The Pitt Star Isa Briones on Dr. Santos' Big, Empowering Episode 7 Monologue (Exclusive)

Isa Briones, who portrays Dr. Santos on The Pitt sat down with The Direct to talk about her empowering, emotional monologue in Episode 7.

Isa Briones on Dr. Santos' Emotional Episode 7 Monologue

"... That's Kind Of a Tough Place to Go to As an Actor..."

Not long after being put in her place by Dr. Garcia after fumbling with a scalpel, Santos first notices in The Pitt Episode 6 that something is up with one of her male patients, who his wife and daughter brought in.

It turns out that his wife was secretly giving him progesterone in hopes of getting rid of his libido.

Why? Well, the wife believes he might have been abusing his own daughter. Sadly, since nothing can be proven, the hospital themselves can't do anything to help out the little girl.

Dr. Santos, however, has just the perfect string of words to put the father in his place—all while he's got a feeding tube shoved down his throat.

• The Direct: "Episode 7 is also, you have some big moments there. You know it comes to light that one of your patients under your care is actually doing some pretty terrible things to his daughter. And I wanted to ask you, first and foremost, how is it like handling such heavy and important themes and messages while, you know, performing and doing that storyline on the show?"

Isa Briones: I mean this show, naturally, is dealing with really heavy material and heavy themes every episode. And it just kind of depends on which storyline you get. And this one was no exception.

Our director, Silver Tree, was really wonderful and kind of making a safe space for that and making sure that everyone felt comfortable and for the big monolog that I had with that patient. It was a really wonderful environment to be in. Everyone was very respectful. And knowing that, that's kind of a tough place to go to as an actor.

And, yeah, it was all handled with a lot of care. But it's, I'm happy that this show talks about all these things and in ways that like are shocking, but also it's like, yeah, this is—hearing from our doctors the type of stuff that they've encountered in the craziest ways. It's like, this stuff happens. It might make you go, like, she did what? But it is like, that's what these doctors are encountering. They're in the ED, and you see some of the most unheard-of things that happen every day. But, yeah, I think it was really handled well. And I was honored to get to tell that story.

• The Direct: "You mentioned the monologue, which is really intense. How empowering was that moment to be able to perform that and get that out there?"

Briones: "It was definitely interesting emotionally because, unfortunately, most people I talk to, but also most women I've talked to have experienced something of this nature. And so already, going into it is very taxing. But then to go into it from a character's point of view, like someone who really tries to not let their emotions show, is very interesting.

Because I try to do that, like me personally, I try to keep stuff in, but it ends up coming out. So, a big challenge for me was [that] my character would not be crying right now. Would not be sobbing right now. This is a moment of actually taking back power.

As sad as all of this is, it's a moment of getting to take some power back. So, it was an interesting acting exercise of like, no, don't let yourself go into a sad weepy place. This is a powerful moment, and SilverrTree definitely helped steer that.

But it was cool. I got to hear from some of the other people who were on set and other actors who were watching, and some people just being like, yeah, get him! Get your monologue, girl. It was a beautiful, beautiful moment."

Is Dr. Garcia Cocky or Confident?

"I Think She Knows She's Cocky..."

• The Direct: "In Episode 6, Dr. Garcia kind of calls Dr. Santos out for writing that line between confidence and cockiness. Which do you think Santos legitimately leans more into? "

Isa Briones: I think she knows she's cocky... She's not really trying to make friends. I think she's very competitive. She looks out for herself. The fact that Garcia took an interest in her and they kind of recognized similar qualities in each other made her like, it was like, 'Oh, great. Here, I have an ally, someone who trusts me and listens to me.'

Like, that was great. And also there was a bit of connection there and flirtation there. But I think with this mistake, she was kind of the worst person that it could happen to, because it was her only friend there. But I think it is letting the cracks show a little bit, and kind of a good humbling for Santos by showing that, like, yeah, the cockiness is getting to be a little too much.

The full discussion about Episode 7 with Isa Briones can be seen here:

The Pitt is now streaming on Max.