I just started watching HBO’s medical drama The Pitt because I am a sucker for a sad old man who needs fixing. Noah Wyle’s Michael “Robby” Robinavitch is a walking, talking, stressing, crying bat signal calling to me that there are crimes to be solved. And those crimes are the emotional dysregulation of men over 40. While I’m still early, I’ve seen enough of its brand of high-stress workplace drama to have an idea of the tropes and archetypes its characters occupy. That’s how I can tell that this mock-up of a PS2-era Pitt game completely nails it.
The clip comes from comedy duo Hotel Art Thief, and it pokes fun at half the cast while having the “player” try to manage their emotions while also treating patients. Robby needs help bottling up his feelings, so you literally do that to his glowing “thoughts” scattered around the hospital.
Intern Santos is abrasive and gives everyone mean nicknames. Dana, the charge nurse of the whole operation, is stern but caring, and tells the player to put their scrubs on and “get out of [her] way” before reminding them that she’s still the ER’s surrogate mommy figure. Every character’s quirks are dialed up to 11, and they were already at a 10 in the show.
It’s not all riffing and parody, though, because there is a pretty gnarly scene of the player putting a broken arm back in place, executed with all the blunt force of similar scenes in the show. So if you’re grossed out by a medical procedure depicted in PlayStation 2 graphics, maybe just look away at that part.
The Pitt’s season two finale aired last night on HBO Max, and season three has already been greenlit and is expected to roll out on the streaming service next year.