How Realism Can Backfire︱The Pitt Season 2

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Think style over substance about a gritty medical drama that prides [music] itself on realism and good writing probably sounds completely insane.

[00:00:10]But The Good Doctor season 2 is not hitting in the same way as season 1 did and I think it's because the show basically prioritized the gimmicky elements of realism instead of the real substance at the heart of the story.

[00:00:23]>> [music] >> Part 1, style.

[00:00:26]Style over substance generally refers to the crazy over-the-top stylistic elements in a show or a movie with a lackluster plot to back it up.

[00:00:36]Euphoria is probably the most recent well-known example.

[00:00:40]Dear lord, that show is beautiful.

[00:00:43]And it created, if not heavily popularized, the defining makeup and fashion trends of the early 2020s.

[00:00:49][music] But the actual plot of Euphoria is um a lot.

[00:00:56]Think the new Wuthering Heights.

[00:00:59]All style, little to no substance unless you count a girl on a leash as substance, which you know I do not, but others may and you know, different strokes for different folks.

[00:01:10]There's big, glitzy editing, production, wardrobe choices that draw the eye and are interesting.

[00:01:18]Basically, it's when the aesthetic elements are prioritized over the actual content of [music] the story.

[00:01:26]So, you just click on a video about The Good Doctor and here I am talking about Wuthering Heights and Euphoria. Notably, extremely different shows with extremely different styles.

[00:01:38]The Good Doctor is in many ways the opposite of those types of shows.

[00:01:42][music] There's very little interesting editing choices. We've got one set. The characters have one set of clothing and one hairstyle for the season.

[00:01:52]It's shot with some subtle shaky camera.

[00:01:54]They have consulting doctors to make sure the medical details are accurate.

[00:01:59]The lighting is literally designed to replicate a hospital, the most functional and kind of ugly lighting in the entire [music] world.

[00:02:08]When people think style, I think most will picture a spectrum of the super stylistic [music] Wuthering Heights stuff on one end and the non-stylistic things on the other end.

[00:02:19]But, I don't think that's quite right because with that idea, realism [music] is on the opposite end of the spectrum from stylistic.

[00:02:28]But, realism is also a style.

[00:02:31]I think a better way to look at it is like a political compass, which is so cringey to say out loud, but unfortunately, it is true. [music] We've got two spectrums. One is the degree of style and the other one is the spectrum from realistic [music] to abstract.

[00:02:48]It's sort of like when we talk about accents and people say, "I don't have an accent." which isn't true.

[00:02:55]Everyone has an accent. Every piece of visual media has a style. You just don't always notice them.

[00:03:03]Realism, the style, is when art tries to emulate the real world, to depict things as they truly are rather than abstractions or interpretations of it.

[00:03:13]But, in choosing its subject matter, how things are framed, the lighting styles, it's still very much choosing what reality [music] is and what other people perceive reality as.

[00:03:26]A lot of the hallmarks of realism, the shaky camera, the natural lighting, the candid shots, were born of practical necessity.

[00:03:35]But, when technology got better, realism changed from a practical necessity to being [music] a style that artists could choose to use.

[00:03:43]The hallmarks still signaled authenticity, even though everything was being filmed in a very controlled environment, indoors on a set. [music] A lot of very produced shows used realism to sell themselves as authentic to audiences.

[00:03:58]From reality TV, any sitcom made in the mockumentary style, the entire shaky cam trend that plagued the 2010s. Even beyond the pure aesthetic, the way a show chooses to deliver its content with the hour-by-hour structure is another stylistic choice made to emulate realism. It's real-time storytelling used in shows like 24, named for the fact that it takes place over 24 hours, and Adolescence, another modern hit all about realism.

[00:04:28]The show has consulting doctors. The actors had a 2-week boot camp to make sure they were able to realistically depict medical procedures, and the show uses real technology and references real modern problems. That's all realism.

[00:04:42]That's all style.

[00:04:44]We just don't notice it because it's so normalized, so heavily associated with the truth and with reality, that audiences accept it as authentic, even though it's just as emulated as any other style.

[00:04:57]So, to be on the same page, style over substance isn't solely referred to the big, bombastic, glittery styles. [music] It can be any style. Really, it's just a prioritization of aesthetics and the surface over the deeper levels.

[00:05:12]Season 1, Picture Perfect.

[00:05:15]So, big whoop. The Pit uses the style of realism. Who cares, right?

[00:05:21]But, I think the problem is that the show chooses realism over choosing to depict a good story.

[00:05:27]And I want to compare season 1 with season 2 to show that because I think season 1 managed to hit the balance of style and substance, but that season 2 didn't.

[00:05:39]Season 1 story centers on Dr. Robbie, who is still haunted by the death of his mentor during COVID-19, when Robbie had to make the decision to take him off of life support so that another person had a chance at survival. And both of them ended up dying.

