SPOILER ALERT: This article reveals plot details for “7:00 pm,” the 13th episode of “The Pitt” Season 2, currently available on HBO Max.
Actress Katherine LaNasa, discussing her role as charge nurse Dana Evans in “The Pitt,” noted that her character would refrain from using the term “triggering.” However, she finds it apt when describing her reaction to the conclusion of Season 2’s 13th episode. Throughout the last two installments, Dana has been clashing with Robby (played by Noah Wyle), who is her closest ally in the emergency department and typically helps stabilize her as she does for him.
By 7:00 p.m. on July 4th, both characters are not at their best. Dana is particularly affected on two fronts. After her student nurse Emma (Laëtitia Hollard) was assaulted by a drugged patient—whom Dana managed to subdue with a punch and a conveniently available dose of Versed—she struggles to find peace, haunted by the PTSD from her own prior assault.
“She’s incredibly off balance,” LaNasa tells Variety. “She’s still really reeling from that punch. She didn’t take care of herself. I think it’s part of why it was really important to her that the rape victim set herself up to be able to get justice for herself, should she change her mind. Because Dana didn’t do it. Dana didn’t press charges. That’s a fine choice if you want to make that choice. But I don’t know that it’s working out well for Dana.”
Further complicating matters is Robby’s persistent questioning about how Dana handled Emma’s attacker. Each time he probes her about the sedative in her pocket or what truly transpired, Dana counters with inquiries about Robby’s increasingly troubling mindset concerning his upcoming motorcycle sabbatical.
By the episode’s conclusion, Dana confronts Robby once more about his unclear intentions for the trip and his volatile anger regarding the state of the ED before his departure. She reassures him that they can manage without him, just as they did when she left following her own assault last season.
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“What if I don’t come back?” he responds in their final exchange, leaving Dana stunned as the screen fades to black.
“If he leaves, she’s all alone, and Dana herself doesn’t confront her need for help,” LaNasa explains. “The stress from him not being OK and not committing to return is overwhelming. Losing him would feel like losing a spouse, considering their decades-long partnership. It’s her worst nightmare, and she’s frustrated by her inability to reach him.”
This episode is not their first heated argument this season. Their recent interactions often leave Dana on the verge of tears or angrily confronting herself in private. Robby, too, is left unsettled after these exchanges. However, their final conversation in this episode is the most honest and unsettling.
Before Robby admits he might not return, Dana accuses him of being overly confrontational and suggests he needs a break, akin to a time-out for children. Robby retorts that he doesn’t need a mother, recounting that his own mother abandoned him.
At that moment, Dana discovers something intensely personal about Robby that she never knew, prompting an immediate apology for inadvertently hitting an emotional nerve. Robby dismisses it with, “It doesn’t matter. Who gives a fuck?”
“I like that moment, and I try to just justify it for myself,” LaNasa says. “You could just assume that people weren’t close [with family], and if they didn’t ever open up about their parents or something, you just let it be. I don’t have much of a relationship with one of my parents, and most people don’t really know that about me. It doesn’t really come up, so it makes sense why it hasn’t for them.”
For Dana, her nurturing instincts toward Robby stem from a deep concern that he might harm himself. LaNasa notes, “He instills a kind of panicky desperation in her. It’s terrifying, especially when she’s not feeling stable herself. A therapist once told my husband and me, ‘Both of you can’t have a problem at the same time. Someone has to listen.’ Right now, neither Dana nor Robby can listen. Neither is OK. Neither is the pillar.”
Despite their oscillating tensions, Dana maintains her compassionate approach with patients. She partners with Emma in their ongoing care for Digby (Charles Baker), an unhoused man they have bathed and now offer a haircut. As they gently encourage him to spruce up for his daughter’s wedding, Emma’s kindness shines, making Dana proud. This mentor-mentee dynamic, often seen between Robby and his residents, is something LaNasa finds easy to embrace, especially after a day of concern for Emma’s safety.
“It’s easy to feel,” she says. “I also feel really proud of Laëtitia. She just graduated from Juilliard and walked onto the set. It’s incredible.”
In this scene, Dana reveals a glimpse of her own family life, rarely addressed in the series’ one-day-per-episode format. She mentions cutting her husband Benji’s hair throughout their marriage and later alludes to her children during a heated exchange with Robby. Although the series hasn’t detailed Dana’s full family tree, LaNasa often contemplates who Dana is outside her demanding job, ready to delve into this aspect of her character at any moment.
“Dana has a middle daughter that has been tricky,” she says. “That has caused her a lot of stress. You’re only doing as well as your kids. If one of your kids is doing poorly, that’s how well you’re doing. I think that she’s got a daughter that kind of keeps her a little on edge, and she’s always hoping that one’s OK. In my imagination, she is very close to her granddaughter. She has a 23-year-old granddaughter, and that’s someone that she’s looking forward to seeing on certain nights. Those are the nights that she comes over, and they have their movie and their pizza or whatever they do. They have their little rituals.”
Regarding Dana’s husband, LaNasa doesn’t entirely agree with the show’s portrayal of him.
“They’ve mentioned he could be temperamental, but I see him as a calm, substantial man,” she remarks. “Dana’s home is very tidy and minimalistic, reflecting her preference for tranquility. She enjoys having family over but, at the same time, she is exhausted. After her assault, she attempted to recuperate at a family cabin in the woods. However, without proper help, she struggled. One of her daughters eventually urged her to seek help, which she did, but it wasn’t enough.”
All these elements contribute to Dana’s plea to Robby at the end of episode 13, asking for clarity about his sabbatical intentions. LaNasa was initially apprehensive about the writers introducing so many obstacles for the duo this season but ultimately embraced the challenge.
“Noah was really down for us to have conflict, and I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” she says. “I trust [executive producers] John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill immensely. I didn’t want it to come across that they’re nasty to each other. I want the audience to know and for the story to be that they love each other, but that they’re human and they’re struggling.”
