Along with the latest episode of “The Pitt” on Thursday night came a storyline honoring Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue shooting victims.
The Oct. 27, 2018 shooting killed 11 people across three congregations — Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash.
The reference came during “9:00 a.m.,” Episode 3, Season 2 of “The Pitt,” which aired for the first time Thursday night and is now streaming on HBO Max.
Star and executive producer Noah Wyle, along with other executive producers knew they wanted to honor the Jewish and Muslim communities in Pittsburgh in Season 2, Variety reported.
During the new episode, Wyle’s character Dr. Robinavitch helped treat a Jewish patient, played by Irina Dubova, who burned herself after being startled by fireworks. She later admits on the show that she has PTSD from the gunshots she heard at the synagogue during the mass shooting.
The shooting was the deadliest antisemitic attack in the United States.
“That being such a significant event in the city of Pittsburgh, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity,” said Wyle, who also wrote the episode. “When I started researching it, the aspects of it that moved me the most were the community outcry afterward from the Muslim community and the solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh working together to grieve and mourn the loss. It was the most underreported aspect of the story, and perhaps the most hopeful moving forward.”
Executive producer R. Scott Gemmill told TribLive previously that Tree of Life was not a reference considered for season one.
“We had our hands full just trying to get the show up and running and figuring it out,” Gemmill said. “The luxury of the second season is we know what we’re doing. … And it seemed like that was such a big story, there are elements of that story that weren’t really part of the news cycle and that we felt were important to be told and when you have your lead is a Jewish doctor, it only seemed natural that we should address that in some respect.”
The patient’s name is Yana, and she talks about how the Pittsburgh Muslim community funded the funerals of those killed during the hate crime, Variety said.
“You can’t do a medical show, set in Pittsburgh, with a Jewish doctor without addressing that,” Gemmill told Variety. “It felt like a very important story to tell. There are important elements of that that hadn’t been told, or hadn’t really made the news cycle. The fact that the Muslim community came together and paid for all the funerals, that’s the kind of information that needed to be out there. We wanted to tell that part of the story, and address the story itself.”
The show is known for its many Pittsburgh references throughout the series. Also mentioned in the “9:00 a.m.” episode were references to Rodef Shalom, Zambelli fireworks and PennDOT.