How Worried Should We Be for Dr. Robby on 'The Pitt'?

We’re now nine episodes into the second season of The Pitt and, so far, it has remained fairly routine — save for the system going down — at least relative to the chaos that built toward the end of last season. This episode teased some water park injuries in the next episode, but that’s unlikely to compare to the shooting that sent the ER into shock last year.

Still, what’s going on with Dr. Robby is increasingly concerning. At first, the cluster of motorcycle-related injuries felt like it might be portending a potential accident for Robby himself. That’s not quite what’s going on — but the way he’s reacted to those accidents strongly suggests he’s in a place where he’s feeling reckless about his own safety. He’s still in a dark place, and the worry that first the hospital shrink and now Dr. Abbot have expressed is … troubling. The fact that Dr. Robby told Whitaker he could housesit and “if he doesn’t come back,” could have his swinging bachelor pad felt less like a joke and more like an alarm going off. Dr. Robby is not OK. The man had a breakdown last season. His surrogate son’s girlfriend died under his care. His protege ended up in rehab. And watching people die day after day, year after year, has to catch up with a person eventually.

I’m concerned.

Meanwhile, the E.R. continues to run as smoothly as one might expect under the circumstances. A charting error — a consequence of running analog — nearly cost Javadi a patient in Mrs. Burns, and has clearly shaken her confidence. Hers is not likely to bounce back as quickly as Ogilvie’s did after his many mishaps, and the reason isn’t hard to pinpoint: I’m not sure Ogilvie has a conscience. They can be pesky. Having Dr. Garcia rip into Javadi and call her a nepo baby is not going to help matters, nor is the fact that her mother will apparently be operating on Mrs. Burns. Dr. Garcia’s dressing down may be just the beginning.

Speaking of Dr. Garcia: Garcia and Santos? Hooking up? And poor Santos has apparently gotten emotionally involved in what was supposed to be a casual arrangement. So much drama behind the scenes.

Mel’s sister, Becca, was also brought into the E.R. just as Mel was being pulled away for her deposition. Dr. Langdon steps in to take over her care — and he’s wonderful — and while it looks like a routine UTI, I suspect Mel’s anxiety over her sister is going to throw her off her game when she finally gets to that deposition room.

Amaya, the woman with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), is here to remind us of what so much medical literature — and so many podcasts — have been telling us for a while now (and what women have known for decades): doctors dismiss women’s pain, and doubly so when that woman is a person of color. Thankfully, Dr. McKay takes Amaya’s pain seriously, catches her twisted ovary, and will finally get the situation addressed after what sounds like countless doctors simply moved her along.

McKay is also still keeping an eye on Roxie, the lung cancer patient who is dying. Cancer is so unfair: she gets the perfect family, and then her cancer takes it away. She asks McKay how to die — and what can you even say to a patient who probably only has hours left? I do wonder, though, whether the way Robby has advised McKay on Roxie — essentially suggesting that dying might be a mercy — doesn’t also reveal something about where Robby’s head is right now.

Meanwhile, I think we might be watching the beginning of the ICE storyline that The Pitt has been teasing in the press. Jude, a 12-year-old, blew off two fingers playing with fireworks — and was also drunk. His parents were deported to Haiti several months ago, leaving his sister, Chantal, to care for him. Chantal is worried that social services will split them up. I’d be more concerned about ICE trying to deport Jude, birthright citizenship notwithstanding — because the current administration is actively working to dismantle birthright citizenship (the ACLU is fighting it; arguments in front of the Supreme Court are in April).

And finally, there is Howard Knox, who returns with Abbot from his CT scan at Presbyterian. He’s septic. Without surgery, there is a 100 percent chance he will die. With surgery, there’s still a 50 percent chance. It’s taken all of two episodes and maybe ten minutes of total screentime for us to fall completely in love with Howard Knox. Will the outcome be a heartbreaker? Or a heartlifter? We already lost Louis this season, The Pitt. Don’t take Howard from us, too.