The Pitt’s Noah Wyle Says Dr. Robby’s PTSD Is ‘Building to a Climax Where He Doesn’t Want to Be Part of His Present’
Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch is barely a third of the way through a 15-hour shift in The Pitt, and he’s already coming apart at the seams.
In Episode 4, penned by series star/executive producer Noah Wyle, Mr. Spencer (Madison Mason) is moved into P.E.D.S. so that his adult children, Jereme (Mackenzie Astin) and Helen (Rebecca Tilney), can grieve in private as their father shuffles off this mortal coil. Helen, especially, is finding it difficult to let go, so Robby relays a ritual passed down by his late mentor, Dr. Adamson. “It’s basically just a few key things that we can say when we say goodbye to a loved one,” he explains. “I love you, thank you, I forgive you, please forgive me.”
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As he watches Jereme put this ritual to use, the department chief is suddenly overcome with emotion — triggered not only by the sight of a dying man, but by the cartoon animals painted on all four walls. It was four years ago, in this very room, where Robby said goodbye to Dr. Adamson, one of the coronavirus pandemic’s earliest victims. First come flashbacks, then an incessant ringing in his ear. Robby is in the throes of a full-blown panic attack. He excuses himself, makes a beeline for the nearest restroom, then tries to catch his breath. It’s only once he remembers that he has to pee — something he’s had to do for the past hour — that he is able to snap out of it. Alas, Robby’s post-traumatic stress will endure — and resurface in a big way — before the doctor scrubs out at the end of Season 1.
“The flashbacks — the moments of hesitation that he has throughout the day — are all building to a climax [where] he really does not want to be part of his present,” Wyle tells TVLine. “And when it finally comes, it comes at the worst possible moment.
“The thesis is usually that the white knight comes in and saves the day, and I really wanted the white knight’s horse to come in without his rider,” the EP explains. “I wanted everybody to wonder where he was and what happened to him, and I wanted everybody else to be their own white knights. I wanted everybody else to figure out what the reality was, and how best to be the agents of their own salvation.”
For Wyle, who also wrote Episode 9, it was imperative that The Pitt showcase that no one human, as gallant as they may be, is infallible.
“At the end of the day, we don’t live in a Marvel universe where superheroes fix our problems,” he says. “I was really conscious of wanting to play a guy that I think is a hero, but does not think of himself as a hero. He questions his ability to stay in that place of leadership, authority, confidence and competence — you know, hourly.”
New episodes of The Pitt are released Thursdays at 9/8c on Max. How are you enjoying the medical drama so far? Drop a comment with your thoughts on Episode 4 (and the series as a whole) below.
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