[00:05:54]Robbie is still very guilt-ridden by this decision.

[00:05:59]This story takes place on the anniversary of his mentor's death, and it's the first time Robbie has worked this day [music] in 4 years.

[00:06:06]This season is structured to remind Robbie about this and force him to face his guilt and trauma. The through line of the whole season is that the doctor is the patient, symbolized through Robbie, and that keeps the whole show together.

[00:06:20]It's like a spider web connecting all these characters and issues that compound on each other with Pit Fest serving as the ammunition that puts him over the edge.

[00:06:29]The ensemble cast all connects and contrast to Robbie and the show's central theme. We've got Langdon, Robbie's successor to be, [music] who is discovered to have been stealing drugs for months because he avoided treatment for his pain and [music] addiction.

[00:06:43]This directly mirrors Robbie, a doctor that excels in the ER who suffers from a treatable ailment and whose actions actively hurt patients.

[00:06:52]Langdon is a cautionary tale for Robbie, what he might end up as if he continues on this path. We've also got Dr. Mohan, who represents a conflicting work philosophy. She prioritizes the patient's well-being, but as a result is much slower than the rest of her co-workers.

[00:07:09]Mohan is used to contrast Robbie's work philosophy and shows the merits and weaknesses in both of them.

[00:07:17]The rest of the ensemble operate in a similar way with the conditions of working in the pit impacting their character development and providing different viewpoints [music] to address the legal and moral conflicts that they're dealing with. We also see the same focus with the patients. There's a lot of patients, and while they don't all connect directly to Robbie's traumas, they do serve to show how chaotic the ER is. Not all of them, but a decent amount are designed to create growth for our main characters.

[00:07:46]This can be seen with Mr. Spencer, an elderly man whose children decide to put him on life support against his wishes in the same room that Robbie had to take his own mentor off of life support. It's almost a direct parallel, but this time Mr. Spencer has an abundance of time and resources at the end of his natural life. While Robbie's mentor had a life cut short by illness and a lack of resources.

[00:08:10]Leah, Jed's girlfriend, is another direct parallel [music] to Robbie's mentor as he faces the same crisis of not being able to save her life >> [music] >> due to a lack of resources during a mass casualty event.

[00:08:23]We're going to lose 10 other patients if you put all your efforts into saving this girl.

[00:08:27]The systemic issues highlighted in the season also emphasize the trauma of the hospital.

[00:08:33]From the pressure on Robbie from the administration staff to have good patient satisfaction levels despite not having enough beds or staff to the social issues of doctors encounter that they have to deal with. This ranges from parents who refuse to listen to medical advice, a homeless patient that causes chaos due to his addiction and mental illness, and struggling with how to handle a young man who may be dangerous to others, but who they have no legal authority over.

[00:08:59]These things build on each other throughout the whole season, weaving and worsening as the day goes on like juggling balls that Robbie is forced to juggle with new ones getting tossed at him every time another conflict erupts.

[00:09:11]The Pit Fest mass casualty serves as a climax that pushes Robbie past his breaking [music] point, directly paralleling the difficult choices he had to make during COVID. When Robbie breaks down, he's helped by Whitaker, the little doctor that could who was emblematic of a healthier approach, a sign that the future is brighter and that help is available.

[00:09:32]It's a little clunky at times, but the elements of realism by and large complement the story.

[00:09:38]The realistic aesthetic, how the doctors look more tired and weary over the course of the day, their hair getting messier every hour, [music] really shows the exhaustion they're feeling. The permanently crowded and chaotic ER shows how disorienting their work environment is.

[00:09:55]The lighting maintains a documentary-like feeling as if the audience is getting a peek into the real environment rather than a set with perfect lighting.

[00:10:04]The medical jargon and the medical technology used, [music] rather than having the characters do bad CPR, gives the show credence and separates it from the pack of other medical dramas.

[00:10:14][music] And for all the show's style, they make sure to back it up with substance. The show navigates a really precarious tightrope of discussing social issues, of having meaningful character development, [music] and making sure the show had a solid through line. It's a realistic-ish show, but it prioritizes telling its story over being realistic when [music] it needs to.

[00:10:36]Like, was it realistic that on the interns' first [music] day there would be a mass casualty shooting, that Langdon would be found to steal drugs, that Dr. MacKay would have been almost arrested, and Dr. Collins would have had a miscarriage? No, obviously it's not super realistic all of that happening on one day.

[00:10:55]But the show keeps everything tied together with a single through line, that everything and everyone connects in some way to Robbie's trauma and how the doctors are [music] the patients. And this brings us to season 2, the season that lost its story [music] to being realistic.

