with gerran hinting that dennis whitaker is finding love and friendship within the ptmc and that he holds barriers and defence mechanisms close to his heart plus the fact that he confirmed he's not been back to nebraska in months or even years...i need that family lore. it's definitely giving rejected from family for 'unknown reasons' and im thinking since it's november and close to thanksgiving he'll perhaps be asked about his plans and is he returning home? and the answer will be a flatout no...if you're in line for the whitaker breakdown we thought we were getting in season two...stay in line!
dennis whitaker gives the sloppiest fucking head and it's not even his fault. he just takes it. takes it sooo well, eyes big and blue and hazy, so pretty when they glisten with tears. cheeks flushed strawberry, drool shining on his reddened, stretched out lips, slipping down his chin.
robby likes to use, and dennis likes to be used. he doesn't bob his head, doesn't make any effort other than sucking and minding his teeth, relaxing his throat. just a warm, wet hole for robby to fuck into, big hands clutching at his curls, tugging at the roots, making dennis whine and moan around robby's cock. just the right amount of pain for it to melt into pleasure, add to the fuzziness in his head, the throb in his hips.
robby pants, groans ragged, filth a constant stream as he fucks into dennis's tight, perfect throat. yeahh, fuck, you like being my little fucktoy? just a nice cocksleeve for daddy to use? jeeesus, take it so goddamn well, made for it. all you're good for, isn't it? a set of warm holes for me to fuck into. attaboy, there you go, fuck, take it... just take it, baby boy, aaalll the way in... making a goddamn mess of yourself, puppy. such a dumb, helpless little thing. needed daddy to guide you, huh? ohh, I know. I know.
no one fucking talk to me omfg. gerran saying “i think whitaker is definitely in the process of finding a new family.” and, “he’s getting used to being around people and accepting love.”
i’m not okay right now. especially with gerran has said previously about s3 of his past, and what he left behind “creeping back into his shift”.
There's a lot of commentary about the pitt, particularly post-season 2, that claim people are unwilling to discuss or acknowledge the 'uglier' themes of the show. And I’m curious about the lens with which people view these discussion to be making those claims.
To be absolutely clear, I have no issues with the existence of feminist critique, anti-racist critique, or discussions of misogyny around the show. I think those conversations are valuable. More than valuable, really - they're necessary. Media doesn't exist in a vacuum, and neither do audiences. People bring their experiences, identities, and histories with them when they consume any form of media, and it would be absurd to suggest that racism, sexism, misogyny, class, and institutional bias aren't worth talking about.
What I find myself pushing back against is something slightly different. Because, increasingly, it feels like some conversations have stopped asking questions and started assuming answers. And I think that's an important distinction. There's a difference between asking "could misogyny be shaping this dynamic?", and beginning from the premise that misogyny already is the answer, and that disagreement with that conclusion represents an unwillingness to engage seriously with the material. Likewise, there's a difference between saying, "I think season 2 marginalised Samira in ways that I find troubling", and saying, "season 2's fundamental problem is racism and misogyny".
Those aren't the same claim. And I think the latter requires a degree of certainty that I'm not sure the text itself supports. Because one thing I find myself returning to over and over is that many of the ideas which have become central to certain corners of the fandom are, in my view, beautiful interpretations. But they still read like interpretations.
Samira as Robby's younger self. Samira as his true heir. Robby projecting his self-loathing onto her. His inability to articulate his admiration of her. Her craving his approval. Their relationship being simultaneously loving, toxic, and professionally harmful. His impossible expectations of her stemming from his belief in her exceptional potential.
These are all compelling readings, truly. But I don't think they're all canonical truths. Fandom does this all the time. We all do. We find threads; we connect dots; we construct emotional throughlines; we invest in possibilities. That's part of the joy of engaging deeply with fiction. But I think problems emerge when interpretations slowly become treated as facts.
"I think this relationship is central to the show" becomes "This relationship is clearly the emotional core" which becomes "The writers abandoned their own story" which eventually becomes "The writers have revealed their misogyny".
And somewhere in that progression, what began as an interpretation becomes transformed into a moral accusation. I think that's what I've found difficult. Not criticism, not disappointment, not even anger. But the way in which creative disagreements sometimes become reframed as evidence of moral failure.
