Your first day at a novel job can be rugged. But arguably no one has ever had a rougher first day than the novel students and residents clocking in f
Your first day at a novel job can be rugged. But arguably no one has ever had a rougher first day than the novel students and residents clocking in for their first 15 hour shift working the ER on The Pitt. HBO Max’s sleeper hit series follows one crazy day at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital ER where a crop of novel doctors and veterans led by Noah Wyle‘s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch have to treat everything from broken bones, to drug overdoses, to victims a mass shooting at a music festival.
Dr. Robby’s first day triggered a full-blown panic attack, so it’s no surprise that the four fresh-faced doctors and medical students—Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden), Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell), and Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azeez)—had struggles of their own. Now that season one of The Pitt has come to an end, let’s see which of The Pitt newbies had the craziest first day.
Dr. Mel King
Warrick Page/MAX
Of the newbies, Dr. King comes into The Pitt the most prepared, having worked in a VA hospital as a second-year resident. Still, she is in for one hell of a first day in The Pitt. Early in the shift, she confidently diagnoses a leg fracture—but misses signs of a compartment syndrome that turns into a near amputation, which rattles her. Dr. King also must contend with the brief disappearance of her elderly patient’s caretaker, a single daughter exhibiting signs of caretaker fatigue. She also has to break the news to Bella, a five-year-old girl, that her older sister drowned saving her after she fell into a pool. This is particularly devastating for Dr. King as she is the primary caregiver for her autistic younger sister, but her experience makes her the best person to deliver the horrific news.
Dr. King’s first day isn’t only sob stories, however. She bonds with senior resident Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) who knows his way around The Pitt maybe a little too well (more on that later). They share an unexpected, teachable moment when Dr. King is able to connect with an autistic patient, Terrence, in a way that Dr. Langdon can’t because she herself is neurodivergent. and keeps her alive when she begins bleeding out shortly after delivery.
When the mass shooting occurs, Dr. Mel volunteers for triage, and donates her own blood to keep a patient with liver damage alive when the hospital’s blood bank has run out. At the end of her shift, King is confronted by a surprising ethical dilemma when a newborn boy is brought in, having contracted measles and probably acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and is in desperate need of a spinal tap. His parents, particularly his mother, are staunchly against the procedure. Dr. Mel ends the day picking up her younger sister.
Dr. Trinity Santos
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