Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You guys should watch the YouTube commentary from a real doctor (OB/GYN) discussing the Pitt and how realistic it is. There are definitely things that aren’t correct. It was eye opening.
I mean if you are watching it thinking it's a documentary about a real ED, you are missing the point of the show.
It's realISM. It's not reality. Of course they are going to alter some things to fit their narrative arcs, or because they want to show a specific side of a character, or because of the "single shift" conceit which forces them to pack a bunch of things into a single day that in reality would not all happen on the same day.
Like is it realistic that Langdon would be returning to work post-rehab before meeting with, at a minimum, the senior members of the ED staff to discuss his re-entry and the parameters of the program he's in? No, in reality he would have had a sit down meeting with Robby, Dr. Al-Hashidi, likely Dana, and probably a hospital administrator, prior to his first shift. If he had 12-step amends to make with Robby and Dana, he would have made them at that meeting or outside the hospital. He would not be meeting Dr. Al-Hashidi on the job, between patients.
But by making an unrealistic choice (having Langdon returning to work on Robby's last day before sabbatical and on Dr. Al-Hashimi's first day at the Pitt), the show creates some interesting character and plot opportunities to allow them to tell Langdon's story in a way that might get at the truth *underneath* better than a protracted show that portrayed that administrative meeting happening before this shift. Because The Pitt is engaged in storytelling, not documenting. They are more interested in the emotional and relationship implications of Langdon's story, and getting that right, than in portraying exactly what it looks like for a doctor with substance abuse issues to return to work after rehab.
The point is to let us see Patrick Ball and Noah Wyle in an elevator, looking at each other (or avoiding looking at each other) and feel the weight of their history and the needs and motivations of their characters, right before the elevator doors burst open onto a helipad with a critical patient coming in who will require their focus and expertise. You can't create that moment if you are 100% honest about how these situation play out IRL. But the moment is powerful in a way that a more accurate version is not. You give a little to get a lot.