The Pitt Season 2 Review: Noah Wyle's Medical Drama Is Gross, Intense, And Still Great

When "The Pitt" dropped on HBO Max (née Max) in January 2025, audiences couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. A gritty, straightforward medical procedural with a 15-episode season that returned "ER" veteran Noah Wyle to a fake emergency room? A series that used the central conceit of "24" — that is, using a "real time" framework to tell its story by chronicling a 15-hour ER shift — to greater effect than its predecessor? A show that feels like a network series of old but airs on one of the most famous premium streamers around? It's not surprising that "The Pitt" became an overnight success and swept the Emmys in the fall of 2025 (including a long-awaited trophy for Wyle), and if you're a fan, don't worry for a second. In its sophomore season, "The Pitt" is just as gory and great as it was the first time around.

Led by Wyle as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch — who spends the nine episodes provided to critics talking about his upcoming sabbatical — "The Pitt" Season 2 reunites us with his colleagues, including returning charge nurse Dana Evans (fellow Emmy winner Katherine LaNasa), fresh-out-of-rehab resident Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), new official doctor Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell), emotionally connected and neurodivergent resident Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden), and second-year resident Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), just to name a few. Once again, the shift takes place across one workday, but this time, it just so happens to be July 4 in this fictional version of Pittsburgh. This brings plenty of injuries you'd expect — including a nasty firecracker-related blast and quite a lot of heat stroke — and some you wouldn't, like a high-security inmate who was attacked by another prisoner. Throughout it all, "The Pitt" Season 2 stays fresh.

There's something "The Pitt" did really, really well in its debut season and something that it sort of shoved to the side for the sake of a better viewing experience. Not only does Season 2 of "The Pitt" still handily achieve the former — meaning that it's able to seamlessly introduce new characters within this fictional hospital without making the series feel overstuffed or contrived — but it reminds viewers, in Season 2, that working in an emergency department isn't exclusively focused on actual emergencies. Amazingly, the show manages to achieve both of these goals with the introduction of a new character: Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, played by Sepideh Moafi. (The nice thing about medical shows, as a genre, is that they're deftly able to introduce new characters, because real hospitals see quite a bit of turnover.)

Sometimes, you just have to do a ton of paperwork, a responsibility that Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) desperately tries to find time for throughout the season; when she's told by Al-Hashimi that she can use an artificial intelligence program to speed up said paperwork, all it does is result in mistakes. This immediately puts Robby and Al-Hashimi at odds, and it makes sense; she's there to ostensibly replace him for the duration of Robby's sabbatical, and he disagrees with her on quite a lot. Besides this perfect character choice, which marries the mundanity of the medical field with a new character and controversial technology, you've got two new med students — Irene Choi's Joy and Lucas Iverson's James — as well as nursing student Emma, played by Laëtitia Hollard, who helps Dana settle back into a groove. These characters work, and it's a testament to the show's continued strength.

If you're the sort of sicko who only watches "The Pitt" for its intense commitment to medical realism (read: intense gore), fret not; Season 2 has you covered and then some. "The Pitt" Season 2 considerably ups the ante on gross spectacle, but that's not a bad thing — it just adds to the on-the-ground realism. A "disimpaction" procedure leaves a med student covered in something deeply undesirable; a guy fresh off a hot-dog eating contest doesn't respond well to an antiemetic drug; and Dr. Robby slices into an infected, necrotic limb while his colleagues react to an apparently horrific smell. Amidst this, though, we watch as Dana gently performs an exam on a young woman who was the victim of a brutal assault; Fiona Dourif's Dr. Cassie McKay counsel a woman with chronic pain looking for alternate solutions; and Mel stress about her upcoming deposition (over her treatment of a young unvaccinated man with measles in Season 1) before she's hit with a family crisis.

Few shows are able to deftly balance tones like this, and it's a big part of what makes "The Pitt" so special. Second seasons are hard, and the sophomore slump is real, but "The Pitt" Season 2 is just as strong as the first. This does mean it hits some familiar beats — the doctors and nurses have a multitude of cases before a larger crisis strikes — but that is the smallest nit we can possibly pick. Congratulations to Noah Wyle, showrunner R. Scott Gemmill, and executive producer John Wells. They did it again, and it's clear they can keep this going for a long time.

"The Pitt" Season 2 premieres on HBO Max on January 8.