Because if season 2 failed Samira, that is a perfectly valid opinion (which I share). If someone believes her screentime was insufficient, or that her relationship with Robby lost complexity, or that the show devoted too much energy elsewhere, I think those are entirely legitimate criticisms.
But I don't know that disappointment itself proves misogyny. And I don't know that every uneven relationship or disparity between characters necessarily has the same explanation.
Take Whitaker, for example.
I've seen him increasingly reduced to the "mediocre white man who gets rewarded". And honestly, I find that reading sad. Not because he's beyond criticism - he's not - but because it seems to flatten him into a symbol. His working-class background; his upbringing in rural Nebraska; his homelessness; his theology background; his anxiety; his mistakes; his growth; his deep empathy; his bonds with Robby and Santos; his willingness to meet people where they are; his evolution from terrified MS4 to confident R1. All of that disappears, and he becomes simply an embodiment of structural privilege.
Which, to me, feels oddly ironic, because a great deal of the discourse surrounding Samira rightly pushes back against flattening complex women of colour into symbols. Yet most of the criticism of Whitaker flattens him precisely the same way.
Likewise, Robby becomes 'latent misogyny'.
Dana becomes 'internalised misogyny'.
Gloria becomes 'the profit-obsessed Black woman'.
Al-Hashimi becomes evidence.
Collins becomes evidence.
Louie becomes evidence.
Joyce becomes evidence.
Everyone becomes evidence.
And eventually the characters stop feeling like people and start feeling like exhibits in a larger argument.
I also think some theories have become almost impossible to falsify.
If Robby criticises Samira, that confirms the reading.
If he praises Whitaker, that confirms the reading.
If he trusts Langdon, that confirms the reading.
If he doubts Al-Hashimi, that confirms the reading.
If Samira struggles, that confirms the reading.
If she excels, that confirms the reading.
If she receives little screentime, that confirms the reading.
If she receives more screentime, but isn't validated in the 'right' way, that confirms the reading.
And at some point, I start wondering what evidence would count against the theory. Because if there isn't any, then we're no longer using a framework to understand the text. We're using the text to reinforce the framework. And I'm not sure that's a partiuclarly healthy approach.
Perhaps most of all, though. I wonder whether some of the intensity surrounding season 2 comes from grief. Not grief over what happened in the show. But grief over the loss of the show people thought they were watching. Because I think many viewers fell in love with a version of the pitt where Samira was Robby's successor. Where their relationship was the emotional centre of the series. Where her philosophy of medicine would eventually be vindicated. Where his inability to express affection would slowly give way to recognition. Where he would finally acknowledge that she was extraordinary.
But I'm not convinced that 's the story the writers themselves thought they were telling. And I think season 2 exposed that gap. Not necessarily because the writers betrayed their own themes, but because audiences and writers were perhaps never imagining quite the same show. Which is disappointing, and disappointment is real. But I don't think disappointment automatically becomes proof of prejudice.
And I think that's where I ultimately land. Not that discussions of racism and misogyny should stop. Not that media criticism should be gentler. Not even that people should simply accept the show's decision.
But that accusations as serious as these deserve a degree of humility. Because the pitt is a show about imperfect people trying their absolute best in a failing system. People shaped by grief, ego, burnout, race, gender, class, trauma, hierarchy, and institutional pressures. None of these things operate in isolation. And I think our criticism should be willing to embrace that same complexity.
Because sometimes I read certain corners of the fandom and come away with the impression that racism and misogyny are not being treated as possibilities to be explored, but as conclusions from which all other explanations must flow.
And, I don't know… maybe that's where I part ways.
Not because I don't think those conversations are important. But because I think stories - and people - are usually more complicated than that. And I think complexity deserves the benefit of remaining complex.
It’s Pittsburgh pride. They’re down a couple people who took the day off to attend. But they’re managing. Its a lot of overheating and dehydration, and a couple of heat strokes. It’s not the worst day Robby’s had.
And then a gurney comes in. Its one of the hottest days of the year, and some pride goer in full leather wasnt prepared enough for the heat and collapsed. Nothing too severe, just another IV and a cool room, they may have to cut them out of their clothes, but that’s only a possibility.
Robby gets to the gurney and nearly falls on his ass from laughing.
