Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what was up with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s private phone call? Was she doing that on behalf of the possibly schizophrenic patient to see if he had a brain tumor?

No. She said she was a patient of the neurologist and was making an appointment for herself. It's very clear in the conversation.

We've seen have Dr. Al-Hashimi have two, what appear to be dissociative episodes. One in that cliffhanger early in the season when she's looking down at Baby Jane Doe and Samira keeps saying her name and she can't hear it, and then another in this episode right before she makes the call to the neurologist.

We also learned in this episode that she has worked overseas with Doctors Without Borders (she uses the French name of the org), including at the hospital Dasht-E-Barchi hospital in Kabul. If you are unfamiliar with it, Dasht-E-Barchi was the site of a massacre by a military insurgency in 2020, where a maternity ward was targeted and many mothers and hospital workers were murdered.

It is likely that Dr. Al-Hashimi has PTSD from that experience, that was triggered by Baby Jane Doe's cries. She probably sees a neurologist to deal with neurological effects of her PTSD, including flashbacks and dissociative episodes. She is recognizing the signs of a triggering episode in herself and she's reaching out to her doctor in order to address them as quickly as possible.

This will be interesting to watch unfold because almost everyone in that ED is dealing with some level of PTSD, due to the mass shooting event and/or Covid, as well as other more discrete incidents (Dana's assault, Santos' childhood abuse, Langdon's addiction). We are also seeing the trauma experienced by both patients and their families this season. Ilana, the rape survivor, in the immediate aftermath of SA by a friend. We also see Jackson's (the law student patient who has been hearing voices) family discussing another family member who committed suicide, and also the choice to conceal that from Jackson's sister. And then there is Roxy, the cancer patient, whose entire family is experiencing the trauma of her physical decline and likely imminent death.

I think this season is about trauma, both in the acute sense of someone with a critical injury being rolled into a trauma room at the ER, and also in the broader sense of the events that mark us and follow us throughout our lives. How it manifests, how people deal. Everything from thrill seeking as a way to quiet traumatic episodes (Abbott, also Langdon), self-medicating (Langdon), seeking treatment (Al-Hashimi), denial and escapism (Rabi), humor and putting up defenses (Santos), self-harm (also Santos, also Langdon, also maybe Rabi), digging into your work (ALL OF THEM), and so on. What is healthy, what is not, what works anyway.

👏🏽👏🏽 I love this take.

+1. Thank you — Her reaction to the baby stuck in my mind and this is a good explanation.

+2 This is awesome. So cool that PP had this background knowledge. I love this take so much, I'll be kinda disappointed if it's not it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what was up with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s private phone call? Was she doing that on behalf of the possibly schizophrenic patient to see if he had a brain tumor?

No. She said she was a patient of the neurologist and was making an appointment for herself. It's very clear in the conversation.

We've seen have Dr. Al-Hashimi have two, what appear to be dissociative episodes. One in that cliffhanger early in the season when she's looking down at Baby Jane Doe and Samira keeps saying her name and she can't hear it, and then another in this episode right before she makes the call to the neurologist.

We also learned in this episode that she has worked overseas with Doctors Without Borders (she uses the French name of the org), including at the hospital Dasht-E-Barchi hospital in Kabul. If you are unfamiliar with it, Dasht-E-Barchi was the site of a massacre by a military insurgency in 2020, where a maternity ward was targeted and many mothers and hospital workers were murdered.

It is likely that Dr. Al-Hashimi has PTSD from that experience, that was triggered by Baby Jane Doe's cries. She probably sees a neurologist to deal with neurological effects of her PTSD, including flashbacks and dissociative episodes. She is recognizing the signs of a triggering episode in herself and she's reaching out to her doctor in order to address them as quickly as possible.

This will be interesting to watch unfold because almost everyone in that ED is dealing with some level of PTSD, due to the mass shooting event and/or Covid, as well as other more discrete incidents (Dana's assault, Santos' childhood abuse, Langdon's addiction). We are also seeing the trauma experienced by both patients and their families this season. Ilana, the rape survivor, in the immediate aftermath of SA by a friend. We also see Jackson's (the law student patient who has been hearing voices) family discussing another family member who committed suicide, and also the choice to conceal that from Jackson's sister. And then there is Roxy, the cancer patient, whose entire family is experiencing the trauma of her physical decline and likely imminent death.

