The beauty of “The Pitt” isn’t just its unapologetic realness, but its celebration of diversity and how it strengthens a community, not weakens it.
The show follows several characters, each with different struggles, talents and backgrounds. Every approach is unique, and every medical disaster reveals something new about the character. This moves to the forefront in Season 2 with new episodes being released every Thursday on HBO Max.
Dr. Mel King, played by Taylor Dearden, stands out through her authentic, empathetic approach with others and her dedication to her younger, autistic sister Becca, played by Tal Anderson. Mel is the primary guardian of Becca, who lives in an assisted-living facility due to her higher support needs.
In many cases throughout the show, Mel has used her knowledge of neurodiversity to approach patients in an accommodating way that leaves other doctors astonished.
While Mel states in the first season that her knowledge of neurodiversity comes from her experience with her sister, many, including Dearden, believe that Mel is autistic.
She stims. She doesn’t pick up on sarcasm. She displays emotions at an extreme level compared to the rest of her team. She fixates on certain cases and people.
Overall, many fans feel seen by Mel’s character and how “The Pitt” approaches neurodivergence representation. Autism is not over-exaggerated or tokenized, but simply a facet of these complex characters.
NE Neurodiversity Social Club president Azriel Stevens, who is autistic, watches the show every Sunday with their girlfriend as a way to spend time with each other.
“Mel shows more empathy, and it shows that autistic people can observe people’s emotions like that,” Stevens said. “There’s been this stereotype for I don’t know how long that autistic people don’t understand social cues, and they can’t read anyone’s emotions.”
In an interview with NPR, Dearden said she thinks Mel is a capable character who can navigate the hard challenges the job presents.
“Recognizing that something’s hard for anyone and then being able to overcome it if you are neurodivergent, hopefully that should just make it even sweeter,” she said.
Both actresses are neurodivergent themselves, adding personal experience and authenticity to their character portrayals.
This season, Mel learns that Becca has been keeping a long-term relationship secret from her. This is revealed when Becca comes into the ER for a urinary tract infection and reveals that she is sexually active with a committed partner. Mel worries that Becca is being taken advantage of due to her disability, while Becca is frustrated that Mel is questioning her independence and autonomy in her romantic life.
“I was shocked, but so excited that Becca was going to be treated like an adult woman with a storyline that supported her independence,” Anderson said in an interview with the entertainment website Gold Derby. “What the writers are getting right is that they show the diversity of autism in an authentic way, by introducing each neurodivergent character in their everyday lives. They don’t focus on the stereotypes, and disability isn’t the story.”
Even though Becca is a secondary character, her struggles with being seen as a person capable of making decisions about her interpersonal relationships strikes a chord with many neurodivergent people.
Stevens expressed how much they loved seeing an autistic character, especially a woman, that is not only sex-positive but sexually active, as that’s not common in media.
“It never occurred to anyone that autistic people can have sex,” they said. “I really hope that this scene has a positive effect on other autistic young adults and parents of autistic young adults.”
NE Neurodiversity Social Club member Isabella Felix, who has ADHD, hopes that this show encourages medical professionals to learn more about neurodiversity.
“I think doctors should take time to maybe study a little just so they know how to calm their patients if one of them gets overwhelmed,” she said.
Mel and Becca’s story is not finished.
Will Becca and Mel have an honest conversation about healthy boundaries and responsibilities? Will Mel’s autism be recognized in canon?
“Seeing her confirm on screen that she is autistic would be cool, because then we’d have two different confirmed autistic characters who are doing two different things on two different parts of the spectrum,” Stevens said.
Stevens and Felix, like so many others, are eager to find out.
