TV Review: ‘The Pitt’ Season 2

Noah Wyle once again leads the cast as a doctor balancing patients and personal trauma in a chaotic Pittsburgh emergency room during one busy day.

(L to R): Noah Wyle, Irene Choi, Fiona Dourif in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

Arriving on HBO Max on January 8 with its first episode (followed by one episode weekly) is the second season of ‘The Pitt’ the breakout medical drama which saw such success last year.

The cast for the show includes Noah Wyle (‘ER’), Patrick Ball (‘Law & Order'), Katherine LaNasa (‘The Campaign’), Taylor Dearden (‘The Last Thing He Told Me’), Fiona Dourif (‘The Blacklist’) and Isa Briones (‘Star Trek: Picard’).

Initial Thoughts

(L to R): Sepideh Moafi, Taylor Dearden, Katherine LaNasa, Gerran Howell and Supriya Ganesh in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

‘The Pitt’ was one of 2024’s big TV sensations, stitching together the sheen of prestige TV with the more urgent pace (and closer to the episode count of) network TV.

A spiritual successor to the fast-moving likes of ‘ER’, it breathed some fresh life into the genre, which had largely become more soap than procedural. The question is, can that initial trick be repeated?

Script and Direction

(L to R): Noah Wyle and Fiona Dourif in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

Season 2 really doesn’t stray far from the doctor’s orders of the first –– there is the same mix of patients, personal drama and unfolding crises that made the first such a compelling watch.

Yet there is still the lingering feeling that it’s just more of the same –– while the quality level remains high, in the episodes sent to press, there’s not much surprise to be found here beyond one techno-crisis that sends the team back to the days of paper charts and whiteboards.

Cast and Performances

Katherine LaNasa in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

Noah Wyle continues to be the soul of the show as Dr. Robby, though this year he’s less about freaking out and more contemplating his upcoming sabbatical. Still, there’s plenty for him to do, and Wyle proves why he’s won awards for this show.

Taylor Dearden remains the heart as Mel King, with her nervy medic worried about an upcoming deposition and once more needing to look after her sister.

And, of course, Katherine LaNasa’s Charge Nurse Evans continues to rule the desk with a spine of steel and a heart of gold.

The rest of the cast are all solid, with new recruit Sepideh Moafi fitting in well as the future-minded new attending, Dr. Al-Hashimi.

Final Thoughts

Sepideh Moafi in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

The second season maintains the pace, and if the feel is sometimes over-familiar, it’s not too detrimental. Yet the show might quickly go off the bubble if it keeps going over the same territory too often.

‘The Pitt’ Season 2 receives 80 out of 100.

(L to R): Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa and Sepideh Moafi in ‘The Pitt’ Season 2. Photo: Warrick Page/HBO Max.

What’s the plot of ‘The Pitt’?

The medical drama is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh.