Gabe wears the same gray hoodie Diana once wore in a flashback, when she was pregnant with him. What was once hers becomes his, turning the hoodie into a quiet symbol of their bond. It ties past to present, showing how deeply her grief and love are tied to him.
And also donât forget that she wears it when telling Dan sheâs pregnant, when Dan tells her letâs get married and he essentially decides he canât be alone, and then Gabe wears it when confronting Dan right after Diana left cause itâs like Dan once again had to face the consequences of what this baby, Gabe, would do to him and Diana and the shadow looming over him of what wouldâve happened if he and Diana didnât get married (shown by Jack standing above him on the counter, literally making that shadow loom over him and try to trap him in that death grip hug) and whereas Diana doesnât fight Gabe (or grief) trapping her in his hugs, Dan fights back against it, and when Natalie says itâs just the two of them, he agrees with her, Gabe looking devastated, because he is the grief Dan has over Diana in that moment and Dan is admitting Diana is gone, the thing that he never could admit, and that he is going to leave his grief for both Diana and Gabe behind, focusing on being there for Natalie who he had been neglecting
i just finished the Pitt half an hour ago and something i cant stop thinking about is the dynamic between robby and langdon. obviously langdon holds so much respect and admiration for robby and robby respects the work ethic of langdon, but i think thatâs exactly why langdon didnât and could never talk to him about his addiction.
he cant be anything less than perfect for robby, visibly feeds off the praise robby hands out to him throughout the show â itâs hard to be vulnerable in front of someone you respect that much and thereâs a very strong distinction between respect and trust, and that makes it impossible for langdon to open up to him. robby elevates himself as a mentor and colleague, doesnt exactly let himself be friends with his residents in a way that would manage the emotional connection needed for a conversation like that.
we see it in the scene where robby calls langdon his best resident, not his best friend, and langdon, with some degree of hesitancy, asks if theyâre still friends. there was no chance that langdon could ever come to robby about his struggles because robby never fostered the environment where that opportunity could exist. which makes it so much more painful when he yells at langdon about how he should have come to him, because yeah, probably should have. but he couldnât. why is that, doctor robinavitch? why is that.
I love the points you make. It's so obvious that Frank tries to keep up the facade first and foremost for Robby because so far, whatever he does he never got the approval he was hoping for. So showing any form of failure? Not gonna happen.
Of course we don't now if Robby was just being dismissive on that day because of Adamson and he was being in "don't let anyone come too close" mode. Frank is clearly close to Robby's ex-stepson so there is a reason for that. And Robby takes Franks addiction very personal, which is another indicator of how much Frank means to him.
But as you point out he thrives on Robby's approval, which is so remarkable because with everyone else he is so self-assured. So yeah, admitting to Robby that he does not function the way he is expected to by Robbby and by himself seems impossible. Waaaaah, this is horrible the more you think of it.
langdonâs closeness with robbyâs stepson does suggest a degree of genuine closeness between them! which makes it so much more interesting because it gives reason for why robby thinks langdon could have talked to him; in his eyes, heâs probably lowered guards to langdon that he hasnât with a lot of others. he opened up his personal life to langdon, possibly not just by verbally speaking about himself but also by allowing him to meet jake outside of work, considering their closeness.
so then we see that disconnect again between where they stand w each other. robby probably doesnât even realize how reverent langdon is towards him and so doesnât understand why Langdon wouldnât come to him for any reasons other than he didnât want to trust him. at least not immediately, robby doesnât see why he âcould notâ confess to him, only that he didnât. he feels betrayed by him, like their relationship wasnât enough for langdon. and for someone already as emotionally constipated as robby, it makes sense why he wouldnât understand how his view of trust wonât align with someone elseâs, and in that same line, why his vulnerability wasnât enough for langdon.
theyâre cut from the same cloth and that means their separation hurts all the more!!
Robby didn't get to "finish" his mentorship with Adamson. He even had to pull the plug on Adamson, so how's THAT for layering guilt on a Nice Jewish Boy who lived with his bubbe and presumably didn't have a father figure other than the man who mentored him and whose hand he held through layers of latex as he died?
