ER is back only it isn’t ER! At least, not according to the producers of HBO’s The Pit, which combines the tried-and true format of the iconic medical drama of the 90s with 24’s temporal/episodic gimmick, each episode occupying an hour of an absolutely WILD shift at a Pittsburgh emergency room. The effect is uncanny: the cast feels tightly knit even though by season’s end they have mostly only known one another for about a day of storyworld time, patients pass through entire arcs that occur across multiple episodes but only occupy several hours – at most – of narrative time, and the claustrophobic setting provides the backdrop for unsettling flashbacks and the groundwork for the final moments of the season that take place… OUTSIDE! You can almost feel the summer air when we finally leave the trauma rooms behind from the sheer contrast.

What I find most compelling about these productive tensions is how they work to yield a formulaic show that fits Jason Mittell’s definition of complex TV perfectly. It has long- and medium length as well as shorter story arcs, that create a sophisticated network of plots, character relations, and evocations of background information as the viewer works to navigate the internal logic of the show. This, despite the fact that the short- and medium-term arcs are formally banal: a patient comes crashing through the door on a friend’s arm or on a stretcher, and an amalgamation of increasingly familiar characters get to work diagnosing, and treating the newcomer. Inevitably, the patient presents either a medical obstacle requiring a maverick intervention or a unique social circumstance that provides a plausible framework for a conversation about medical ethics, American social policies, etc. Even the big twists in the show’s plot are realized through variations on this theme.

And miraculously, this never gets old. I had goosebumps until the final episode watching Dr. Robby chase bubbles through a mangled airway to perform a miracle intubation or Dr. King navigate a sensitive situation with emotional awareness as keen as her social skills are inept. Truly remarkable writing and production design. In a way, it reminds me of my first time watching Top Gun, of all things, which is edited in such a way as to evoke feelings of tension from stock footage of airplanes going “whoooosh” back and forth across the screen. The affective investment that The Pitt is able to cultivate in viewers using such limited narrative tools is something at which to marvel.