The Pitt’s Robby Made A Fair (But Brutal) Point About Langdon’s Return, And Now I Need Season 2 To Go Full ER

Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 7 of The Pitt Season 2, called "1:00 p.m." and available streaming now with a Max subscription.

The Pitt is halfway through its sophomore season in the 2026 TV schedule, and the latest episode raised the stakes the highest they've been since the Season 1 PittFest disaster with the ED going analog. There's still plenty of time for things to get much worse for Dr. Robby and Co., but the department could soon get out of control with the computers down and a packed waiting room.

That said, I'm still thinking about the conversation between Robby and Dr. Langdon that was a long time coming, with Robby making a fair point in a painful way... and it's a way that I'm hoping The Pitt kinda sorta just overlooks by the end of Season 2 and instead follows the ER example with Noah Wyle's John Carter from back in the day.

Bear with me, and read on!

Robby And Langdon Finally Talk

It may have taken about six and a half episodes, but Langdon finally more or less cornered Robby into hearing him out after the attending had taken every opportunity to avoid him up to that point. When they were alone on the roof, waiting on a medevac and barely able to heart each other, Langdon seized his moment. Shouting over the sound of the helicopter, he said:

No matter who you sympathize with the most this season, I hope we can all agree that Langdon chose his moment will after how Robby was reacting to his return. Not only was there nowhere for Robby to run off to, but this was a way that they could talk it out without actually having to look each other in the eye. Healthy? Maybe not, but Robby wasn't leaving Langdon with a lot of options, and he actually had a surprisingly measured response. He told the resident:

Ouch! Honestly, that barb might have hurt Langdon less if his former mentor hadn't started out by commending him for getting help. I've actually been on Team Langdon in this conflict, just because Robby 1) is the ED Chief who should be setting a professional example in the workplace and 2) has had ten months to prepare. He doesn't have to like Langdon to work with him.

In this case, though, Robby was expressing his personal feelings about the resident's return, and that's fair. Langdon's even the one who brought it up. Feeling uncertain about having him around after what went down last season? Totally justified. Langdon crossed legal and moral lines in Season 1, so of course Robby didn't jump for joy in bringing him back.

Now, actively punishing Langdon in the ED, avoiding him all day, and then deliberately poking at his confidence during a trauma? Totally inappropriate from the Chief Attending in the workplace.

But as much as I hate to admit it, Robby is probably right that coming back to the ED where Langdon had been abusing his access to patients' drugs is probably a bad idea on paper. The Pitt has been praised for being realistic from the jump, and the realistic outcome seems like it would be for Langdon to leave PTMC after the end of this shift, with Patrick Duffy exiting the cast.

But I didn't grow up on medical dramas like ER and Grey's Anatomy to need all of my hospital-set TV shows to be 100% realistic! Langdon's entire storyline has been so similar to Noah Wyle's on ER that I can't help but compare them and recall how Carter was able to come back.

It's Time For The Pitt To Go Full ER

Before anything else, I'll come out and say that ER is such a classic medical drama that I've never blamed other shows for copying its story beats, like when Chicago Med gave Nick Gelfhuss the same happy ending that Carol got with Doug, when The Resident sent a doctor to rehab a la Carter in Season 6, or even when The Good Doctor delivered a cliffhanger that was almost beat-for-beat the same as when Carter and Lucy were stabbed.

That said, with Noah Wyle as the leading man of The Pitt, Langdon's struggle with drugs while practicing medicine in a hectic emergency room feels really, really similar to John Carter on ER. Sure, Carter's mentor's intervention involved physically getting him to rehab while Robby furiously threw Landgon out, but Langdon definitely feels like the spiritual successor to Carter.

And if Carter could come back to Country General in Chicago despite crossing major lines on the job, then I'm ready to suspend my disbelief about any twist that allows Langdon to come back for Season 3 and beyond. Even if he's not always particularly likable, he's an interesting character who mixes things up in some engaging ways. Dr. Santos' arc in Season 1 wouldn't have been nearly as strong without her persevering in getting Langdon away from patients while using.

Plus, on a lighter note, some of the best humor of Season 2 has come from him and Donnie, and I'm on board to keep any character who's actually nice and considerate to Mel as she's facing her (somewhat confusing) deposition. For better or worse, storylines including him can be pretty juicy, and The Pitt wouldn't be a compelling drama if everything just went well all the time between the coworkers.

There is the question of what Santos will do. She's one of the few people who knows that Langdon was actually stealing drugs, and she had every reason to report him and at least get his license taken away for the theft. I generally enjoy Langdon more than Santos, but no part of me would blame her if she decided to out him for what he did.

Could The Pitt Be Realistic And Keep Langdon?

I won't claim to be an expert in hospital procedure or medical licensure, but I do think that there is one factor that could keep the truth from coming out and ending Langdon's career. Ten months have passed since Langdon left PTMC to go to rehab, which means Robby had ten months to report his former mentee to the medical board himself.

Even if nobody knows how close he came to flushing the pills that incriminated Langdon last season, records would show that Robby let Langdon come back to treat the PittFest victims after learning that Langdon was using. Whether or not she knows about his off-the-books terms for Langdon to come back, I'm not sure Santos could report his theft without Robby being incriminated as well, and there's no way The Pitt is cutting star/executive producer/writer/director Noah Wyle.

If outing Langdon for what he did would take Robby with him, then Langdon's not getting outed... right? Admittedly, that's a bit of a reach from me, and I'm ready to be Team Santos with whatever she decides after the position she was put in. But dang it, can't The Pitt go full ER and just craft the story in a way that doesn't end with Langdon being forced out? Consequences for the character without Patrick Duffy being cut from the cast?

Of course, there's still half the season left to go, so it's entirely possible that the rest of Season 2 will change my tune about wanting Langdon to stay. At this point, though, he's too interesting of a variable (and a friend to poor Mel) for me to want him gone. We can all find out what's next with new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max. As for ER, you can find it streaming with a Hulu subscription and via HBO Max.