[00:11:11]Part three, the hit. One important thing I haven't really discussed yet is the reaction to the first season.

[00:11:19]The pit was an immediate hit. Everyone was praising this fresh new take on a hospital drama that spoke to real issues facing hospitals in modern times.

[00:11:30]Hospital dramas in the 2010s very much veered towards the drama, ala Grey's Anatomy, or the kind of weird, [music] ala Sherlock Holmes detective story set within a hospital, aka House.

[00:11:43]There were a handful of gritty, realistic medical dramas, but none of them managed to get the same attention like This Is Going to Hurt, an excellent medical drama that never really made it across the pond.

[00:11:56]The real-time gimmick was interesting, too. But, of more interest was one specific praise season one got, realistic.

[00:12:05]There's a little niche of content creators that judge medical shows about how realistic the doctoring was, >> [music] >> and that's cool, but it's also become an entrenched part of the show's marketing with the message of the most accurate medical show [music] almost becoming a tagline. Why do you think this is like striking such a nerve? What What do you think it is about this show that's really appealing to people?

[00:12:28]>> Well, we set out to make the most realistic and authentic medical show that's ever been on TV, and that isn't just the procedures and the terminology.

[00:12:36]It's trying to really identify with with what's happening with practitioners right now post-COVID. The writers' focus on accuracy as being a reason why people watch the show worries me.

[00:12:48]Having an accurate medical show isn't a bad thing in itself. Lord knows everyone's suspension of disbelief gets broken whenever we watch bad CPR.

[00:12:58]But, there's a danger if the writers really think the accuracy is a driving force behind the pit's success [music] instead of the story itself.

[00:13:06]Because that mindset leads to the show having to be super realistic and super accurate all the time, or else people won't watch.

[00:13:16]But, that's not really how stories work.

[00:13:19]The suspension of disbelief is one of the most crucial storytelling tools, one that audiences and creators alike rely on and love. Storytelling and real life can't really exist peacefully together.

[00:13:32]There's always a tug-of-war between them, but this tension has already been solved.

[00:13:38]It turns out audiences are really, really good at ignoring the most ridiculous elements of a story as long as the story is strong enough. It creates this really good feedback loop where to create a compelling narrative, a story needs to use unrealistic storytelling devices and to stop audiences from checking out because it's unrealistic, the story needs to be compelling.

[00:14:02]The feedback loop can spiral into truly fantastic stories that audiences love.

[00:14:07]But it's almost as if the pit doesn't want its audience to have to suspend their disbelief at all, which in my opinion is a major issue because it removes the other side of the equation, the necessity of having a strong story.

[00:14:21]If the writers have already decided that realism has won the tug-of-war battle, then storytelling elements become an obstacle to creating that realistic environment and very quickly that story needs to be filed down so that it doesn't interfere with realism when it should be the other way around. If a story and reality are conflicting, the story should win and reality should accommodate a [music] good story by relying on the suspension of disbelief.

[00:14:50]But I think the writers might have ran with this one critical acclaim because while season 1 precariously balanced on that line between realism and storytelling, season 2 very much tipped the other way towards realism.

[00:15:05]So, now the pit is a certified hit, [music] a prestige hit at that, and has to deal with avoiding the sophomore slump.

[00:15:13]The second season is often the weakest, mostly because a ton of effort and years were spent getting the first season off the ground.

[00:15:22]And the small turnaround tends to mean that the second struggles live up to the first. [music] We all know the second Harry Potter is the worst Harry Potter.

[00:15:31]That True Detective season 2 did not live up to the hype, and that in my opinion, the second season is the worst Stranger Things season by a country mile. Many a television show, practically every single television show, has ended up with the same issue.

[00:15:47]The vast, vast, vast majority of them go for the one-up approach [music] that ends up failing spectacularly when the stakes get too high for the hero to fail.

[00:15:58]So, it's not shocking that The Resident made a conscious decision to not go that way.

[00:16:03]The writers have revealed that they were purposefully avoiding this.

[00:16:07]I think everyone was aware that The Resident had the potential to be an annual hit as long as they kept the boat steady and resisted the urge to beat themselves. [music] The thing is though, the idea of realism dovetails really well with this premise, too. Real life doesn't one-up itself.

[00:16:24]Often, it's meaningless and arbitrary, disappointing.

[00:16:28]The opposite of a structured story.

[00:16:31]So, what way to better approach the upcoming season than with realism in mind? And with the added benefit [music] that it's a selling point for your show.

[00:16:41]Real life has a lot of drama to it. So, why not lean that direction?

[00:16:46]It's not like real life is known to being anticlimactic, is it? Yes, that is foreshadowing.

