The Pitt, Season 2

What’s it about?

The second season of a drama series that follows the daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital. They juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble calling.

The facts

• Created by R. Scott Gemmill,
• English language
• Runtime ~41-60 minutes
• Each episode portrays an hour of a shift on the ward. 15 hours, one shift.
• Executive produced by John Wells and Noah Wyle
• Gemmill, Wells and Wyle previously worked together on ER
• A Max Original production

Why did it get this rating?

This series was self-rated by Neon. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

Each episode is self-rated separately by Neon. For this featured decision breakdown we have noted the highest age rating and strongest content warnings for the series through to episode 7.

Body horror

The emergency room stories being told often involve surgical scenes, bloody wounds, close-up shots of injections and cuts, and intubations.

We see a number of close-up surgical procedures of scalpels cutting into skin, and in the first episode an open-heart emergency operation with a lot of blood and rapid close ups of exposed organs in the chest.

We see the close-up compact arm fracture from a patient who was crushed at their job.

Substance abuse and drug references

In episode 2, a man abuses erectile dysfunction medication, resulting in a prolonged erection, for which he receives treatment. Substance abuse is not supported by the narrative.

A doctor returns after undergoing therapy and drug rehab. He admits to a patient that he is an addict and had previously stolen some of their medication to support his opioid habit.

Nudity

All of the nudity in the show is related to patients being treated in a medical situation:

In episode 2, a man's erect penis is shown several times while medical staff use a syringe to draw blood from it. The penis is massaged by medical staff to speed recovery. It is later shown again in a flaccid state. These scenes are not sexual.

We also see exposed chests, a flaccid penis, bare buttocks.

Rape and sexual violence themes

In episodes 6 & 7 a survivor of sexual assault presents in the ER and we are shown the steps required for a rape kit to be completed in hospital. The storyline is sensitively handled, portraying the kindness and care of nurses when working with rape survivors. We see swab kits and hear detail about what steps are being taken to collect evidence. We don’t hear any detail about what the survivor went through. These scenes may still be upsetting for anyone affected by rape.

A doctor suspects a young child is being abused by her father but is later revealed to not be the reason for her injuries.. We see a bloody urine sample and hear doctors discussing the possibility of vaginal trauma.

Content that may disturb

A doctor provides relief for a patient with a broken tail bone by offering to realign the bone to may it heal faster. We see them lube a finger and through sounds and motion understand that they insert a finger in the patient’s anus to manipulate the tail bone. We see the patient’s face during the procedure.

Offensive language

Occasional strong language is used in moments of high tension, such as ’f*ck’, ‘sh*t’, ‘ars*hole’.

Helplines:

Discussions of sexual assault, grooming, pregnancy loss, or any of the medical situations portrayed in the show could be upsetting for some viewers, especially for those who have gone through similar experiences. If you are struggling with what you have seen on-screen please reach out for help. If you or someone you know needs to talk:

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• The Pitt season 1 (featured decision)
• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?