Cascading Brilliance @murdererofthumbs - Tumblr Blog

Considering the discourse surrounding 2x12 and how people criticise Dana for her saying that “ED will survive without you” to Robby, I need you all to put your thinking caps on and stop giving in to nearly coddling this man (and this is coming from a person whose favourite character is Robby).

Do I think that Robby will most likely reinterpret what Dana told him as “you are not needed here, both as a chief and a person” and feed further into his ongoing suicidal ideation? Yes, definitely. But do I also think we need to stop framing everything that is being said towards Robby through the lens of how he is going to perceive it, rather than what is actually being said? Also, yes. Robby, at this point, has lost his credibility as a character who can successfully interact with the reality surrounding him. He takes constructive criticism of the department as a personal attack on his capabilities as a doctor; he projects his trauma onto his residents in the most cruel way possible; he is trying time and time again to keep a lid on his emotions which essentially shuts down his ability to display empathy altogether. He is not doing well and people around him can see it. Dana can see it. And she tried on multiple occasions to puncture through his defences with careful questioning and ongoing care, despite his repeatedly poor behaviour this season.

But careful care and concern do not work well on people like Robby, at least not at the state he is in. Concern is something he can easily brush off with a joke or deflection, he has been doing it for two seasons now - it doesn’t work on him. Anger, on the other hand seems to actually produce a reaction out of him. And its not even that Dana necessarily planned on delivering “intervention” with this level of fury, I am sure that if she could choose differently she would have gone around it in a gentler manner, but we need to remember that Robby is not the only person in this ED who is going through something. Outside of the general ED-related shitshow, Dana is dealing with her own trauma responses by having to watch another nurse (a new nurse under her care, may I add) going through the assault that nearly caused her to retire 10 months prior. She is still clearly very affected by this if it’s true that she was carrying syringe with sedatives with her as a precaution measure. And to top it all off, instead of being understanding, Robby brushes off her real concerns as just another administrative problem he would have to deal with. If it was me, I would also be pissed off, regardless of how much I care about someone.

Also, and it seems important to point out, it seems that this season Dana is the sole person in Robby’s immediate circle who is forced to carry the brunt of his mental decline. In normal situation, like in season 1, he would have Jack, Collins and even, Langdon to lean on; the emotional burden would have been evenly distributed across different people who could provide him with different forms of care. But all these people are either permanently gone, absent for the time being, or cut off, which leaves Dana as the sole witness to his suicidal tendencies. And it must be extremely hard to see someone you know very well, who you care about, go down this path when you are left helpless because he refuses to accept any form of help you are trying to provide. Not to mention how his behaviour is no longer isolated to just him - he is failing to be a good leader, he is hurting people around him as well as the department he should be holding together. The department that Dana is also very much responsible for.

So when Dana tells him “ED survived without Adamson, it survived without me, and it will survive without you”, I think it is both a consequence of her mounting frustration but also the ongoing care she holds for him, which is reflected in her anger. She is not saying“you are not needed”; she is telling him “you don’t need to destroy yourself for this place, there are other people who can, and will, carry this burden with you”. But Robby’s identity became so fused with his function within the ED, that he perceives it as an ultimate judgment.

And I think it is terribly sad on both of their accounts.

#the pitt #the pitt meta #dr robby #dana evans #the pitt robby #i have so many thoughts about them #clinically depressed doctors #michael robinavitch #dr michael robinavitch #dr michael robby robinavitch #the pitt hbo #frank langdon #jack abbot #heather collins

raven--stag

amor fati memento mori tomato tomahto he made peace with it he knows his death is imminent and he needs to leave now or else he won’t do it because he has a plan and everything has a time frame and he is so so scared that he won’t do it and he is so so scared that he will do it

ilyparkerellis

They’ve reached that last-hour-of-a-hell-shift phase where the banter turned suicidal in latin

islanddlost404

i know robby has spent most of this season burning bridges with the pitt staff, but parts of ep12 felt like he was trying to make some half assed attempts at trying not to make the ED as pissed off at him. like counteract a bit of what he's been doing over the season. namely when he gives that fuckass backhanded as shit 'compliment' to mohan about going into geriatrics.

