In Episode 13 of HBO Max’s “ The Pitt ,” viewers were riveted as the heroic but suffering Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinovitch (Noah Wyle) sinks to the floor in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, crying and shaking. It’s a breaking-point moment we’ve been waiting for all season as we’ve watched Robby navigate the weight of a trauma center, which takes him back to the horrors of working during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s a real dance in terms of getting somebody to that point and finding what we needed to do to bring him up to the precipice a couple times and then finally tip him over,” says series creator and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill.

That tipping point, so to speak, is one that was so personal and devastating to watch but also made us uncomfortable in the best way. It’s no wo

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