The Pitt walked a fine line with its ICE storyline in Thursday’s episode, drawing praise from some viewers and backlash from others.
HBO Max’s Emmy-winning drama, which follows a team of emergency room doctors and nurses at a Pittsburgh hospital, is known for tackling some of the biggest issues facing American society, including sky-high healthcare costs, anti-vaxxers and the mistreatment of Black women.
The latest installment was no different. Titled “5:00 P.M.,” the episode introduced Pranita, an undocumented woman brought in by two ICE agents after suffering a shoulder injury during a raid. The agents’ presence in the hospital alone stirs fear among some of the nursing staff and patients, prompting them to flee.
Despite his visible discomfort with the ICE agents, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) keeps his head down, telling staff to speed up Pranita’s treatment so the agents can take her and leave. Crying and scared, Pranita confides in Dr. Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif), saying that her daughter doesn’t know what happened to her. When asked if Pranita can make a phone call to her daughter, the ICE agents deny the request. “Can’t we just tell the agents to f*** off?” Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) huffs at Robby.
The episode concludes on a dark note, as the ICE agents grow restless, grabbing Pranita by her injured arm before she can be fitted with a sling. Nurse Jesse (Ned Brower) steps in, telling the agent, “You’re hurting her,” before he’s shoved to the ground and handcuffed. “Robby, I didn’t do s***,” Jesse says in desperation, as Dr. Robby tells him, “Don’t say anything. You don’t have to say anything. They can’t make you say anything. We’ll get you an attorney; I promise we’ll get you out.”
The storyline prompted mixed reactions, with some viewers praising its “balanced” portrayal and others arguing the show was “too kind” toward ICE agents.
“Ok but they weren’t lying. This is a balanced portrait of how ICE acts. Trying to sugarcoat it would be dishonest,” one person wrote on X.
“The ICE storyline in The Pitt is so well written honestly,” a second commented, with a third agreeing: “Imo this was the best ep of The Pitt so far this season omg the ICE parts sent a shiver down my spine it’s so horrific :(.”
A fourth felt the ICE agents’ portrayal as “evil” was “genuinely so relieving.” “I was prepared for some centrist bulls***,” they said, “but my show takes care of business and that gives me hope.”
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“Hilarious that people thought The Pitt was gonna both sides ICE in retrospect. Those motherf****ers were portrayed as actual demons, which is correct of course,” another argued.
Esquire’s Brady Langmann applauded the show for calling out ICE, but felt “they were too kind.” Citing executive producer John Wells’s recent interview, explaining that they intentionally wanted the ICE storyline to be “balanced,” Langmann wrote: “The Pitt never held back its fury before. Why now? It feels like a missed opportunity, especially when you consider that hospitals have reportedly seen far worse incidents than what The Pitt presents.”
Other fans fumed at how the show depicted ICE agents as having “empathy” by bringing Pranita to the hospital. “I’m actually mad at how The Pitt portrayed ICE agents as people who would bring someone in for treatment,” one complained on X. “Not to mention the ICE actors are BROWN. This normalization & portrayal of ICE as having any empathy is WILD. And inaccurate.”
“The new ep of The Pitt stretched my suspension of disbelief,” a second said, “ICE taking people to hospital????”
The Pitt airs new episodes Thursdays at 9pm ET on HBO Max.