[00:16:53]Season 2 Pitfall. The setting in season 2 is 10 months later on American Independence Day, the 4th of July. Lots of fireworks, a big holiday, a bunch of grumpy doctors stuck taking [music] care of the people who blew themselves up with said fireworks. It's also Langdon's first day back after the infamous got caught stealing [music] drugs by an intern on her first day event. It's Robbie's last day before he leaves on sabbatical, and it's Al Hashemi's, the new attending's, first day.

[00:17:24]It's also Mel's deposition, but that plot thread literally has zero relevance.

[00:17:30]But, while the first season connected all these disparate characters, scenes, and plot points through a thematic through-line, [music] the second season was a lot less structured and way more disconnected.

[00:17:43]Patients came in, doctors treated them, patients came out, and then the shift ended. I tried to figure out what the through-line was as I watched, trying to understand how all these pieces fit together.

[00:17:56]The pieces fitting together is the difference between them being building block creating a story or being directionless bits of [music] filler that don't create anything bigger than itself.

[00:18:06]If it's just one or two scenes that don't connect, that's okay.

[00:18:10]But, if there's no strong through-line other than the characters sharing a setting, we've got a problem.

[00:18:17]One idea was structural [music] failings with the diabetes guy, Mr. Diaz, struggling with insurance or the [music] experience of Harlow, the deaf woman in the hospital, and the death of the man in the waiting room in the final episode. But, that focus kind of vanished as the season kept going.

[00:18:35]The man in the waiting room's death was basically framed as a punchline instead of yet another devastating casualty of systemic failure, so that theory kind of vanished.

[00:18:45]Another idea was that the show was still highlighting mental health.

[00:18:49]Maybe this season's theme was intended to build on season 1's, this time focusing on how mental health can impact interpersonal relationships.

[00:18:58]I really liked [music] this idea, particularly with how it made Robbie's character more nuanced and complex as both his mental health and the treatment of others got worse.

[00:19:08]While in the first season he was mostly a victim of the pit, this time the line between villain and victimizer blurred as he took on a more antagonistic role to the rest of the ensemble cast.

[00:19:18]He was mean to Langdon and Mohan. He took his anger out in unprofessional ways by ignoring Langdon and taking cruel digs at Mohan.

[00:19:26]And neither of their plot lines really give them a good payoff.

[00:19:30]Langdon has to navigate a loss of status, insecurities about his return, and the complications of having to be in a structured sobriety process, which is humiliating [music] but necessary to keep his job. The show spends some time with him trying to make amends and dealing with this, but his character is pulled in so many directions, his plot line with Santos, relationship with Robbie, the new demands of the drug problem, and at the last minute, apparently his relationship to Whitaker, {question mark} that the show never has an opportunity to dig below the surface with Langdon this season. Instead just giving him brief and unsatisfying [music] scenes like they're checking off boxes.

[00:20:08]Mohan is another character that had the potential to create conflict and nuance, but she was hung out to dry this season instead. I think the conflict between her and Robbie in the first season was really interesting and nuanced.

[00:20:21]Neither of them were wrong as Mohan's speed does mean other doctors had to pull her slack and other patients were stuck waiting for longer, but she also provided a high level of care and got [music] results.

[00:20:32]Their conflict was never going to be tied in a pretty bow because both sides have merit. This was an interesting direction the show could have explored going further, digging deeper into both doctors' philosophies and motivations, and how unwilling either of them are to compromise. But instead, the second season began with a premise that Mohan is lost and is going to leave the ER and is scrambling to figure out what specialty to pursue. The answer seems to be geriatrics, an area that Mohan seems to have very little enthusiasm for, and the conflict between her and Robbie is basically solved off screen with Robbie de facto winning as multiple characters hint to her that her style really is better suited for geriatrics. [music] It's a really dull ending to a conflict that is incredibly relevant to modern health care. And instead of leaning into the conflict, the show seems to pivot away.

[00:21:25]His decision to publicly shame and humiliate the paramedics who put the sensors in the wrong place was extreme.

[00:21:31]I got the sense that this show was impressed with [music] itself for calling out the issue heart attacks being diagnosed.

[00:21:38]And while that is absolutely a massive issue in modern medicine, Robbie's response of the public shaming and humiliation of the paramedics underscores the trauma of working in a hospital setting. But instead of the show framing this as a negative, the show consistently framed him as understandable with his heart in the right place despite how he was perpetuating the toxic work environment that makes the pit such a traumatizing place to work.

[00:22:03]So, that idea also fizzled out.

[00:22:07]So, instead of trying to find a thematic through line, let's just focus on what the show actually gives us. The show seems to be trying to center itself on interpersonal conflicts. I actually loved it when it became clear that rather having another mass casualty event, an external force causing issues for the characters, it would be an internal force, the characters' interpersonal conflicts creating a hostile and turbulent work environment.

