Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Pitt” Season 2, Episode 2.
“The Pitt” Season 2 sees pressure mounting on Taylor Dearden’s Dr. Mel King as she awaits her deposition in a malpractice lawsuit, but her day is immediately brightened when she sees Patrick Ball’s Dr. Langdon return to the ER.
Mel’s excitement to see Langdon, who has taken a ten-month break from emergency medicine as he undergoes rehabilitation treatment, manifests in a rather awkward hug (if you can call it that) in Episode 1, which Dearden knew to turn up the volume for.
“There were a lot of really awkward improv that I tried … some of them were bizarre,” Dearden told TheWrap, who, at the time of the interview, didn’t know which take was used. “In general, Mel was just way, way too excited. I think just to have someone back who’s a buddy. To have someone in her corner is everything.”
It’s not until the second episode of the season that Langdon confesses his addiction and apologizes to Mel for letting her down, to which Mel responds, “You never let me down.” Dearden noted that hearing the reason for Langdon’s absence doesn’t change anything for Mel, and, in fact, only deepens the pair’s connection.
“Mel sees the best in everyone, and I think, if anything, it just made her see him as more human and also … [develop] a deeper connection, feeling like he was vulnerable with her with his amends,” Dearden said. “Mel is totally good with everything.”
Langdon isn’t the only one shaking up dynamics in the ER this season, with the entrance of Sepideh Moafi’s Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi also bringing new methodologies to the ER that challenge Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby. But for Mel and Samira (Supriya Ganesh), who worked with Dr. Al-Hashimi at the VA, they couldn’t be happier.
“We love her,” Dearden said of Mel and Samira with Dr. Al. “Especially with Robby leaving on his sabbatical, I think both of our characters are so relieved to not have to find a new person and adjust to their new styles … We know exactly what to do here.”
Dearden also noted Dr. Al-Hashimi is much more encouraging than Robby, who embraces a tough love strategy. And while both mentalities “work in different ways,” Mel needs the encouragement during Season 2’s Fourth of July shift. “I think we’re the only characters that … love her without any reservations whatsoever,” she said.
Mel has come quite a long way since her first day at the ER, captured in Season 1, which saw her helping to treat victims of a mass casualty after the Pittfest shooting. While it was a tragic and painstaking event, Dearden noted it helped Mel cement “this is exactly where she should be.”
“I know with my neurodiversity, ADHD, specifically, has this superpower of hyperfocus and being amazing in emergencies, and so I feel like Mel came alive in that moment in ways that people didn’t expect, and it was just so clear this is the right path for her,” Dearden said. “As far as being a doctor goes, she has a lot more confidence in the ER, but the day that we’re showing is just the losing all of that confidence in one day.”
“The Pitt” Season 2 releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.