So Robby doesn't seem to have a grasp on how to complete a mentorship. He tries - he's so genuinely sweet when he tells Langdon that he'd recommended the fellowship - but often falls horrifically short. He whiplashes around Mohan and McKay so much that I'm surprised their heads haven't exploded. And let's not even talk about the whole Collins debacle; whether their relationship was before or during her residency, he should NEVER have been her direct superior, ever.
I'm not at all surprised that Langdon didn't go to him with the addiction problem. He's very focused and detail-oriented (in my mind, pre-addiction storyline, the one day shift doctor I'd WANT to have), and surely he's noticed how Robby treats his "non-best" residents. He doesn't want that to happen to him, can't let those soft, caring eyes turn cold and cruel. So he tries to fix the problem himself and it goes exactly as badly as one would imagine.
That said, he's not absolved of the crime he committed, which is serious indeed. He needed to be stopped before a patient got hurt or worse. Santos was 100% right to turn him in to Robby. It's how Robby reacted that adds a layer or two to the story.
Just before Pittfest, Robby was firm but kind to the drug-seeking father under Mohan's care. Despite the father treating Mohan very poorly, Robby still told him the course of treatment he'd recommend and refrained from judgment.
And did he honestly, in a million years, think Langdon would just quietly go away and accept the loss of his entire career?
(I kind of wish that the ER deal had gone through, because an older and wiser Carter would've had a better handle on how to help a drug-addicted doctor. But here we are.)
In my mind, much of Robby's outbursts toward Langdon have a root in some deep-seated guilt that he didn't handle the injury situation seriously enough, then didn't care enough once he knew Langdon sought treatment elsewhere, and didn't notice how Langdon was doing afterward. (I remember seeing the pilot and wondering if the make-up department just didn't like Patrick Ball because they'd taken this handsome young man and made him look pale and greasy! And of course there's that ring that's three sizes too big.) YMMV, but Robby seems to be going through a self-loathing period, whether because it's the anniversary of Adamson's death or a longer spiral that snapped. He can't even accept Abbot's reassurance of how well he handled the MCI. How can he live with himself, knowing that he'd missed the signs of Langdon's struggle and then bungled the handling of it so incredibly badly not once but twice in the same day?
In all honesty, I think if Langdon had shown up at the MCI and saved all the lives he did but NOT tried to wheedle Robby into not reporting him (which was an understandable but awful thing to try), things would have ended differently. At that point, though, I'm sure he was just as unable as Robby to think clearly about anything but the medicine.
(In my headcanon, the ambulance howling past the group in the park was Langdon, found unresponsive after taking all the drugs in his possession. I'm proven wrong about that, but I still think it's the only ending that makes sense.)
They are brilliant men and tragic ones, and that's what makes their story so compelling.
I remember audibly gasping at how fucking perfect the reveal of McKayâs ankle monitor was back in Episode Two. They did so well building up her friendliness and easy rapport up to the point where it began to seem slightly performative, especially with her eagerness to share that she has a son, and just as you begin questioning this negative space around what we hear about her personal life, the ankle monitor goes off and it both shatters and confirms your assumptions immediately. Itâs just done so fucking well, and it puts everything else weâve seen of McKay into context. Of course sheâs seemingly bland and unobtrusive - she doesnât want to draw too much attention to herself. Of course sheâs mentioning Harrison to a Med Student sheâs known for an hour - sheâs being open about being a single mother to hide being closed off about the monitor. Of course she feels deeply for her patients - many of them are in a place she once was. I love her so much. Fiona Douriff does such an amazing job playing her.
The writers really knew what they were doing with the birth plot. Obviously, itâs a very poignant parallel to Collinsâ storyline but by having it occur specifically within the 5pm hour, they also created the parallel of Mel looking for Frank so she could share with him the joy of new life⊠right after life as he knew it had just come to an end.
Mel representing a new beginning in a day full of endings. Of course Frank couldnât say goodbye to her.
The way we gradually learn about Jack Abbot is so fascinating from a writing perspective. Because itâs so interesting how we actually learn a lot about him through the season.
for a character that shows up for maybe a total of what? An hour??? He makes a huge impact through the writing as the day progresses.
