Mystery solved… well, sort of: The penultimate episode of The Pitt stopped short of revealing the identity of the PittFest shooter, but cleared troubled teen David of any wrongdoing.

Roughly a third of the way through Episode 14, chief medical officer Gloria informed the emergency department that S.W.A.T. found the shooter, already dead, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His identity and his motive remain unknown — but to Dana’s point, “Does it matter?”

That view is shared by Noah Wyle. In Part 2 of our latest conversation, the star and executive producer of the hit Max medical drama tells me that neither the identity nor the motivation of the gunman are relevant, adding: “That has absolutely nothing to do with the horrific nature of the work that these [doctors and nurses] have to perform in the aftermath of this, so why give it any attention? It’s certainly not going to make any difference at this point in any of the people’s lives who are in our environment.

“That said, we did enjoy the misdirection of having a lot of people think it was David or Doug Driscoll or… you know, I even read some wilder theories on that. But that was to underscore the storyline that we really wanted to explore with David’s character, which is about misunderstanding at every level,” Wyle explains. “Trying to connect, but missing crucial moments when that connection really needs to be in place. Otherwise, it can trigger suspicion, paranoia, panic, over-involvement, lapse in judgment — all sorts of things happen in the wake of our bias, our misinterpretation and our misunderstanding of David’s behavior.

“Were we wrong to intervene? Maybe not,” he says. “But we were wrong, in this particular case, to assume that it was 1-to-1. I think that’s another important lesson to take from this — that while thought crimes are not crimes, they can be cries for help, or needs for attention or analysis, and I think that was an important message to get across.”

The episode also introduces a pair of new characters — both of whom share ties to The Pitt’s ensemble. First is Sarah Jane Morris (Brothers & Sisters), who plays Robby’s ex-girlfriend (and Jake’s mother) Janey; in real life, she’s married to Ned Brower, who recurs as Nurse Jesse. Second is Brad Dourif — aka Chucky! — who makes a cameo opposite his real-life daughter, Fiona Dourif, and plays Dr. Cassie McKay’s father.

“I’m a huge Brad Dourif fan,” Wyle tells me. “I’ve been a fan of Brad’s — not just from [One Flew Over the] Cuckoo’s Nest, but Wise Blood and Mississippi Burning. I mean, I’ve been a fan of his forever.”

As for Morris, and the decision to bring Janey into the fold now, Wyle explains: “It just seemed appropriate to bring in somebody who has zero frame of reference for Robby in this environment. We haven’t met somebody like that yet — somebody who knows his tendencies to blame himself and to go into a shame spiral… someone who knows his intentions are pure and honorable, even if a little damaged…. [Robby is] someone who she has affection for, but also was probably hurt by, but [she] has rationalized that [because] at least her son has a good, positive, male role model in his life, and that outweighs whatever disappointment she may feel that the relationship didn’t work out.”

What did you think of The Pitt Season 1, Episode 14? Watch Wyle break it all down above, then hit the comments with your reactions.