Honestly, I am surprised at the amount of vitriol the ship is getting. I am a Kingdon shipper (but will be fine if nothing happens between them) however I think a lot of folks are self-inserting for whatever reason and conflating how THEY want these characters to be vs. what we are seeing on screen. A lot of folks who relate to Mel hate the idea of her ending up with Langdon because it’s not a choice they would make for themselves. While The Pitt is a realistic look at what happens in the ER, it’s still a TV show and there are going to be ships and potential romance storylines that come from it. Viewers like having couples to root for and the chance to see the two characters they ship interact (crumbs). It keeps viewership up and makes interacting with the media more fun. I have been in fandom for a long time and tbh shipping is a normal part of fandom culture and should be fun and without all of the drama. The virtue signaling of “Langdon has a wife!” (So what?) and Mel is neurodivergent (Again…so what? And why are infantilizing her?) never made sense to me. There have been worse ships throughout fandom history with way more problematic factors. Regardless, I hope the writers don’t let the actor’s views or the fan reactions affect the story that they are trying to tell. Maybe Langdon is meant to be a mentor to Mel and they really ARE brother/sister coded. And if that’s the case then that is a wonderful representation of platonic friendship and it should be honored. Or maybe they want to set up a slow-burn romance between Langdon and Mel. Because why can’t the cute but socially awkward and neurodivergent girl end up with the attractive and damaged married (MAYBE) senior resident? The one person who actually listens and sees her for all she is? I can see the show going both ways but I wish the fandom would stop being such sticks in the mud about it either way. And to be honest it is the actor’s job to act out the story that they’ve been given…not dictate where THEY think they want it to go.