A Touching Scene Of The Pitt’s Finale Perfectly Mirrored Its Opening

One of the most dependable genres of scripted TV today is that of the medical drama. Chances are most viewers have tuned into a show like Grey’s Anatomy or ER at some point, and this year, a completely new medical show has taken audiences by storm.

The Pitt, a new series from Max, has quickly proven to be groundbreaking in its format. Each episode follows an hour-long shift of a trauma center’s nurses and doctors, with the full fifteen-episode season showing what the staff’s fifteen-hour shift is like. In the final moments of this week’s finale, viewers were able to see a moment come full circle when it referenced an opening scene from the pilot.

Noah Wyle from The Pitt — Warrick Page/Max via Warner Bros. Discovery

Dr. Robby and Dr. Abbot Switch Spots

In one of the very first moments of the show’s pilot, which takes place at 7am for the staff’s shift, we see central character Dr. Robby (played by Noah Wyle) arrive at the hospital. Instead of going into the trauma wing, however, first he goes up to the roof, making us wonder where he’s headed. It seems that he knows this is where to find his friend and colleague, Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy), who’s standing near the ledge of the building.

Dr. Robby asks him how his night shift went, and Dr. Abbot looks exhausted, saying he’s still managing to get through it. Though Dr. Abbot heads home, he returns later in the season, coming back to the hospital on his day off to help after there’s been a mass shooting at a local music festival.

Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby — John Johnson/Max via Warner Bros. Discovery

Towards the end of the final episode, after Dr. Robby’s had a beyond-stressful shift, he himself heads up to the rooftop. He takes the spot past the railing on the very edge of the building, and it’s not long before Dr. Abbot joins him, walking up to the place where Dr. Robby was that morning, meaning the two men have effectively swapped spots.

Fans of the show noted how the pilot and finale scenes intentionally mirrored each other, perfectly bookending the season. This switching of places isn’t just about the physical swap, either, but also about how one of the men comes to comfort the other at the end of an exhausting shift. Who else could so totally understand what the other is going through than a fellow trauma doctor who’s seen all the same horrors?

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The show’s creator, R. Scott Gemmill, spoke to Decider about how essential this moment is:

[Dr. Robby is] not in a good place when Abbot finds him, but I think the best thing that could happen to Robby was him having his meltdown and having it in a public setting because it forces him [to deal with his emotions].

Dr. Abbot Encourages Dr. Robby To Look Out For Himself

The importance of the closing scene isn’t just that it mirrors the scene from the pilot, but also because it sets the stage for Season 2 and what might happen to our lead character. There’s a compelling theory that Dr. Robby goes up to the roof at the end of his shift to consider jumping, ending his life after the emotional turmoil of the day, which included him suffering through the anniversary of losing his mentor, being in charge of the fallout of a mass shooting, and being unable to save the girlfriend of his stepson, Jake.

All of these elements together cause him to have a breakdown in Episode 14, crumbling to the floor and then feeling guilty for experiencing a moment of emotional weakness. In his conversation with Dr. Abbot, however, he’s reminded that everyone who experiences such frequent trauma will have these kinds of moments. For his part, Dr. Abbot is candid about how useful going to therapy is for him, and he even recommends it to Dr. Robby, likely setting the stage for a Season 2 that follows Dr. Robby’s mental health journey. (We already know Season 2 will contain a time jump of several months.)

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Since Dr. Robby is quick to brush off inquiries about his mental health, it seems like Dr. Abbot knows to use humor to bring up the delicate subject. He jokes that his therapist has been helpful in keeping him going in the medical field, noting that he still enjoys working the night shift after all these years:

My therapist says I find comfort in the darkness.

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Shawn Hatosy, the actor who portrays Dr. Abbot, explained that this was one of his favorite lines in the entire season. “I love that line. And I feel like when he says it, I can literally hear the therapist,” he said in the same conversation with Decider. “Like the way it was, at least I felt it was delivered, was like the therapist just keeps repeating it and repeating it and making him say it until he also accepts it,” he added.

With this encouragement to look out for himself, Dr. Robby may return to Season 2 as a changed man, as someone who has finally learned to own his grief and trauma instead of tamping it down. So far, most of the main cast has been confirmed for Season 2, with an air date sometime in January of 2026.