Has Santos lost some of her bite?
Isa Briones, who plays the sharp-tongued Dr. Trinity Santos on The Pitt, knows that her character is one of the show’s most divisive and most discussed — but she also thinks she’s one of the show’s most damaged. “What she really needs is a friend,” she tells Gold Derby. Which is why she reacts so badly at the news that Whitaker — one of the few people she lets into her life, literally — is going to be house-sitting for Robby (Noah Wyle) during his sabbatical.
Ahead of the Season 2 finale this week, Briones — who’s currently starring on Broadway in Just In Time — opens about the one character who truly sees through Santos’ walls, the one person who brings out the worst in her, and the nickname she’d give her.
Gold Derby: How does Season 2 compare for you to Season 1?
Isa Briones: It feels very different tonally, for Santos specifically, because I think Season 1, she was very headstrong, full steam ahead, trying to just really prove herself, and jumping on every case that she could. And you’re really not seeing her do that this season — in fact, in the first few episodes of Season 2, I think at a certain point, Robby (Noah Wyle) is like, why isn’t she jumping on traumas, he’s confused. I think because of the return of Langdon (Patrick Ball) and all of the many s–t shows that come her way that day, it really just destabilizes her. And you’re also seeing her after she’s been working there for 10 months, I think she’s kind of slowed down. She’s dealing with, oh, I work here every day now, it’s not my first day, and I’m proving myself, this is my job, and you’re also seeing a sadness has set in a little more. She’s obviously still making her jabs at other people. She’ll always be sarcastic, but there’s a lot less bite than she had Season 1.
Noah Wyle, Isa Briones, and Shabana AzeezWarrick Page/HBO Max
Do you think she’s still dealing with the effects of the mass casualty from the season finale?
I think everyone has to have walked away different from that, for sure. I think that definitely has something to do with it being like, “Oh, yeah, this is the reality of the job I do.” It’s not just being the best and showing how great you are and “oh, I want to be in surgery.” You’re seeing awful things every day, and that also can really weather you.
She still has her sarcasm, she still has her attitude, and she unleashes it on others. How much of that do you think is a defense mechanism? And how much of that is just real honesty?
It’s all defense mechanism. That’s what I like about Season 2 is you see so much of her vulnerability, especially in the moments when she chooses to be sarcastic or mean, it’s because she feels so bare. I think you see it with the connections she has with people, like with Whitaker (Gerran Howell). She’s punching at him so much of the time when that’s the person that I think she is the most comfortable with and I think actually loves. There’s love there, he’s become her friend, not that she wants to admit that, but he has, against all odds, gotten close to her when she does not usually let people get close to her in that way. I think you see that when she finds out that he’s going to be house-sitting for Robby.
Isa Briones and Gerran HowellWarrick Page/HBO Max
She really reacts to that, and of course, reacts by being mean to him, but it’s because she’s like, “Oh, great, I’m losing a friend.” I think that’s so much of who she is. She’s built up all of these walls because she’s lost people. She doesn’t want to be the person to be hurt or like she talks about in Episode 15, her friend who took her own life. She’s lost people — anyone who she’s gotten close to, she’s either lost or they’ve hurt her. And there’s so much just ironclad wall that she has put up for her to not feel that way again. Now I think him maybe leaving is like, “OK, great. I was right. Everyone’s going to leave me and here we go, put the wall back up.” It’s just like, “Girl, go to therapy!”
Do you think she ever will?
God, I hope so! As much as she’s having a really s–t day, I think you’re left with some moments of hope. Because what she really needs is a friend. She needs connection. She isolates a lot and tries to push people away. But I think the fact that is she wants a friend.
On the flip side, do you think anyone can see Santos? Do you think anyone can see her struggles and what she’s going through, or that she’s built up her walls around her too thickly?
I think that Whitaker (Gerran Howell) sees it, and he tries to help. I think he knows her so well, and that’s part of why she pushes him away so much. That’s so scary for her. He’s observant, he’s seen who she is and what she deals with and what she leans on, and I think he is trying to be that person for her, that she can share things with and be a safe space with. I do hope that, one day, she’ll let him be there for her. She needs it. But yeah, he definitely sees her. And the thing is, she let him in. She did invite him to live with her. So clearly, somewhere deep down she knows that she needs him.
Gerran Howell and Isa BrionesWarrick Page/HBO
Clearly hanging on to the secret about Langdon (Patrick Ball) stealing drugs is another reason that she’s got this big wall that she’s built. Can she ever forgive him? Should she ever forgive him?
I don’t even know that it’s a forgiveness thing. It’s truth-telling. That scene between them [in Episode 11] is so great because there is no should and shouldn’t, really. They’re both wrong and they’re both right. He’s an addict who is recovering and deserves a second chance, and also he really f–ked her over, and she feels really pissed about it, and she’s been keeping the secret for him when she could have told the truth. So they’re both holding very true things, and they’re both going about it in not the best way. They are two very imperfect people. There was just no way that that moment was ever going to go well. In her mind, he left and got todeal with his stuff, and she was left todeal with it. There’s so much anger there, and that’s why she needed to just word vomit it all onto him, because she can’t just keep screaming it in the shower alone, and so it had to go that way.And you also see that he’s triggered by it, too. They’re always going to bring out this side of each other because they’re so similar.
Where did they go from here?
Because they’re so similar, they could work it out, and they could be friends if they just both worked on themselves, dropped their bulls–t and had an honest conversation. I think they just need time and actually, there’s a world where they could work really well together. They just hate the things in each other that they see in themselves. At the end of the day, they both struggle with addiction, just in different forms. Santos, at one point, has that snide remark about him “until he relapses” and then she grabs the scalpel, it’s like she’s talking about herself. They’re two sides of the same coin. They just both need to work through s–t, and they could work through it together.