[00:22:30]It builds on season 1's theme, it adds complexity, amazing. It's not quite a thematic [music] through line, but it's not bad. And then it stops. It's one of the strangest structural issues I've ever seen in a show. [music] It's barreling through all the seeds of the conflicts have been sown and are growing ripe to be cultivated. We've got Mel convinced she ruined her deposition as he deals with Langdon keeping her sister's medical care private. Santos pressured to be fast with charting as he deals with Whitaker moving out and Langdon being back. Dana dealing with Robbie's clear cries for help as she's struggling to respond to Emma's assault.

[00:23:08]Robbie dealing with his mental health issues, Al-Hashimi's conflicting philosophy about the ER, as well as Langdon and Dana's dramas. All the characters were wrapped in an intertwining web with explosive potential. The juggling balls were in the air set to collide with each other.

[00:23:24]And then the show just poured cold water all over the conflicts and systemically took them apart. I've seen many shows shoot themselves in the foot trying to over deliver, but never in trying to under deliver.

[00:23:38]The night shift comes in and takes away the pressure of patient care. The supporting cast exits one at a time eliminating a lot of the complexity of the situations.

[00:23:48]Half the main cast is delegated to completing paperwork, which, yes, is just as boring to watch as it [music] sounds, as the stakes are dismantled one by one, as if a random juggler off the street notice how our juggler was overwhelmed and one by one took the balls out of rotation so our juggler could have a manageable amount again.

[00:24:11]The last conflict still standing at the end of all of it is really between Robbie, Dana, and [music] Abbott as they try to stop Robbie from doing risky behavior on his motorcycle sabbatical, which has as much narrative interest as a wet fart. Robbie's behavior has been getting more erratic and antagonistic throughout the whole day as it becomes clear that the ER is both contributing to his mental health and being his purpose in life. It's an interesting idea, one of the only ones the show [music] actually tries to explore this season, but it culminates in discussions. Abbott talks to Robbie, who basically backs down and then finds comfort with baby Jane Doe relating their situations in life before he leaves to go on his sabbatical with a healthier mindset.

[00:24:56]Now, if that's not thrilling television, I do not know what is.

[00:25:01]Paperwork, talking, season-long plot lines getting resolved in the dullest [music] way possible.

[00:25:08]It's everything I could ever ask for from a medical drama. They even threw in a massive medical emergency for the night shift, the preeclampsia lady.

[00:25:17]A bunch of characters we've barely met having to use teamwork to handle an emergency while our dysfunctional team of doctors we've been waiting to implode all season watch in the background.

[00:25:29]The way the show handles social issues has also worsened in the second season.

[00:25:34]It got a lot of praise for [music] its depiction of modern issues in medicine in the first season and put a lot of work into continuing this.

[00:25:42]There's nothing wrong with wanting to do that, but the show veers into a strangely documentarian fashion.

[00:25:48]The pit wants to depict [music] real problems, the realities of modern American health care, but it seems to have interpreted depict as observe. The worst culprit of this was the deaf patient Harlow.

[00:26:01]To me, this really was the epitome of style over structure because there was hardly any actual substance to her depiction.

[00:26:09]Her scenes are filmed without audio, putting the audience in Harlow's shoes, but nothing actually happens to her.

[00:26:16]It's clear that the hospital is not an accommodating place and that she received worse health care because of her disability.

[00:26:23]But instead of digging into that and engaging with its own storyline by giving the characters real consequences, the show just pulls its punches and pivots away.

[00:26:32]It's a realistic resolution, I guess.

[00:26:35]The odds of her having a real medical emergency were fairly slim in the grand scheme of things, but then you need to ask why they didn't just write her a more complex story. Imagine if her character and the woman in the last episode who had preeclampsia were merged. Then we could actually experience the full ramifications of a hospital not being able to accommodate a deaf [music] patient in a medical emergency.

[00:26:58]That can showcase the full extent of the social issues the show wants to introduce. Frankly, I think it would have served as a much stronger climax and would thematically resonate with the season's emphasis on communication issues and systemic failures.

[00:27:12]The crisis of the older sister looking after her brother after their parents were deported is another storyline caught in this observation bubble of non-interference.

[00:27:22]We hear about this crisis and then a social worker appears to deal with it and then the audience never hears about it again.

[00:27:29]At least this time there was a semblance of engagement with Santos not wanting to report them to the social services and Robbie overruling her, but once again, this show just points at something, says bad, and then waits for applause.

[00:27:43]But that's not good enough. Is it realistic? Absolutely. In real life, I'm sure this is how these events would play out, but this is a television show. The writers control what the audience sees and how other characters react. But instead, this show just seems content to [music] broadcast it and wait for applause. I also want to pay attention to Mr. Diaz, the man with the diabetes story, because it was one of the extreme and dramatic [music] stories that really heavily overlapped with social commentary. I think it was the strongest of all the social issues to get covered in the season with a lot of characters who represent different viewpoints and really showing how complex private insurance can make things.

