Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Pitt” Season 2, Episode 15.
It was an entire shift in the making, but Dr. Robby and Dr. Al-Hashimi finally came to verbal blows in “The Pitt” Season 2 finale.
The penultimate episode of the HBO Max medical drama finally saw Al-Hashimi reveal what had been going on with her all day. She had suffered a couple mini seizures throughout the day. She hadn’t been busy with a patient at the time, but two in one day after years without a major incident was cause for concern. She tells Robby — someone who has been battling his own mental demons all season, on top of pulling some cowboy doctoring of his own — and he does not react well.
Moafi told TheWrap that Robby’s outburst at Al-Hashimi and threatening to report her was a shock. After they day they had, she found it hypocritical of Robby to suddenly become a total rule follower.
“As Dr. Al-Hashmi says in their last argument, ‘You didn’t rat out Langdon for stealing drugs from the department, and that is a felony,’ ” Moafi said. “So for him to sit on his own issues, Langdon’s felony, God knows what else — she sees this as a personal attack, a huge injustice, and that’s something that is foundational to this character. She’s driven by justice, so she sees how unfair it is and she can’t help but assume that it has to do with her being a woman and him not taking her seriously. He’s shown that despite her utter competence and professionalism, he undermines everything she does and is condescending towards her and isn’t a team player.”
She added: “There’s this primal thing between these two characters, where they’re intrigued by one another and also repelled. So there’s this push, pull back and forth all season. But ultimately, I think that she respects him and she respects his professional opinion, and her going to him is a gesture in trying to bridge the gap a little bit. Trying to say, ‘Look, I see you. I see you see me, and we’re both dealing with something, and I’m going to go first and open myself up to you and hope that this can bring us closer.’ But the way it goes is unexpected.”
Robby ends their last conversation of the season, threatening again to report Al-Hashimi if she doesn’t do it herself. The final moments with the character show “her mask slipping” as Moafi says and breaking down in her car — thoughts of Robby saying she shouldn’t even be driving let alone practicing medicine rattling around in her head.
Moafi revealed that those tears were actually sparked by a scene that was cut from the episode where Al-Hashimi calls her ex-husband and asks if he can watch the kids for another night. He agrees and then asks if Al-Hashimi is alright. She says she’s fine but Moafi explained that it was the offer of support that broke the dam after her last hour with Robby and the entire day.
“It’s this narrative that she’s been holding in her head her whole life of, ‘Once they see me, once they know who I really am, they’re going to take everything away from me. I’m going to be seen as incompetent, I’m going to be seen as unlovable, and I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked my entire life for,’ ” Moafi said. “In that moment, I think she’s in the utter despair of I’ve worked my entire life to make sure nobody can take this away from me, and like that, someone’s taking it away from me, even though I have the okay from a professional, from neurology to do this. So I think it’s just everything. It’s the day, it’s her life, it’s everything she’s been holding on to so tight, just bursting out.”
Moafi knew going into the season that her character was going to get some flak from fans. Whether it was the way female characters in authority are not given the same leeway those like Robby are, or Al-Hashimi’s support for AI in the workplace, it was going to be an uphill battle. With the reveal she had been hiding a seizure condition flareup throughout the shift, Moafi expects reactions to the character will continue to be mixed but hopes that with the season wrapped and her story told, they can now feel a bit more for all Al-Hashimi juggled through Season 2.
“I think there will be a mixed response, but regardless of what people think, I hope that they feel for this character who’s managing so much, and as with any character or story or work of art,” Moafi finished. “It’s not about the character in specific. It’s about what that character represents, and she represents a woman in leadership. She represents a person that you think you know, but you actually have no idea, and that moves me.”
“The Pitt” Seasons 1-2 are now streaming on HBO Max.
