The PittCredit: HBOWhen masked federal agents show up in the Emergency Department of HBO’s real-time medical drama, The Pitt, I knew immediately that this would be a controversial episode of television. I knew that fan forums would be filled with people clamoring to “keep politics out" of their TV shows.It’s not always a sentiment I disagree with. Heavy-handed politics in some fictional stories can work against those stories in ways that preach too much to the choir while turning off everyone else. Shoehorning social justice politics into the MCU, for instance, has often felt too on-the-nose and clumsy (She-Hulk is a perfect example of how poorly this was implemented, but even Falcon and the Winter Soldier fell victim to over-politicizing and under-baking its story).Check out all the TV shows and movies to stream this weekend in my latest streaming guide:ForbesWhat To Watch This Weekend: New Shows And Movies To Stream On Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV And MoreBy Erik KainBut some shows are inherently political or deal with subject matter that can’t escape politics. Political satire like South Park, for instance, touches on the social and political issues of the day in almost every episode. It would be foolish to say “keep your politics out of my South Park." It is equally foolish to say this about The Pitt.MORE FOR YOUHealthcare is, after all, one of the most crucial political issues of the modern era, and the ER is the crack into which so many people left behind by society fall. An emergency room isn’t just for people experiencing a life-or-death emergency. It’s where people can go when they don’t have health insurance, because they cannot be legally turned away. It’s often where homeless people having a health crisis are taken (rather than, or before, a potential trip to lockup).Here’s the thing about the medical profession. These are people who dedicate their lives to helping and to healing others. At the core of this calling is a desire to save life. In a war, enemy soldiers who are captured are still treated. Criminals wounded by police are still treated. At the root of the very profession of medicine is the notion that everyone deserves to have healthcare.There is a political divide on how best to deliver that healthcare, largely centered around the concept of health insurance, in the United States. But everywhere, even places with nationalized healthcare, have political conflicts about that care, about the budget devoted to healthcare, about access and all the other myriad issues that surround this subject.The other hot-button political issue of our modern era – or one of them, in any case – is immigration. Recent tragedies in Minnesota have brought the issue of ICE and the power of these federal agents (including Border Patrol and other agencies) into the foreground in recent months. The current administration’s immigration policies are popular among some voters and unpopular among others. It’s clear that the writers and producers of The Pitt are taking a political stance in their latest episode, linking the issue of immigration to the equally contentious issue of healthcare and access to healthcare. (The series has also introduced the AI controversy, though it has not taken a hard stance).The PIttCredit: HBOWhen ICE agents show up at the show’s fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center emergency department, they add even more chaos to an already chaotic day shift. The two agents – interestingly both cast as people of color – arrive with an older Latina woman, Pranita (Ramona DuBarry), with a shoulder injury. They need to get her checked out by a doctor before they can bring her to detention. She was one of many swept up in a 4th of July raid.The reaction in the ER is one of fear. Several nurses and over a dozen patients leave, too rattled by the presence of ICE agents to remain either at work or in the waiting room. One patient, already being treated, leaves without notifying any nurses or doctors. Dr. Robbie (Noah Wyle) is clearly furious at the disruption. He instructs his underlings to treat the woman as quickly as possible in order to get the ICE agents out of the building. Others want to get her legal representation first, but Robbie sees how the presence of these federal agents – one masked – is going to lead to problems, including patients not being seen for potentially life-threatening medical conditions, and just wants them to leave. When he loses his cool and demands that the agents leave, they go and grab Pranita to physically remove her despite the fact that she isn’t ready to be transported yet.Jesse (Ned Brower), one of the nurses attempting to finish putting Pranita in a sling, tries to intervene, saying that they’ll hurt her. A scuffle ensues, and when Robbie shows up, Jesse is on the ground as the ICE agents cuff and detain him, before escorting him out of the building. They refuse to say where he’s being taken.It is deeply unsettling. Naturally, those who agree with the Trump administration’s immigration policies will view this as leftwing propoganda, but after events in Minnesota, and events across the country, it mostly just hits a little close to home. I will not soap-box here. I think immigration, like healthcare, is a very complicated and contentious issue and the extremes on both sides tend to be untenable and attractive because it’s easier to take radical, uncompromising positions than to work toward practical and humane solutions that require compromise alongside pragmatism and empathy.Either way, The Pitt has always been a political TV show. Season 1 tackled the issue of gun violence head-on. After all, mass shootings and gun violence affects healthcare workers. The first season also dealt with some of the fallout of COVID-19. Other issues, from abortion to homelessness and addiction have all been at the forefront. Immigration is a natural fit.The episode ends with a cliffhanger dealing with another issue that many healthcare workers face, and one that was explored briefly in Season 1: Violence directed toward healthcare workers in their workplaces. When Emma (Laëtitia Hollard) checks in on a patient who was brought in heavily medicated after getting into a drunken fight at a golf course, he wakes up and freaks out. While some patients might just freak out and get scared, he gets violent, grabbing her to his chest in a headlock. The episode ends with her in a seriously dangerous predicament with nobody else around. It’s a terrible place to end an episode. We have to wait a whole week to find out what happens!Season 2 So FarThe PittCredit: HBOWhile I’m enjoying The Pitt a great deal, I don’t think Season 2 is as good as Season 1 so far. Some of the emotional beats aren’t landing quite as poignantly for me, including the recent end-of-life patient, a mother with a terminal illness who decides her time is up. That same storyline in Season 1 would have had me in tears, but it’s not hitting the same in Season 2.I’m also a little frustrated with Dr. Robbie, who just seems so taciturn and cold, treating everyone around him poorly, berating other doctors and just being overall a lot less likable than he was in Season 1. I get that he’s at a breaking point – hence his decision to go on a motorcycle sabbatical – but he’s become a very unpleasant character. I really enjoyed the episodes with Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy) because he’s just so much more chill and less sanctimonious. He’s also kind of a badass.Meanwhile, the entire Langdon (Patrick Ball) subplot strikes me as more than a little preposterous. Even accepting that his drug theft didn’t result in losing his medical license or going to prison, his return to the very same hospital, let alone department, is just totally unbelievable to me. If they wanted him back in Season 2, they should have made his theft ambiguous in Season 1. I just don’t believe that he’d either want to return or be allowed to.Finally, I think they’ve perhaps tiptoed a little too far into personal drama this season. Dr. Santos (Isa Briones) now has a relationship with Dr. Garcia (Alexandra Metz) and even though it only spills over into work a bit – Garcia doesn’t want it to at all, which is admirable – it just feels a bit too much like a soap opera sneaking into a show that shouldn’t be a soap opera. Too much time has been spent on Mel’s (Taylor Dearden) sister drama also. Or, rather, when you add this personal drama to all the other personal dramas taking place, it starts to feel like too much personal drama. I enjoy this show more when it’s about the patients and how the doctors and nurses and staff interact with the patients and conflicts and obstacles facing them each day. A little goes a long way, and we certainly had some good personal conflict in Season 1, but it never felt like it was overwhelming the other stuff (or at least it didn’t feel that way until toward the end of the season).It’s still excellent TV, of course. I like the new student doctors. Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson) is an arrogant jerk in a lot of ways, but I like to see his humility arc begin to unfold. Kwon (Irene Choi) is the polar opposite, and her sarcastic wit is a nice addition. The medical stuff is still interesting and the chaos of the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat each week. But I do think there needs to be a little soul-searching for Season 3.What did you think of Episode 11 and what’s your take on Season 2 so far? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.