[00:28:25]We had characters facing a multitude of consequences and changing in light of the story.

[00:28:31]It was a great character moment for Mohan, someone who gave excellent care [music] to Mr. Diaz, but who was partially blamed by his wife for how he ended up, despite Mohan going above and beyond to help them.

[00:28:43]Which really speaks to the core conflict that her character represents. Mr. Diaz's plot line stands out above the rest and is the direction I'd like the show to keep going in, providing social commentary, having an impact on character development, [music] and rewarding the audience for engaging with the story by giving the plot line a meaningful and interesting resolution.

[00:29:02]But at the same time, there was a layer of realistic but confusing financial aid programs.

[00:29:09]I gather that the point of it was to show how confusing and inefficient these programs are, but I just got inundated by the amount of technical information about these programs and really struggled to follow along, especially on my first watch. I ended up getting distracted, and that took me out of the emotional component of the storyline unnecessarily. I feel like at this point the show had already established how inefficient everything was, [music] and throwing in these hyperrealistic details both wasn't necessary and made everything kind of worse. Necessarily, couldn't we just admit him to med surge instead of ICU?

[00:29:44]Wouldn't that be a lot cheaper? Med surge won't accept him with an insulin drip. Usually true, but let me talk to the charge nurse upstairs. I don't know what med surge is. Do I need to know what med surge is? Does every hospital just have like a random secondary ER that's a med surge? You know, I thought that the lack of beds was a massive issue. Do they have somewhere they can just move patients to? And by the time I'm done thinking about all these things, I've lost track of the story. My emotional connection to the plot line has disappeared because I got stuck in the logic of it all.

[00:30:17]And this cuts back to the issue of suspension of disbelief, which theoretically should stop an audience from getting stuck in the weeds of realistic issues [music] by having a strong story.

[00:30:28]But by not wanting audiences to have to suspend their disbelief and instead providing all these realistic [music] nitty-gritty details explaining everything, the story gets weaker.

[00:30:39]This is because if the show spends time explaining these details, the audience's attention is also on the details and it can interrupt the emotional connection to the story, which makes it less engaging.

[00:30:52]For comparison's sake, season 1's depiction of substance abuse by doctors was more than observational.

[00:30:59]We had three characters, >> [music] >> Santos, Langdon, and Robbie, all aware of it and forced to engage with the issue.

[00:31:06]Langdon wanted to ignore it. Santos wanted to confront it, while Robbie was upset and ended up siding with Santos.

[00:31:13]And it caused Langdon get kicked out of the ER with repercussions still impacting the second season. It had a lasting impression on the audience and the show by depicting it and engaging with it, managed to embed nuance [music] and conflicting viewpoints into it. Was it the most realistic depiction of a hospital dealing with a doctor with a substance abuse problem? Eh, sort of.

[00:31:35]But the show definitely seems to have hand-waved a lot of the legality and protocols away.

[00:31:41]Realism can be boring and anticlimactic.

[00:31:44]I would much rather the show hand-wave away things so that we can continue to address it in the story. The pit does a lot of showing. It points a camera at a problem and then acts as though broadcasting that problem is in itself meaningful.

[00:31:59]Oh, great. I'm aware that the pit is aware of a societal issue. Wow, amazing.

[00:32:05]I think if a show is going to center itself in social issues, it needs to do more than just observe.

[00:32:11]I'm not saying every patient who represents a social issue needs to have like 16 heart attacks and a leg amputation. But it needs to be more than just pointing a camera, observing, and getting applause for it. While in season 1, it managed to heighten the overall theme of the season, this time it feels like the show is ticking boxes.

[00:32:30]They identify a prominent issue in healthcare and delegate a doctor-patient pair to do a surface-level interrogation of it. But, there's no deeper nuance or complexity explored. [music] It just feels like the show is pointing a camera at a problem and waiting for audience applause as if showing something by itself is impressive.

[00:32:50]Part five, them's the pits.

[00:32:54]So, why all these disconnected [music] segments? Why a lackluster ending?

[00:32:59]The best I can figure out is that the show prioritizes its realistic style over telling a strong story.

[00:33:07]It's hard not to see the self-imposed focus on realism as a massive weakness in the show.

[00:33:13]The framing of a single shift within the real-time gimmick means that all the characters are stuck getting introduced at the same time and exiting at similar times.

[00:33:23]While season 1 intertwined story structure with the shift, it feels like season 2 attempted to step away from one-upping itself by rejecting a typical story structure in favor of a more realistically structured season [music] based on an actual shift. But, as realistic as this was, it makes for really lackluster TV.