its like in previous episodes he was making no reason to stay, making everybody angry at him so its easier to go. now this episode he was looking for a reason to stay. but he had started burning so many bridges that it was hard to backtrack and reach out to the others when looking for reasons to stay.

its also like as if by reaching out one final time but only after burning all his bridges robby is cementing the fact that he should go and that his passing wont affect anyone (reinforced by his fight with dana)

miminwords

feeling so fascinated by how Joy and Cassie are two ends of the observation spectrum. Joy notes things, makes calculations based on what can happen using studied or other knowledge she has gathered, and works accordingly. she leaves work on time because she recognizes the perils of burnout in an ED and she sees the signs all around her. Cassie notes people, makes calculations based on what has happened before (either from her own experience or experience of people she knows), and broadcasts the warning signs accordingly. she is direct when she needs to be and more calmly compassionate when she knows the other person needs space to think on what she's giving. experience for knowledge and knowledge through experience. joy kwon and cassie mckay.

unsuspectingfish

mortalfaerie

i want to add to the discussion of santos and langdon in the last episode that santos kept his secret. she confirms that only robby, dana and her know about the stealing from the hospital. if she was vengeful or wanted to ruin his reputation she could have told anyone, could have even anonymously reported him to the medical board but she didn't. and i don't think her reaction to his apology is born out of jealousy or revenge, it's the same reason why she didn't report him, she wants him to take accountability for what he did.

with what we know about her history, accountability is, not without justification, a litmus test for her to be able to trust men around her. robby fucks up and, however begrudgingly, owns up to it. whitaker approaches conflict by addressing it even when she wants to dodge it. these are her two closest male relationships and it makes sense. but in her eyes, langdon has done nothing to prove he's worthy of her trust and respect, so his words are just words. from her perspective, he showed up, committed a felony that endangered patients, publicly treated her like shit and more or less got away with it. from her perspective. no, she doesn't see the rehab and the personal struggle and marriage breakdown, because she's not in his head. this is very much a trinity vs. the injustice of men getting away with it conflict for her.

I have a bit of a working theory about next episode, especially in relation to Robby/Santos/Langdon dynamics (and this is purely based on the nothing burger of a 0.1 sec from the next episode sneak peak).

We know that our girl Santos has been going through it this is season and is closely approaching the inevitable meltdown. We also know that the same is true for Robby, and he is already actively projecting the negative emotions he feels towards himself onto others, especially Samira (its very father-daughter of them, they are so very mirrors of each other and Robby can’t stand to see himself reflected in Dr.Mohan). So far though it seems to me that interactions between Robby and Santos are generally positive or at least lacking the same scrutiny he displays towards some other people. I also think that Santos might consider Robby to be one of the rare male authority figures that she actually trusts, purely based on how seriously he took her suspicions about Langdon in season 1, and immediately took actions about them (which is usually not the case in her experience).

Based on these facts, I do think that Robby may observe some hostility from Santos towards Landon and inevitably take his side on it. Because even though Robby gave nothing but cold shoulder to Langdon this whole season, it is not due to his lack of care for Frank. His current behaviour is likely a very toxic combination of his declining mental health, consistent sense of betrayal and some form of jealousy that Langdon got help and is actively trying to be better, while Robby is still stuck and rotting in his own unresolved issues. But he definitely still cares about Frank, because no person who genuinely doesn’t give a fuck would go through that much trouble to actively avoid interacting with someone.

Is it possible that Santos will blow up and air out the information that Langdon was diverting drugs in the public forum during a procedure? Is it therefore likely, in that case, that Robby will chew her out for it, which would subsequently betray Santos’s belief that Robby was someone who she could trust to be on her side? Which, in turn, will further her assertion that she is made pariah in the Pitt because of Langdon?

A lot to think about.

#the pitt hbo #the pitt #the pitt meta #michael robinavitch #dr robby #dr robinavitch #frank langdon #trinity santos #just spitballing here really #i just saw a glimpse of santos being pulled out of the room with robby and looking upset #and it make the gears in my brain turn #is it a stretch?#possibly #but I also dont think it is fully out of the realm of possibilities based on what we currently know

POV you are watching a show that actively tells you how important it is to have compassion towards other people because things might be more serious that they appear on the surface and we really have no clue what is going on inside people’s minds. You are watching a show where it is shown, in graphic detail, how traumatising working in healthcare can be, how you can lose yourself to guilt, to PTSD, to constant interaction with death and how difficult it is to pull yourself out of that dark place. You are watching the show where characters are shown to possess multitudes, nobody is without flaws, people are complex and fucked up and great all at the same time because that is how people are in real life and that’s what makes all of us fascinating.

