The much-anticipated second season of The Pitt premiered earlier this month to much fanfare. Emergency room day-shift supervisor Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) motorcycled into his last day before a three-month sabbatical, perhaps ominously without a helmet (he should know better).
Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) returned from a 10-month stint in rehab for abusing opioids last season.
New doctor Baran El-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), set to cover for Dr. Robby during his absence, immediately butted heads with him while hawking her AI initiative.
But where, oh where on Earth was Dr. Heather Collins?
When The Pitt burst onto the scene a year ago, heralding the return of the network procedural (despite being on the perilous HBO), much was made of its diverse cast.
Like Grey’s Anatomy before it, despite being led by the white Dr. Robby, its cast is stacked with doctors of color, primarily Black women, including Dr. Collins, played brilliantly in Season 1 by the British actress Tracy Ifeachor.
Collins’ impenetrable exterior immediately intrigued audiences, and as we got to know her over the course of the first half of the season, we learned that she was miscarrying during her 15-hour shift after struggling with infertility and the decision to abort her pregnancy with Dr. Robby when they were together prior to the timeline of the show.
Dr. Robby sent Dr. Collins home prior to the mass shooting event that dominated the second half of the season. Little did audiences know that was the last we’d see of Dr. Collins.
In July of last year, Variety broke the news that Ifeachor would not be returning to season two of The Pitt. Pitt super fans were distraught since Dr. Collins had become a vital part of the series. Apparently, the choice was not Ifeachor’s. Instead, it was touted as a “creative decision.” So why would the writers do that to us?!
Rumors abounded online that it may have been due to Ifeachor’s controversial affiliation with the religious sect Jesus House and that she was opposed to her abortion storyline. Ifeachor’s publicist responded, saying these claims were untrue and that she was “simply not written in as a part of Season 2.”
Now, Ifeachor is working on a new M. Night Shyamalan film.
So how does the show address Dr. Collins’ absence in Season 2?
Well, it took them until the fourth episode, but we have our answer in this week’s hour, titled “10 A.M.”
“Her residency finished and she took up a job in Portland,” says Dr. Whittaker (Gerran Howell). “I think she’s from there. She’s adopting a baby so she wanted to be closer to her family.”
On the one hand, Dr. Collins deserves better than a tossed-off line on a random episode. On the other hand, doctors rotate through hospitals and residencies regularly. If anything, it’s perhaps stranger that all the same doctors from the first season/shift would all be working together on the same shift 10 months later.
Come to think of it, Dr. Langdon is extremely unlikely to remember the names of all the student doctors he met on his last shift. And would Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden) really be so excited for Langdon’s return after meeting him once?
Dr. Collins does leave a spectre over the ER, though. Robby is seeing another Black woman hospital employee this season: insurance case manager Noelle Hastings (Meta Golding). And his aforementioned friction with Dr. El-Hashimi is curious, especially as she seems to have her own issues surrounding reproduction, if her reaction at the climax of the premiere to the baby abandoned in the ER is any indication.
The Pitt is certainly not left wanting in Ifeachor’s absence. There remains a wealth of fascinating doctors and patients, both series regulars and guest stars, who are more than capable of filling Dr. Collins’ scrubs.
So, we may know where the character ended up. But that still does not explain why the show felt it needed to get rid of her.