[00:33:45]The single shift structure also means that the show has to favor width over depth.

[00:33:50]Having an ensemble cast is normal in medical dramas, but most medical dramas tend to have one central patient character per episode as well as three to five main characters. The hour per episode guideline makes it so a story is stuck balancing a huge amount of characters [music] and can give anyone a curated experience of time.

[00:34:10]For instance, with the dying woman Roxy, I think her story would have been a lot more impactful across a time span of months or even just a week.

[00:34:18]I wish we had spent more time with her husband and her children delving into how a family and doctors can manage this reality. But, because of the show's strict arbitrary time schedule, we can't. We're stuck at the climax. This woman has already made her decision, and we can't see the family coming to terms with it. The show implied that they've come to the ER often, but the structure of the show itself prevented them from being able to treat that plot line with the interest it could have had.

[00:34:47]This approach of favoring width over depth isn't wholly bad. It worked really well in season 1, where the width of patients added to the disorienting and chaotic feeling of an ER, which further the central theme.

[00:34:59]But, in season 2, where the audience is already used to this, that structure is really hard to build upon. It's like the show is constantly trying to impress the audience by juggling 15 balls at the same time. And, you know, that's that's a cool trick, but the second time around, I want to see something else.

[00:35:17]Pulling off a cooler trick might mean that less balls can be juggled at once.

[00:35:22]If you have 15 balls, can you even do any trick other than juggling? I want to also quickly mention another UK show that I think The Pit is a pale imitation of.

[00:35:32]This Is Going to Hurt is a UK show following a labor and delivery ward as the doctors navigate the issues of systemic underfunding, toxicity among staff, examines modern social issues through doctor-patient interactions, >> [music] >> and how they impact doctors. It's a great show that frankly leaves more of an impact than The Pit did, and it didn't need real time or other stylistic embellishments. It just trusted in the story it wanted to deliver, and it succeeded.

[00:36:00]It used a style of realism to deliver its story effectively, but it balanced the style with substance, making them complement each other rather than compete with one another.

[00:36:10]Obviously, The Pit can't and won't step away from the real-time structure. It's too iconic and part of the show's branding.

[00:36:17]But, I wish they try. Instead of a day, give it a week.

[00:36:21]At what point does the real time, the accuracy, the realism, all the stylistic elements [music] of the show stop covering up its faults.

[00:36:31]It's cool that audiences don't need to suspend their disbelief as [music] much as they do during House or Grey's Anatomy, but to what end?

[00:36:38]Does it really truly help tell a better, more complex, and engaging story?

[00:36:43]I don't think so. I think it's actually hurting the story it's trying to tell.

[00:36:48]Something I've been wondering is whether the writers may have confused [music] style for substance, mistaking the realism as substance in itself.

[00:36:57]But at the end of the day, it's a style.

[00:37:00]It's an aesthetic, a surface element. It can add nuance and make the audience relate to it more, but it cannot fundamentally substitute storytelling devices.

[00:37:11]The substance is the story, the theme, and the characters, and how they all intertwine to tell a complex narrative.

[00:37:17]If the show decides to cut short character development on the guise of being realistic, that doesn't mean they magically get a narratively satisfying arc. That just means they have half a character arc with natural lighting and shaky cam.

[00:37:31]Believe it or not, after watching this video, I actually still really like The Pit. I hope that it stops fixating so much on being real so that it can concentrate on structure, pacing, theme, and character development.

[00:37:44]Season 1 struck a chord for a reason.

[00:37:46]Audiences are hungry for this kind of story. [music] But the writers can't forget that at the end of the day, it's still a story first and foremost. [music] I think realism is also used as a defense to a lot of the show's flaws.

[00:38:00]Don't like how the characters exits in the second season were all really boring and anticlimactic since they just, you know, left work?

[00:38:08]Well, it's realistic, so what were you expecting? I don't know, maybe a good story?

[00:38:14]A lot of people annoyed about the pacing in the latter half of the show received pushback for it because it's realistic that a climactic event wouldn't always happen at the end of the work day.

[00:38:25]Yes, >> [music] >> that's true, but also it's boring and it makes the story feel pretty meaningless and unsatisfying.

[00:38:32]I find the whole defense to be a little absurd and nonsensical.

[00:38:37]People are picking up on real issues in [music] the show, but instead of acknowledging it or rebutting it, they're just met with this defensive, "Oh, well, it's realistic, so you can't [music] actually hold it against the show."

[00:38:49]The show has structural issues. That's not something you can defend by saying it's realistic. If a show is not good, a show is not good. Being realistic does not impact whether it's good or not.

[00:39:02]Even worse, this idea actively hurts the show's future.