I think this season is about trauma, both in the acute sense of someone with a critical injury being rolled into a trauma room at the ER, and also in the broader sense of the events that mark us and follow us throughout our lives. How it manifests, how people deal. Everything from thrill seeking as a way to quiet traumatic episodes (Abbott, also Langdon), self-medicating (Langdon), seeking treatment (Al-Hashimi), denial and escapism (Rabi), humor and putting up defenses (Santos), self-harm (also Santos, also Langdon, also maybe Rabi), digging into your work (ALL OF THEM), and so on. What is healthy, what is not, what works anyway.

👏🏽👏🏽 I love this take.

+1. Thank you — Her reaction to the baby stuck in my mind and this is a good explanation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what was up with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s private phone call? Was she doing that on behalf of the possibly schizophrenic patient to see if he had a brain tumor?

No. She said she was a patient of the neurologist and was making an appointment for herself. It's very clear in the conversation.

We've seen have Dr. Al-Hashimi have two, what appear to be dissociative episodes. One in that cliffhanger early in the season when she's looking down at Baby Jane Doe and Samira keeps saying her name and she can't hear it, and then another in this episode right before she makes the call to the neurologist.

We also learned in this episode that she has worked overseas with Doctors Without Borders (she uses the French name of the org), including at the hospital Dasht-E-Barchi hospital in Kabul. If you are unfamiliar with it, Dasht-E-Barchi was the site of a massacre by a military insurgency in 2020, where a maternity ward was targeted and many mothers and hospital workers were murdered.

It is likely that Dr. Al-Hashimi has PTSD from that experience, that was triggered by Baby Jane Doe's cries. She probably sees a neurologist to deal with neurological effects of her PTSD, including flashbacks and dissociative episodes. She is recognizing the signs of a triggering episode in herself and she's reaching out to her doctor in order to address them as quickly as possible.

This will be interesting to watch unfold because almost everyone in that ED is dealing with some level of PTSD, due to the mass shooting event and/or Covid, as well as other more discrete incidents (Dana's assault, Santos' childhood abuse, Langdon's addiction). We are also seeing the trauma experienced by both patients and their families this season. Ilana, the rape survivor, in the immediate aftermath of SA by a friend. We also see Jackson's (the law student patient who has been hearing voices) family discussing another family member who committed suicide, and also the choice to conceal that from Jackson's sister. And then there is Roxy, the cancer patient, whose entire family is experiencing the trauma of her physical decline and likely imminent death.

I think this season is about trauma, both in the acute sense of someone with a critical injury being rolled into a trauma room at the ER, and also in the broader sense of the events that mark us and follow us throughout our lives. How it manifests, how people deal. Everything from thrill seeking as a way to quiet traumatic episodes (Abbott, also Langdon), self-medicating (Langdon), seeking treatment (Al-Hashimi), denial and escapism (Rabi), humor and putting up defenses (Santos), self-harm (also Santos, also Langdon, also maybe Rabi), digging into your work (ALL OF THEM), and so on. What is healthy, what is not, what works anyway.

👏🏽👏🏽 I love this take.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the story in this most recent episode about Dana serving as a SANE to the rape survivor was riveting. I'm a rape survivor and worked for a time on a crisis hotline for sexual violence. The actress who played Ilana was phenomenal and the writing of that storyline was obviously very well researched. I'm not sure I've ever seen that situation portrayed as accurately and honestly as that.

I also love how that story was paired with the scenes in the last episode where Dana cleaned Louie's body. In both situations, she brought the new nurse, Emma, along and narrated what she was doing, and why. These are activities nurses do but few people talk about. People think about nurses taking your BP, administering meds, assisting doctors. But this -- a nurse wiping the blood and fluids off a man who just died and is unlikely to be claimed by loved ones, walking a rape victim through evidence gathering -- people don't think about this. And this is set against the backdrop of Dana being assaulted last season and saying she was done, and then returning to work. You're thinking about why she came back, and also why she wanted to quit. And you're looking at Emma who is on the far other end of a nursing career and thinking about what is ahead of her too.

