Breaking Down Dr. McKay’s Arrest On ‘The Pitt’

The most recent episode of The Pitt brought quite a shock to viewers in its final scene. In Episode 14 of Max’s hit TV show, after the chaos of caring for victims of a mass shooting has largely passed, things take a turn for the worse when the character of Dr. McKay is arrested.

The arrest happens at the tail end of the episode, and the other doctors are unable to stop it. With just one episode of the season left, what will become of Dr. McKay now?

An operating room with nobody in it — Via: Wikimedia Creative Commons

Dr. McKay Illegally Tampered With Her Ankle Monitor

Throughout the season, Dr. McKay is largely portrayed as a friendly and understanding individual, patient with her interns and empathetic with her patients. It makes all the sense in the world when we as the audience learn that she’s the mother to a son, and it’s not long before we get a surprise twist: she’s a former addict who now wears an ankle monitor while on parole.

It turns out that this is part of her custody agreement, a way to keep tabs on her to make sure that she’s not using and that she’s a safe person for her son, Harrison, to be around. Once fans meet her ex (and Harrison’s dad) Chad, a prickly and unsavory figure who winds up in the hospital from a skateboarding accident, it’s clear that Dr. McKay is the more capable and attentive parent between the two, making her ankle monitor feel all the more unjust.

Fans Barely Caught Sydney Sweeney’s 10-Second Cameo On Grey’s Anatomy

Sydney Sweeney had a ten-second cameo on Grey’s Anatomy, but it required some acting skills.

Though the details of the ankle monitor aren’t made entirely clear, we know that she has to report into a supervisor every so often (who speaks through the device itself), often causing interruptions and embarrassments while she’s working her shift at the hospital. It even causes tension in some of her working relationships, as others who don’t know her well question her history and possibly whether she’s fit to be a trauma doctor, casting judgment on her situation before really getting to know her as a person.

The stress of the ankle monitor comes to a head when Dr. McKay is in the middle of helping patients from the PittFest mass shooting. The monitor begins beeping while she’s trying to concentrate on a patient and, fed up, McKay takes an IO drill (a medical device introduced that same episode) and drills a hole straight into the device, making the sound stop. It causes a bit of a scene on the hospital floor, but she brushes it off and quickly gets back to her work.

Ellen Pompeo Was Applauded For Going Against Hollywood And Taking A Shot At Her Residual Pay For Grey’s Anatomy

Ellen Pompeo went after Netflix for residual pay on Grey’s Anatomy.

Dr. McKay May Face Jail Time

At the very end of Episode 14, two police officers show up, and the hospital staff believes they’re there to visit a fellow officer who was wounded during the shooting. It turns out, however, that they’re there because they’ve learned that Dr. McKay tampered with her ankle monitor, which is illegal.

Dr. McKay tries to explain that the alarm was going off erroneously, and that she silenced it while she was in the middle of saving patients’ lives during a crisis, but the officers don’t care about the circumstances and place her under arrest. Though the other doctors who are standing around protest, ultimately they’re unable to intervene, and the episode ends with Dr. McKay being handcuffed behind her back.

Now the question that remains is whether her character will face actual jail time. The actress who plays Dr. McKay, Fiona Dourif, shared with Parade that her character is all about deciding between good choices and poor ones, and that this may be her least forgiving one yet:

You can make the wrong series of choices and never recuperate. And I think that she’s seen that happen. And she almost made the wrong choices and wasn’t able to recuperate, right?

With only one more episode of the season left, it’s likely we’ll find out more about the details of Dr. McKay’s legal situation in the finale. When asked about whether viewers will get the answers they’re seeking, Fiona gave a cheeky response in her aforementioned interview, noting that even she herself had yet to see what made it into the final episode cut.

Jesse Williams Experienced An Awkward Side Effect From Grey’s Anatomy Fame

Jesse Wiliams had an interesting experience due to his fame stemming from Grey’s Anatomy.

That said, Fiona was clear in saying that she believed her character to be facing a major injustice:

I have a very clear idea. I know exactly what happened. And it was utter bulls***!

The last episode of The Pitt Season 1 will air on Max on Thursday, April 10th. As of now, a second season has yet to be announced by the network, though lead actor Noah Wyle has noted that he and the writers behind the show have started conversations among themselves about what a Season 2 plot would entail. Fans will have one more episode to see the fate of all their favorite doctors after the world’s longest shift.