Jack essentially functions as a haunting of the narrative. So when he returns in episode 12 you already feel warm to him. You sigh with relief with Robby cause thank god someone has come in to support who isnât looking to Robby to lead them.
heâs no more present then anyone else but you feel that he IS important to Robby, he is a reliable individual. I think it also is a great way to show the complicated dynamics of the work place.
He's so important because he's the only one who can take some of the burden off of Robby's shoulders. He's calmly competent like Collins, who's at home taking a bubble bath with her phone and tv off, and quick and decisive like Langdon, who's...well, he comes back and saves lives but when Abbot shows up there's no way to know that's a possibility.
Even when he's offscreen, he's still part of that incredible clockwork. The letter to the dead vet's family, the fudged measurement for the teen needing an abortion - his "hand" is in everything.
and another thing about writing the pitt characters i have a gripe with: when robby is written to be worse off than the other characters, like he's inept at taking care of himself while the other characters are better at it. THE ENTIRE POINT the pitt is making is THAT NO ONE IS OKAY. Dana's thinking about quitting. Samira is having a breakdown in the bathroom. Whitaker has his first death on his first day. Langdon is hiding an addiction. And jack fucking abbot, who people are writing as having a good handle on himself because he goes to therapy, is introduced to us with the scene where he's standing on the edge of the roof, talking about suicide, and revealing he's been there before. And then we find out he's listening to police radio on his days off, constantly on alert. Of course he fucking goes to therapy, if that's his baseline.
And of course Robby has a fucking breakdown. This is, specifically, his worst say imaginable. Is robby bad at coping? Yes! Is he uniquely bad at coping? No. When he reaches his breaking point, he finally reaches out for help (abbot, talk about therapy). He's not okay, but he only seems to be handling it worse because he's put through the grinder in s1 the way other characters aren't. He would have it on lock otherwise.
I want to reiterate: robby's coping mechanism is shoving everything down. It's not sustainable. But he's not as irresponsible with himself as people are writing him: he didn't work on the day of his mentor's day for four years. He's not biting off more than he can chew; it's just that once he's in a crisis no one could gave predicted, he has to handle it. He doesn't have a choice to tap out. People are depending on him in life-or death situations. Which is enabling his bad coping mechanisms, true. But he's a dependable, responsible attending! At the very least! That's the point!!!
Since Robby is the focal character, we see his attempts at coping up close. It all looks like a continual horror show for him, which is the point--the producers wanted to emphasize the psychological as well as physical toll on health care workers--and the glimpses into everyone else's breakdowns seem to be there to emphasize the point that no one is okay at PTMC. Everyone on the day shift shatters in one way or another. That Robby manages as well as he does is a testament to how finely-tuned his autopilot is.
I have to wonder how Adamson taught Robby to manage all of this emotional trauma. And, by extension, what Robby tried to tell the people he was mentoring, other than "find balance," which doesn't really go anywhere. (He as much as admits that to Whitaker, after all.) By the time the pelvic crush fracture patient arrives, he can't even formulate an answer to the roomful of people waiting for his decision.
The saying goes that you can't pour from an empty vessel.
The problem is, Robby's vessel isn't empty. It's full but in the worst possible way: full of other people's pain and trauma on top of his own. What he can pour from his vessel wouldn't help anyone at this point. The poor man has PPTSD: Post and Present Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Honestly, I think he was more in danger of jumping than Abbot was. The stethoscope on the railing was his suicide note.
I'm glad he's going on a sabbatical, but it's about four years too late.
hello i really wanna talk about this. this is after dan asks for phil's forgiveness and phil says there's nothing to forgive. and dan says he's sorry phil couldn't have a "normal homosexual", which phil points out he isn't either, but he knows what dan means. and we come to this clip. it's barely 2 seconds long, it's so quiet, it's so open, and tender, and honest. and you can see how unguarded and unscripted it was by the way they each separately remember to break to address the camera/audience at different points. phil when he says "thanks" (to the camera rather than dan), and dan when he skirts eye contact with phil when phil looks back at him and looks away instead. and on the very surface it looks like he's putting on the "wow this is so cheesy and gay" eyes (and the voiceover that immediately follows does joke about the moment being gay) but you can see so clearly that beneath that super thin veil of ironic self-awareness, he's feeling a lot. he hadn't taken his eyes off phil the entire time, nor had he even said anything. he'd just been looking at him. and following that whole exchange about forgiveness, the weight this moment had, with its absence of words or explanation, felt like a shot to the heart.