Jack abbot in his leather gear, sweating bullets, is glaring back at him with his arms crossed high on his chest
mmm dennis whitaker waking up restrained to a hospital bed. the normally florescent white lights are dimmed, his vitals beeping steadily, IVs in his arms and a pulse ox on his finger. his first instinct is thrashing and yelling, gasping out pleas for help through panicked breathing.
robby steps into the room, shaking his head with a quiet tsk tsk tsk, and awfully, something twists in dennis's chest for a moment at the disappointment. robby rounds the bed as dennis starts to settle, mostly in shock, taking in the man he thought he trusted with wide, wet eyes. shh, now, little mouse. robby's hand comes up to brush lightly against dennis's cheek, and his first instinct is to snap his teeth, a cornered, scared dog.
robby only laughs, bright and delighted as he pulls his hand back. hey, hey, hey, now... no biting, little one. he hums in contemplation, and dennis watches as he pushes some sort of sedative, some sort of— whatever it is that makes dennis drowsy, takes the fight out of him, weakens his limbs. his eyes go heavylidded, and he desperately tries to keep them open.
oh, sweetie, you can sleep. doctor's orders, huh? get looots of rest... got a lot I wanna do with you, tomorrow, little mouse. robby's voice is low, gentle, the voice robby usually withholds for patients. dennis hates how soothing he finds it, hates how he wishes robby would keep talking sweet to him, eyes slipping silently down his temples. he can't even fight as the older man— his boss, his boss who he thought he knew— leans over, kisses soft at his pink lips.
dennis doesn't know why he doesn't try to bite again, maybe he's too tired. maybe it's the medicine coursing through his veins, or the hopelessness in his bones, maybe a mixture. he whimpers quietly as robby parts his mouth with his tongue, licking into him with a muffled groan. he pulls back, and dennis hates himself for hiccuping pitifully at the loss, more tears slipping from his tired eyes. they flutter shut, his consciousness slipping into oblivion as robby wipes spit off of his lips with the pad of a thumb, murmurs there you go. good boy. <3
dennis loves to suck robby's cock so much that it transcends just being a sexual attraction. he's so drawn to it and obsessed with it (and the man it's attached to) that there's no situation where he isn't craving the idea of stuffing it into his mouth and getting to work on it.
sure, he goes straight for it whenever he's horny, and robby's more than happy to have his pretty boy deepthroat him and send him to orgasm- but its so much more than that. dennis is sad? then he gets on his knees and suckles, knowing the warm weight and salty cum calm him down and cheer him up. he's tired? he flops between robby's legs and mouths over the head and slobbers over the shaft, drifting sleepily in contentment. dennis is angry and frustrated? nothing a good, hard suck can't fix.
he does it when he's bored, too. robby will be reading quietly and will see his boy padding towards him, looking downcast and idle. dennis will look at robby and give a deep sigh and blink his big blue eyes, and the older man will have his trousers unzipped and the fat cock in his hand immediately. anything to fill his boy's day with something enjoyable (and god, does dennis enjoy it).
it gets to the stage where robby is actively worried whenever dennis isnt between his legs and slurping away, assuming that he must be *really* upset to not gravitate to his cock. if denny's really lucky, he'll get to sleep between robby's legs for real (not just dozing), suckling away the whole time and unconsciously savouring the cum that occasionally blurted out.
robby loves to watch his boy busy himself by feasting on his dick. he'd call dennis a cock slut, a real desperate whore, if it wasn't for the fact dennis wasn't even horny most of the time. he just knew robby's cock in his mouth made him feel good, so there he stayed.
i like that robby is so non judgmental about Baby Jane Doe’s mother. he probably empathized on a personal level but i think it’s important to highlight not making demonizing assumptions about birth/first mothers. there are many mothers who give their children up because they are struggling financially; imagine if we gave them proper support instead. struggling doesn’t automatically make someone a bad parent. we don’t why BJD was relinquished but i’m glad the show humanizes her mother instead of deferring to stereotypes.
hucklerobby wedding, but as well as traditional wedding rings, robby makes sure to have a pretty silver bar pierced through the underside of dennis's testosterone-engorged clit that shimmers against his slick pussy. you know, just to really drive home the fact that they're legally bound now.
okay I'm only gonna talk about this ONCE and hope and pray I don't get shot and killed but I gotta say something.
the constant insistence that robby has no reason to doubt baran's skills, and so it must be because she's a woc, is so.. stupid. I'm sorry. it's stupid. I do think there's bias there, I think he's harder on women, but acting like it's the ONLY reason is absurd.