Also Emma saying "let's go find the good snacks" to Ilana.

If this is "slow" or "disjointed" or "not enough happening" for you, you are entitled to your opinion. But I think that's very compelling storytelling, about people and events that don't ever get told with this much factual accuracy or tenderness.

Did you find the way they were talking to her to be condescending? I realize it was supposed to be super compassionate but I just wondered.

I thought it sounded like the script that SANEs are trained to follow, said with real compassion by someone who definitely wants to help. I also thought that Ilana's reaction, of being annoyed, impatient, and frustrated by the situation, was completely spot on to how many rape survivors behave when engaging with any institution to report their rape. One of the hardest aspects of being a rape survivor, and helping rape survivors, is that nothing about the process is really designed to give people what they actually need, which is true agency. Dana was administering the rape kit professionally and correctly, AND she was clearly sensitive to Ilana's state of mind (it was obviously not Dana's first rape kit). However, the clinical nature of a rape exam is horrible. And really think about this. Think about what it is like to be raped and violated in that way, and then to place yourself in a hospital gown in a sterile hospital exam room with multiple strangers who will examine your body, take photos, and collect evidence. They will take your clothes away.

The moment where Dana is doing the blue light test and then takes a swab of Ilana's arm? Dana does it right, by explaining exactly what she is doing and why. But Ilana is still in a state of physical and mental shock. She is not processing, or she's processing through trauma. When Dana uses the cold swab, Ilana in theory knows it's coming, but her whole body is on high alert. SANE exams are incredibly stressful, even when the nurse is amazing, even when there is an advocate there.

Our society doesn't know how to deal with what rape does to people. And I have worked in rape crisis and I am a rape survivor myself, and I don't know the answers either. The SANE exam is designed to try and facilitate a criminal justice solution. It still places survivors in situations that can be traumatizing and degrading. Plus that rape kit? It gets sent off to a lab where it may be delayed in processing or processed incorrectly. Ilana's friends may side with her rapist (who is also their friend) against her. If Ilana chooses to press charges, she may face not only her rapist but her friends sharing information about her (her drinking habits, her sexual history, her relationship with the rapist) that will be mortifying to have disclosed to the police, much less discussed in court. And in the end, there may be no conviction, or a plead out to lesser charge due to lack of evidence. And in the process, she will lose friends and change the way everyone in her life sees her.

Obviously the show isn't getting into all of that, but I honestly can feel this in how they are treating the storyline. I think Dana knows and understands all this, even as she also hopes Ilana decides to finish the exam and press charges.

People rarely understand what rape really does to you. It's not talked about enough and when rape is portrayed on television and in movies, it is sensationalized and the emphasis is on the act itself. The aftermath of rape, sometimes for the rest of your life, is so much bigger than the act in the moment. The Pitt seems to get this, they must have consulted with survivor who has worked in rape intervention or recovery. This is what it is like.

The night shift SWAT doctor is so terrific in season 1 in this tiny role. He's an actor in teen movies in 90s and didn't like him much, but he really adds something to this show. Won an Emmy and wasn't surprised.

PS I miss Dr. Collins in every episode; she's one of the few that made Season 1 so wonderful. Want her back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am enjoying it differently than I did last season- and it’s totally because I binged it Season 1 and am watching one episode a week now. I liked it better as a binge!

Santos- I’m tired of the charting storyline, agree

The Hispanic family who couldn’t afford their dad’s stay - that seemed overdone, ridiculous that they would never have seen that before, bad acting, kinda cringe.

I don’t know what to make of the dying woman. I think they’re to make us think- abuse- but I think it’ll be something like, “we were about to get divorced when I got diagnosed and now it’s awkward.”

I would have a hard time with the SA victim deciding not to proceed, despite knowing that it’s their choice and probably very common. That would be HARD.

McKay is such a bad actor! Oof.