POV you watch a character undergoing a clear active suicidal ideation and not displaying “acceptable” poor mental health reactions and you say you hope they are actually gonna kill themselves/ die in a motorcycle accident.

We are cooked as a society and you guys are watching the wrong show. What the fuck, how did you learn absolutely nothing?

#the pitt #the pitt meta #the pitt hbo #michael robinavitch #dr robby #im failing to understand how you can display so littl empathy and understanding for a character in a show about empathy and understanding #its baffling #and a little bit worrying honestly #you guys really need to have a villain of the week or otherwise the show stops making sense #if only people were very complex and mental health crisis was actually ugly and full of anger and not very aesthetically pleasing to watch #this is what untreated ptsd and trauma look like guys #its fucking ugly and it looks like he is slydiving into abyss and trying to take everyone with him #this man is in a bad bad place #but sure he should die #im sure he wants to

gordonstanheight

every day i see a weird take about the pitt and i get flashbacks to succession sundays and the fact that people have no idea how to engage with media that have complex characters. especially if they’re like… addicts or suicidal or have other mental health issues or. Women?

#literally this #my thoughts exactly #ive been through hell known as succession fandom discourse #and being now innthe pitt fandom im having serious flashbacks #its been years and we still did not develop a collective ability to analyse media critically #the pitt #succession #seriously what would it take for you people to rubbtwo brain cells together and realise that things are never black or white

“The Pitt” fandom might be one of the most polarising places I have seen since I’ve been active during the airing of “Succession”. And while a lot of people are able to grasp that fictional characters are meant to be complex, they are meant to have layers and display BOTH good and bad characteristics, because that is in fact how people operate in real life, some of you would not know media literacy if it hit you in the face with a metal pan. And this is specifically in relation to Santos/Langdon discourse post 02x11, because I have seen sooo many takes that are just baffling in its sheer absurdity that I cannot possibly leave it be anymore.

Let’s get few things straight. I don’t think neither of them are 100% wrong or right in their argument, I do think both Santos and Langdon are valid in their respective points of view, mainly because the situation at hand contains multitudes which cannot be restricted to white and black judgment. However, I have also seen the takes that claim that Santos is vengeful, that she hates Langdon for being an addict, that her initial motivation for reporting Langdon was because she did not want to work with him anymore and so on and so forth. And my question is - do you actually remember season 1 or are you basing these takes solely on vibes? Let’s rewind a bit, get few facts straight.

Santos enters the series on her first day as an R1 (intern). She is a bit of a gunner, she has some bullying tendencies (which are absolutely valid to be criticised and frowned upon), but also displays a lot of characteristics that make her a hell of a doctor (good instincts, initiative, lack of fear even if somewhat being borderline irresponsible). At the same time, Langdon has already been in the Pitt for 4 years, he is a senior resident and clearly is positioned to be a golden boy in Robby’s eyes. It has been clearly portrayed that Langdon and Santos are mirrors of each other - they display similar characteristics, similar attitudes; they can both be harsh, flippant and cocky. The difference is the power dynamic between them. Langdon is a privileged white man who is well liked by people around him. Santos, on the other hand, is a younger woman of colour with a clear history of trauma who is trying to prove herself in the new environment, while being harshly judged for personal characteristics that are being overlooked in her male counterpart. She could very well have issue with all that, and yet this is not the basis for her problem with Langdon.

The issue is that Langdon actively diverted drugs during his residency for unknown amount of time and Santos is the only person who clocked that behaviour. To which Langdon proceeded to gaslight her about it MULTIPLE TIMES. He did it when she mentioned that some drugs that should be easy to open were sealed shut. He did it again, when multiple doses of medications that should give results were slow working (because they were diluted), which resulted in upping the dosage to concerning quantities. He then publicly berated her in front of multiple people, making her look incompetent for no other reason than already having negative feelings towards her. Because she questioned him, because she made him panic that somebody can see what he was doing all along. So he decided to undermine her and throw her under the bus. I think people forget how hellbent he was on convincing Robby that Santos is “trouble” and therefore should not be taken seriously. And he did it purely so that he could cover his own tracks.