I have an irl friend who watched the pitt with her mother that worked in the medical field for years. in s1 she disliked Samira and had to warm up to her. in s2 she disliked Baran. why? because they both mentioned working at the VA, and the reputation for that was that they're all slow, bad doctors.
no, starting out, robby had no clue about her combat medicine or her more impressive shit. she doesn't show her "ER cowboy" side til much later, when she adapts. but at the beginning, all he knew was VA doctor. and it's not insane to think that maybe she couldn't handle the intensity and pace of an ER.
and that's not the only gripe, his first interaction of the show pretty much was Donnie calling Baran his "replacement", and obviously mentally ill "I need to be needed" Robby is gonna have a reaction to that. and Not a good one.
corporate is also using Baran, and pushing her, consulting her without asking the literal chief of the ED, so another thing for Robby (who hates corporate... duh) to contend with. is this her fault? no! but she is being purposefully used as the face of it. which I hope she eventually fully realizes. (I think similarly about Gloria— she's not some evil villain lmao, she's just another corporate pawn that happens to be a little higher than Robby. who is also a pawn, just a more "difficult" one.. which is why they're using Baran.)
also, yeah, it is "his" ED. he's not just attending, he's Chief. when somebody brand new comes in and immediately starts trying to push change, as a temp, before observing, that's going to cause more clashing. her early interactions with Trinity were scolding her, again, because even getting to know her. so she's coming in and changing up things in the ER that he runs and scolding his residents that he's responsible for.
I don't excuse any of robby's actions this season, he was too harsh on baran, he was disrespectful and unprofessional, and he does desperately need help. he has biases and I'm not saying there's NO basis for Robby being hard on Baran because she's a woman, I'm just saying that it's definitely not the only reason. and disclaimer I fucking adore baran.
okay I'll say it. i think season 2 was better than season 1. overall, it was better. rather than having to establish every character as a new one, we got to build on storylines and meet new characters at the same time, and through those new characters, we got to learn more about our existing ones too.
s2 is the best reprasentation of a mental health crisis that i have *ever* seen portrayed on screen. ever. it was done extremely thoughtfully and with great research, and robby has become a character that i (and many people i know) relate to on a deep level and feel seen by, as well as a character beloved by the medical community nigh globally. the importance of that cant be overstated.
s2, in my opinion, also carries what i consider to be a stronger message. because s1 was palatable for all, you see. everyone could accept that these people were absolute heroes who saved hundreds of lives after a shooting- well done, fantastic, i love it. everyone could understand a breakdown in private after that kind of a day because it did not challenge the viewer- if youd just seen hundreds of shooting victims and shouldered the death of your son-figures girlfriend, you'd cry too. but s2 carries something deeper that people don't want to see.
people don't want to see the aftermath, or the repercussions, or the impact that ripples through a community after those events. they want to wrap the shooting up in a bow, say well done, you saved almost everyone, give them a pat on the back and then leave it in the past. s2 did a fantastic job on refusing to do that (going down this route is also how they incurred criticism on pacing from people who are perhaps less inclined to think critically about the media they're watching, and what messages its sending that they aren't picking up on, but that's not the point here).
*every* character from s1 is impacted by the shooting long term and it reflects in their behaviour somehow. the new s2 characters are entering the department in the wake of tragedy that still hangs heavy, and now they have to navigate that environment while having a hazy and incomplete idea of what exactly happened in those hours. they come with their own traumas and personalities and they add layer after layer to the department.
choosing to not shy away from robby's deteriorating mental health is an absolute asset to the show in every way. and yes, it makes some viewers uncomfortable. but this is necessary. they show you the reality of mental strain and trauma, and show you how it impacts the community, and yet still leave you with hope for this man who is suffering.
in s1 you can brush robby's mental health away a little- close your eyes to adamson, call the breakdown a one-off, and say he'll be fine in the morning. s2 doesn't let you do that. it tackles issues head-on and makes you learn.
months after the finale, and a binge style rewatch of s1 and s2 back to back, it becomes clear to me that in my mind s2 is even more valuable than s1. they stuck to their guns and it payed off massively. its heartbreaking and sensational, and so, so needed. may s3 continue in the same way.