I have a pretty big crush on the recovering addict doctor. So handsome. On that note, glad they brought back the night shift SWAT doctor. 🙂

I’m with you on these takes except for the dying woman. To me that is a story of a woman who is tired and ready to die and her spouse can’t accept it - she’s tired of keeping up a positive face all the time which she needs to do at home for her kids and spouse - she’s tired of having to ask her spouse to help her with the most personal and embarassing of tasks - she in looads of pain and doesn’t want the family home to become a mini hospital and the place where she dies. That storyline punches me in the gut (maybe because I’ve had cancer).

Also love the recovering addict doctor and swat doctor!

Yup. I bet she sends her family home that evening and dies overnight.

We won’t see that because the show will end at midnight.

Anonymous wrote:I thought the story in this most recent episode about Dana serving as a SANE to the rape survivor was riveting. I'm a rape survivor and worked for a time on a crisis hotline for sexual violence. The actress who played Ilana was phenomenal and the writing of that storyline was obviously very well researched. I'm not sure I've ever seen that situation portrayed as accurately and honestly as that.

I also love how that story was paired with the scenes in the last episode where Dana cleaned Louie's body. In both situations, she brought the new nurse, Emma, along and narrated what she was doing, and why. These are activities nurses do but few people talk about. People think about nurses taking your BP, administering meds, assisting doctors. But this -- a nurse wiping the blood and fluids off a man who just died and is unlikely to be claimed by loved ones, walking a rape victim through evidence gathering -- people don't think about this. And this is set against the backdrop of Dana being assaulted last season and saying she was done, and then returning to work. You're thinking about why she came back, and also why she wanted to quit. And you're looking at Emma who is on the far other end of a nursing career and thinking about what is ahead of her too.

Also Emma saying "let's go find the good snacks" to Ilana.

If this is "slow" or "disjointed" or "not enough happening" for you, you are entitled to your opinion. But I think that's very compelling storytelling, about people and events that don't ever get told with this much factual accuracy or tenderness.

Did you find the way they were talking to her to be condescending? I realize it was supposed to be super compassionate but I just wondered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want more Santos -- but more about her background and history, not just griping about charting.

Did you see that she is a cutter in the bathroom scene?

Yep. A lot of self-loathing with that one.

Anonymous wrote:So what was up with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s private phone call? Was she doing that on behalf of the possibly schizophrenic patient to see if he had a brain tumor?

No. She said she was a patient of the neurologist and was making an appointment for herself. It's very clear in the conversation.

We've seen have Dr. Al-Hashimi have two, what appear to be dissociative episodes. One in that cliffhanger early in the season when she's looking down at Baby Jane Doe and Samira keeps saying her name and she can't hear it, and then another in this episode right before she makes the call to the neurologist.

We also learned in this episode that she has worked overseas with Doctors Without Borders (she uses the French name of the org), including at the hospital Dasht-E-Barchi hospital in Kabul. If you are unfamiliar with it, Dasht-E-Barchi was the site of a massacre by a military insurgency in 2020, where a maternity ward was targeted and many mothers and hospital workers were murdered.

It is likely that Dr. Al-Hashimi has PTSD from that experience, that was triggered by Baby Jane Doe's cries. She probably sees a neurologist to deal with neurological effects of her PTSD, including flashbacks and dissociative episodes. She is recognizing the signs of a triggering episode in herself and she's reaching out to her doctor in order to address them as quickly as possible.

This will be interesting to watch unfold because almost everyone in that ED is dealing with some level of PTSD, due to the mass shooting event and/or Covid, as well as other more discrete incidents (Dana's assault, Santos' childhood abuse, Langdon's addiction). We are also seeing the trauma experienced by both patients and their families this season. Ilana, the rape survivor, in the immediate aftermath of SA by a friend. We also see Jackson's (the law student patient who has been hearing voices) family discussing another family member who committed suicide, and also the choice to conceal that from Jackson's sister. And then there is Roxy, the cancer patient, whose entire family is experiencing the trauma of her physical decline and likely imminent death.

I think this season is about trauma, both in the acute sense of someone with a critical injury being rolled into a trauma room at the ER, and also in the broader sense of the events that mark us and follow us throughout our lives. How it manifests, how people deal. Everything from thrill seeking as a way to quiet traumatic episodes (Abbott, also Langdon), self-medicating (Langdon), seeking treatment (Al-Hashimi), denial and escapism (Rabi), humor and putting up defenses (Santos), self-harm (also Santos, also Langdon, also maybe Rabi), digging into your work (ALL OF THEM), and so on. What is healthy, what is not, what works anyway.