I also want to point out a scene between Robby and Santos from season 1, when she comes out with her suspicions. By this time Santos tried to investigate the issue multiple times, she went to Dana, she went to Garcia, she very clearly tried to avoid going directly to the chief attending in hopes that she would not have to escalate a problem with a SENIOR RESIDENT on her first day. Robby was the one to get that information out of her. Are we forgetting “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble”? At which point does this equate to her telling on Langdon because she did not want to work with him anymore? I mean, fucking hell, maybe she did not want him around but can you blame her? He was on her the whole fucking time, and even with all this antagonism present I genuinely don’t think her reveal was motivated by vengeance of any sorts. It was motivated by the moral wrongness of Langdon’s actions (and I’m not talking about his addiction here), by the fact that for some reason medicine that he was providing to the patients in their care seemed to be tampered with in one way or another.

So going back to their argument from 2x11. Santos does not have an issue with Langdon being an addict and she does not think he should be punished FOR being an addict. But it seems to me that this is what Langdon is apologising for. He is not acknowledging to Santos that he fucked up by meddling with drugs and potentially endangering people; instead he is saying “sorry I was an asshole on your first day”. The accountability is somewhat missing here, which is why Santos calls him out on it. And I would say - she is right in doing so.

Would I also add that their interaction in the prior episode was extremely unprofessional on her part? Yes, because while you can absolutely hold negative feelings towards your superior you should definitely not allow for them to be aired out like that in front of a patient. But that’s the whole point of this show - these people are flawed, they can be both right and wrong, depending on the situation and the context. Langdon can try to do better, be visibly more self-actualised, while also poorly rushing through the “apology tour” in the way that seems counterintuitive to the point of step 9 of making amends with people he wronged. Santos can very well be childish and unprofessional in her interactions with Langdon, while also being very well justified in not accepting his apology and calling him out on his actions from season 1.

Many things can be true at the same time, people. Stop trying to find a clear-cut villain in this show, you a) not gonna succeed and b) are going to miss on the intricacies that are present in well-written, complex characters.

#the pitt #the pitt meta #trinity santos #frank langdon #i actually have a lot of things that i could say about this show #it is the closest to the succession brainrot ive ever gotten #but that also means that i am back to interacting with a fandom where lack of common sense is terminal #media literacy people have we learned nothing #stop trying to flatted multidimensional characters #and its wild because these are not even my favorite characters #im a big fan of a brown eyed suicidal doctor #he is also a victim of people who love to seek villains #but i needed to get on this santos/langdon discourse because some of yall are surely watching a different show #takes are wildin

spookydollyart

Our visionary COO ~Roman Roy~

romulusfuckingroy

that interview about how kendall never actually bullied roman as a child… I don’t see it I’m sorry!!! we literally see how bad kendall treats him in the show, why are they saying that roman was only ever the bully in their relationship when it’s ten times more interesting and realistic that they both had moments of hurting the other?

I feel like they’re sort of trying to sanitize kendall’s feelings toward roman for some reason? like in the show they’re literally described as two fighting dogs, and roman is the weak one. I can’t believe they tried to spin dog pound as some harmless game they played; we literally see kendall’s face change in a sort of sick realization when connor tells him kendall enjoyed the “game” too.

and sorry… kendall literally popped roman’s stitches open????? like I know, I know, everyone on the show says “oh, that’s what roman wanted, he’s so fucked up that that’s what he needed and kendall was just giving him that”— no. I’m sorry but that’s an incredibly violent thing to do to your younger brother who’s already near tears. I will forever say that that scene was just as much about kendall’s selfishness and need for control as it was about roman’s wanting to be hurt.

like… I’m sorry to the actors and writers but kendall roy will always be the guy who watched his brother piss himself in a dog crate and told him to wipe it up with newspapers as a kid. he is also the guy who stood up to their dad when roman got hit! roman will always be the guy who picked his big brother up from his drug binges and took him to safety. and yes, he’s also the guy who humiliated kendall at his 40th birthday party!

they’re both, both! they’re both the aggressor and the victim! that’s what makes it fucking interesting!