Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 27, 2026
I listened to a podcast years ago that interviewed overweight people about their experiences on flights. There were several strangely devastating accounts of decent people forced into dehumanizing situations every time they had to travel for work or fly a few states over to see family. They were treated like nuisances who needed to contort and shrink themselves while other passengers averted their eyes and flight attendants regarded them like burdens. I also remember how some of those passengers were deeply moved by small acts of empathy amid otherwise humiliating experiences.
That’s what stood out about the simple kindnesses Robby, McKay, and Abbot (but definitely not Ogilvie) showed Howard Knox, an overweight man who likely waited until he absolutely had to go to the E.R. because he feared how he would be treated, that doctors might withhold basic humanity because of the added burden of his size. Howard choked up because these doctors gave him something he so rarely feels: a little empathy for a man terrified of becoming a spectacle. It was an extraordinary episode of The Pitt, not because of mass casualties or freak emergencies, but because these doctors simply gave him the care he needed.
Dana and Emma extended that same empathy to Illana during her sexual assault examination and, in doing so, made what might have been the worst day of her life a little less terrible. They collected evidence, but they did not treat Illana like evidence. Those distinctions matter. I’m never more moved than by small moments when people feel seen and heard. No one captures those quiet flashes of humanity quite as well as The Pitt.
All of it unfolded amid a system shutdown, with overburdened doctors, nurses, and staff forced to go old school with clipboards and prescription pads, learning an entirely analog system in five minutes and pushing forward because patients do not stop needing care when the WiFi goes out. Thank god for Joy, who not only has a photographic memory and can recreate the entire electronic patient board, but can also diagnose a bizarre rash that stumped the two supposedly smartest med students, Javadi and Ogilvie. They should be more worried about Joy than about each other. Also, who knew you shouldn’t squeeze limes in the sun? Grotesque as that rash was, part of me is almost curious enough to try it just to see what happens.
Meanwhile, the episode’s comic relief, as is often the case, centers on a drunk woman, Jackie (not Jaquie), who suffered a nasty tongue laceration thanks to a double selfie during a pub crawl. It also offered Santos and Langdon an awkward first interaction since Langdon’s return. Santos is clearly holding onto some resentment, which may explain why she and Robby have grown closer this season. Langdon, however, is not alone. In another show of empathy, McKay tells Robby she’s nine years sober and reminds him he has a sober companion at the hospital.
Elsewhere, we get more details about the deposition Dr. Mel is preparing to give. It concerns a measles patient from last season, Flynn Edwards, whose mother, an antivaxxer extremist, refused a spinal tap that was essentially necessary to save his life. Flynn’s father ultimately approved it over her objections. It appears to be a frivolous case, as Dr. Ellis explained to Mel in her “monologue.”
Finally, as we look ahead, Roxie is still in pain. She seems ready to die, not only to end her own suffering but to stop burdening her husband and family, many of whom are now at the hospital. Robby suggests increasing her pain medication to a level that could be lethal, which he explains might be a double benefit. It’s shaping up to be a heartbreaker.
