Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “The Pit,” “9 p.m.,” now streaming on HBO Max.
The last two episodes of “The Pit” were very heavy, with Noah Wyle’s character, Dr. Robbie, admitting he wasn’t sure he wanted to be alive anymore. But ultimately, meeting Baby Jane Doe changed him forever.
“This was a very cathartic practice for me as well, and I feel like it honestly cleared up some of the things that I’ve been feeling and that everyone has been feeling,” Weil said of Robbie’s mental health struggles this season. In the penultimate episode, Robbie admits out loud that he’s not sure he wants to be here anymore, but that line was written after Wiley heard a real doctor say something similar to his wife, which led him to seek help.
“His words resonated with me so much that I thought this is a truth that I can articulate and bring people together because it’s so simple. It’s a raw expression of the emotions that we’ve probably all felt over the last few years. Wow, this is a movie I’m not enjoying anymore, and what if I leave early? And the fear that that causes, the fear that you’re actually actually enjoying it, is overwhelming,” he says. “In a way, this feeling is overwhelming for the character because he feels like he’s losing it. Admitting that you have that feeling is a very healthy step, because you suddenly realize that this is an abnormal situation. This is an abnormal situation that I’ve been trying to normalize to the point where I feel like I’m gaslighting myself. And this is the first time I’m being honest about how I feel.”
Wiley said Robbie wore a mask and “performed aggressively” during the season so no one would think anything was wrong. But that mask began to fall off during the shift, “almost subconsciously, to make someone say, ‘Don’t go, don’t do this, don’t go home.'”
“Each by one, they’re not doing a good job. We go through Abbott, we go through Dana, we go through Langdon, and finally that baby,” Weil says. “It’s a pure, innocent child left behind on an early journey. It’s a confession that feels safe and closed enough to admit that his root causes are ancient.”
Ideas often come to us at the 11th hour, but creator R. Scott Gemmill says the writers knew from day one that the season would end with Robbie and Baby Jane Doe.
“He’s back in the room where he made his fiasco. It was a makeshift morgue, but now it represents a new life. I think the baby is a symbol of someone who, like Robbie, is a little lost and needs help,” he says. “He’s here to comfort this little lost soul. In a way, Robbie sees himself that way and can say things to the baby that he can’t say to anyone else, because he knows it’s a safe environment and he’s not going anywhere. And if he can put the baby into Noah Wyle’s arms at any time, that’s a win.”
It has not been revealed whether Robbie will go on sabbatical. If you do take time off, is it to actually go get help?
“I think in a way Robbie is scared to travel and he’s scared to stay. He knows it’s not good for him to stay, but he doesn’t have anything else in his life. This is a turning point for him. Should he stay here or should he leave now? If he stays, there will be trouble. If I leave, it might double,” Gemmill says. “That’s his position, and he ultimately has to make a decision, and that’s going to be the story of season three. What was that decision? And how will it affect the rest of his life?”
What wasn’t planned was a post-credits karaoke scene in which Dr. King (Taylor Dearden) and Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) hilariously sing Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”
“That karaoke thing was very much an afterthought. I came up with it when I was writing episode 15,” Gemmill says. “It was really a last-minute thing, and we thought it would be fun to put a little Easter egg in there. The girls have had such a rough day, so we thought it made sense for them to go out on the town for the night. And we thought it would be a nice surprise for the viewers, and we thought it would be kind of hopeful going into season three.”
Gemmill hopes that viewers pick up a few more traits from this season.
“I think the world could use a little more kindness, respect and empathy,” he says. “I hope to connect with people on a human level. When something sad happens, hug your loved ones. Understand how precious life is and how quickly it can change. Hopefully, the empathy, kindness and patience that our doctors and nurses portray makes people understand that, and if it fades a little bit, that would be great.”
For more on ‘The Pit’, read our latest conversation with Gemil about Supriya Ganesh’s exit and the possibility of meeting Mohan in the future.
