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Thursday’s new episode of The Pitt features a patient with priapism. Or to put it in layman’s terms, a man comes to the ER for an erection that just won’t go away.
This is hardly the first time a patient has had a penis-related crisis on a medical show. The most famous example of late was when a poor man snapped his penis in half in the pilot episode of ABC’s Doctor Odyssey.
What’s unique is that The Pitt is on HBO—not network TV—which means it can actually show the man’s erection as the doctors work on it. So when Mel (Taylor Dearden) is talking frankly about a lawsuit she’s been named in, the man’s uncensored prosthetic hard-on looms large on screen.
This isn’t even the most NSFW development of Season 2. Earlier in the show’s second episode, Javadi (Shabana Azeez) discovers that one of her patients, an elderly nun with an eye infection, is suffering from gonorrhea. The nun explains she likely got it from folding dirty bedsheets at a homeless shelter, and it’s up to the audience to decide whether to believe her.
Whatever the truth may be, a nun with gonorrhea is a provocative premise. It’s throwing the idea of sexuality into a situation where there’s not really supposed to be any. And it’s giving the characters another opportunity to talk about sex, which is great news for the show’s sexually unhinged online fanbase.
These two patients stand in stark contrast to the types of patients we were getting this time last year.
By the second episode of Season 1, one of Whittaker’s patients had died of a heart attack. One of Collins’ patients had lost her leg after being shoved onto subway tracks. Dr. Robby was already having to tell two parents that their son was brain dead, as well as convince two adult siblings to pull the plug on their father.
Almost every early Season 1 storyline was designed to remind the characters of the inevitability of death and the trauma that comes with it. Almost every Season 2 storyline seems designed to remind them about the birds and the bees.
Dr. McKay is talking about how she needs to get laid. Dr. Mohan is talking about how her widowed mother is having a lust-filled getaway with a new man. Mel is obliviously receiving some serious flirting from a criminal patient. And Robby is revealed to be sleeping with the just-introduced Nurse Hastings.
We’re only two episodes in, but I can assure you from the screeners that this general trend isn’t over. Season 2 takes place on the Fourth of July, but so far the tone feels more fitting for Valentine’s Day.
It’s easy to dismiss all this as a cheap attempt by the series to score eye-catching headlines, but it goes deeper than that.
The switch-up is part of The Pitt’s answer to the biggest question fans had after Season 1: How could this show possibly up the ante from here? After it capped off its first season with a horrific mass shooting, how could it raise the stakes even higher?
Wisely, The Pitt has chosen not to even try. For the first few episodes at least, Season 2 pivots to capturing what a “normal” day in the ER actually looks like.
This approach offers a respite from the overwhelming tragedy of Season 1, which could’ve easily become too exhausting going into Season 2.
The focus on the more awkward, lower-stakes cases also makes The Pitt feel more realistic. The writers must have taken to heart one real doctor’s feedback on the series, which Taylor Dearden (Mel) revealed in a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel: “You don’t have nearly enough butt stuff on the show.”
(Season 2 hasn’t specifically gotten around to any butt-related injuries yet, but give it time.)
The show has cleverly used its tone shift to reveal fun new sides of its characters. In Season 1. McKay’s personal life was defined by her being an exhausted, struggling divorced mother; In Season 2, we see her enjoy the benefits that come with being single.
McKay’s always been a fan favorite, but she’s particularly charming as we watch her deal with two separate flirting patients. It’s a refreshingly sweet subplot that Season 1 didn’t have time for, but Season 2, with its gentler pace, does.
Maybe the smartest bit of writing so far this season is how The Pitt uses the patient with priapism to shed light on Dr. Langdon’s marriage.
The patient explains to Langdon how he took a heavy dose of erectile dysfunction medicine for his 20th wedding anniversary. Langdon gives a sad look that implies he’s thinking about his own marriage, which (judging by the lack of a ring on his finger) may have already imploded. The scene is a sharp mix of funny and sad, and adds yet another layer of complexity to Langdon’s redemption arc.
Fans have suspected that Langdon’s marriage fell apart between seasons, and this scene serves as apparent confirmation of the theory. And it’s great news for the fans who keep shipping him with Mel.
You might think a show based entirely within an ER wouldn’t have fans hoping for characters to hook up, but think again. The Pitt is a lot like The Bear, a show with a sexless first season that still turned its lead into a sex symbol and spawned endless debate over a potential Carmy/Sydney romance.
The Bear often conveyed its romantic tension through the food. The Pitt conveys it through hyper-competent medical teamwork.
That’s why the most sexually charged moment of the show so far is the surgeon Dr. Garcia doing a hand-over-hand procedure with Santos in Season 1. If Carmy and Sydney express their love through cooking, Garcia and Santos show their love through cutting open people’s bodies.
If you need proof that The Pitt‘s horny shift in Season 2 is intentional, look no further than one throwaway line in the premiere, revealing Garcia and Santos’ relationship.
Garcia complains that Whitaker (Santos’ roommate) used her toothbrush, to which Whitaker responds, “It was one time! They were the same color.” The implication, easy to miss given everything else happening in the scene, is that Garcia is staying over Santos’ place often enough to leave a toothbrush in her bathroom.
With this discreet exchange that requires viewers to put two and two together, The Pitt encourages the shippers in its audience to keep looking for innuendos, to keep reading between the lines—even if sometimes there’s nothing there. It’s a smart move that’ll spur more fandom debates, helping the show dominate the pop culture conversation throughout the next fourteen weeks.
For The Pitt fans who loved the hardcore, heavy vibe of Season 1, it might be frustrating to see the show switch things up like this. But for the many hopeless romantics in the fandom, Season 2 has been a dream come true.
