Spoilers observe.
With its second season, “The Pitt” has to this point maintained its standing as the best medical drama in years. Nevertheless it is not half onerous to observe generally. Again in season 1, we had been launched to Ernest Harden Jr.’s Louie Cloverfield, an alcoholic who wound up within the ER at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Middle twice in sooner or later (“The Pitt” takes place over a single, 15-hour shift). Fortunately, Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael Robinavitch and his workers had been in a position to stabilize Louie, however in season 2 he returns and this time issues led to tragedy. In reality, Louie’s demise was much more tragic than we’d have anticipated, with particulars about his previous as a household man making the entire unhappy affair nearly an excessive amount of to bear.
On the finish of episode 5, Patrick Ball’s Dr. Frank Langdon walked into Louie’s therapy room after he heard his coronary heart charge monitor flatlining. Suspecting Louie merely eliminated his pulse oximeter, Langdon initially did not anticipate something to be improper. Nearly instantly, nonetheless, it turned clear that the “frequent flyer” affected person was really flatlining and all of the sudden it was all palms on deck.
It was a heck of a cliffhanger to finish episode 5, and with “The Pitt” having gone considerably simple on us to this point (at the least in comparison with season 1 which was unbearably tragic from the outset) many people certainly anticipated the worst when episode 6 rolled round. These suspicions had been confirmed when the episode lastly arrived and the workers at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Middle didn’t revive Louie, who turned the primary main loss this season. Making issues much more tragic was the truth that we lastly discovered extra particulars concerning the alcoholic’s previous, and none of it made Louie’s passing any simpler to take.
Louie Cloverfield’s dying was one of the vital upsetting moments in The Pitt historical past
“The Pitt” won big at the Emmys final yr, earned widespread reward for its medical accuracy, and have become a serious hit for HBO Max in 2025. It additionally traumatized us all by proxy. To date, “The Pitt” season 2 has continued to turn empathy and competency into great TV however hasn’t been fairly as harrowing as the primary season. After simply 4 installments of season 1, we might seen the dying of a teen and his dad and mom’ anguish at their loss in addition to the passing of an aged father together with his youngsters by his bedside. Now, with the dying of Louie Cloverfield, season 2 has lastly hit us with one thing akin to these heart-rending moments.
Shedding Louie was onerous to observe not solely as a result of he is been a mainstay at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Middle, however as a result of he was one of many extra jovial sufferers. What’s extra, the best way during which he died was upsetting, with “The Pitt” refusing to go simple on us simply because it was Louie on the crash cart.
In episode 6, Dr. Michael Robinavitch and the workforce try and convey Louie again after his coronary heart stops beating. Dr. Robby desperately applies compressions to no avail and shocks fail to begin Louie’s coronary heart, however issues get actually distressing when Louie’s intubation tube begins spouting blood. After a number of minutes, the medical doctors name it and Louie formally dies from pulmonary hemorrhage from liver failure. Quickly after, Dr. Frank Langdon reveals to Gerran Howell’s Dr. Dennis Whitaker that he discovered a photograph in Louie’s pocket displaying him as a youthful man with a seemingly pregnant spouse. This begins a sequence of scenes that act as a tribute to the late affected person, finally humanizing him.
The Pitt finale humanized Louie even because it bid him farewell
In season 1 of “The Pitt” Louie Cloverfield was each a sobering reminder of the results of alcohol dependency and a kind of comedian aid determine, who remained upbeat regardless of his a number of journeys to the ER. With season 2, it is as if the writers needed to get rid of any notion of alcoholism being humorous, not solely killing off Louie however humanizing him in a means that recontextualizes all his prior scenes.
After Louie’s dying, Katherine LaNasa’s Dana Evans teaches new recruit Emma Nolan (Laëtitia Hollard) how one can clear his physique and when you’d anticipate that to be a reasonably grim affair there’s one thing fairly tender concerning the course of (“The Pitt” featured a similarly touching moment during a callback in episode 2). Louie is then moved to a viewing room the place the workers collect to pay their respects. At this level, all people stays confused concerning the girl within the photograph discovered by Dr. Frank Langdon, however Dr. Michael Robinavitch quickly clears issues up.
“That is Rhonda, Louie’s spouse,” says the attending doctor as he scans the photograph. Robby then reveals the pair had been highschool sweethearts and that Rhonda ultimately fell pregnant just for she and the newborn to die in a automobile crash one month earlier than the due date. This was the heart-breaking catalyst for Louie’s alcoholism, placing all his visits to the Pitt in perspective and wrapping up his story with one of the vital tragic revelations featured on the present to this point. That stated, in humanizing Louie and depicting his alcoholism because the product of extreme emotional trauma, the “Pitt” writers ensured that he went out as an actual human being reasonably than because the ER comedian aid.
