskii line and his buddy started the engine while he was doing this sooo: to the list!

9)- 2x08 Jackie Lidell - this is getting listed because her tongue lac was caused mid-selfie by her friend jerking her head up and crashing into her chin/closing her mouth on her tongue which: ouch.

10)- 2x10 Derek Foster - sure I'll count water park dad and his 'fun day out with son getting derailed by collapsing water slide they were on together for the purposes of joy, whimsy, and father-son bonding' why not?

11)-2x11 Micah Azurmendi - heatstroke boy, who got said heatstroke accidentally (according to mum) after crawling into the car to take a nap while she was working in he garden and didn't notice. Or it was caused deliberately. Either way, for the purposes of the list: here it be.

Now I don't know about you, but ELEVEN (11) instances of 'accidental injury directly caused by family member/friend' feels like an awffy lot to be a mere coincidence to me/by jove, I think they're trying to tell us something!!!!! (and if they ain't: well I would like some other better explanation please and thank you).

Also hey: #BonusContent, because this ISN'T a Frank-case/patient, but it is close enough to this/UNHINGED as a parallel to s1 that I feel compelled to include it anyway. But in 2x07 Robby and Cassie tootle on in to have a chit-chat with Roxie and when they do they find her mid-conversation with her boys who are having this delightful little exchange:

Tucker: Brian Jenkins is allowed to hunt with a .22 on his grandpa's farm. Shane: Sounds like an accident just waiting to happen.

WHY YES, SHANE, IT DOES SOUND LIKE AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN (esp when u factor in good old Elbridge from 2x14 who was injured, per the EMTs, by "shooting his .22 caliber pistol in the air with an aluminum pot on his head for protection. Didn't work." (can I just say I fucking hate these writers and the attention to detail they have in this fucking show (positive))?

A N Y W A Y. All that to say: I SEE YOU, VILLAINS, AKA PITT WRITERS. I SEE YOU AND I KNOW YOU'RE UP TO SOMETHING AND ONE DAY: I SHALL KNOW WHAT.

Final tidbit because we're in PEAK 'what the fuck, why not?' mode atm: what iffff that 'devastating back injury' referred to for Frank had something to do with this (things u do not want near the spine/spinal cord at any point ever: bullets/bullet fragments). I don't think this one is particularly likely honestly (I'm leaning: disc issues! actually, for #reasons I can get in to at some point that's not now) but wouldn't that be: Interesting. And really this is the point of all of this 'wouldn't it be interesting IF.....'