I See You, The Pitt's Mel & Langdon Shippers, And I Need You To Stop

Even before The Pitt season 1 ended, there was a segment of viewers who were shipping Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) and Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden), which is more than a little ridiculous. If you’re reading this and, like me, did not realize that there is a small but fervent ship for The Pitt characters, well, allow me to enlighten you: there is. Entire YouTube compilation videos set to poorly edited musical cues and multiple Reddit threads have confirmed as much. These shippers aren’t legion, but they’re there, and they’re baffling to me.

I’m not entirely sure what shippers saw between Mel and Langdon in The Pitt season 1 beyond a few scenes of connection to make them think there is anything romantic between the two characters, spinning what they want to see out of absolutely nothing. Their relationship instead resembles something like an older brother-little sister dynamic, a blossoming mentor and eager mentee who click well together and realize they can learn a lot from each other. That will hopefully continue in The Pitt season 2, but a romance is not going to happen.

There Is Nothing To Indicate That Mel & Langdon Will Get Together In The Pitt

It’s A Mentor-Mentee Relationship & That’s It

Image via Max

The excitement that Mel shows when Langdon returns is the childlike exuberance of a child for a parental figure. In her very first shift in The Pitt, Mel shows how eager she is to be there and how excited she is to learn. In Langdon, she finds exactly that opportunity: someone who can guide and teach her in a way that the overly busy, somewhat mercurial Dr. Robby can’t, as the attending physician. One gets the sense that Mel doesn’t often find people in her life to encourage her. Though she’s still young, she’s the sole guardian of her autistic sister, indicating that their parents and family are dead or not around. And it’s hinted that her quirky mannerisms may undermine the perception others have of her, but Langdon sees through that to the doctor she is.

As for Langdon, he lives and breathes his job, and it’s clear that he relishes the opportunity to be a mentor to someone in the same way that Dr. Robby has been to him. Langdon is an excellent doctor with a substance abuse problem, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a skilled physician and a great teacher with a surprising amount of patience for any med student who isn’t too arrogant. Now that he has a mentee in Mel, he opens up, not in a way that shows romantic interest, but in a way that indicates he’s thrilled to have someone to shape.

Maybe that’s why they click so well: two neurodivergent people vibing and working with each other’s quirks.

It makes sense. Mel is clearly on the spectrum, and Langdon has joked that he has ADHD, and, considering his adrenaline junkie nature, he almost certainly does. Maybe that’s why they click so well: two neurodivergent people vibing and working with each other’s quirks. Mel approaches medicine in a way that is new to Langdon, and thus it intrigues him; Langdon’s enthusiasm for teaching shows support for her and her abilities that she seemingly has not had before. Langdon sees that Mel does have “special sauce” in The Pitt, and it will make her a great doctor. That’s it. No physical attraction. No romantic entanglements. Just mutual professional respect and nothing that indicates otherwise.

It Would Also Be A Terrible Story Choice & Beneath The Characters

They’re Better People & The Pitt A Better Series Than That

Beyond the fact that there’s nothing in the show that indicates there’s anything that would be romantic between them, it would be an utterly terrible decision for the purposes of the show itself. For starters, as so many shippers seem to forget, Langdon is married with kids – a wife and kids he constantly talks and thinks about throughout The Pitt season 1. The reveal that Langdon has been stealing drugs already paints him in a bad light, but a redemption arc for Langdon in The Pitt season 2 is likely. If he were to cheat on his wife and hurt her and his kids like that, and with a subordinate coworker, however? He’d no longer simply be a flawed man who had a problem, but a genuinely unlikable and unsympathetic character.

Dr Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) looking nervous while talking to Robby in The Pitt season 1

The Pitt Season 2 Now Has An Important Missing Character To Introduce For Langdon’s Return

Dr. Frank Langdon’s return to the hospital in The Pitt season 2 is the perfect time to finally introduce an unseen character from his story.

It would also be quite awful and uncharacteristic of Mel. After all, she knows that Langdon is married with kids, and if the people shipping her with Langdon actually thought about it for a moment, they’d realize that purposely doing something that might hurt children would be reprehensible to Mel. She’d never do that. Beyond that, there’s a case to be made that Mel gives off distinctly asexual vibes. At the very least, she’s blatantly uninterested in any sort of relationship beyond a professional one while at work. At most, she’s looking for friends, not a lover or a fling. It would be a gross decision on the part of the writers to cheapen both characters and their mentor-mentee relationship like that.

It would also cheapen the show itself. From the start, the actors have stated that they pride themselves on The Pitt being so realistic. Anyone who actually paid attention knows that it’s a realistic medical drama, not a hospital soap opera. Doctors sneaking off to broom closets to make out or hooking up at work is not part of The Pitt‘s DNA. Hopefully, it never will be. There are half a dozen hospital soap operas, but there is only one The Pitt. The realistic lack of focus on romance and melodrama is exactly what makes it so gripping and elevated, and it would utterly ruin the show if it were to start engaging in that.

The Pitt’s Mel-Langdon Shipping Is A Symptom Of A Bigger Problem In Fandom

Let Things Be What They Are Instead Of What You Project Onto Them

Dr. Melissa King (Taylor Dearden) helps Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) with a patient's file in The Pitt Season 1 Ep 7 — Image via Max

One could argue that the weird shipping of Mel and Langdon is indicative of a much bigger issue with entertainment right now, specifically the people who engage with that entertainment: they project their own personal fantasies and demands onto a work rather than accepting the work for what it is. Even if they loved The Pitt, shippers are still demanding it be something else that it’s not, and even if they love Mel and Langdon, shippers are still demanding they be characters they’re not. It’s not a romantic melodrama, which is a breath of fresh air. There’s nothing wrong with hospital soap operas, but they have their place, which is not the same place The Pitt occupies, and it’s a better show for it.

Everyone’s Asking The Wrong The Pitt Season 2 Question About Langdon

Audiences are wondering how Langdon will repair his relationships in The Pitt season 2, but there’s fallout from one that hasn’t been addressed yet.

So please, Mel and Langdon shippers, ease up, stop putting your expectations on The Pitt, and simply enjoy and appreciate it for what it is: a staggeringly well-written medical drama with award-winning performances across the board. And while you’re waiting for The Pitt season 2, go watch Chicago Med or Grey’s Anatomy. There are plenty of doctors getting into romantic entanglements. You can even watch ER again. Just don’t ask The Pitt to suddenly become a show it was never meant to be – just like Mel and Langdon.