So what was up with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s private phone call? Was she doing that on behalf of the possibly schizophrenic patient to see if he had a brain tumor?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am enjoying it differently than I did last season- and it’s totally because I binged it Season 1 and am watching one episode a week now. I liked it better as a binge!

Santos- I’m tired of the charting storyline, agree

The Hispanic family who couldn’t afford their dad’s stay - that seemed overdone, ridiculous that they would never have seen that before, bad acting, kinda cringe.

I don’t know what to make of the dying woman. I think they’re to make us think- abuse- but I think it’ll be something like, “we were about to get divorced when I got diagnosed and now it’s awkward.”

I would have a hard time with the SA victim deciding not to proceed, despite knowing that it’s their choice and probably very common. That would be HARD.

McKay is such a bad actor! Oof.

I have a pretty big crush on the recovering addict doctor. So handsome. On that note, glad they brought back the night shift SWAT doctor. 🙂

I’m with you on these takes except for the dying woman. To me that is a story of a woman who is tired and ready to die and her spouse can’t accept it - she’s tired of keeping up a positive face all the time which she needs to do at home for her kids and spouse - she’s tired of having to ask her spouse to help her with the most personal and embarassing of tasks - she in looads of pain and doesn’t want the family home to become a mini hospital and the place where she dies. That storyline punches me in the gut (maybe because I’ve had cancer).

Also love the recovering addict doctor and swat doctor!

Yup. I bet she sends her family home that evening and dies overnight.

Anonymous wrote:I am enjoying it differently than I did last season- and it’s totally because I binged it Season 1 and am watching one episode a week now. I liked it better as a binge!

Santos- I’m tired of the charting storyline, agree

The Hispanic family who couldn’t afford their dad’s stay - that seemed overdone, ridiculous that they would never have seen that before, bad acting, kinda cringe.

I don’t know what to make of the dying woman. I think they’re to make us think- abuse- but I think it’ll be something like, “we were about to get divorced when I got diagnosed and now it’s awkward.”

I would have a hard time with the SA victim deciding not to proceed, despite knowing that it’s their choice and probably very common. That would be HARD.

McKay is such a bad actor! Oof.

I have a pretty big crush on the recovering addict doctor. So handsome. On that note, glad they brought back the night shift SWAT doctor. 🙂

I’m with you on these takes except for the dying woman. To me that is a story of a woman who is tired and ready to die and her spouse can’t accept it - she’s tired of keeping up a positive face all the time which she needs to do at home for her kids and spouse - she’s tired of having to ask her spouse to help her with the most personal and embarassing of tasks - she in looads of pain and doesn’t want the family home to become a mini hospital and the place where she dies. That storyline punches me in the gut (maybe because I’ve had cancer).

Also love the recovering addict doctor and swat doctor!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want more Santos -- but more about her background and history, not just griping about charting.

Did you see that she is a cutter in the bathroom scene?

Yes, and I hope future episodes build on that.

In what universe will they not?

I am enjoying it differently than I did last season- and it’s totally because I binged it Season 1 and am watching one episode a week now. I liked it better as a binge!

Santos- I’m tired of the charting storyline, agree

The Hispanic family who couldn’t afford their dad’s stay - that seemed overdone, ridiculous that they would never have seen that before, bad acting, kinda cringe.

I don’t know what to make of the dying woman. I think they’re to make us think- abuse- but I think it’ll be something like, “we were about to get divorced when I got diagnosed and now it’s awkward.”

I would have a hard time with the SA victim deciding not to proceed, despite knowing that it’s their choice and probably very common. That would be HARD.

McKay is such a bad actor! Oof.

I have a pretty big crush on the recovering addict doctor. So handsome. On that note, glad they brought back the night shift SWAT doctor. 🙂

I welcome all the critics here, but I still love this show. It's still far better than most TV and look forward to watching each Friday (can't watch Thursday).

Will be interesting if the harsh critics here give it up or keep watching. Seems like more critics come out every week, yet the show keeps gaining viewership.