'Pitt' of despair

Both season two of The Pitt and season whatever it technically is of the Scrubs reboot wrapped this week, and they offered both gut-wrenching despair and feel-good camaraderie – although you can probably guess which of the two offered more of each of the emotions.

Scrubs' penultimate episode of the season featured John C. McGinley – who only (sadly) appeared in three episodes this season because he was (happily) occupied doing one of Bill Lawrence's other shows, Rooster, which I haven't written about but which is simply fantastic – turning in his Emmy reel, and offering a version of Dr. Cox that we've never seen before. McGinley has always been an underrated powerhouse of an actor who can simply do it all, and offering him a chance to return to (arguably) his most iconic character in his 60s is a gift to everyone involved. Maybe especially to me, who was devastated to see Dr. Cox devastated.

(Nearly equally as welcome was the return of Neil Flynn as the Janitor, perfectly deployed in the finale in his only appearance this season, and proving that he's always been the secret weapon of Scrubs. Don't accept any toasters from this man, or from his large adult son.)

I was thrilled to get a chance to return to see the characters I love so dearly on Scrubs, none of whom have lost a step, and I hope I get more chances to see them again.

Now on to my all-new friends, whom I also love dearly (except for Dr. Santos) on The Pitt.

As earth-shattering as the premiere season of The Pitt was, it is even more impressive in retrospect as laying all of the groundwork for Season 2, where the real time gimmick was played even more to the hilt while both subverting our expectations of the characters and revealing certain truths we couldn't fully understand while initially getting to know them.

Season 1 established Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby as the world's greatest doctor who was deeply haunted by his past trauma, as a lot of people around him bristled. Often, the viewer resented these other doctors who didn't seem to fully appreciate the wisdom and compassion that Robby was bestowing upon them. In Season 2, we begin on the same footing, although Robby appearing on a new motorcycle while blatantly riding sans helmet was a massive signal. When we first meet Dr. Al-Hashimi, her pro-AI stance and her personality clashing with Robby have the viewer siding against her immediately, a la Homer yelling "He gets results, you stupid Chief!" at the television. As the season unfolds, we soon find ourselves thinking maybe they're both being unreasonable, and by midseason we fully understand that Robby is seriously wrong a lot of the time – usually not in his medical care, but more often than not in how he's treating people.

Eventually, we're rooting for all of them. (Well, maybe not Dr. Santos.) We're wanting the students from Season 1 to thrive and survive as new doctors; we're wanting the new students to get their big wins (well, maybe not Ogilvie); we're wanting Dr. Langdon to redeem himself. Everyone in the show fails and everyone succeeds, sometimes from one breath to the next. The medical emergencies are still harrowing and the comedy still lands in perfect amounts and just when we all need it the most.

The season finale, once again, really hands center stage back to Robby, who has been going through it all season (all day, in other words) and is at his limit with everyone and everything. He's spent the past 15 hours pushing everyone away despite his best intentions (sometimes because of them), and his fatigue is spilling out of him with every sentence. The two moments that hit hardest in the episode are when he grins from behind a mask after saving an infant at the relief at a job well done (has anyone ever aged into their own face better than Noah Wyle?) and when he finally loses it during a much-needed heart-to-heart with Dr. Abbot.

I and everyone I know guzzled this season of The Pitt down like the greedy little piggies we are, and I was already upset before the finale that we have to wait all the way until 2027 to get to spend more time with (hopefully) all of these wonderful new night shift characters we just met, and to check in with our best friends in the world. You know; Noah Wyle and his gaggle of actor children of actors.

Come back soon, The Pitt. Come back soon, Scrubs. We'll have fun rewatching you on the streaming apps until you return.

Next time: Love Island. No, really!