Patrick Ball and Isa BrionesWarrick Page/HBO
Let’s talk about Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle). She’s so observant. Does she see what he’s going through?
I think towards the end of Season 2, she’s really starting to see, “Oh, this isn’t just some sabbatical, something else is going on,” and I think it’s destabilizing for her, because she’s losing someone that she trusts there, which I’m like, “Girl, he’s not The Person, because he didn’t even report, he didn’t deal with the Langdon thing.” But I think just because he believed her when she told him what was going on, that meant a lot to her to be believed by a person of authority. Him leaving I think feels like a bit of a betrayal. Whitaker’s leaving me, Robby’s leaving me, everyone’s leaving me, and then to see, “Oh, you might be leaving me for good.” And also realizing, “Oh, he’s just as unwell as I am.” That’s so scary for the people that you put on a pedestal to all of a sudden become human in your eyes, that’s terrifying and makes you feel even more alone, because you’re like, “Oh, there’s no big, strong person for me to believe in. It’s just me, and that’s rough.”
Noah Wyle and Isa BrionesWarrick Page/HBO Max
Speaking of her observational skills, we learn at the end what’s going on with Dr Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi). Has she noticed it?
Santos wasn’t there for any of those moments. So I don’t think she knows that, but she’s just off put by her. And I think because of the pedestal she’s put Robby on, she’s team Robby. And I don’t think necessarily rightfully so. I think she needs to drop that for a second and realize, like, “Oh, this is actually a great attending.” She could be great, and she’s also given great constructive criticism to Santos. She could be a really great mentor, but she’s just again putting her faith in the wrong people.
What about her relationship with Garcia (Alexandra Metz)? Do you think there’s something real there that can go forward?
I don’t know if that is meant to be anything more. I think at this point in this season, you’ve seen that Santos wants it to be something more, or is trying to turn it into something more. But I think she’s trying to turn it into something that it isn’t. Because it seems fairly clear that Garcia has been like, “This is casual,” but it just shows how much Santos wants connection, even though she is terrible at asking for it. I think ahe was trying to turn Garcia into that safe space to talk about these things. But then she literally says to her, “I don’t want to talk about this. Go see a therapist.”
Alexandra Metz and Isa BrionesWarrick Page/HBO Max
That again is very destabilizing. Losing a person that she was like, this is who I’m going to lean on, and they don’t want to be that person. I think that’s unfortunately, very common. We often go toward the things that don’t want us when actually it’s like, turn around, Whitaker is trying to be your friend.
Who else among the staff do you think she could find that with besides Whitaker?
I think she and Javadi (Shabana Azeez) could be friends, and I think she does want to be even though she’ll be sarcastic. It’s never that she actually doesn’t like these people. It’s actually because she’s trying to have fun. Shabana and I didn’t have a whole lot of scenes together, which I hope we have more. In the one of the first ones that we had, you see Javadi start to match her a little bit and clap back at her, and kind of feel emboldened to and Santos is kind of proud of her. There’s more of that can be found if she takes down her icy exterior a little bit. She could have these relationships with people and have just like a “Oh, we’re taking the piss out of each other, but we’re friends.” I think she could have that with people like Javadi. It’s just going to take her dropping her bulls–t a little bit.
How much are the writers are writing to you at this point? How much have they gotten to know you as an actor?
They’re very good at writing toward everyone’s strengths, because they’ve been doing it for a while, and I’m also doing it for 15 episodes per season, which you never get anymore. And think they’re they really watch and listen to us as actors, and kind of tailor those things to us. And I think they also watch for which characters are most interesting together. And I think that’s why the Langdon and Santos thing is such a high point, because what great tension — that’s amazing chemistry. They’re very good at listening to us that way.
What do you want to see for Santos in Season 3?
I want to see her make friends here. Maybe pair up with McKay [Fiona Dourif] a little bit. I think she can learn a lot from McKay. I want to see her to continue to soften and lean on other people a little bit, play nicer with the other kids. I think she has it in her. She has it in her. She wants it. She wants it bad. She just doesn’t know how to do it.
Isa Briones and Fiona Dourif
How much do you engage in the social discourse about the show?
I get very amused by some of the things on social media. I try not to look too much. In Season 1, I found it funny how people are responding so viscerally to her, and it’s so cool that it’s such a divisive character and sparks a lot of conversation and somehow morphed a little bit in Season 2 to people staunchly, being like, “I either hate her or I love her,” and they’re like that with all characters. And I totally get that as a fan, of course you’re gonna ride-or-die for some characters. But the really interesting part of this show is how everyone is living in the gray. No one is perfect. Not everything Santos does is justifiable and defendable, lbut also not everything she does is pure evil, either. And that’s all the characters. And it’s so much more interesting when you can live in the in between and be like what an imperfect and whole character this is, and that’s what makes the show so special.
Isa BrionesWarrick Page/HBO Max
She does get some great lines, though.
Oh, yeah, the writers definitely know how to write for her. [Showrunner] Scott Gemmill has told me that he is Santos, and that’s why he’s able to write for her so well.
I love the moment of her diagnosing Sara Wyle’s character and saying, “Just think of the worst stuff someone could do and assume that they’ve done it.”
That was funny to see the discourse online about that, because there are some people who are like, “Oh, my God, Santos is so terrible. How could she ever say that about a patient?” I’m like, “I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to a medical professional.” Obviously, they care for people, the most vulnerable people, and they love to help people. But also when people are being f–king dumb, they’re like, “Why make my life so hard and do something that we all have told you not to do?”
If you had to give Santos a nickname, what nickname would you give her?
Shabana and I were talking about calling her “Snitch.”