[00:39:06]If you can hand-wave any valid structural critique away because it's realistic, the show will keep shooting itself in the foot.

[00:39:14]It also means the show is really sensitive to any critique of it being unrealistic.

[00:39:20]It means that the show can't easily evolve away from hyperrealism, even if they want to, which is a major limitation on a long-form creative endeavor. It makes unrealistic plot lines a lightning rod for criticism and the writers might decide to play it safe if they have to decide between a realistic plot line or a more dramatic one.

[00:39:41]Either way, it doesn't incentivize making a good story.

[00:39:44]>> [music] >> It incentivizes making a realistic one at all costs.

[00:39:49]Some content creators in the niche of evaluating how realistic medical shows are have said they don't want to watch the show because of how realistic it is because it reminds them of work so much.

[00:39:59]I think that when people say that, a lot of people are like, "Wow, The Pit is so good, it's so realistic, amazing."

[00:40:04][music] But, I think that it might also be better interpreted as a bit of a warning sign. That maybe the show has gone too far in prioritizing a realistic depiction over good storytelling if people don't want to watch it because it reminds them of their work.

[00:40:20]Part six, conclusion. I think it's pretty clear that The Pit is intended to become a television staple, >> [music] >> renewed annually, cleverly designed for a rotating cast that has new characters every season. The writers seem to be noticing some of the weaknesses of the real-time gimmick, since one reason the time skip next season is so short is so that they can keep the main characters around, despite a lot of younger ones theoretically graduating to the next stage of their career.

[00:40:48]Yet another [music] self-imposed struggle the show is stuck dealing with, since it's decided to dedicate itself to realism at all costs.

[00:40:57]But calling it a bad show isn't accurate. [music] I like The Pit. It's a solid medical drama with an interesting premise. It just has a lot of really obvious weaknesses that are mostly self-imposed.

[00:41:10]That's the thing that draws me in, just how arbitrary and self-inflicted the structural issues in this show are.

[00:41:18]Normally, shows are impacted by things outside of a writer's room's control, and the writers try [music] to create the most engaging story possible under limitations, whether that's from the studio or the budget or actor availability.

[00:41:32]But The Pit's biggest limitation, its commitment to realism, was created internally. I think a lot of season 2's weaknesses stem from that, and because it's so instrumental [music] to the show and the branding, it can't be changed.

[00:41:46]And the people who created the show don't seem to think of it as a problem, and are even leaning further in that direction in spite [music] of it.

[00:41:54]I fear The Pit will come back every year for the foreseeable future, as our cast slowly ages up, and the show struggles to figure out how to measure [music] out time skips that realistically keep them all together.

[00:42:06]The juggling will continue. More balls will be included every season, but the audience will slowly stop trying to figure out what color those balls actually are or what their paths in the air are. And eventually, they'll start yawning as they watch a blur of colors to sound of heart rate monitors. I don't [music] love that vision as the future of the pit, and I really hope that I'm wrong. Unless the writers change things going forward, I really [music] struggle to see how the show will end up on any path but that.

[00:42:38]So, thank you very much for watching. I haven't taken a video in like a long time. So, it's been kind of nice to get back in the saddle, I guess.

[00:42:47]I tried to like put a good amount of nuance into this critique. I don't think The Pit is like a good or a bad show. I think it's absolutely solid, but it does have some cracks into it, and this is one of the major cracks that I'm kind [music] of seeing.

[00:43:01]I've also seen a lot of crazy valid critiques over the last like few weeks since the show finished about things that are super interesting, right? Like the kind of depiction of women on the show, Robbie's treatment of women on the show, how the characters being written out seem to really generally be women of color, but I think a lot of other people have kind of spoken to them already.

[00:43:20]I kind of want to talk about something that wasn't really being overly discussed yet, and to me this issue was one of the major ones that I was seeing, but I wasn't seeing a lot of other people specifically talking about.

[00:43:34]There are so many more interesting components of The Pit. I've talked about like maybe 5% of the whole show, and the whole show is pretty interesting.

[00:43:43]But, these are the kind of big things that I saw, and frankly this video honestly the scope creep was really bad.

[00:43:49]Originally, it was like half the length, and I just kept adding to it. Terrible.

[00:43:53]But, it's over now.

[00:43:55]And I hope you enjoyed it. Yeah, if you want to leave like a comment or whatever, feel free. Um just to lastly reinstate, I do like The Pit, you know?

[00:44:04]Um it's a cool show. It just has problems, and I don't want anyone to take this as like me like trying to like say pit bad, cuz pit's not bad. Pit is just complicated, and pit could be better.

[00:44:15]But it's like also shooting yourself in the foot. It's crazy.

[00:44:18]But yeah, that's kind of how I feel about it. So, I hope you enjoyed.