i know the dan and phil reveal inevitably is a Tumblr Event TM and that means that the stuff that gets talked about is ironically very surface level and focused on how the Phandom (TM) feels but can we talk about the WRITING of that video??? the ART of it?????
the intro, for starters: it's INTENTIONAL. the bedsheets are ON PURPOSE. the shirts that match the bedsheets. the premise: how they were reduced to the Iconic Matching Bedsheets because that was how the fans Branded them. the intimacy of the bed setting. different but belonging together, the perfect speculated Are They Dating.
confirming it 7 seconds in to finally take control of the narrative.
then, the title card: gloved hands ripping apart the bedsheets and setting them on fire. anonymous people on the internet ruining something so incredibly private, ripping it apart and setting the dregs on fire. THAT'S the theme of the video: why they kept it a secret.. and why they're sharing it now. taking control of the narrative, shedding a light on the damage that was done.
when there are clips of old videos that were since privated i don't think it's accidental that they're taken from torrent sites with the logo intact and not the official upload. BECAUSE THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT. it feels invasive. IT WAS INVASIVE.
it's ART. it's INTENTIONAL. yeah they're dating but they're WRITERS. this isn't just a dating announcement, it's an introspective art film. a video essay. a think piece. so many layers to this video that i think many people are missing or ignoring.
then the REBRAND. it's such a powerful conclusion to a video all about strangers controlling the narrative of one's life and career, and finally freeing oneself from that chokehold. setting boundaries. deciding for yourself what, and how, you do from now on. a metamorphosis, maybe. finally taking back the control that was ripped from them for all those years.
coming up with an au were a dead character lives but shaking my head while i do it so everyone watching knows i support the role their death played in the narrative and consider it a legitimate writing choice
It came to my attention yesterday that i got Viktorâs jump layout wrong. I thought he jumped 3A+3Lo. No. It's 3A+3Lo+3Lo. As if 3A+3Lo wasn't diabolical enough of a combo alone...
Do you know how many skaters have jumped 3A+3Lo irl?! TWO. Only one before YoI was released.
And how many skaters have jumped 3A+3Lo+3Lo in competition ever you might be inclined to ask? Exactly. NO ONE.
So even by today's quad crazy standards Viktorâs jump layout is insane for this shit alone. Like even 3A+2Lo is Rare. I found 5 attempts when i put the query in skating scores. No one attempted it since Matteo Rizzo in 2016 and he underrotated the Axel. ONLY ONE HAD POSITIVE GOE.
AND VIKTOR IS DOING IT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE PROGRAM TOO AS IF HE WASN'T ENOUGH OF A MANIAC ALREADY!
Though I guess if you can jump this insanity then I guess get those multiplier points...
But this fucking jump combo alone proves to me how insanely bored Viktor must've been with competition bc why would he do that?! Exactly. Just to prove that he can.
really funny that yuuri and yuri spend episodes 2 and 3 fighting over which one of them viktor is going to coach. he's not even good at it!!! he's never coached before and he does kind of a bad job at first and has to spend several episodes figuring out HOW to actually coach.
meanwhile actual competent coach yakov is back in russia with steadily rising blood pressure, probably paranoid that more of his students are gonna flee the country and upend their careers at any moment.
viktor: i think (know) you have a secret confident and powerfully erotic side to you that no one has seen (except everyone else who also watched you pole dancing with chris) and i want you to show it to me (again please please please). think about what eros means to you (like that time you danced on me half naked. would be down for a repeat)
yuuri several anxiety-filled scenes later: i know what i'll use for inspiration!! my uncontrollable lust for my favorite food.
the best part of the dramatic russian bridge goodbye scene that opens episode 2 is that victor whispers dasvidanya to yakov on the bridge in the snow but yakov's final line is delivered from the airport meaning victor gave him his dramatic parting speech and then yakov still had to take him to the airport afterward
When you watch an anime more than once you notice little things you missed before. Poor Viktor cried himself to sleep in Japan on his first night. Only after the revelation in Ep10 you can understand how confused and upset he must have felt to be rejected by Yuuri like that.
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